Susannah Spurgeon has become one of my favorite authors. She was the wife of Charles Spurgeon, the great pastor of London’s Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle who God used mightily. Although everyone has heard of her husband and probably owns or has at least read (or at the very least heard of) some of his books, many may not know she wrote a few books as well.
She lost her husband before they would be considered “old,” and she lived several years alone. You can sense her loneliness and love for her dear husband…but you can also sense the reality of the presence of God in her life.
She was a holy woman.
She wasn’t angry at God for taking away this man she loved so dearly; on the contrary, she was happy to have him out of his suffering and in the presence of his Savior.

I can relate to her writings.
Thankfully, I don’t know the pain of losing my husband, but I do know pain.
I know the pain of losing hopes and dreams.
I know the pain of imagining things the way I wish for them to be….and reality being the exact opposite.
We all know pain.

Some of her pain, I have experienced:
The pain of failing the Lord.
The regret of past sins.
The ache and longing to drop this robe of flesh and be with Christ forever, never to sin again.
I so get that.

Thankfully, there is healing, forgiveness, and redemption found at the cross. We have One who will undertake for us. What an amazing truth! Here is what she said about that:

“Oh, the blessed restfulness of putting everything,—physical, mental, and spiritual—into my Father’s hands and just leaving all there! When once faith can heartily make this transfer, all is well with the soul, and its peace is perfect. God does nothing by halves; if He undertakes our case, He will deliver us from all evil, He will blot out our transgressions for His own Name’s sake, He will sanctify our affliction to His glory, He will turn our sorrow into joy.”

He will deliver us from all evil. As a child of the King, no weapon formed against us can prosper. No enemy can utterly defeat us. We can be cast down, but not destroyed. Why? Because He has promised to deliver us!

He will blot out our transgressions for His own Name’s sake. Any past, present, or future sins have been done away with! This includes sins committed before we were saved and since we’ve been saved. No one can ever bring them up again. They’ve been removed as far as the east is from the west….for His own Name’s sake!

He will sanctify our affliction to His glory. Woah. That’s a hefty statement. Only Christ can take our pain and suffering and bring something precious from it. And He will. Every time. It may not seem like it’s possible, but just hold on.

He will turn our sorrow into joy. I’m glad sorrow won’t last forever. Smiles will eventually replace the tears. Dawn always breaks through the darkness. Christ has overcome.

This may not seem to have much to do with mine and Justin’s lives, but it does. Oh, how it does!
This is the Rock we stand on.
Knowing that our God undertakes for us is how we make it day to day.
This is our hope.
This is what makes our lives possible.
It’s Christ alone.

By the way, you can find Susannah Spurgeon’s books on Amazon.com. One of her devotionals is entitled, “A Basket of Summer Fruit.” The other is called, “Free Grace and Dying Love.” This one is actually two books in one. The first part is more of her devotions, and the second part is her biography. It is wonderful. I highly recommend both of these books.
Also, if anyone knows about any others she has written that I don’t know about, please let me know!