When I was a young newlywed, I had a picture of what my life would be like when I was older. I was certain that by the time I entered my 40s, I’d be a faithful, wiser version of myself simply because I’d aged. But I didn’t expect that God would use so many trials to shape my faith or that it would take such a long time to see growth.

Infertility, chronic illness, and difficult years as a young pastor’s wife were some of God’s surprising tools of sanctification in my life. I’ve learned in the past two decades that God’s means of growth seldom look like we imagine, but they’re effective. God will keep his promise to finish the work of faith he began in us (Phil. 1:6).

Shortly after I was married, a friend gave me an old book she thought I’d enjoy. Published in 1869, Stepping Heavenward: One Woman’s Journey to Godliness is Elizabeth Prentiss’s epistolary novel about a young woman growing up in New England after the sudden loss of her father. Though it’s fictional, much of the story is autobiographical. It reflects many of the same challenges experienced by Prentiss, a teacher who also wrote poetry and hymns.

I deeply identified with the main character, who longed to grow in Christ but didn’t know how to bring about growth herself. From this old novel, I learned that my ongoing sanctification was the Holy Spirit’s work, for “God is just as willing and just as able to sanctify as He is to redeem us” (25). Though we’re separated by more than a hundred years, I still see iterations of myself in the main character’s life and thoughts.

Sanctified Reluctantly

Stepping Heavenward records the fictional life of Katherine Elliott through her journal entries over about 30 years. The first half of the book is filled with the honest writings of a young, divided heart. In the beginning, we meet 16-year-old “Katy.” As a young woman, she’s high-tempered, passionate, and solely interested in having a good time. She wants her friends to like her, her beaus to pamper her, and her mother to always think well of her. She attends church begrudgingly, prays half-heartedly, and wrestles constantly with what’s expected of her. Prentiss expertly captures the fight between spirit and flesh in a young woman’s conflicted desires:

I want to have a good time with nothing to worry me. I hope I shall live ever so long. Perhaps in the course of forty or fifty years I may get tired of this world and want to leave it. And I hope by that time I shall be a great deal better than I am now and fit to go to heaven. (17)

When I read this in my early 20s, Katherine’s words resonated with me. I wanted to enjoy my life without giving my time to the habits of grace God has provided for spiritual growth. I assumed aging would take care of spiritual maturity for me. But aging in and of itself doesn’t grow faith or produce the fruit of righteousness in anyone’s life. Walking with Christ as we age brings about the growth and maturity we’re hoping for. When Katherine finally believes that, the story evolves into a chronicle of ordinary but beautiful sanctification.

Sanctified by Ordinary Means

Walking with Christ as we age brings about the growth and maturity we’re hoping for.

As a busy wife and mother, Katherine must learn to cope with cramped living spaces, a doctor-husband who’s always on call, difficult in-law relationships, and a search for significance outside her household chores. These are the life circumstances by which Katherine is both frustrated and sanctified, as many young wives and mothers experience. The longer she walks with Christ in prayer and in his Word, the more she learns to quickly take her frustrations to him. He regularly exchanges her frustrations for joy in him.

The Lord uses many kinds of life experiences to sanctify each of us, but what passes through his hands will bring about growth in his grace when we run to him in our trials. As Prentiss writes,

What His methods will be with you I cannot foretell. But you may be sure that He never works in an arbitrary way. He has a reason for everything He does. You may not understand why He leads you now in this way and now in that, but you may, nay, you must believe that perfection is stamped on His every act. (86)

While Katherine’s life is wrapped in traditional trappings of marriage and motherhood, God’s promise to sanctify proves true in the life of every believer.

Sanctified by Suffering

As the journal moves to Katherine’s midlife, her character is transformed by her continued closeness to Christ. Her spiritual growth blossoms as the pages turn. Notably, her pastor is a formative influence in her life, often visiting or writing letters of encouragement. This hints at Prentiss’s love for the local church. Plagued by a debilitating, ongoing illness, Katherine leans on the wisdom of others to guide her when she’s bedridden for long periods of time. Prentiss, who also experienced chronic illnesses, wrapped her wisdom in the words of Katherine’s pastor, Dr. Cabot:

Lay down this principle as law—God does nothing arbitrary. If He takes away your health, for instance, it is because He has some reason for doing so; and this is true of everything you value; and if you have real faith in Him, you will not insist on knowing the reason. If you find, in the course of the daily events, that your self-consecration was not perfect—that is, that your will revolts at His will—do not be discouraged, but fly to your Savior and stay in His presence till you obtain the spirit in which He cried out in His hour of anguish. (88)

In Katherine’s life of journal entries, we discover Prentiss’s profound belief that the school of suffering teaches confidence in God’s faithful love. Receiving what God permits isn’t easy, though: “Consenting to suffer does not annul the suffering” (250). Many of Katherine’s entries in her 30s and 40s recount her long illnesses, wondering if her life has value when she’s bound to her bed.

God’s promise to sanctify proves true in the life of every believer.

Yet, in Katherine’s suffering, we see Prentiss’s belief in God’s commitment to sanctify her soul: “During my long illness and confinement to my room, the Bible has been almost a new book to me; and I see that God has always dealt with His children as He deals with them now and that no new thing has befallen me. All these weary days so full of languor, these nights so full of unrest have had their appointed mission to my soul” (254).

Sanctified and Loved

Rather than resisting the trials and sufferings of this life, Prentiss encourages the faithful Christian to receive from the Lord whatever he sends that keeps you near his side. The apostle Peter reminds us that suffering is what refines our faith and reveals it as genuine and true (1 Pet. 1:7). Similarly, Prentiss believed God would faithfully use her sufferings to increase her love for him, as reflected in her hymn “More Love to Thee”:

Let sorrow do its work, send grief and pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me,
More love, O Lord, to Thee,
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Prentiss’s belief in God’s love is rooted in the gospel evidence of it. God’s love was demonstrated in Christ’s suffering at the cross for us, so we can be certain of his love even when we suffer. We hear Prentiss’s heart in Katherine’s voice: “Well, God is good at any rate, and He would never have sent His Son for you if He did not love you” (191).

More than a century and a half has passed since this book was originally published, but the ordinary methods of miraculous sanctification and perseverance still apply to us today. Stepping Heavenward reminds Christians of all ages that a life growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus requires living closely to his Word and submitting to him.