EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN

Nothing but God can satisfy this loneliness of humanity. No change of circumstances, not even the dearest earthly ties, not my continued presence even, could really satisfy the hungary depths of your soul for any length of time. I am speaking out of the depths of my own experience when I say this, and you may believe me. But now the question is how to bring ones self to be satisfied in God when there is no feeling. And I do not know what else to say but that it must be by faith. I see the difficulty you speak of, and I confess it does seem an odd sort of thing to do, to become satisfied by saying one is satisfied, when one is not. But is it not just what faith is described to be “calling those things which be not as though they were.” And what else can we do? In my own case I just determined I would be satisfied with God alone. I gave up seeking after any feeling of satisfaction, and consented to go through all the rest of my life with no feeling whatever, if this should be God’s will. I said, “Lord, you are enough for me, just yourself, without any of your gifts or your blessings. I have you, and I am content. I will be content, I choose to be content, I am content.” I said this by faith. I still have to say it by faith often. I have to do so this very evening, for I am not very well, and feel, what I expect thou would call “low.” But it makes no difference how I feel. He is just the same, and he is with me, and I am His, and I am satisfied. —To Priscilla, 4653 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa., January 8, 1882