On this day in 1823, Beverly Blanckard, the sister of George Boardman, wrote a letter to her brother, describing to him some of the trials and difficulties that his family back in America had been facing and the way that God had brought them through it.
George, excited to hear the way that God was working not only in Burma but also in America and to see the way the faith of his family was strengthened through the ordeal, wrote back:
It would be well for us to remember that God is daily doing us good,—that his common blessings demand from us new and obedient expressions of obligation. It has often astonished me, that the profusion of his mercies, showered upon our dear family, should produce so little feeling in my stupid heart. What family has been so signally blessed as ours? Surely he hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. “I rejoice to learn that your recent sickness led you to take a nearer view of the eternal world, to consider whether your days were not well nigh numbered and finished, and to examine into the state of your heart,that you might know whether you are indeed united to Christ. What is there like feeling ourselves wedded to him in bonds of affection, that earth and hell cannot sever? The man who lives daily by faith in the Son of God, who like Enoch walks with God, stands firm and secure, though all around him be convulsed; though the mountains be removed, the earth tremble, and the sea roar. God is a hiding-place from the windy storm and tempest. How secure is the Christian in the folded arms of his covenant God. What, though the elements were melted into one solid mass of ruins, God, who is our refuge and strength, is still the same. This vital union to Christ will support us under every loss and bereavement we are called to sustain. If our souls are stayed on him, we can endure our trials without feelmg their poignancy. And though all the earthly objects of our affection were removed from our view, we should still feel that our great portion was left,—we could say with Jeremiah, ‘The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;’ and with Job, ‘Yet surely I Know that myRedeemer liveth.’ This thought has often comforted me. Whatever we may lose, if we love and value Christ as we ought, we shall feel that our all is left
