"...then the King said: "You know, Grace and Glory, 'It is enough for the disciple to be as his Lord,' and to learn also to overcome evil with good. There is absolutely no experience, however terrible, or heartbreaking, or unjust, or cruel, or evil, which you can meet in the course of your earthly life, that can harm you if you will but let me teach you how to accept it with joy; and to react to it triumphantly as I did myself with love and forgiveness and with willingness to bear the results of wrong done by others. Every trial, every test, every difficultly and seemingly wrong experience through which you may have to pass, is only another opportunity granted to you of conquering an evil thing and bringing out of it something to the lasting praise and glory of God..."
"You sons and daughters of Adam, in all your suffering and sorrow are the most privileged of all beings, for you are to be perfected through suffering and to become the sons and daughters of God with his power to overcome evil with good. If only you realized your destiny, how you would rejoice at every experience of trial and tribulation, and even in the persecution which comes your way. You would 'count it all joy.' You would take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake 'for when you are weak, then you learn how to be made strong.'
Mountains of Spices by Hannah Hurnard is the sequel to one of my all time favorite books, Hinds Feet On High Places. I identify with the main character, known as Much Afraid in the first book, whose name was changed by the King to Grace and Glory after she reached the High Places. Grace and Glory has now returned from the High Places to the Valley of Humiliation where she intends to lovingly persuade her Fearing family to enter into service of the Shepherd (known as the King on the High Places). Grace and Glory meets great opposition at first and has returned to the High Places to receive counsel from the King Himself.
The Lord has been speaking to me through these allegoric novels, and I long to passionately grasp the truth contained in them...Truth that transforms completely, Love that overcomes evil with good, Peace that flows like a river, all the while extending my hand to one lost and bound.
Much Afraid transforms into Grace and Glory and this sometimes scared little girl gloriously is being transformed into His Bride, Beautiful Grace. In Jesus' name!!! AMEN!!!
1 comment:
I didn't know there was a sequel. I will have to read it sometime.
I read the first one about 6 years ago and loved it. I lent it out several years ago and no longer have it, but I have the children's version which is also really good: it has little devotional sections in the middle to help parents and kids talk together about how the story applies to our lives.
I'm in the middle of reading it to my 5-yr old for the first time. I'm not sure how much he understands yet, but he asks for it if we go too many days without reading it.
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