(Messages) Pearl of Great Price — Basilea Schlink

Hope and Comfort in Illness

Not Alone in Suffering, written by Basilea Schlenk, brings a joyful message of hope for those who are burdened with illness. Could we say these words for ourselves? Cross-bearing, blessed pain, glory its final aim, loaded with goal is the cross.

Or perhaps as we look back to times of illness in our lives, when there seemed to be no escape from the pain and difficulties, we can't say this. Perhaps right now you're in a hospital, and it has been some weeks now since you were with your dear ones.

At night you lie on your bed awake and sleepless, unable to escape the temptations and worries that descend upon you. Alarming thoughts rise up from within, refusing to leave you in peace. Or perhaps you feel misunderstood by your relatives, or your friends, or those in charge of you.

You sense that you're being drained visibly of your strength. You don't know whether or not you'll be able to take up your career again, which gave you such satisfaction. Mother Basilea once told us about a similar time in her life when she was very ill.

She has written about this in her booklet, The Blessings of Illness.

She writes, For weeks on end, I was separated from my loved ones. Even when I was an invalid at home, I seldom saw my spiritual daughters. Then, when I had to go to the hospital, the doctor ordered complete rest, and I was allowed no visitors.

So most of the time I was quite alone. And yet, I was not alone after all. I would like to share this secret with those of you who are in the same circumstances. One day, a nurse brought me a cross and hung it up on the wall facing my bed.

It was a great help in reminding me of the suffering of our Lord Jesus. He, who is love itself, suffered endless pain beneath his crown of thorns out of love for me. My faith was greatly strengthened, and I realized anew, Jesus is with me.

He loves me more than anyone else could. He has done more for me than anyone else has, and he has also wept more and suffered more. He continues to suffer with me today, for he is the living Lord by my side.

Since I wasn't allowed to have visitors, I could meet with Jesus instead. I could talk to him at any time and could pour out my heart to him. Yes, I could bring him all of my needs and the questions that troubled me.

Jesus understands me best of all. He can answer all of my questions better than anyone else. Yes, I was allowed to look to him who bears God's image, Jesus. He is entirely merciful and humble. He is peace.

As I looked to him, I experienced the truth of the words of Psalm 34 verse 5. Look to him and be radiant, so your face shall never be shamed. A deep peace entered my heart, and I was richly comforted in the knowledge.

I am not alone. No, I am in the hands of my Lord Jesus, who loves me so deeply. He is truly able to comfort me. Yes, the Lord blessed me, and I was able to yield completely to his will and to speak the words, Yes, Father, Thy will be done.

So the misery of my illness was changed into blessing, peace, and joy in him. But this was not all. Mother Basilea continues. I actually experienced that if I turned my heart to my Heavenly Father, I was inwardly strengthened and filled with joy.

Discipline, Holiness, and Trust in God's Will

Isn't it in times of illness and suffering that the Father gazes upon us with a special love? For the Bible says, the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, Hebrews 12 verse 6. And the reason why he chastises us is that he has our eternal salvation in mind.

He wants to make us beautiful for eternity. He wants to prepare us, especially by leading us along ways of illness. In these times, we may lay all our longings and wishes in his hand and say, My Father, do what you want with me in my illness, and as long as you want.

I know that you will only do good. Later, when Mother Basilea was allowed to receive visitors again, she was told about the glories of the woods and meadows. All of nature was decked in her summer finery.

How she was pitied, for she couldn't enjoy the outdoor beauty due to her confinement to her bed. Yet she writes, Allegorically speaking, I felt like a happy young woman engaged to be married. Normally, such a young woman loves with all her heart the beauty of the world.

But strangely enough, ever since she has become engaged and come to love her fiancé so deeply, she scarcely notices her surroundings. She only knows that he is with her, and that this is her entire joy.

This is exactly how I felt. Jesus is my friend. And indeed, he loves me more intimately than any earthly bridegroom could. Yes, he is so lovable and dear that I have to love him above everything else, with all my heart and with all my strength.

Yes, with all my soul. So I also love his wishes and will, even when I am ill and he says to me, Stay in this room. Lie here until I lead you elsewhere. You are not alone. I am with you. Yes, during these weeks of illness, I was truly happy in my imprisonment, for I was bound all the closer to Jesus himself.

