"After all," Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string." ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery
Friday, April 19, 2024
Thursday, April 11, 2024
God Creates Each Day
"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety. Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in. Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. " -Psalm 100:1-5
Monday, September 18, 2023
Life's Simplest Things
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy...." -Matthew 6:19
Saturday, September 02, 2023
Leaving Port in a Troubled Period
"You are leaving port under sealed orders and in a troubled period. You cannot know whither you are going or what you are to do. But why not take the Pilot on board who knows the nature of your sealed orders from the outset, and who will shape your entire voyage accordingly? He knows the shoals and the sand banks, the rocks and the reefs, He will steer you safely into that celestial harbor where your anchor will be cast for eternity. Let His almighty nail-pierced hands hold the wheel, and you will be safe." ~ Peter Marshall
Sunday, April 16, 2023
Words of wisdom from Bonhoeffer
"May God in His mercy lead us through these times; but above all, may He lead us to Himself."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"The messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the division which rend cities and homes. Jesus and His disciples will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, and for leading the nation astray; they will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted to desert their Lord. But the end is also near, and they must hold on and persevere until it comes. Only he will be blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and His word until the end."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"If I sit next to a madman as he drives a car into a group of innocent bystanders, I can't, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe, then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Saturday, January 21, 2023
" A providence is shaping our ends; a plan is developing in our lives; a supreme and loving Being is making all things work together for good." - F.B. Meyer
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
'For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." --Romans 8:28-39
Wednesday, November 02, 2022
Saturday, September 24, 2022
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23
"Surely there is something in the unruffled calm
of nature that overawes our little anxieties and doubts: the sight of
the deep-blue sky and the clustering stars above seem to impart a quiet
to the mind." -Jonathan Edwards
Friday, June 24, 2022
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be."
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Saturday, September 04, 2021
"Christ comes as a thief in the night, & it is not for us to know the times & seasons which God hath put into his own breast.” Isaac Newton
"Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness...."
- 1 Thess. 5:1-5
Thursday, April 01, 2021
Supping with Our Savior
The Last Supper, by Ranier Maria Rilke
They are assembled, astonished and disturbed
round him, who like a sage resolved his fate,
and now leaves those to whom he most belonged,
leaving and passing by them like a stranger.
The loneliness of old comes over him
which helped mature him for his deepest acts;
now will he once again walk through the olive grove,
and those who love him still will flee before his sight.
To this last supper he has summoned them,
and (like a shot that scatters birds from trees)
their hands draw back from reaching for the loaves
upon his word: they fly across to him;
they flutter, frightened, round the supper table
searching for an escape. But he is present
everywhere like an all-pervading twilight-hour.
Here they are gathered, wondering and deranged,
Round Him, who wisely doth Himself inclose,
And who now takes Himself away, estranged,
From those who owned Him once, and past them
flows.
He feels the ancient loneliness to-day
That taught Him all His deepest acts of love;
Now in the olive groves He soon will rove,
And these who love Him all will flee away.
To the last supper table He hath led.
As birds are frightened from a garden-bed
By shots, so He their hands forth from the bread
Doth frighten by His word: to Him they flee;
Then flutter round the table in their fright
And seek a passage from the hall. But He
Is everywhere, like dusk at fall of night.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Seek Wisdom from God, Not Man
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Holding On To Him Whom Can Give Us Hope
Such troubling times we live in! I love this wisdom from J.R.R. Tolkien:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
J. R. R. Tolkien — The Fellowship of the Ring
When the world is shaken, we can still say we know where our hope lies!
"Look for Christ and you will find Him. And with Him, everything else." ~C.S. Lewis
Wednesday, September 02, 2020
Christ is the Only Answer
“Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths.”- Charles Spurgeon
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." -Matthew 6:25,27,34
Sunday, August 30, 2020
O God, in Whom We Trust
"The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America - our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal." -Ronald Reagan
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of thy throne,
still may we dwell secure;
sufficient is thine arm alone,
and our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received her frame,
from everlasting, thou art God,
to endless years the same.
4. A thousand ages, in thy sight,
are like an evening gone;
short as the watch that ends the night,
before the rising sun.
5. Time, like an ever rolling stream,
bears all who breathe away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.
6. O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come;
be thou our guide while life shall last,
and our eternal home.
Saturday, September 07, 2019
Rest in Where Christ Has You
"My soul, rest happy in thy low estate,
Nor hope nor wish to be esteem'd or great;
To take the impress of the Will Divine,
Be that thy glory, and those riches thine." -Charles Spurgeon
Friday, September 06, 2019
Without a Doubt, Give Me Jesus
"Every believer stays his hope solely upon the work of Jesus. With regard to the past, the present, and the future, he finds rest in Christ."- Charles Spurgeon
"I need not fear God's judgement, because God has judged my sins in Christ. I have come to Him not with a righteousness of my own, but in an awareness of my great need of Him." - Alistair Begg, Truth for Life
song Give Me Jesus, by Fernando Ortega
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus
When I am alone
When I am alone, give me Jesus
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus
When I come to die
When I come to die, give me Jesus"
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Resting in Faith in Christ
Monday, April 22, 2019
Christ is our fullness
Sunday, April 21, 2019
He is Risen Indeed!
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Monday, December 24, 2018
Merry Christmas Eve
Victorian Christmas Eve
"There is happy ado on the old farmstead as Yuletide draws nigh.
Wondrous things to savor as gales blow and snow begins to fly!
The tempest rages for days - they will surely be snowbound,
But a blazing fire warms the old home - love and cheer abound!
Since early in July Pa has had his eye on a special evergreen tree.
It now graces the parlor and they dance about it with glee!
Brightly lit candles adorn branches of the perfectly shaped fir.
'Neath lies the Babe - The Magi offering frankincense, gold and myrrh.
The boys have hefted armloads of wood from the ash tree grove,
For Ma and the girls to cook delectable fare on the wood-burning stove!
Titillating aromas waft from room to room in the gracious old house,
From the roasting goose, venison and tender prairie grouse!
Rusty the dog and Simba the cat lie snuggling near the fire.
The family gathers 'round the pump organ for an impromptu choir.
Bellowing off-key, Pa leads them in carols, all in spirited mirth,
And later by the hearth they hear Pa read about the Savior's Birth!
The ancient grandfather clock tolls ten - the kids are shooed to bed.
Ma and Pa place presents 'neath the tree in old Santa's stead!
With a twinkle in his eyes, Pa steals a kiss 'neath the mistletoe!
The excited kids scarcely snooze listening for Santa's Ho! Ho! Ho!"
~Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
""You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at His birth."
~ Luke 1:14
Sunday, December 23, 2018
No Better Gift than He
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Always Being Prepared for Our Real Home....
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Yes, He Knows Us by Name!
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you. ~ Isaiah 43:1-2
Friday, March 30, 2018
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Perspecitive Contentedness
~Charles Dickens
Monday, March 12, 2018
Friday, March 02, 2018
Thank you God, so very much, for Billy and Ruth Graham
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Trials...Look Up and Hold Fast!
"Good people must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them." ~Charles Spurgeon
"I've read the last page of the Bible, it's all going to turn out all right." ~Billy Graham
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Made for His purposes...
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Inside There is a Family Together
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
The Beautiful Life in Christ
Monday, August 21, 2017
God's Best Gifts are the Common Gifts
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Where our True Wealth Lies
Friday, April 14, 2017
Thursday, February 16, 2017
The Sanctuary of Home
Friday, December 23, 2016
Thursday, December 08, 2016
Christmas Ponderings
The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son.
The only requirement is to believe in Him.
The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life."