Title: Stepping Heavenward
Author: Elizabeth Prentiss
Published: Originally published: in 1869. It has been republished several times over the years. The particular book I'm reviewing is a paperback that was published in 2001 by Solid Ground Christian Books. (I know that Lamplighter has also published Stepping Heavenward in a hardback book)
Background Information: See previous posts entitled "Stepping Heavenward"
In an attempt to shorten these posts and get on to another book, I am just going to briefly summarize the rest of the story. (also, this way I can attempt not to spoil the entire book for you if you haven't read it! :-) ) Hopefully I've given you enough detail about the story to make you want to read it yourself! :-)
Katy takes the Sunday School class and also ends up going with her mother to visit the poor. Later Katy goes to visit her Aunt in New York. Here she meets her future husband. (a Dr. Ernest Elliot) Katy initially doesn't like him and tells her Aunt that she would never marry a doctor, and that he is too serious and old! :-) Her Aunt informs her that he is only 7 to 8 years older than herself and that "you were made for each other. He would tone you down and keep you straight, and you would stimulate him and keep him awake" (p 76). Katy responds by saying she doesn't want to be toned down or kept straight. :-)
After a time, and some misunderstandings, Katy does come to love the doctor and they marry. The rest of the story continues on with her married life. The Doctor and Katy go through some of the normal and not so normal trials of married life. Shortly after their marriage the Doctor's mother dies, his family has lost some money, and as a results his father and older sister come to live with Katy and the Doctor.
This provides many trials for Katy, however, by the end she realizes how God used the entire situation for good. The Doctor and Katy have several children, and go through the pain of watching their oldest child die at a young age. (he dies just before his 6th birthday)
The story records how Katy grows in her spiritual life, how people minister to her and help her along the way, and how she helps others as well. (we also learn more about Amelia and Charley--who don't have an ideal marriage. Amelia becomes ill and dies young, leaving her husband with 3 girls. Charley's Uncle ends up taking care of the girls)
By the end of her journal, Katy is very ill and doesn't know how much longer she will live. Here are a few of the last line she writes in her journal.
"But I wish, oh, how earnestly, that whether I go or stay, I could inspire some lives with the joy that is now mine. For many years I have been rich in faith; rich in an unfaltering confidence that I was beloved of my God and Savior. But something was missing; I was always groping for a mysterious grace the lack of which made me often sorrowful in the very midst of my most sacred joy, imperfect when I most longed for perfection. It was that personal love of Christ of which my precious mother so often spoke to me, which she often urged me to seek upon my knees. If I had known then, as I know now, what this priceless treasure could be to a sinful human soul, I would have sold all that I had to buy the field in which it lay hidden. But not till I was shut up to prayer and to the study of God's word by the loss of earthly joys, sickness destroying the flavor of them all, did I begin to penetrate the mystery that is learned under the cross. And wondrous as it is, how simple is this mystery! To love Christ, and to know that I love Him - this is all!" (p 271)
This story is an excellent one and ultimately shows how God worked in one woman's life to bring her from an unhappy girl to a woman who loved Christ. It's a great story and definitely one that I'd consider a "classic."
See the next post for some discussion questions! Have a great day!
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