This experience was in fact an answer to prayer. How often in the last few years I had prayed, Draw me nearer, my God, to thee. Now I experience this never before. Whoever has Jesus is content and at peace.

He who clings to him in spirit can long for nothing more. Jesus came to give us a full life, abundant life. This I learned during these months. His love can make us completely happy, so that we need nothing but him.

But times of illness contain particular valleys as well, suffering and disappointment. Perhaps the results of the medical examination don't show any definite end to the illness. Then our patience is really put to the test.

But if we don't lose patience, if we bind ourselves ever anew to Jesus, who never lost his patience, then he will grant us his patience. Even when it doesn't look like it, Jesus gives us only his very best.

How could he do otherwise? Yes, we're not alone in suffering. Jesus can change all trials and troubles into blessings, if only we trust in his love, if only we accept his will and follow his way. The misery of illness will be changed into a blessing for us, according to God's plan, if only we will accept the suffering, if only we will rest in God's hands when he strikes us down with illness.

If we let it, times of illness can teach us much about God. It will teach us not to worry anymore. We will learn to leave it to the Father, in his love, to decide what's best for us, both today and tomorrow.

It will teach us to be dependent upon Jesus, who is our only help. It wants to teach us the mightiest prayer, which is highly honored in heaven. My Father, thy will be done. It wants to teach us to humble ourselves beneath the hand of God, because we recognize, I, a sinner, need this.

Therefore, I would like to appeal to those among you who are suffering from illness. Don't despise this illness which the Lord has brought upon you. Instead, realize that God has something wonderful planned for you.

He'll transform you into the image of love, patience, gentleness, and humility, and prepare you for eternal glory. Let us pray. Dear Lord Jesus, give us a strength which we now need, the strength to suffer.

We open our hearts to you, so that you can fill us with your love. We surrender ourselves to follow in your footsteps along the way of the cross, the way you are now leading. Fill us with words of deep gratitude for all the good which we're receiving through our illness.

Fill our mouths also with words of trust in your love. You will never give us more than we can bear. Your love has measured and chosen this cross. Amen. Following in his footsteps, by Basilea Schlink, will give us the answer to this question, which is of utmost importance for our spiritual lives.

Persecution as the Cost of Discipleship

The Christian College student group was holding a meeting in Hamburg, and Mother Basilea was to lead this meeting. She writes about this time, I was supposed to speak about the following text, All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

2 Timothy 3, verse 12. But I was at a loss as to how to interpret this verse. Up until that point in my life, I had never been persecuted. What was I to do? This Bible verse states very clearly and definitely, All.

In other words, all those will be persecuted who truly desire to walk with Jesus. And that's what I really wanted to do, to follow in his footsteps. But so far, this way hadn't cost me very much. I'd never been ridiculed or scorned.

Did I actually belong to those who truly desire to walk with Jesus? This disturbed me. Jesus said, that a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. But as I've already mentioned, that wasn't the case in my life.

And besides that, I'd never yearned for this. Instead, I was happy when I didn't offend anyone. When I finally realized this, something else became clear to me too. Then I didn't belong to those whom Jesus mentions in the Sermon on the Mount either.

Yes, blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and do all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. Matthew 5, verse 11 and 12.

I recognized that the way of discipleship wasn't costing me anything. And therefore, it wasn't something valuable in my life. What a sad state of affairs. Perhaps some of you are in the same situation.

Don't we all find it hard when our superiors or our colleagues look down on us? We can't bear it when someone questions our reputation or says something bad about us and puts us in a doubtful light. It really hurts us when we're not taken seriously or when others treat us as an outsider or as a bit strange.

There are those who by nature enjoy being contradictory and defending others. But most of us want to live in peace and harmony with our fellow men, whether at work or at home. By no means do we want to create a disturbance.

Back at that time, when I was perplexed about the Bible verse about persecution, Jesus' verdict in Revelation 3 applied to me. Because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.

But then Jesus brought about a new commitment, a real battle against my sins, and I experienced how Jesus granted me a new inner life. Then suddenly this verse from the second letter to Timothy, all those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, became a reality.

For years, we had prayed for a revival in our girls' Bible studies, and then it came. After a short while, a real campaign of slander began against us. The malicious gossip spread, and we soon belonged to the outcasts.

Even when God awakened people who testified that Jesus was at work in our group and that everything was sensible and biblical, the poison continued to spread. How were we to cope with what God taught us?

