Wednesday with Words: Stepping Heavenward

I'm trying to be more intentional about blogging, and one way to do so is to keep myself accountable. I'm joining more blog hops, link-ups, and carnivals in hopes that the day those are posted will be a loose schedule for me.  So far, it seems to be working! :)

Wednesday with Words has been going on a long time, and the host is Lady Dusk.  She has a great blog, so check it out!  To participate, each Wednesday (or thereabout) I will post some words I have found that have struck a chord in my life.  Many of those words will have found a home in my commonplace book.

I finished reading Stepping Heavenward (by Elizabeth Prentiss) last night.  I highlighted gobs of this book, which is a journal written in the early to  mid-1950's by a young lady, who becomes a wife, then a mother.  Throughout her life, she struggles with her God, her Christianity, and how best to live.  It chronicles her fight against her own sins, her acceptance of God's will in her life, her joys and her pains.  If you want to be inspired and amazed, you should read this book.  (Thanks to my Daddy for the Kindle version as my Christmas gift!)

I'll try to narrow my highlights down to just a few quotes for today!

From chapter one, on how to do Bible study:

"A few verses," she said, "carefully read and pondered, instead of a chapter or two read for mere form's sake."

From chapter 4, in a conversation with her pastor:

"You are as yet but a babe in Christ," Dr. Cabot continued.  "You love your God and Savior because He first loved you.  The time will come when the character of your love will become changed into one, which sees and feels the beauty and the perfection of its object; and if you could be assured that He no longer looked on you with favor, you would still cling to Him with devoted affection."

Later in the same conversation, on her struggles with living at home with her mother:

"Then, dear Katy, suppose your first act of heroism tomorrow should be gratifying your mother in these little things, little though they are.  Surely your first duty, next to pleasing God, is to please your mother and in every possible way to sweeten and beautify her life.  You may depend upon it that a life of real heroism and self-sacrifice must begin and lay its foundation in this little world wherein it learns its first lesson and takes its first steps."

See?!  Such wisdom in this book.  I may have to share more of it next week!  For now, here is my take-away lesson.  Start where you are and love whom with God has placed you, wherever you may be.  Continue to learn and grow!