WEBVTT

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Dear Miss Kuhlman, several months ago, while

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dialing the radio, I chanced to get your program,

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which I had never heard before. My father was

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an ordained minister for nearly 63 years, was

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a strong exponent of the Wesleyan doctrine of

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scriptural holiness. I assisted him as pianist.

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soloist, and was also a companyist for a radio

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program. Papa was stricken for years, one month

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and 11 days, before his passing in January. I

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gave up everything and nursed him 24 hours a

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day. He was one of the most consecrated, godly

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men I had ever known. And his passing was indeed

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triumphant. After a life of 87 years. After seven

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months, I am still having a running battle with

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self -pity. My life has tumbled in, and I sit

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in the wreckage. dazed, stripped of life's values,

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with a heart full of questions about these ultimates.

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All I can feel is a great aching void, a gigantic

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emptiness. All at once, with no warning, as if

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a spring had released it, a fresh flow of tears.

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Seems there is constantly a sense of futility

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about almost everything. It's like a blanket,

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smothering all initiative, stifling laughter,

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snuffing out hope, drugging my energy. The smallest

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task becomes a gigantic effort. What can I do?

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I shall anxiously anticipate a reply. And the

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writer of this letter signs her full name and

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gives her full address. In the first place, I'd

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like to ask this woman who is a daughter of a

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man of God. who served his God more than 50,

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more than 60 years, does she actually believe

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what her father taught and preached true? If

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her father preached the truth, If she believed

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what her father preached, then she wouldn't be

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living a life of defeat. For there's victory

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in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can do all things

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through Christ, which strengthens me. That's

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God's Word. And God's Word cannot and will not

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fail. Know that. I can do all things. No man,

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no woman need ever be defeated. This daughter

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of a minister need no, no defeat whatsoever unless

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she consents to be defeated. Her father preached

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it. He believed it. Does she believe the Word

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of God? If you believe it, you're going to do

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something about it. You're going to act like

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it. First of all, I'm going to say something.

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This person, the writer of this letter, is waiting

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for some miracle to happen on the outside. Don't

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wait for some miracle to be performed on you

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from without. lifting you above your self -centeredness,

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above your fears, above your doubts. You help

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God from within by turning in outgoing love to

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others. And miraculously, your fears, your doubts,

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your self -centeredness will vanish, but not

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until. The miracle starts within, not from without.

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You've got to throw your wheel on the side of

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outgoing love. And all the healing resources

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of the universe will be behind you. But neither

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God nor man can help you if you remain all bottled

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up in yourself, in your own self -pity and your

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own self -centeredness. That's right. All the

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medicine that you can take, all the advice that

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I might be able to give you, all of your father's

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past sermons, everything that you might know

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mentally will never help you until you start

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doing something definitely yourself. It's like

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that. You've got to do it. Neither God nor I

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can help you if you remain bottled up in your

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own self -pity. I mean that. Get out of yourself

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or you'll perish. Get out of yourself or you're

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going to remain a defeated... Worthless person.

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You want to know something? Victories that come

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cheap are cheap. Those only are worth having

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which come as a result of hard fighting. And

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sometimes the fighting becomes mighty hard. But

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those are the victories that are the most worthwhile

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victories in the whole world. I know. I know

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from personal experience. Sure, it was the stones

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that bruised my feet that made me strong. The

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Gethsemanes in my life. Those hard battles. Those

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testing times when I felt I was almost crushed

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and the waters almost overflowed. Not those victories

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that came easy and were cheap, no. Uh -uh. Those

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hard victories. But I'll tell you something.

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There'll never be a dungeon in your life but

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what the master will give you grace in the dungeon

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and will give you victory in the dungeon and

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in your darkest hour. Pause with me. Did you

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ever consider that Milton wrote his Paradise

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Lost when blind? A man was set aside with a broken

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hip. And while lying in bed, the wallpaper at

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which he had continuously looked at gave him

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the idea of becoming a sketch artist. And he

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became a very successful one. He found grace

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in his darkest hour. He might have been defeated.

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Never had amounted to anything. A poet. Failed

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on the first night of a public reading, and he

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felt the next day that everybody was pointing

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the finger of scorn at him. He went home, wrote

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his greatest inspirational poem on the ability

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to take it when you fail. That poem fell into

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the hands of a man in the hospital who had lost

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both arms and feet. And it so inspired him to

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become a public reader that he became a very

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successful one. They both found grace in the

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dungeon. Dr. Mary McCracken, a very marvelous

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doctor, is totally crippled in her lower limbs

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with infidel paralysis. The medical colleges

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of America refused to allow her to take a medical

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course, saying that she could never practice.

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Was she defeated? Not in your life. And she might

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have easily have been defeated, discouraged.

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Think of it. The medical colleges of America,

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because the fact that she had infantile paralysis,

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refused to take her. Because they said, being

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a total invalid, she would never be able to practice

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medicine. Do you want to know what she did? She

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went to China. She got her medical degree there.

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Not only that, she stood at the top of her class,

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came back to the very city of Philadelphia where

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she had been refused a medical course. and is

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practicing in an institution for crippled children

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practicing in a wheelchair. No man, no woman

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need ever be defeated on a single score unless

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they consent to be defeated. You may lose both

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feet. And yet there is victory. You may lose

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both arms. And yet there is victory. You may

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lose the sight of your eyes. And still there

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is victory. The hearing in both ears. And still.

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still there is victory. Victories that come cheap

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are cheap. Those only are worth having which

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come as a result of hard fighting. Oh, sure.

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O 'er rose -groomed paths the weaklings creep,

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but brave hearts dare to climb the steep. Give

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courage, give victory, for Jesus' sake. Amen.