Loving Enemies Through Slander and Discipline

Weren't we in danger of becoming bitter and retaliating against our opponents? Don't unjust slander and disgrace arouse the belligerence that's in a person's heart? Yes, it does. So the attitude we take determines whether we'll be thoroughly defeated or come forth as victors.

For me, the danger was especially great when nothing could get me more upset than when I or anyone else was blamed unjustly. There was nothing I abhorred more than untruthfulness and injustice. But now, the Lord allowed both of these things to enter my life.

Didn't God know that this was the most difficult thing for me to cope with? The Lord didn't spare me. He led me according to His wise plan of discipline. During the battle that now began to rage in my heart, this knowledge was a great help.

I had prayed for many years that something of the love of Jesus might begin to shine in my life. But this love is completely different from the usual human love and kindness. The love which filled Jesus' heart and determined His life and actions was the love for His enemies, for those who responded to His goodness with hatred and in the end crucified Him.

Looking back, I am really grateful that Jesus kept me from deceiving myself on this point. For through the slander and attacks of my enemies, I realized how little I was able to love. But that helped me.

Now I could completely accept the fact that arrows were flying from both sides. I knew they were helpful instruments in God's hand. Through them, the Lord was working on my soul, molding it into the image of His love.

Because I had to admit how much I needed these blows from God, I humbled myself beneath God's hand and opened myself to the arrows. In my heart, there was only one prayer. Lord Jesus, no matter what it may cost, have mercy upon my soul.

Yes, the blows of God serve to remove something from us. They are like a chisel that scrapes out something of our old nature and then engraves in us the image of God. Yet while the Lord was working on me, I could only feel the blows of the chisel and couldn't see anything of what would come.

Every day, I had to fight a battle that Paul urged the early church to do. Now it was costing me a great deal to go Jesus' way. But I also experienced that He did not tempt me beyond my strength. For it was along this way that Jesus came so close to me as the one who bore the cross.

The Blessing of Bearing the Cross

I experienced that carrying the cross is blessed suffering and that it brings us great happiness and glory now and then. One day, I wrote a poem about this truth. Cross-bearing, blessed pain, glory its final aim loaded with gold is the cross.

Bringing grace all its own from heaven's highest throne, cross-bearing brings us bliss. Bearing the cross of Christ, who can such grace assess? Glory enough is such lot. Sharing with Him the weight of what an honor great, reaping eternal bliss.

Yes, what a blessing it is when following Jesus costs us something. What a blessing it is when we fall down and realize how much bitterness, lovelessness and criticism there is in our hearts. What a blessing it is when this way teaches us to humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God perhaps some of you may be in the same school of God's wise discipline now.

Let's begin to give thanks for this. Those who laugh and sneer at us or spread bad rumors about us because we're following Jesus are doing us a service which even our best friends cannot do for they show us what we're really like.

We have to realize how little we can love but this in turn drives us to prayer and into the battle of faith the love that doesn't become embittered or keep an account of evil. I am risen,.

Foes of love must flee now far away. I am risen,.

Yes, that which costs us a great deal actually brings us the greatest gain for all eternity. But even here on earth we discover full of thanks how happy and free this love makes us. Yes, here and now this love which makes us endure and suffer brings us into the intimate communion with our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we go His way we will never be deceived and in heaven we'll scarcely be able to comprehend the glory that Jesus has prepared for those who share His way with Him. Then in the words of the psalmist our mouths will be filled with laughter and our tongues.

With shouts of joy. Who can measure the great suffering and the great suffering.

Of the faithful of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. Darmstadt-Eberstadt, West Germany. Stop your machine now and turn your cassette over. So much depends on our learning to master our future today.

Victory Over Fear Through Jesus

I am not alone. By Basilea Schlink. Will help us to take the right attitude towards fear. Today's darkness is covering the nations and all of mankind is threatened more than ever before. Insecurity and fear of riots, crime, catastrophes and nuclear war are ruling most of the people today.

Because God the Father loves His children He doesn't want them to be tormented with fear or despair in the horrors of the coming time of destruction. Therefore He is urging us to prepare ourselves now for such a time when we can richly experience His help and comfort.

He wants to help us overcome our fear now. He wants to strengthen our trust in such a way that we'll be hidden as it were in a strong fortress in the midst of danger and anxiety. That's why He shows us how to handle fear.

