Broken Bread

Broken Bread

Thirty years ago I read, Broken Bread, by John Wright Follette. The following poem has stayed with me all these years and I consider his book was worth reading for this poem alone. But there are other gems too.––R. Barry Tait

Identification

I am a flame born of celestial fire,
I bear a name, Insatiable Desire.
   I wear in heart an image all divine,
   Past human art, not traced by mortal line.
I hear God call to taste His heavenly power:
I give my all to burn life’s single hour.
   So let me burn through fetters that would bind;
   Thus will I learn and freedom will I find.
I shall return to Love’s eternal fire,
There shall I burn─a satisfied desire.
                                      ─John Wright Follette

                                        

Amanda Smith, An Autobiography: The story of the Lord’s dealings with Amanda Smith.

“Three months of schooling was all I ever had,” writes Amanda Smith. That was at a school for whites, though a few colored children were permitted to attend. To this school my brother and I walked five and a half miles each day, in going and returning, and the attention we received while there was only such as the teacher could give after the requirements of the more favored pupils had been met. In view of the deficiency in my early education, and other disadvantages in this respect, under which I have labored, I crave the indulgence of all who may read this simple and unvarnished story of my life.”

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Uplifting autobiography of Amanda Smith

Amanda Smith’s autobiography is an inspiring story of a former slave who experienced a “double redemption,”—first from slavery and secondly from the bondage of sin. Although a humble washerwoman, God remarkably used her as His instrument to tell the story of the sanctified life to high and low around the world. Constantly struggling against prejudice and injustice even within the Church, her spirit of forgiveness and courage both challenges and convicts the reader, while her simple faith, absolute honesty, and remarkable answers to prayer, make her autobiography both gripping and challenging.
—Trudy Harvey Tait