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After Elf suffered the devastating shock to be described soon -- soon, very soon, all too soon -- she ran to Elise for comfort and wrote frantic letters to Father Sam, not all of which were answered or could be.
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Elise did not try to calm a person down but *was* calm -- a comforting distinction.
For some lucky persons, faith was of the whole body, not an outcome of the head. It grew out of the presence of God -- not of arguments. As to arguments, she felt it was not essential to spend *all* your time evaluating their internal consistency, but simply to ask: Does this bring me closer to the presence of God? Or separate me?
If it separates you, it can't be sound.
If the doubts and fears are going to occur, let them occur within the presence. So that when they leave you totally bereaved there is a relief nearby.
Elf felt no separation from God as long as another Christian was near. She was one of those Christians who needs other Christians around to model the life that sometimes falters in oneself alone. It was abstract unless you acted it out.
People have a massive power over us. A high-school dropout can kill the president if he wants to. But there is no one on earth who can separate you from the presence of God, if you don't want to leave.
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