David Given Schwarm

Dear Friend

Here is the answer to the letter I received from our dear sister in the Lord; please give it to her. She seems so full of good will, but she wants to go faster than grace allows. It is not possible to become spiritually mature all at once. I recommend that you work with her, because we should help each other with our advice and, even more, with our good example. I would appreciate your sending me news of her from time to time, so that I may know how she is coming along.

Let us often remember, my dear friend, that our sole occupation in life is to please God. What meaning can anything else have? You and I have walked with the Lord for more than forty years. Have we really used those years to love and serve God, who, by His mercy called us for that purpose? When I consider the blessings God has given and still continues to give me, I feel ashamed. I feel I have abused those blessings, barely using them profitably to become more like Christ.

Still, god in His mercy gives us a little more time. We can begin all over again and repair the lost opportunity, returning with complete confidence to this kind Father, who is always ready to receive us lovingly. We need ot abandon everything that ins’t of God. Doesn’t He deserve this and much more? Let’s thin of Him continually, and put all our confidence in Him. Soon his abundant grace will engulf us. With it, we can do anything, but without it, we can commit only sin.

We cannot avoid the dangers of life without God’s continual help, so we should ask Him for it ceaselessly. But how can we ask for help unless we are with Him? To b with Him, we must cultivate the holy habit of thinking of Him often.

You will tell me that I always say the same thing. What can I say? It is true. I don’t know any easier method, nor do I practice any other, so I advise this one to everybody. We have to know someone before we can truly love him. In order to know God, we must think about Him often. Once we get to know Him, we will think about Him even more often, because where our treasure is, there also is our heart!