Sunset
Good Morning
John 14:14
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
The God who holds the sea in the hollow of His hand,
who swings this ponderous earth in its orbit,
who marshals stars and guides planets,
is this very God who says.
“If ye ask, I will do!”
James H. McConkey
Ask. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Sunrise
Good Morning,
Ephesians 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
How do I live in God’s presence?
How do I detect his unseen hand on my shoulder and his inaudible voice in my ear? . . .
How can you and I grow familiar wit the voice of God?
Here are a few ideas:
Give God your waking thoughts.
Before you face the day, face the Father.
Before you step out of bed, step into his presence.
Give God your waiting thoughts.
Spend time with him in silence.
Give God your whispering thoughts.
Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communion with God.
Give God your waning thoughts.
At the end of the day; let your mind settle on him.
Conclude the day as you began it: talking to God.
Just Like Jesus – Max Lucado
Give God . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Good Morning
John 15:1-5
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Open wide every avenue of your being to receive the blessed influences your Divine Husbandman may bring to bear upon you.
Bask in the sunshine of His love.
Drink in of the waters of His goodness.
Keep your face upturned to Him.
You need make no efforts to grow.
But let your efforts instead be all concentrated on this,
that you abide in the Vine.
Hannah Whitall Smith
Abide in Him . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Happy 47th Anniversary to us.
Good Afternoon,
Genesis 41:50-52
50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.
51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh:
For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.
52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim:
For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
. . . Perchance some of God’s children are even now saying,
“O God, it is raining hard for me tonight.”
“Testings are raining upon me
which seem beyond my power to endure.
Disappointments are raining fast,
to the utter defeat of my plans.
Bereavements are raining into mu life which are making my shrinking heart quiver in its intensity of suffering.
The rain of affliction is surely beating down upon my soul these days.”
With, friend, you are mistaken.
It isn’t raining rain for you.
It’s raining blessing.
For, if you will but believe your Father’s Word,
under that beating rain are springing up spiritual flowers of such fragrance and beauty as never before grew in that stormless, unchastened life of yours.
You indeed see the rain.
But do you see also the flowers?
You are pained by the testings.
but God sees the sweet flower of faith which is upspringing in your life under those very trials.
You shrink from the suffering.
But God sees the tender compassion for other sufferers which is finding birth in your soul.
Your heart winces under the sore bereavement.
But God sees the deepening and enriching which that sorrow has brought to you.
It isn’t raining afflictions for you.
It is raining tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed Spirit, which are bringing into your life such a spiritual enrichment as all the fullness of worldly prosperity and ease was never able to beet in your innermost soul. –J. M. McC.
In everything give thanks . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
2014 Garden,
grapes, squash, winter squash, melons, corn, okra, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, from left to right.
the Farmer is helping the cucumbers climb up the field fencing,
making the cukes easier to pick and taking up garden space.
Good Morning
Proverbs 10:17
He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction:
but he that refuseth reproof erreth.
The neglected heart will soon be a heart
overrun with worldly thoughts;
the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos;
the church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession
and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode
of every evil bird and the hiding place
for unsuspected corruption.
The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church
that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray.
A. W. Tozer
No company sets a goal to slide into mediocrity. No in-love newlyweds plan to divorce down the road.No fit, muscular athlete figures how to put on a hundred pounds and get totally out of shape in the next few years. No neighborhood holds a meeting to outline steps toward a rundown community. No committed, vibrant Christian dreams of a day when he or she will walk far from God, living a life of joyless compromise.
The common denominator in all the above too-often scenarios is neglect. The wilderness does not swallow up a great city in a day, it creeps closer and closer–through neglect.
Prayer.
God’s Word.
A community of believers.
These are neglected at great risk to your souls!
Watch out for neglect . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
the Farmer picked raspberries and blackberries Wednesday evening.
Good Morning
I’ve received such encourage from this scripture this week.
Romans 5:8-10
But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us
by the fact that while we were still sinners,
Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.
