Showing posts with label Hannah Hurnard. Show all posts 
Pride was seen striding toward her
This thing which always despised and ignored her

"How do you do?" She spoke first
Wondering if he would acknowledge her worth

Knowing better than to greet him
Yet, it felt quite pleasant to be seen with him

He took her hand inside his
She learned very quickly about taking his

He began to speak disdain
She began to believe she'd put to shame

Trying hard to pull away
Pride gripped tightly, he truly wanted to stay

He's slimy and he sticks like glue
It's a terrible thing to let pride touch you

my inspiration

Much-Afraid, of course, ought not have know better than to greet, much less to stop and talk with one of her own relatives from the Valley. But it is rather pleasant, after being snubbed and ignored for years, suddenly to be greeted as an equal. Besides this, her curiosity was awakened.

"Do you know what will happen to you, Much-Afraid, if you persist in going forward? All those fair promises he has made about bringing you into his Kingdom and making you live happily ever afterward will prove false. When he gets you up to the wild, desolate parts of the mountains, he will abandon you altogether, and you will be put to lasting shame."

Poor Much-Afraid tried to pull her hand away, for now she began to understand the meaning of his presence there and his bitter hatred of the Shepherd, but as she struggled to free her hand, he only grasped it tighter. She had to learn that once Pride is listened to, struggle as one may, it is the hardest thing in the world to throw him off.

It's a terrible thing to let Pride take you by the hand...

Hannah Hurnard, Hinds' Feet on High Places, Chapter Five.

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An Encounter with Pride

27 March 2023

 


Her lameness no longer filled her mind
She had walked miles without its control
He and she so lovingly entwined
Willingly submitting to her new role

Safely resting in the arms of Christ
Desiring Him to stay the whole way
Much-Afraid longed to not leave the tryst
As He willfully prepared for the day

"If I carry you up the mountain,
You will not firmly develop hinds' feet
In the end, you'll leap up the mountain
And you must trust that I will not retreat

I'm placing your hands inside my guides
Sorrow and Suffering will lead the way
You must stay real close, right by their sides
They will protect you from being the prey."

"I can't go with them.  I can't.  I can't.
She trembled at their horrifying sight
Sorrow and Suffering made her pant
But eyes on the Shepherd made it alright

Help me to trust as much as I love you
I will go with whomever you choose
I will not doubt whatever you do
Shepherd, it's you that I cannot refuse

my inspiration 

Upheld by the Shepherd’s hand and supported by his strength, she had really forgotten her lameness and had been unconscious of either tiredness or weakness. “Will you take me all the way? When I am with you I am strong and I am sure no one else but you can get me up to the High Places.” 

He looked at her most kindly, but answered quietly, “Much-Afraid, I could do what you wish. I could carry you all the way up to the High Places myself, instead of leaving you to climb there. But if I did, you would never be able to go where I go. If you will climb to the heights this once with the companions I have chosen for you, even though it may seem a very long and in some places a very difficult journey, I promise you that you will develop hinds’ feet. That is why I have most carefully chosen for you two of the very best and strongest guides.

“They are good teachers; indeed, I have few better. As for their names, I will tell you them in your own language, and later you will learn what they are called in their own tongue. This, “said he, motioning toward the first of the silent figures, “is Sorrow. And the other is her twin sister, Suffering.”

“I can’t go with them,” she gasped. “I can’t. I can’t. O my Lord Shepherd, why do you do this to me? How can I travel in their company? It is more than I can bear, You tell me that the mountain way itself is so steep and difficult that I cannot climb it alone. Then why, oh why, must you make Sorrow and Suffering my companions? Couldn’t you have given Joy and Peace to go with me, to strengthen me and encourage me and help me on the difficult way? I never thought you would do this to me!” And she burst into tears.

“Joy and Peace. Are those the companions you would choose for yourself? You remember your promise, to accept the helpers that I would give, because you believed that I would choose the very best possible guides for you. Will you still trust me, Much-Afraid? Will you go with them, or do you wish to turn back to the Valley, and to all your Fearing relatives, to Craven Fear himself?”

