David Given Schwarm

Dear friend,

I cannot thank God enough for the way He has begun to deliver you from your trial.

God knows very well that we need and that all He does is for our good. If we knew how much He loves us, we would always be ready to face life–both its pleasures and its troubles.

The difficulties of life do not have to be unbearable. It is the way we look at them–through faith or unbelief–that makes them seem so. We must be convinced that our Father is full of love for us and that He only permits trials to come our way for our own good.

Let us occupy ourselves entirely in knowing God. The more we know Him, the more we will desire to know Him. As love increases with knowledge, the more we know God, the more we will truly love Him. We will learn to love Him equally in times of distress or in times of great joy.

Although we seek and love God because of the blessings He has given us our for those He may give us in the future, let’s not stop there. These blessings, great as they are, will never carry us as near to Him as a simple act of faith does in a time of need or trouble.

Let us look to God with these eyes of faith. He is within us; we don’t need to seek Him elsewhere. We have only ourselves to blame if we turn from God, occupying ourselves instead with the trifles of life. In His patience, the Lord endures our weaknesses. Even so, just think of the price we pay by being separated from his presence!

Once and for all, let us begin to be his entirely. May we banish from our hearts and souls all that does not reflect Jesus. Let’s ask Him for the grace to do this, so that He alone might rule in our hearts.

I must confide in you, my dear friend, that I hope, in His grace, that I will see Him in a few days.

Let’s pray to Him for one another.

One February 12, 1691, just a few days after writing this letter, Brother Lawrence passed from this life into the next to dwell fully in the presence of his God.