"Grace in the Dungeon: Part 2" Kathryn Kuhlman Help Others and Say No to Self Pity!

I hold in my hand a letter that a mother wrote to me years ago. She would be amazed to know that I have kept her letter all this time. The little poem that she enclosed with her letter is still clipped to that letter. There is seldom a week that I have not thought. of the words that this little mother wrote to me. And it's been a long time ago now. Dear Catherine, here is a little verse cut from a Scotland paper which sounds just like me. I'm so tired being tied down all these years with my young waterhead helpless. and three grandsons that is so lively and destructive. One thing is, you always say, God makes no mistake. I must believe this. But if only I could learn to stop telling God what to do. If only I could Trust him completely and say thy will be done. That's all that was written in the letter. The woman signed her full name. And then this was the little verse that she had enclosed having cut it from a Scotland paper. On bended knee with sweat and tears, I knelt alone to pray. i told god i could not endure not for another day but though my tears ran fast and hot god answered not on bended knee contrite i prayed but no loud words had i i waited humbly on the lord my prayer was but a sigh. And in the wondrous stillness, he gave his strength to me. You've heard me say many, many times as I've prayed, Father God, please hear that prayer in that sigh. I have never forgotten this woman's letter. Neither have I forgotten the little clipping she enclosed from the Scotland paper. The prayer in the falling tear. The prayer in the sigh. Because the burden was too heavy. The woman with the helpless waterhead child. I'm so tired, Miss Cooman. I'm so weary of staying at home constantly. I'm caught in this dungeon. I'm caught in circumstances. I've cried until I can cry no longer. Please pray that God will give me grace in my dungeon. I was so deeply touched with this letter. I got in contact with her immediately. I said, I have a little work for you to do. You can do it right there in your own home. You know, I'd like some dresses made for some children that I know who are starting to school and their parents are too poor to buy little dresses for them. I'll get the pattern. I'll buy the material. start sewing for me. And we worked together on a little project. And it wasn't long before that woman's dungeon turned into one of the brightest spots in that whole neighborhood. The happiest mother that you ever saw in your life. And today... She is one of the most victorious mothers that I know anything about. Though sure you too may be saying, I'm caught in a web of circumstances that bind me hand and foot. How can I have abundant living under these circumstances? I'm caught in my dungeon. Beloved, If you find grace at all, you must find it in the dungeon. You're caught. You're not able to get out of the dungeon. Then the only thing to do is to get the dungeon out of you. Find grace in that very dungeon. Find grace in my... circumstances. And the first thing that you do, get your eyes off of your circumstances. Look up. As long as you look down, as long as you keep your eyes on your circumstances, you'll never get victory. Never. And above all, do not permit yourself to accept pity. either from yourself or from anyone else. Accept no man's pity. I repeat, do not permit yourself to accept pity. Pity is the most dangerous form of emotional charity. I don't know anything besides fear that you can take in your own life. that is more destructive to you than pity, self -pity. It may seem to comfort you at first, but be aware of such comfort, for it will turn you into a spiritual bomb. It will turn you into a whining weakling. Is there anything? That is worse to have around than a whining weakling. An individual who has given himself over completely to self -pity. It's destructive. And sooner or later, it will destroy you. It'll kill you. It'll defeat you. It matters not what has happened to you. It matters not what life has done to you. You may be crippled in body. You may be broken financially. Cheated. Robbed by death of the thing that was dearest to you. No matter what has happened to you, no matter what your disappointments, still within you there will remain something that is unbeaten, something that may inspire respect and command service. You can still come back if you don't accept pity. But the very minute that you give yourself over to self -pity, you've destroyed your influence, you've destroyed yourself. Self -pity is destructive. Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. Those are noble words. Make them your words. Stand up straight in your rags. Stand unquivering in your wounds. God alone knows the victory that will be yours if you refuse to go down in defeat. This moment is yours. This hour is yours. Your life is yours. Your soul is yours. Hold fast to that proud treasure. Do not trade it for any man's pity. Among the most beautiful of Paul's writings are these words. This salutation is in my own hand. From Paul. Remember, I am in prison. Grace be with you. You would have expected Paul to say, I am in prison. I am in a dungeon. My circumstances are insurmountable. God give me grace. But no, he puts it just the other way. I am in prison. Grace be with you. I have found grace in the dungeon. Enough and despair. I pass it on to you. And it works. I tell you the truth. It works. Many a time have I gone into an auditorium. Many a time have I walked out on a stage, on a platform. Many a time have I faced a congregation. When