But perhaps you're frightened and are saying fear is devouring me. It paralyzes me. Fear, how can I master it? It's like a disease which is almost incurable. It keeps creeping up on me and won't let me be happy.

What should I do with it? Is there any way of getting rid of it? Yes, there is one who understands our fear. Our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the one who bears and suffers it with us. For in the face of all the threatening horror He says in the world you have tribulation yet He says more. He says be of good cheer. I have overcome the world and with it fear.

He has won the victory over fear. What a prospect. What a possibility. Here is the one to whom is given all power and authority in heaven and on earth. Here is the one about whom can be said there is no problem greater than the helper.

No problem, no problem of your fear. Jesus can cope with it. When we call upon Him He helps us. He conquers our fear. The important thing is to come to Him with our fear. And this means to always proclaim His victorious name over our fear in steadfast unwavering faith knowing before this Lord my fear has to give way.

He is greater than all the horrors of this earth which fill me with fear. Before Him wind and waves had to and still have to abate. He is the one who can help. As we call upon His name again and again He makes fearful hearts.

Confident and peaceful. Our fear won't be taken from us in a single day just because we've called once to Jesus please take away my fear.

I persist in prayer and battling in faith and if perhaps I have to wait a while one thing is certain Jesus is always victor. That means that He always comes with His help. He always fulfills His word.

No one who waits for Him will be put to shame. This refers to those who persist in prayer and faith. Jesus will always prove to be the greater one the helper who is mightier. We mustn't pay attention to lost battles in the fight against our fear even when we are aware that fear has gripped us again.

Instead when we look at the accomplished victory of Jesus we'll experience Him and His help also with the problem of our fear. We'll experience even if we lost fights in the battle of faith to overcome our fear we'll nevertheless win the war.

Thanks to Jesus. The ones who came to harm who trusted in the Faith that did His own to promise He'd free all things we need from ancient fears. We do not fear.

Let's make deliverance from fear a firm aim of faith in view of the time of destruction that lies before us and say I believe you Lord Jesus. By the time the catastrophe comes, you will have conquered my fear.

I will not let go of this aim of faith. I shall tell you this every day in my prayers.". How can he not do it? Jesus has come to save us so that we might serve him without fear. Whoever the Son makes free is free indeed, also from fear.

In the midst of danger, we are in his peace. Yes, Jesus has power to transform our hearts so that they will be filled with peace instead of fear, resting comforted in God's love and care. Then we can have the firm assurance, the Father is taking care of me.

He is watching over me. His love and care belong to me. He hides me in his arms, in his shelter in the day of trouble. Yes, he commands his mighty hosts of angels to stand guard around me.

Yes, you will experience miracles of his protection and his goodness if you continue in the battle of faith against your fear by proclaiming the victorious name of Jesus and by trusting in the Father's love.

He surely fulfills his promise. God delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. Yes, in Jesus' wondrous, mighty name, all fears must melt away. They have to break and flee before the victor, Jesus.

The powers of fear are broken now. I praise aloud today. The Lord has fully conquered fear and trod it underfoot. I trust that Christ will make me free from all anxiety. This miracle he will perform, it brings him glory.

One name there is, one name in earth and heaven, one name...

Prayer for Protection and Peace

Yes, let us in this hour bring our fear to our Lord Jesus Christ and to God our Father and let us pray together. My dear Father, I thank you that I can come to you with my fear, for you are the best Father there is.

Therefore, you understand your child and have compassion on him when he is afraid. My Father, I thank you that I know as my Father you will help me. You will strengthen my soul and take away my fear. I thank you that as your child I belong to you.

No catastrophe can separate me from you. Led by your hand, I will be brought through the tribulation. I thank you and praise you that as a father you always have help prepared for your child. I cling to this promise in my fears and troubles.

You will not disappoint me. You will never forsake me. I thank you and praise you. In all my fears, I will come to know Jesus as the victor who commands my fear and says, it must give way. My peace be with you.

I thank you that when riots, rumors of war and the thoughts of a terrible nuclear war want to frighten me, you will let me experience the reality of your word. I will be a wall of fire round about. Then the fear cannot seize me.

I thank you that I can firmly count on this fact. In the time of great distress, when I will lack everything, one thing will remain. You, my Father. You are the Lord to whom is given all power in heaven and on earth.

