We should never be discouraged

You know how when you learn a new word, you suddenly hear it everywhere? This is a difficult and stressful week for me at work, so the lines from the hymn Take It To the Lord in Prayer are more useful than ever.

In addition, in preparation for this Saturday's Quaker Heritage Day, I decided to read at least part of the book edited by the two speakers, Walk Worthy of Your Calling. It's been recommended to me by at least three people in my Meeting, and I'm finally getting around to reading it. (Good thing I ordered it for the Meeting's library!) It's a collection of essays byFriends from around the world about their experiences with traveling ministry.

Anyway. The third essay is by and about an African Friend who had resisted the call to ministry. To the point that it made her physically ill. She describes her years of avoiding the call, her visions and the voices that spoke to her. On the night that she finally gave in and accepted the "signs that started a new thing down in my heart," I find that the words that opened her to following her leading were these:

You should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer!

It was one of those numinous moments. I nearly cried on the Muni train through the rest of her essay. Even though she uses a lot of traditional Christian language that is not my own. Her experience spoke to me, beyond words, beyond cultural differences, in that which is eternal, as they say.