Much-Afraid shuddered. The choice seemed terrible. Fear she knew only too well, but Sorrow and Suffering had always seemed to her the two most terrifying things which she could encounter. How could she go with them and abandon herself to their power and control?

She looked at him piteously, then said, “Do I wish to turn back? O Shepherd, too whom should I go? In all the world I have no one but you. Help me to follow you, even though it seems impossible. Help me to trust you as much as I long to love you.”

Hannah Hurnard, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Chapter Four.

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Sorrow & Suffering

18 March 2023

 


Love spreads a carpet of flowers
They lie beneath ones feet
Often found in the wild places
The places many don't see

They offer themselves completely
Singing beautiful songs
They're happy to love without return 
And flourish where they belong

Created one, listen closely
Listen and take to heart
The fairest beauties of human soul are
Victories that ne'er depart

Many a quiet, hidden life
Life unknown by the world
Are a great delight for the king, like
Wildflowers hid from the world

my inspiration 

“Humble yourself, and you will find that Love is spreading a carpet of flowers beneath your feet.” Much-Afraid looked at him earnestly, “I have often wondered about the wild flowers,” she said. “It doe seem strange that such unnumbered multitudes should bloom in the wild places of the earth where perhaps nobody ever sees them and the goats and the cattle can walk over them and crush them to death. They have so much beauty and sweetness to give and no one on whom to lavish it, nor who will even appreciate it.”

The look the Shepherd turned on her was very beautiful. “Nothing my Father and I have made is ever wasted,” he said quietly, “and the little wild flowers have a wonderful lesson to teach. They offer themselves so sweetly and confidently and willingly, even if it seems that there is no one to appreciate them. Just as though they sang a joyous little song to themselves, that it is so happy to love, even though one is not loved in return.

“I must tell you a great truth, Much-Afraid, which only the few understand. All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can only dimly guess at. Every inner response of the human heart to Love an every conquest over self-love is a new flower on the tree of Love.

“Many a quiet, ordinary, and hidden life, unknown to the world, is a veritable garden in which Love’s flowers and fruits have come to such perfection that it is a place of delight where the King of Love himself walks and rejoices with his friends. Some of my servants have indeed won great visible victories and are rightly loved and reverenced by other men, but always heir greatest victories are like the wild flowers, those which no one knows about. Learn this lesson now, down here in the valley, Much-Afraid, and when you get to the steep places of the mountains it will comfort you.”

Hannah Hurnard, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Chapter Four.

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Start for the High Places

09 March 2023

 

The thorn in her heart was aching
In a manner she could scarcely bear
Would this cold pain keep her waking?
Disbelieving He's no longer there

In pursuit of her Great Longing
She slipped out of bed in the dark-night
She feared no longer belonging
A fear greater than Fears out of sight

Ceasing trembling and with great haste
Knowing deep down what she must pursue
She traveled to the trysting-place
Because she knew He could make her new

"Oh, my Great Lord, take me with you.
Please, do not knowingly leave me here.
I cannot bear life without you.
I willingly follow anywhere."

my inspiration 

The thorn in her heart was throbbing and aching in a manner she could scarcely bear. 

Much-Afraid turned icy cold and her teeth chattered, but it was the pain in her heart which was the most awful part of her distress. It seemed to suffocate her as she lay there in bed. She sat up, shivering with cold and with the horror of the thought. She could not bear it if he had gone and left her behind… She must see for herself at once if he really had gone away and left her behind. She slipped out of bed, dressed herself as quickly as her shaking fingers would permit, and then unlocked the cottage door.

Opening the door, she went out in darkness. A hundred Craven Fears lurking in the lonely street could not have deterred her at that moment, for the pain in her heart swallowed up fear and everything else and drove her forth.

It came to her mind that he who understood her so well, who knew all about her fears and had compassion on her, would not leave until he was quite sure that she really meant to refuse to go with him.

