Thank you for your good letter. We are now here on maneuvers (torpedo attacks and signaling with the stations), especially during the night before 12:00 a.m. During the day we are practicing the usual drills.

God has a purpose in everything, including this. We can learn from everything in life. By God’s grace, this tour of duty has been very beneficial for me. It has been a severe battle, but God has given victory. Sometimes I feel the need to be alone, but everywhere I go it’s crowded with people. Nevertheless, God gives grace so that at times I feel as though I am alone in the midst of the crowd. Paul says that he was weak in Christ and could live only by the power of God; these words are being more and more fulfilled in me. By God’s grace I have had a taste of this weakness, so that in the heat of the battle, I have had to rely solely on God’s power. But what a suffering in the flesh that causes. The flesh trembles, but we will triumph on the cross. Power used outwardly is praiseworthy, but when this power is directed toward breaking us down, by committing everything to Him who judges righteously, it is of far greater value for our development. Victory over Satan is won on the cross. The blood of Christ is the victory and power; but before there is blood, there is a battle. The blood is the crushed head of Satan. The triumph and authority of victory. The cross is the battlefield. The blood is the aim of the Spirit. The blood does not fight. What we call “the temporal” is to be delivered into death and to be surpassed in the blood, so that it can obtain an eternal nature in the blood.

The “temporal” that clings to our heart must be destroyed in the heart, so that we can receive it again in our heart. We cannot receive more in return than we have lost.

Perhaps we will sail west next week. This coming Saturday and Sunday we will be in Horten.

Little Aksel Johan is a sweet boy—only 6 months old. He can stand by himself by holding onto a stool. Kristian, Johanne, and Rakel are also doing well. I have finished reading Madame Guyon’s book in German, and sometimes I reread parts of it.

Greet Father and Mother and Berglioth. Loving greetings to you also from your brother,