There is a trembling in your soul that is known well to the Lord, and He hearkens to the sighing of them that are cast down. That very sense of weakness you name, this shyness, this insecurity, is the soil in which Heaven’s strength most delights to work. For it is not to the strong, the self‑assured, that the promise comes, but to the worm Jacob, with “Fear not; I will help thee.” Your little “can I?” is met with His mighty “I will.” Step by step is the way He leads all His chosen; He does not show the whole path at once, else we should faint, but He gives light for the immediate step, and then another, and then another. If this opportunity be His door, He will not merely open it a crack and leave you to push through in your own sufficiency; He will open it wide and, more than that, He Himself will enter with you, filling you with such a quiet certainty that you shall know it is right. And if it be not that door, then He will shut it with a firmness you cannot mistake, and you shall praise Him for the mercy of a closed way.
Let not uncertainty master you, for the Lord knows them that are His, and He will bring you to that fellowship where you may best serve Him and be fed. The Church is His own garden, enclosed and set apart, and He plants each flower where it may most glorify His name. There will be tried and trustworthy saints placed in your path as guides, this is the manner of His provision, and He will see that your integrity is sheltered under the shadow of His wing. True safety is not in a place free from trial, but in being precisely where the great Shepherd would have you be, covered with those feathers which are His truth and His faithfulness. Therefore, cast off fear as a dishonour to your God, and pray rather, “Lord, order my steps according to Thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.” So shall you be led into that goodly company where, together with them, you shall find your own communion with Christ sweet and your service acceptable through Him. We will join with you in this cry, that the Lord would grant you that deep, inner repose which is the birthright of every child of the living God.