C.H. Spurgeon's Evening Devotional
Wednesday May 28, 2025

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope."-Lamentations 3:21
    
    Memory is frequently the bondslave of despondency. Despairing minds call to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past, and dilate upon every gloomy feature in the present; thus memory, clothed in sackcloth, presents to the mind a cup of mingled gall and wormwood. There is, however, no necessity for this. Wisdom can readily transform memory into an angel of comfort. That same recollection which in its left hand brings so many gloomy omens, may be trained to bear in its right a wealth of hopeful signs. She need not wear a crown of iron, she may encircle her brow with a fillet of gold, all spangled with stars. Thus it was in Jeremiah's experience: in the previous verse memory had brought him to deep humiliation of soul: "My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me"; and now this same memory restored him to life and comfort. "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope." Like a two-edged sword, his memory first killed his pride with one edge, and then slew his despair with the other. As a general principle, if we would exercise our memories more wisely, we might, in our very darkest distress, strike a match which would instantaneously kindle the lamp of comfort. There is no need for God to create a new thing upon the earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they would prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and the throne of grace, their candle would soon shine as aforetime. Be it ours to remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, and to rehearse His deeds of grace. Let us open the volume of recollection which is so richly illuminated with memorials of mercy, and we shall soon be happy. Thus memory may be, as Coleridge calls it, "the bosom-spring of joy," and when the Divine Comforter bends it to His service, it may be chief among earthly comforters.
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Monday, January 11, 2016

Whispers in the Reading Room by Shelley Gray


Librarian Lydia Bancroft and club-owner Sebastian Marks are the unlikeliest of friends, but their love of books connects the two in Shelley Gray’s Whispers in the Reading Room, book three in The Chicago World’s Fair Mystery series. Lydia and Sebastian form a fragile friendship, but when she discovers that Mr. Marks isn’t merely a very wealthy gentleman, but also the proprietor of an infamous saloon and gambling club, she is shocked. One fateful night, suddenly Lydia is a suspect to a murder. She must determine who she can trust and if Sebastian Marks is actually everything her heart believes him to be.

{More about Whispers in the Reading Room}

Whispers in the Reading Room (Zondervan, November 2015)
Lydia’s job at the library is her world—until a mysterious patron catches her eye . . . and perhaps her heart.

Just months after the closure of the Chicago World’s Fair, librarian Lydia Bancroft finds herself fascinated by a mysterious dark-haired and dark-eyed patron. He has never given her his name; he actually never speaks to a single person. All she knows about him is that he loves books as much as she does.

Only when he rescues her in the lobby of the Hartman Hotel does she discover that his name is Sebastian Marks. She also discovers that he lives at the top of the prestigious hotel and that most everyone in Chicago is intrigued by him.

Lydia and Sebastian form a fragile friendship, but when she discovers that Mr. Marks isn’t merely a very wealthy gentleman, but also the proprietor of an infamous saloon and gambling club, she is shocked.

Lydia insists on visiting the club one fateful night and suddenly is a suspect to a murder. She must determine who she can trust, who is innocent, and if Sebastian Marks—the man so many people fear—is actually everything her heart believes him to be.

Learn more and purchase a copy.

If you have a love for reading then Shelley Shepard Gray's book Whispers in the Reading Room is just the book for you.  A fun winter, curl-up-by-the-fire book read.  You won't want to stop turning the pages Gray has you trapped from the start to the finish.  It is definitely a hard book to put down.  I have read Gray's Amish writings but this is the first one of her books nonAmish that I've read and love it as I love her Amish books.  It's the third book in the World's Fair series, but I didn't feel as if I'd missed anything by not reading 1 & 2 first.  Now, I'm going to have to back peddle and read the first two books. 


{More About Shelley Shepard Gray}

Shelley Shepard Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town’s bike trail.
Find out more about Shelley at http://www.shelleyshepardgray.com.




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