Stepping Heavenward

"My dear Katy...I wish I could make you see that God is just as willing and just as able to sanctify as He is to redeem us. It would save you so much weary, disappointing work. (p. 25)

You acknowledge that there has been enmity toward God in your secret soul and that one of the first steps toward peace is to become reconciled to Him and to have your sins forgiven for Christ's sake. This done, you settle down with the feeling that the great work of life is done and that your salvation is sure. Or, if not sure, that your whole business is to study your own case to see whether you are really in a state of grace. Many persons never get beyond this point. They spend their whole time in asking the question:

Do I love the Lord or no?

Am I His or am I not?

I beg you, my dear child, if you are doing this aimless, useless work, to stop short at once. Life is too precious to spend in a treadmill. HAving been pardoned by your God and Savior, the next thing you have to do is to show your gratitude for this infinite favor by consecrating yourself entirely to Him, body, soul, and spirit. This is the least you can do. He has bought you with a price, and you are no longer your own. 'But,' you may reply, 'this is contrary to my nature. I love my own way. I desire ease and pleasure; I desire to go to heaven, but I want to be carried thither on a bed of flowers. Can I not give myself so far to God as to feel a sweet sense of peace with Him, and be sure of final salvation, and yet, to a certain extent, indulge and gratify myself?...' But, I reply, this is no matter of parley and discussion; it is not optional with God's children whether they will pay Him a part of the price they owe Him and keep back the rest. He asks, and He has a right to ask, for all you have and all you are. And if you shrink from what is involved in such a surrender, you should fly to Him at once and never rest till He has conquered this secret disinclination to give to Him as freely and as fully as He has given to you...

But as soon as you become one of the Lord's by your own deliberate and conscious act, He will begin that process of sanctification which is to make you holy as He is holy, perfect as He is perfect. He becomes at once your Physician as well as your dearest and best Friend, but He will use no painful remedy that can be avoided. Remember that it is His will that you should be sanctified and that the work of making you holy is His, not yours. At the same time you are not to sit with folded hands, waiting for this blessing. (pp.86-87)

The only true way to live in this world, constituted just as we are, is to make all our employments subserve the one great end and aim of existence, namely, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." (p. 94)

Just a few excerpts (emphasis mine) of my favorite passages on this, my fourth time through this beloved novel by Elizabeth Prentiss.

"Stepping Heavenward," if you are unfamiliar with the book, is written in the style of a personal journal by a young lady named Katherine. It begins in her teens, an unsaved girl with Godly parents, and chronicles her journey both in growing up, but more importantly, growing in Christ. A dear friend gifted me with this book (and I have since gifted it to several others, pay it forward, you know) and she warned me that in reading it, I would often feel like, "How does this woman know exactly what I am thinking? how I respond to things??" Forewarned, and duly noted. The majority of the takeaways from the first half (or possibly more) of the book come from others' counsels to Katy, as in the case of the three excerpts above.

If you're interested - and this book is a keeper, dog-eared already and I've had it barely 6 months - the book is available from CBD (here you go) or from the website above where I linked Mrs. Prentiss' biography. I don't recommend ordering this one from Amazon, simply because of some of the reviews of the different covered books saying that there are occasionally omissions of text. It's also available from Lamplighter, if you prefer hard-cover books.