Read Online Partners by Grace Livingston Hill - Free Book Online
Authors: Grace Livingston Hill
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answer, from more words stored away in her memory, hardly comprehended until now.
"Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." That must mean come out from people who are not His own. The fellowship must be with those who know and love the Lord, else there can be no true fellowship for a believer. That's why she was going to church tonight, to try and find some people who love the Lord; to get strength and assurance from being with them.
It was marvelous the way the things she had learned in the past were coming back to her now. How she had wandered away from the path in which her father and mother had trained her young feet from babyhood! How many things she knew that she had not put to use in these hard days! What a fool she had been to let them slip away from her when these were just the times for which they had been given, to save her from drifting into doubt and despair. She had allowed a kind of belligerence to get into her mind, as if her troubles and fears were God's fault, and she had been going on in her hard way, half pitying herself for being treated like this!
Then all at once she came to a little chapel where she had been twice before and where she had heard great truths uttered in a sweet simplicity.
Â
"God's way is the right way,
God's way is the best way,
I'll trust in Him always,
He knoweth the best."
Â
It seemed extraordinary that they should have sung that just then, as she was entering. She could not get away from the thought that God was speaking to her through the whole service.
The young minister began to read the eighth chapter of Romans, and presently he came to the verse: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose."
The minister lifted his eyes a moment and in a quiet voice asked, "And what is that purpose to which He has called us?"
He read the next verse: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son !"
He lifted his eyes again and looked steadily at them, speaking in a quiet, impressive, conversational tone.
"Then God's whole purpose in whatever He is doing to you, whatever He is allowing in your life, is that you may be transformed into the image of God's Son. That you may be like Him . Remember God first made man in His own image, but through sin man lost that glorious image. No man today would ever be recognized as being from God's family, would he? But God loved us so much that He sent His dear Son to be crucified for our sins, to purchase our pardon with His precious blood, and to restore us to His image. All that He allows to come to us is for that purpose, that we may resemble God again, that we may be as younger brethren to His dear Son. It is only so that we can really represent our Lord and witness for Him."
Dale sat startled, fascinated by his words. It seemed as if they had been spoken just for her, and as if God Himself had sent them to her. She felt arraigned there in the presence of God for having doubted Him, for having grieved and worried about her small trials, when all the time it was just God, doing needful things for her, that the presence of His glory might be restored to her marred and sinful self!
She wanted to bow her head and weep, but she sat there quietly enough, the color soft in her pale cheeks, the glint of earnestness in her sweet eyes. She did not know it herself of course, but she was very sweet and attractive as she sat there listening, and more than one noted the lovely girl who seemed to be drinking in what was said.
Afterward they came and spoke to her, welcomed her to their midst. Some of them asked her where she lived and begged her to come again.
"I'm not sure I shall be there very long," she said as she gave her address, with sudden remembrance of her vanishing job. "It's a long way off, but I'll come again when I can, and if I move I'll try to get near here. I like your church. I'll
"Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." That must mean come out from people who are not His own. The fellowship must be with those who know and love the Lord, else there can be no true fellowship for a believer. That's why she was going to church tonight, to try and find some people who love the Lord; to get strength and assurance from being with them.
It was marvelous the way the things she had learned in the past were coming back to her now. How she had wandered away from the path in which her father and mother had trained her young feet from babyhood! How many things she knew that she had not put to use in these hard days! What a fool she had been to let them slip away from her when these were just the times for which they had been given, to save her from drifting into doubt and despair. She had allowed a kind of belligerence to get into her mind, as if her troubles and fears were God's fault, and she had been going on in her hard way, half pitying herself for being treated like this!
Then all at once she came to a little chapel where she had been twice before and where she had heard great truths uttered in a sweet simplicity.
Â
"God's way is the right way,
God's way is the best way,
I'll trust in Him always,
He knoweth the best."
Â
It seemed extraordinary that they should have sung that just then, as she was entering. She could not get away from the thought that God was speaking to her through the whole service.
The young minister began to read the eighth chapter of Romans, and presently he came to the verse: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose."
The minister lifted his eyes a moment and in a quiet voice asked, "And what is that purpose to which He has called us?"
He read the next verse: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son !"
He lifted his eyes again and looked steadily at them, speaking in a quiet, impressive, conversational tone.
"Then God's whole purpose in whatever He is doing to you, whatever He is allowing in your life, is that you may be transformed into the image of God's Son. That you may be like Him . Remember God first made man in His own image, but through sin man lost that glorious image. No man today would ever be recognized as being from God's family, would he? But God loved us so much that He sent His dear Son to be crucified for our sins, to purchase our pardon with His precious blood, and to restore us to His image. All that He allows to come to us is for that purpose, that we may resemble God again, that we may be as younger brethren to His dear Son. It is only so that we can really represent our Lord and witness for Him."
Dale sat startled, fascinated by his words. It seemed as if they had been spoken just for her, and as if God Himself had sent them to her. She felt arraigned there in the presence of God for having doubted Him, for having grieved and worried about her small trials, when all the time it was just God, doing needful things for her, that the presence of His glory might be restored to her marred and sinful self!
She wanted to bow her head and weep, but she sat there quietly enough, the color soft in her pale cheeks, the glint of earnestness in her sweet eyes. She did not know it herself of course, but she was very sweet and attractive as she sat there listening, and more than one noted the lovely girl who seemed to be drinking in what was said.
Afterward they came and spoke to her, welcomed her to their midst. Some of them asked her where she lived and begged her to come again.
"I'm not sure I shall be there very long," she said as she gave her address, with sudden remembrance of her vanishing job. "It's a long way off, but I'll come again when I can, and if I move I'll try to get near here. I like your church. I'll
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