Much-Afraid ceased trembling and said to herself, “I will go to the trysting-place, and see if He is waiting for me there.” With scarcely a word to the watchmen she turned and hurried southward, over the field where Craven Fear had met her toward the sheep pool. 

“I knew you would come, ” he said gently… “I am here,” said Much-Afraid, still kneeling at his feet, “and I will go with you anywhere.”

Then the Shepherd took her by the hand and they started for the mountains.

Hannah Hurnard, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Chapter Three.

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Flight in the Night

07 March 2023

 

Hinds’ Feet on High Places is a story of endurance, persistence, and reliance on God. This book has inspired millions to become sure-footed in their faith – even when facing the rockiest terrain.

HANNAH HURNARD
Much-afraid woke early
All her fears were gone
Love was planted deeply
Songs of joy, now her song

Thoughts of the Shepherd
Caused her glad heart to stir
Love no longer measured
Disfigurements, now blur

Knocking at the door
Old Fears hard to dismiss
Love could win the war
If Much-Afraid weren't remiss

Bound by all her Fears
The Shepherds call grew faint
Blurred by all the tears
Much-Afraid thought it too late

"Help!" cried Much-Afraid
Mrs. Valiant came in haste,
"Fears, Ye shall not invade.
You must now be replaced."

my inspiration 

Much-Afraid woke early the next morning and all her fears were gone. Her first thought was, “Probably sometime today I am to start for the High Places with the Shepherd.” It seemed to her that ever since the seed of Love had been planted in her heart, songs of joy were welling up in her innermost being. 

The morning wore on and still He had not come, but just after midday something else came; an invasion by her terrible relatives… The whole gang talked on and on, while poor Much-Afraid sat cowering in their midst, almost too dazed to know what they were saying and suggesting. Just as they they had hoped, they were gradually bringing her to a state of bewilderment and incoherent fear. 

As she sat listening in the cottage, Much-Afraid knew with a pang of agonizing pain that the Shepherd was calling her to go with him to the mountains…. now, here she was locked insider how own cottage, beleaguered by her terrible Fears and unable to respond in any way to his call or even to give any sign of her need.

…for suddenly she heard the voice of Mrs. Valiant, her neighbor in the cottage next door. At the sound, Much-Afraid braced herself for one last desperate bid for escape… Mrs. Valiant was not the sort of person to be the least intimidated by what she called, “a pack of idle Fears.” Thrusting her face right in through the window, she cried in a threatening voice, “Out of this house you go, this minute, every one of you. If you have not left in three seconds, I shall call the Chief Shepherd. This cottage belongs to him, and won’t you catch it if he finds you here.”

Hannah Hurnard, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Chapter Two.

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Fearing Invasion

03 March 2023

 

Having been, born into
The family of Fears
Much-afraid so withdrew
With trembling and tears

Countless days and most nights
Spent locked-up in her room
Dreaming of grander heights
Bid to replace the gloom

Are you willing to be changed?
The Chief Shepherd sang
I have much to offer you
In this great exchange

This seed of love is free
When planted in your heart
Fear shall in moments flee
And strength shall ne'er depart

my inspiration 

This is the story of how Much-afraid escaped from her Fearing relatives and went with the Shepherd to the High Places where “perfect love casteth out fear.”

Most earnestly she longed to be completely delivered from these shortcomings and to be made beautiful, gracious, and strong as were so man of the Shepherd’s other workers, and above all to be made like the Chief Shepherd himself.

There was, however, another and even greater trouble in her life. She was a member of the Family of Fearings, and her relatives were scattered all over the valley, so that she could never really escape them.

“Oh, if only I could exit from this Valley of Humiliation altogether and go to the High Places, completely out of reach of all the Fearings and my other relatives.” No sooner were these words uttered when to her complete astonishment the Shepherd answered, “I have waited a long time to hear you make that suggestion, Much-afraid…. I could make make yours like hinds’ feet also, and set you upon the High Places…”

Hannah Hurnard, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Chapter One.

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An Invitation to the High Place

20 February 2023

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