Therefore, since we are now justified
(acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God)
by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that]
we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,
it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled,
that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion)
through His [resurrection] life. Amplified Bible
The phrase “daily delivered from sin’s dominion” seemed like it was in bold letters.
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
“Chats on the Farmhouse Porch” is a group of friends
gathering to visit,
sip their favorite beverages,
nibble delicious treats
and share their likes and dislikes.
Patrice and Wendell have invited me to join the chatting.
Patrice provides the questions,
we answer.
Do you have a vegetable garden this year? Have you in previous years?
the Farmer plants a large vegetable garden every year.
Our squash is already producing buckets each picking
This is what he put out to sell on Tuesday night
What is your computer sitting on right now? Desk, dining room table, lap…
This is how my corner of our home looks this evening.
Do you go shorter with your hair in the summer?
I’ve worn my hair long for 49 years.
Most of the time it is in a braided pony tail.
Are you an early top bed person, or a night owl?
NIGHT OWL! I have loved the quiet hours after everyone went to bed and I was all alone.
Tell me something funny. I’ll tell you something funny too. 🙂
My cats thinks this is a cat door.
Join Patrice on her porch here.
Another cactus blossom
Good Morning
Genesis 50:18-21
And his brethren also went and fell down before his face;
and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
And Joseph said unto them,
Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
But as for you, ye thought evil against me;
but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass,
as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Now therefore fear ye not:
I will nourish you, and your little ones.
And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
“God meant it unto good”–O blest assurance.
Falling like sunshine all across life’s way.
Touching with Heaven’s gold earth’s darkest storm clouds,
Bringing fresh peace and comfort day by day.
‘Twas not by chance the hands of faithless brethren
Sold Joseph captive to a foreign land;
Nor was it chance which, after years of suffering.
Brought him before the monarch’s throne to stand.
One Eye all seeing saw the need of thousands,
And planned to meet it through that one lone soul;
And through the weary days of prison bondage
Was working towards the great and glorious goal.
As yet the end was hidden from the captive,
The iron entered even to his soul;
His eye could scan the present path of sorrow,
Not yet his gaze might rest upon the whole.
Faith failed not through those long,dark days of waiting,
His trust in God was recompensed at last.
The moment came when God let when God led forth his servant
To succour many, all his sufferings past
.
“It was not you but God, that sent me hither,”
Witnessed triumphant faith in after days;
“God meant it unto good,” no “second causes”
Mingled their discord with his son of praise.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“God means it unto good” for thee, beloved,
The God of Joseph is the same today
His love permits afflictions strange and bitter,
His hand is guiding through the unknown way.
Thy Lord, who sees the end from the beginning,
Hath purposes for thee of love untold.
Then place thy hand in His and follow fearless,
Till thou the riches of His grace untold.
There, when thou standest in the Home of Glory,
And all life’s path lies open to thy gaze,
Thine eyes shall SEE the hand which now thou trustest,
And magnify His love through endless days.
–Freda Hanbury Allen
Trust in the Lord . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
the Farmer works together with his tools . . .
. . . something good is the result
Good Morning
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things
work together for good
to them that love God,
to them who are the called
according to his purpose.
How wide is this assertion of the Apostle Paul?
He does not say.
“We know that some things,”
or “most things,”
or “joyous things.”
but “ALL things.”
From the minutest to the most momentous;
from the humblest event in daily providence
to the great crisis hours in grace.
And all things “work“–they are working;
not all things have worked or shall work;
but it is a present operation.
At this very moment, when some voice may be saying,
“Thy judgemnts are a great deep,”
the angels above,
who are watching the development of the great plan,
are with folded wings exclaiming,
“The Lord is righteous in all his ways,
and holy in all his works.” (Psalm 145:17)
And then all things “work together.”
It is a beautiful blending.
Many different colors,
in themselves raw and unsihtly,
are required in order to weave the harmonious pattern.
Many separate tones and notes of music,
even discords, and dissonances,
are required to make up the harmonious anthem.
Many separate wheels and joints
are required to make the piece of machinery.
Take a thread separately,
or a note separately,
or a wheel or a tooth of a wheel separately
and there may be neither use or beauty discernible.
