December, 1916. A Thankful Heart

FROM the depths of a thankful heart I sing of the mercies of the Lord to me this year. We can say with the Psalmist, “Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens.” Yes, God is faithful. I desire to thank Him, as the year passes from us, for all the blessings He has bestowed. The wondrous way in which He has led us, the loving-kindness that has raised us up such a host of friends, and the sense. He has given of His presence with us―all the time and all the way. And as I review the past twelve months, I think of the host of letters I have received from Christians in all parts of the British Empire. Every continent has sent its help and its cheer. Our little rivulet of service has been widened and deepened by God into a river of opportunity. Thank you, O my many friends, on land and sea! May God bless you for every loving word. I cannot tell you how you have cheered me in long hours of service. Your prayers have given strength and purpose to all that has been done. God will bless you. He has seen the tears of gratitude and heard my broken prayers of thanks and praise, as I have realized my deep unworthiness of all your loving sympathy. But God has given me the work, and you are helping me to do it. To God be all the glory.
If I have forgotten to thank any, God has not forgotten. I promised in November “Message” that this number should contain an account of our work and of our needs. I shall tell you a little, but my dear soldier and sailor friends will tell you more. Their letters will speak eloquently of all the work and all the need.
Dear fellows, to whom you have helped me to send Testaments, I know you and I will see hundreds of them in the glory of God! What meetings on those golden streets! What praises from those lips redeemed! Many of Christ’s soldiers I have known have fallen upon the battlefield. I shall hear from them no more on earth, but they have served their God in the trenches, at the base, and elsewhere, and now their work is done. At this Christmas-time there will be thousands and tens of thousands of nameless graves in France and Flanders and elsewhere, and many an empty chair in desolated homes, but the soldiers of Christ have found their home in the mansions of God.