Hannah Whitall Smith on “the independent self that controls everything”

We all know that there is a part of us that no one ever gets to see, a personal, subjective individuality that we never share, something that we take with us to our grave. … As Hannah Whitall Smith wrote: “… there is something within us, behind our emotions and behind our wishes, an independent self, that, after all, decides everything and controls everything… and if God is to take possession of us, it must be into this central will or personality that He enters” (The Christians Secret of a Happy Life 80). … Our heart is where we forgive. Our heart is where we find our faith and our comfort and our hope. When we are consecrated there, our actions take care of themselves. (Driving into the Dawn, 2007 , chapter 54)