Finding Hope in Suffering With Amy Carmichaelنموونە

“All” means “all”

“All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness.” I found that in the R.V. lately (Ps. 25:10) and have found it feeds me. All does not mean “all but these paths we are in now” or “nearly all, but perhaps not just this specially difficult painful one.” All must means all. So your path with its unexplained sor­row, and mine with its unexplained sharp flints and briers, and both with their unexplained perplexity of guidance, their sheer mystery, are just lovingkindness, nothing less. I am resting my heart on that word. It bears one up on eagle’s wings; it gives courage and song and sweetness too, that sweetness of spirit which it is death to lose even for one half-hour.

God bless you and utterly satisfy your heart with Him­self. I remember in old days almost desperately repeating to myself these lines from Tersteegen:

Am I not enough, Mine own?

Enough Mine own for thee? . . .

Am I not enough Mine own?

I forever and alone,

I, needing thee?*

It was a long time before I could say honestly “Yes” to that question. I remember the turmoil of soul as if it were yester­day, but at last, oh the rest, “for in acceptance lieth peace.”**

* “The Inheritance," a hymn by Gerhard Tersteegen

** “In Acceptance Lieth Peace,” a poem by Amy Carmichael