September 12, 2012
Dear Diary:
In Chapter Twenty-Five of Elizabeth Prentiss's Stepping Heavenward, Katherine and Helen are visited by a lively and eagerly growing Miss Clifford, who shares with them a Christian thinker's thoughts on what it means to really be a child of God. Katy is especially stunned and delighted by the notion that it is the little things, the daily acts of life done with the right heart, which glorify God so greatly. When she shares this with Ernest, he agrees wholeheartedly that Christian living should be a holistic experience, apparent in all areas of life (from work to church), rather than a categorical one. Katherine also goes to visit Mrs. Campbell in this chapter, for what she thinks will be the last (or one of the last) time, as Mrs. Campbell is getting ready to go home to her Lord and family. Una gets very sick again, and Katherine is torn up about giving her up to God; and she does, but as soon as she decides it in her heart, He allows her to get better.
Chapter Twenty-Six begins with a farewell to Mrs. Campbell, but the people around her are at peace with her homeward departure and Katherine especially is thankful for the time she has been able to spend with her. In her very last conversation with Katy, Mrs. Campbell gave her parting words of wisdom in the importance of a surrendered, joyfully humble countenance that relies completely on Him. After her death, Katherine and Helen are discussing Mrs. Campbell's last conversations when Helen reveals the anguished struggle she has been having with believing in Christ and following after Him, and her doubts about being His child at all. Katy then replies, "suppose, for argument's sake, you are not a Christian. You can become one now (Prentiss 304)." This relieves Helen's burden so greatly, and I don't know if I was ever so proud of Katherine than in that moment; for although she is a marvelous character and I truly admire her, her simple and yet deeply profound words to Helen were so encouraging to read. Martha becomes sick with rheumatism, and so Helen goes to stay with her for a while, while Katherine and her four children decide to get some fresh air in the countryside with a lovely and opinionated Mrs. Brown. As the months go by, we also learn that Katy is expecting another baby.
We have now approached the final chapter, Chapter Twenty-Seven; oh, how sad I was/am to see the story end! Katy has her baby, and all is well; she gets very sick, and my heart was very heavy in thinking she would die, but I was also glad that she would get to go home. But she is blessed with seven more years, and possibly more to come; as she continues to step westward, toward home.
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