You have everything in your hands and you accomplish everything. Therefore, with you, I too have all I need. Abba, dearest Father. Amen. There is no hope for him. If a doctor were to say this about someone we love dearly, we could lose all courage.

Hope Anchored in God's Promises

These devastating words can have a paralyzing effect on us. If the patient himself hears that there is no hope for him, he may lose the last of his strength. But on the other hand, new hope can give such a powerful upsurge of strength to the seriously ill that they sometimes even recover completely.

What power there is in hope. This trust, this power of hope is what we need today. That is what will help us live through even the most difficult years. For hope not only gives us wings to fly through physical difficulties, but also for emotional and spiritual needs.

For instance, what can it mean when we have to say goodbye to someone we love if we have the hope of seeing him again soon? Perhaps God has led us into serious temptations or given us disappointments or problems.

Perhaps he has even led us to the edge of death. At such times, the Father in heaven calls to us, My child, I will give you a precious gift. I will give you hope. And with this hope, you will be able to go through all suffering, needs, and temptations.

Grasp the anchor of hope that you will not be tempted beyond your strength. Believe that I have prepared an end to this suffering. This hope is anchored in the rock of his promises. God is calling to each one of us personally.

Have faith in me when you have problems. Yes, he is actually pleading with us. Have faith that affliction will really end in glory. If you trust me, affliction will open the door to the city of God where pain and tears will disappear for all eternity.

And you will be filled with rejoicing. Yes, you will begin to experience this already here on earth. There is one person who begrudges us this hope. It is Satan. He knows the power contained in hope. He knows how invincible we will become in spite of our problems, temptations, and suffering.

So he tries to whisper to us, There's no sense. Everything is lost. It's hopeless. Everything will stay miserable. Your prayers for other people or for your own problems won't be heard. Give it up. It's useless.

We all know such situations. Satan shows us a picture of ruins. He shows us the ruins of our hope and he whispers all these things to us. But at such times, we simply mustn't listen to him. Not under any circumstances.

Rather, we have to say, Yield from me, Satan. I know what you have in mind. But I have a hope, a sure hope in the fulfillment of God's promises for my life. I know that the love of God will never let suffering be the end.

He has prepared a way out for me. He will let me experience His love and omnipotence.

I will keep you so far.

In Hebrews 6, the Word of God encourages us to hold on to our hope until the end. Never get tired. And in 1 Thessalonians 5, Scripture tells us to put on the helmet of hope when we fight against Satan.

Yes, in the midst of all our problems and also in the midst of horror, we can live from hope. Those who trust the Lord will experience that He is faithful. The day will come when God will prove His faithfulness and all our problems will be solved.

Or, if He leaves us in a difficult situation, He will change our hearts so that it will be filled with peace and comfort. For God has promised us this. God's promises... Everything depends upon whether we listen to the voice of Jesus more than Satan's whispers.

For in Scripture, the Lord speaks of sure hope. We do not have a faith that leads us nowhere. To have a sure hope means that I have a sure promise from God that I can hold on to. It will give me the strength to endure to the end in all temptations and problems and all types of suffering.

This sure hope will give me the strength to remain true to God and His Word no matter how much the storms of life may rage about me or the waves of trouble and suffering break over me. Therefore, when you have problems, praise God as the God of hope.

That means that the great eternal God Himself is hope, the hope for your life and for a world heading towards destruction. As one of the guidelines for life on our little land of Canaan says, in times of distress when there seems to be no way out, whether the struggle be inward or outward, wait expectantly for the hour of help and rescue.

Blessed are those who wait. Their waiting will be turned into joy. Those who persevere will see a blessed fulfillment of their hopes, both here and to the fullest extent in heaven. For God does not let our hopes come to naught.

Yes, God has hope for each of us. That is the overwhelming thing. And this hope contains all the comfort for our lives. God will not give you up. He will not give me up. That is why people who surrender their lives to Him completely are people of hope.

They have a living hope which no one and nothing can take away from them. God wants to make you into such a person of hope no matter how many problems you have or how big they might be and no matter how great your suffering is.

It all depends on whether you trust Him. I have often found that there is no type of suffering, no problem that God does not have a ray of hope for. Yes, we have a hope which no one can take from us no matter what the future might bring.

It is Jesus Himself and the power of His love.

Who is like you? Forever may you...

Songs by Mother Basilea Schlink of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. Darmstadt-Eberstadt, West Germany.