I got the... in my own life, my own soul, by giving to others. Oh, gracious God and Heavenly Father, if my circumstances become a dungeon, then help me to find grace enough for myself. and to spare for others. Help me not to whine or complain, but to find resources enough in you to pass on to others. For I know that thy grace is sufficient for me, and not merely when life is free and open, but when life turns into a dungeon. I shall find grace enough for myself and to spare. For God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. The summer showers are falling. And the poet stands by the window watching them. They're beating. They're buffeting the earth with their fierce downpour. But the poet sees more than the showers that are falling upon his eyes. And before him, he sees the lovely flowers which shall be soon breaking forth from the watered earth, filling it. with matchless beauty and fragrance. And so he sings. It isn't raining rain for me. It's raining daffodils. In every dimpling drop I see wildflowers upon the hills. A cloud of grey engulfs the day and overwhelms the town. But it isn't raining rain for me. It's raining roses now. Perhaps in this very moment, even while I'm speaking, someone of God's precious children is even now saying, Oh, dear God, the rain is coming down in torrents. I'm almost defeated. It's raining so hard for me this hour. Maybe a midnight hour for somebody. And you're almost on the brink of defeat. It's so dark, it's so lonely. You feel so all alone. You've been caught in circumstances. And there doesn't seem to be a way forward or backward. There just doesn't seem to be a way out. There isn't a star in that... darkened sky for you tonight. The walls are blank. But remember, hope will put stars in darkened skies. Hope and trust and faith will put windows in walls where there are no windows. Testings are raining upon you which seem almost beyond your power to endure. Disappointments are raining fast to the utter defeat of all of your chosen plans. Bereavements are raining into your life which are making a shrinking heart quiver in its intensity of suffering. The rain of affliction is perhaps beating upon your soul these days. You're caught in a web of circumstances and you can't move. All that you can think about is defeat. And self -pity is about to creep in. Oh, my friend, don't be overtaken. It isn't raining rain for you. Not really. It's raining... Blessings. If only you could see beyond those darkened skies. The sun is shining on the other side of the cloud. Oh, those blank walls. On the other side of those blank walls, there's victory. It isn't really raining rain for you. It's raining blessing. If you will but believe your father's word, underneath that beating rain are springing up spiritual flowers of such fragrance and beauty as never before grew in that stormless, unchastened life of yours. If you could only know, if you could only see, if you could only believe, if you could only trust, open those blinded eyes just now. Just now. And let that one see, if only for a brief moment. You indeed see the rain. But do you see also the flowers? You're pained by the testings. But God sees the sweet flower of faith, which is upspring in your life. Under those very trials, you shrink from the suffering, but God sees the tender compassion for other sufferers, which is finding birth in your own soul. I know. How could I feel another's disappointment had I not had disappointments? How could I feel the suffering of another if I had never suffered? How could I talk about the stones that bruise one's feet on the highway of life if my own feet had not been bruised? And the blood marks of suffering on those stones. How could I feel the suffering of another if I had never suffered? How could I talk about a life on the brink of defeat if I had never stood on the same brink? How could I promise you victory, complete victory in the Lord Jesus Christ if... I had not experienced that wonderful victory through the power of God Almighty. Oh, sure your heart is broken under the sore bereavement of the passing of a loved one. I too have stood there at the open grave. I too have had the flowers. watered by my tears. But God sees the deepening, the enriching, which that sorrow has brought to you. No, beloved, it isn't raining afflictions for you. It's raining tenderness. It's raining love, compassion, patience, thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed spirit, which are bringing into your life such a spiritual enrichment as all the fullness of worldly prosperity and ease was never able to give to you. In this moment, look up. You've had your head down for so long. Look up. See the sunshine. See the flowers. See his grace. Be enriched by his love. One day, I walked a mile with pleasure, and she chattered all the way and then left me, none the wiser for all that she had to say. But one day I walked a mile with sorrow, and not one word said she. But oh, the things I learned that day when sorrow walked. with me. I am the person that I am today. Not because of the sun that shone in my life or the flowers on my pathway. I am what I am today. The person that I am this hour. Because of the stones that bruised my feet. Because of a heart that was broken. Because of a will that was surrendered to his will. And he turned the dungeon into a place. where I was able to find His grace. More than just enough for myself, but enough and to spare. And I pass that grace on to you. Not one of us need ever... be defeated not on a single score, not so long as God is still God Almighty. God bless you.