A letter to a brother going through trials

Dear brother, I recall the years in which the Lord purposefully blocked the sight on the path ahead of me and patiently waited for the growth of my faithfulness.  (He still does, but only in a different way in my life at this time.)

I was no Ruth, the blessed Moabite who with her pure and simple heart followed her mother in law Naomi, so faithfully and so beautifully, through death and humiliation, all the way to salvation by her Lord.

I wish I had been just a bit like Ruth, who must be a delight to the Holy Spirit, in contrast to the faithless and corrupted Israelites in the time of Judges. They only brought sorrow and grief to the Holy Spirit.  How weak I was and how much I must have grieved the Holy Spirit during that period of time of my experience!

But even at my lowest point and the most difficult time, the Lord preserved me so that I never fell victim of the snares of disobedience.  Such is my faith in the situation you presently face because you have grown to greater maturity in the Lord.

Since I learned of your situation, I have constantly come before the Lord to pray that He strengthen you. If my brother is in the hot furnace of Daniel’s friends, the only thing that comforts me is to see that you know the Lord is also in it with you.