It was July 22, 1672, that she gave herself to the Lord afresh, with larger comprehension and consecration, without reservation of purpose or time, in the most solemn manner, signing and sealing the following covenant: “I henceforth take Jesus Christ to be mine. I promise to receive Him as a husband to me, and I give myself to Him, unworthy though I am, to be His spouse. I ask of Him, in this marriage of spirit with spirit, that I may be of the same mind with Him—meek, pure, nothing in myself, and united in God’s will; and, pledged as I am to be His, I accept as a part of my marriage portion, the temptations and sorrows, the crosses and the contempts, which fell to Him.” This sacred covenant of the spiritual marriage with her Redeemer, she carefully renewed and reviewed on its anniversary. Especially noticeable was the renewal in 1681, for it took place in Annecy, at the tomb of St. Francis of Sales, who, more than any other human being, was her master in spiritual things, as he has been to hundreds of thousands more. When left a widow with large property interests, she first settled up the affairs of the extensive estate with much skill, without assistance from any one, did much in charity for those around her, looked after her children, and then gradually felt her way to what was to be her life-work in the world. Her spiritual experience all the while was advancing; she was sinking more thoroughly out of self into God. July 22, 1680, was a specially memorable epoch with her, when she began to count the life of nature as fully slain within, when her soul seemed to be delivered from all its chains, and set wholly at liberty, in a way not known before. She says, “I had a deep peace; a peace which seemed to pervade the whole soul; a peace which resulted from the fact that all my desires were fulfilled in God. I desired nothing; feared nothing; willed nothing. I feared nothing; that is to say, I feared nothing considered in its ultimate results and relations, because my strong faith placed God at the head of all perplexities and all events. I desired nothing but what I now have, because I had a full belief that in my present state of mind the results of each moment, considered in relation to myself, constituted the fulfillment of the Divine purposes. I willed nothing; meaning in this statement that I had no will of my own. As a sanctified heart is always in harmony with the Divine providences, I had no will but the Divine will, of which such providences are the true and appropriate expression.”