This book has a little story behind it. Many years ago, around Christmas time, I was sitting with my spiritual daughters and we were sharing our experiences together. One of the Sisters had a request, and others joined her: "Mother Basilea, can't you tell us how to get rid of our own special sins, those obstinate ones that just seem to cling to us?"
My answer turned into a lengthy conversation, for one after another they named their sins and were eager to hear how they could experience Jesus' redemption. No one felt embarrassed in front of the others for God's Spirit of Truth was among us. Each Sister knew that she was "sick" and that she needed to be healed by Jesus. Therefore they yearned for the right diagnosis and for the right therapy.
The conversation finally ended with the request, "Please write something about the battle of faith against our sin - something that can help us in a practical way!" So I wrote a few pages about some of the sins for those who needed them and they tried out the prescriptions. After a while my daughters said that this helped them so much that it ought to be made available to all who are looking for the way out from the anguish that sin causes. So the few pages were supplemented and later published as a book. We did this with the victorious joy in our hearts: "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8: 36).
The fifth German edition of this book is now being published in a revised and expanded form. The methods described have proved themselves-not only for me and many of my daughters, but also for many who have come to Canaan or who read this book elsewhere. Our retreat Sisters tell us that the meeting where they distribute the "spiritual medicine" is one of the most joyful meetings. Perhaps there is also "joy in heaven" on such afternoons when people crowd around the "spiritual drugstore" to get advice and help for their particular sins through one of the chapters of this book. It is a wonderful sight to see married couples help each other choose their medicine or see parents choose it for their children or vice versa.
When the leader of a Sisterhood abroad discovered this book and heard the testimonies of our Sisters who lived with it, she was overjoyed to receive the whole "drugstore" for all her spiritual daughters and felt that this would bring a great renewal. And why should this renewal not come about? We have found that when we really fight the battle of faith, daily trusting in Jesus and His salvation, release and transformation will really take place. To Him be thanks and adoration.
A small hint from experience; this book is not meant to be read in one sitting. The chapters about the specific sins are designed rather to help us when we go through certain periods that make us more aware of those particular sinful traits in our character. Thus the book will help us take the best advantage of such situations, as it shows us how to pray and fight a concrete battle-of faith.
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Copyrighted material. Taken from YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME by M Basilea Schlink and used by permission. Further information at: www.kanaan.org
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Basilea Schlink (1904 – 2001)
She was used of the Lord to help found the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. The Lord has used her writings powerfully to help encourage the greater body of Christ of future sufferings for the Lord and how to endure them. Also one of the burdens of her ministry was to share in the sufferings of the Lord and share the sorrow that Jesus has for a lost world and a backslidden church."In heaven we will say, ‘Do you remember the time we celebrated a festival of heaven on earth with Mother Basilea?'" - Corrie ten Boom. "To visit one of the Kanaan sanctuaries that they have assembled around the world is to visit a taste of the kingdom on earth." - Greg Gordon
Recommends these books by Basilea Schlink:
My All for Him: Fall in Love With Jesus All over Again by Basilea Schlink
You Will Never Be the Same by Basilea Schlink
Ruled by the Spirit by Basilea Schlink
Basilea Schlink, born Klara Schlink was a German religious leader and writer. She was leader of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, which she cofounded, from 1947 to 2001.
Some years later Schlink was living in a badly bombed Germany with few resources, but it was important for her to repent for Germany's cruel treatment of other nations during the war, especially the Jews. She felt the temptation to marry like other young women did. Instead she gave her mission the first priority, and so she became a Sister of Mary.
On March 30, 1947, she and Erika Madauss founded The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Darmstadt. In 1948 both the founders and the first seven sisters became nuns. From then on, Dr. Klara Schlink called herself Mutter Basilea and Erika Madaus called herself Mutter Martyria. Today, The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary has 11 subdivisons all over the world, with in total 209 sisters, and about 130 of these are situated in Darmstadt.
Klara Schlink, religious leader and writer: born Darmstadt, Germany 21 October 1904; leader, Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary 1947-2001, taking the name Mother Basilea; died Darmstadt 21 March 2001.
Basiliea Schlink was the co-founder and spiritual leader for half a century of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, a community dedicated to a Christian literature and radio ministry. She was herself a prolific writer, her devotional books, pamphlets and hymns being translated into more than 60 languages.
The Sisterhood of Mary, initially Lutheran but now interdenominational, numbers more than 200 women from 20 countries, with 14 men in the affiliated Canaan Franciscan Brothers. It has branched out from its centre in Germany, at Darmstadt near Frankfurt, to Australia, Israel and the United States, and has one community at Radlett in Hertfordshire. The Sisterhood publishes tracts in 90 languages and distributes them on all five continents, while its radio and television programmes are broadcast in 23 languages.
Perhaps Mother Basilea's most noted contribution to religious life was her work for reconciliation between Germans and Jews. As a young woman she had learnt with horror of the Nazi extermination of the Jewish communities of her homeland and much of Europe, and dedicated her life to seeking forgiveness and overcoming the legacy of this mutual bitterness.
As national president of the Women's Division of the German Student Christian Movement from 1933 to 1935, Schlink refused to comply with Nazi edicts barring Jewish Christians from meetings.
It was not until March 1947 that Schlink and Madauss were eventually able to fulfil their vision of establishing the Sisterhood.