Tracing His Hand

 "Let us then view God's providences towards us more religiously than we have hitherto done...Let us humbly and reverently attempt to trace His guiding hand in the years we have hitherto lived. Let us thankfully commemorate the many mercies He has vouchsafed to us in time past, 

the many sins He has not remembered,

the many dangers He has averted,

the many prayers He has answered,

the many mistakes He has corrected,

the many warnings,

the many lessons, 

the much light,

the abounding comfort which He has from time to time given.

Let us dwell upon times and seasons, times of trouble, times of joy, times of trial, times of refreshment. How did He cherish us as children! How did He guide us in that dangerous time when the mind began to think for itself, and the heart open to the world! How did He with His sweet discipline 

restrain our passions, 

mortify our hopes,

calm our fears,

enliven our heavinesses,

sweeten our desolateness,

and strengthen our infirmities.

How did He gently guide us towards the strait gate! How did He allure us along His everlasting way, in spite of its strictness, in spite of its loneliness, in spite of the dim twilight in which it lay! He has been all things to us, He has been, as He was to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our God, our shield, and great reward, promising and performing, day by day. 'Hitherto hath He helped us'. He hath been mindful of us, and He will bless us. He has not made us for naught; He has brought us thus far, in order to bring us further, in order to bring us to the end."    ~John Henry Newman