Tenfold Diligence to the Work Assigned Us

Mary Winslow raised three sons to become ministers; and she lived to see three grandsons become ministers.  She was born two years before our country’s war for independence.  She married a Lieutenant at 17, and came to Christ soon following.  Shortly after immigrating to New York with ten children, she lost her infant daughter.  Before her baby could be buried, she received word from oversees that her husband had died.  Widowed at 40, responsible for nine children, her entire life was turned upside down.  Worst of all, her spiritual darkness and despondency overwhelmed her for some months.

Nevertheless, the Lord delivered her from all these sorrows and turned her darkness into light.  Later, she confessed that affliction was for her own welfare.  “I think I have learned more of my dreadfully wicked heart, and the preciousness of Jesus during this trial than I ever learnt before”, she said.  By seasoned experience, she learned how to maintain a spirit of unwavering faith during times of suffering.   And God granted her remarkable joys to balance the sorrows.  He redeemed all of her children…

I really do love how she talks to others in her letters, and I think we have so much to learn from her forthright emphasis on gospel, on the Person of Jesus Christ, and of our heart responses to Him.  Here’s another taste:

“My dear friend, I wish to know how the Lord’s work is prospering in your hands.  However little we may know of each other here, we are to dwell together throughout eternity.  How should this thought unite the children of God, level every barrier between them erected by man’s inventions and Satan’s devices!  We shall know, even as we are known.  We shall know Jesus--precious Jesus!—and shall we not know and love all who bear His image; and should we not try and be as much like what we expect to be in the world of glory to which we are daily approaching—yea, moment by moment nearing our port.  Happy thought! Glorious prospect before us!  Take courage, my friend, and give tenfold diligence to the work assigned you by your Master.  I trust you are well assured he has called you to it, and if so, I hope you look to Him continually for materials to enable you to carry it on to the praise of His holy name, and that at last you might receive a “well done, good and faithful servant," from His blessed lips.  Oh, to live to please Him who died for us, and to do His work faithfully, and with an upright heart, looking for our reward only in knowing and feeling that we are doing His will…”

--Bio and quote from Heaven Opened, Octavius Winslow editor

Oxford, England, 2009