You could have heard a pin drop, an hour had flown by unnoticed and we did not wish her to stop. The speaker was Helen Roseveare, former missionary in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. We were all on the edge of our seats - and it was the same each of the three times I have heard Helen speak.
Captured, and abused by a rebel soldier, in the Simba rebellion (1960-1964), Helen’s searing honesty and utter dependence on God in her darkest moments, gripped us then in her talks and has done so since in her books, of which Enough is her eighth currently in print.
As a boy, Helen was one of the first real-life missionaries I ever met: she seemed 6 feet tall, and I looked up to her in both senses! – and I, in my mind, put her on a pedestal. But, once again, in this her latest book, we benefit from her honesty, doubts, fears, perplexity and failures in life – as well as her experience of God’s forgiveness, leading and grace. As always, we can identify with Helen as a real person like us, and she applies Scripture perceptively, with helpful illustrations from her own long experience (she is now 87).
Enough is written to demonstrate that we can be certain that ‘our sufficiency is of God’ in all aspects of our life. God’s multi-facetted grace really is all-sufficient for our salvation, assurance, emotional support, happiness and contentment – and for enabling us to please Him.
One of Helen’s most challenging and helpful points is drawn from the worst experience of her life, in which the Lord said to her: “Can you thank me for trusting you with this, even if I never tell you why?”(p.27). What a searching question! Deep down, is our confidence truly in the gospel, God’s sovereignty and the riches of His all-sufficient grace?
Enough is short, balanced, insightful, convicting, honest and encouraging. I’ve recommended it at church, and I know many people who’ve both read it and given a copy as a gift to a friend. Why not do the same?
‘His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!’
(Annie Johnston Flint)
This weekend only, order a copy of Enough for just £1.99. Simply use the code enough at the checkout.
Richard John
Bookstall Manager, Selhurst Evangelical Church (FIEC), S.E. London
