En una noche oscura,

con ansias, en amores inflamada,

¡oh dichosa ventura!,

salí sin ser notada,

estando ya mi casa sosegada;

a escuras y segura

por la secreta escala, disfrazada,

¡oh dichosa ventura!,

a escuras y encelada,

estando ya mi casa sosegada;

en la noche dichosa,

en secreto, que naide me veía.
ni yo miraba cisa,

sin otra luz y guía

sino la que en el corazón ardía.

Aquesta me guiaba

más cierto que la luz del mediodía

adonde me esperaba

quien yo bien me sabía

en parte donde naide parecía.

¡Oh noche que guiaste!

¡oh noche amable más que la alborada!;

¡oh noche que juntaste,

Amado con amada,

amada en el Amado transformada!

En mi pecho florido,

que entero para él solo se guardaba,

allí quedó dormido,

y yo le regalaba,

y el ventalle de cedros aire daba.

El aire del almena,

cuando yo sus cabellos esparcía,

con su mano serena

en mi cuello hería,

y todos mis sentidos suspendía.

Quedéme...

“Once the truth of God has obtained an entrance into the human
heart and subdued the whole man to itself, no power,
human or infernal, can dislodge it.
We entertain it not as a guest but as the master of the house.”

-Charles Spurgeon

“Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,

where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up,

that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,

that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,

that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,

that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,

that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,

and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;

let me find thy light in my darkness,

thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,

thy grace in my sin,

thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.”

Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision

How firm a foundation,

ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith

in His excellent Word!

What more can He say

than to you He hath said,

You, who unto Jesus

for refuge have fled?

In every condition,

in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale,

or abounding in wealth;

At home and abroad,

on the land, on the sea,

As thy days may demand,

shall My strength ever be.

“Fear not, I am with thee,

O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God

and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen thee,

help thee, and cause thee to stand

Upheld by my righteous,

omnipotent hand.”

“When through the deep waters
I call thee to go,

The rivers of grief

shall not thee overflow

For I will be with thee,

thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee

thy deepest distress.”

“When through fiery trials

thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient,

shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee;

I only design

Thy dross...

And shall I pray Thee change Thy will my Father,

Until it be according unto mine?

But no, Lord, no, that shall never be, rather

I pray Thee blend my human will with Thine.

I pray Thee hush the hurrying eager longing

I pray Thee soothe the pangs of keen desire.

See in my quiet places wishes thronging,

Forbid them, Lord, purge, though it be with fire.

And work in me to will and do Thy pleasure.

Let all within me, peaceful, reconciled,

Tarry content my Wellbeloved’s leisure,

At last, at last, even as a weaned child.

My Prayer, Amy Carmichael.

“When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means. As Thomas Merton put it, "A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.”

The gospel of grace nullifies our adulation of televangelists, charismatic superstars, and local church heroes. It obliterates the two-class citizenship theory operative in many American churches. For grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is gift. All that is good is...

The Scandal of Grace

“At the last Judgment Christ will say to us, “Come, you also! Come, drunkards! Come, weaklings! Come, children of shame!” And he will say to us: “Vile beings, you who are in the image of the beast and bear his mark, but come all the same, you as well.” And the wise and prudent will say, “Lord, why do you welcome them?”

And he will say: “If I welcome them, you wise men, if I welcome them, you prudent men, it is because not one of them has ever been judged worthy.” And he will stretch out his arms, and we will fall at his feet, and we will cry out sobbing, and then we will understand all, we will understand the Gospel of grace! Lord, your Kingdom come!”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment.

That can’t be right
“Well preserved indeed!” he snorted. “Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can’t be right. I need a change, or something.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Judgement
"Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

I will run

Oh and I won’t quit

Chasing Your heart

Just like David did

I’ll coming running

Through the gates

Looking to Your face

Oh I can hardly wait

Until You carry my soul

Carry my soul away

Carry On Phil Wickham

“If Jesus is precious to you, you will not be able to keep your good news to yourself. You will be whispering it into your child’s ear. You will be telling it to your husband. You will be earnestly imparting it to your friend. Without the charms of eloquence you will be more than eloquent: your heart will speak, and your eyes will flash as you talk of His sweet love.

Every Christian here is either a missionary or an impostor. Recollect that. You either try to spread abroad the kingdom of Christ, or else you do not love Him at all. It cannot be that there is a high appreciation of Jesus and a totally silent tongue about Him. Of course I do not mean by that, that those who use the pen are silent: they are not. And those who help others to use the tongue, or spread that which others have written, are doing their part well: but that man who says, ‘I believe in Jesus,’ but does not think...