Be Still ~ Enjoy God's Ordinary Gifts

 "In the name of Jesus Christ, who was never in a hurry, we pray, O God, that You will slow us down, for we know that we live too fast. With all of eternity before us, make us take time to live---time to get acquainted with You, time to enjoy Your blessings, and time to know each other." ~ Peter Marshall

"Be still and know that I am God." ~Psalm 46:10

"The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain common work as it comes certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life." ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Prayers for You, My Friend

 Let me come in where you are weeping, friend,
And let me take your hand.
I, who have known a sorrow such as yours,
Can understand.

Let me come in - I would be very still
Beside you in your grief;
I would not bid you cease your weeping, friend,
Tears can bring relief.

Let me come in - I would only breathe a prayer,
And hold your hand,
For I have known a sorrow such as yours,
And understand.

So know my friend, that: 

"God alone can do what seems impossible. This is the promise of his grace: 'I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten' (Joel 2:25). God can give back all those years of sorrow, and you will be the better for them. God will grind sunlight out of your black nights. In the oven of affliction, grace will prepare the bread of delight. Someday you will thank God for all your sadness." ~ Charles Spurgeon

"The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." - 1 Corinthians 13:13  

God's Simple Gifts are the Best

 "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 

 "I have found such joy in simple things:

A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,

A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,

The shelter of a roof above my head,

And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,

Where yellow sunlight glimmers through

a door."

~Grace Noll Crowell 

 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” – 1 Timothy 6:6-8

It is Grace and Jesus Alone

 "Sometimes we emulate the Pharisees more than we imitate Christ." ~ R. C. Sproul

 "A church that is deeply aware of it's misery and nakedness before a holy God will cling tenaciously to an all sufficient Savior, while one that is self-confident and relatively unaware of its inherent sinfulness will reach for religion and morality whenever it seems convenient" ~ Michael Horton

 "The gospel frees us to confess our sins without fear of condemnation." ~ Michael Horton

"Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  "Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus...make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13

Because of Him

 "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." ~ C. S. Lewis

Because: 

"To lay hold of and receive the gospel by a true and saving faith [it] is an act of the soul that has been made a new creature, which is the workmanship of God... Wherefore whoever receiveth the grace that is tendered in the gospel, they must be quickened by the power of God, their eyes must be opened, their understandings illuminated, their ears unstopped, their hearts circumcised, their wills also rectified, and the Son of God revealed in them." ~ John Bunyan

So know that: 

 "...by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9

therefore always: 

"Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence." ~ Saint Augustine