My cares, dear Lord, are known to You, and not known only, but laid upon me by Your own hand. They weigh heavily at times. The interests at stake are so tremendous, and my ignorance and helplessness so great. Often enough I do not see what to do for the best; oftener still I cannot take the course that seems to me best. I am afraid of a false step; I am afraid of missing opportunities. Where to make a stand, and where to yield; when to command, and when to entreat; when to offer a word of remonstrance or of counsel, and when to say nothing and trust to prayer--all these are perplexities in which I need and pray for the guidance of Your holy Spirit. There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence, but this is Your secret, O Lord! Give me the opportunities won by long prayer. Put upon my lips the well-timed word. Send me the success that comes of casting out the nets at Your word, under Your eye, with Your blessing. And solve for me other problems--how to teach my children to take their place befittingly in the world without being of the world; how to train them for the battle of life; to provide them with an equipment for mind and heart that will suffice for the needs of these perilous times; to strengthen them by self-knowledge, self-reverence, self-control against the intellectual and moral dangers they will have to face, and prepare them for the burning questions of the day before they are flung into their midst. I tremble at the sight of these dangers beginning so early now when life is lived so fast. And the mother’s words, the mother’s arms do not reach as far as heretofore. She can only pray and trust. How earnestly You bid us trust, O Lord! “Fear not: for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”[143] “Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.”[144] “Be quiet, fear not, and let not thy heart be afraid.”[145] “I shall fear but I will trust in Thee.”[146] “My God is my helper, and in Him will I put my trust.”[147] “In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God.”[148] “How long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget me, how long dost Thou turn away Thy face from me? Consider, and hear me, O Lord my God.”[149] * * * * * “_Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me!_” I gather them round me here at Your feet. I trust them to Your care. Keep them in Your faith and in Your love, and bring them safely through the dark perils of this life to the haven of salvation. “_Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me._” Let me say this one day as we stand in the brightness of Your Presence. Let me say in the fulness of my joy: “Of them whom Thou hast given me, I have not lost one.”[150] * * * * *