But complete the web,
combine the notes,
put together the separate parts of steel and iron,
and you see how perfect ad symmetrical is the result.
Here is the lesson for faith:
“What I do thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter.”
Macduff.
Trust God’s working . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
This devotional reading reminded me
of a Manzanita tree in my brother’s back yard.
Good Morning
Job 14:7-9
For there is hope of a tree,
if it be cut down,
that it will sprout again,
and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,
and the stock thereof die in the ground;
Yet through the scent of water it will bud,
and bring forth boughs like a plant.
Once there was an oak tree
that clung to a crag on a mountainside.
The wind swept its crest,
and the snows and rains tore at its soil.
Its roots ran along a pathway
and were trampled by the feet of men.
But the rain and the snows an down the mountain,
and the oak tree was dying of drought.
Patiently and persistently
its underground tendrils and gone
forth in every direction for relief.
All its power was put into the quest
by which it would save its life.
And, by and by,
the roots reached the mountain spring.
The faithful stream that touched the lips of man and beast
ran up the trunk and laved the branches
and gave new life to the utmost twig.
The tree stood in the same place;
it met the same storms;
it was trodden by the same hurrying feet.
but it was planted by the rivers of water
and its leaf could not wither.
Out into the same old life
you must go today as ever,
but down underneath you can be nourished
by the everlasting streams of God.
Travelers returning from Palestine report
that beneath the streets of Shechem
there are rivers flowing.
During the daytime it is impossible
to hear the murmuring of the waters,
because of the noise.
But when night comes
and the clamor dies away
then can be heard
the music of the hidden rivers.
Are there not “hidden rivers” flowing
under the crowded streets of our 20th century life?
If we can be assured that there is still the music
of deep-flowing waters beneath
all the noise and tumult of the working hours,
we can walk the way of the conqueror.
Listen for the river of peace . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, October, 2009
Psalms 121
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper:
the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:
he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Love them roses.
Good Morning
Psalm 41:1-2
Blessed is he that considereth the poor:
the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive;
and he shall be blessed upon the earth:
and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
He that hath hot tempted you hitherto
above your strength will continue so to the end.
If, for a time,
He hide His face from you,
yet He doth it but for a moment,
to make you the more heartily to cry to Him;
and surely He will hear you,
not only when your are in crying,
but also whilst you are in thinking how to cry.
He is with you in trouble,
and will indeed deliver you,
John Bradford
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
The weather is hot here at Cozy Acres.
I’m remembering the cool of the ocean.
Good Morning
Isaiah 58:9
Then shalt thou call,
and the Lord shall answer;
thou shalt cry,
and he shall say,
Here I am.
“He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry.”
That has comforted me often,
more than any promise of answer;
it includes answers,
and a great deal more besides;
it tells us what He is towards us,
and that is more than what He will do.
And the “cry” is not long, connected, thoughtful prayers,
a cry is just an unworded dart upwardsof the heart,
and at that “voice” He will be very gracious.
What a smile there is in these words!
F. R. Haveral
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Violets and Violas
Good Morning
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. John 14:27
Are you painfully disturbed just now,
distracted by the waves and billows
of God’s providential permission, and having,
as it were, turned over the boulders of your belief,
are you still finding no well of peace or joy or comfort;
is all barren?
Then look up and receive the undisturbedness of the Lord Jesus.
If you allow anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you,
you are either disturbed or you have a false security.
Are you looking unto Jesus now,
in the immediate matter
that is pressing and receiving from Him peace?
If so, He will be a gracious benediction
of peace in and through you.
But if you try to worry it out,
you obliterate Him and deserve all you get.
We get disturbed
because we have not been considering Him.
When one confers with Jesus Christ
the perplexity goes,
because He has no perplexity,
and our only concern is to abide in Him.
Lay it all out before Him,
and in the face of difficulty, bereavement, and sorrow,
hear Him say,
“Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid.”
Oswald Chambers
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Cozy Acres
Good Morning
Romans 8:6
For to be carnally minded is death;
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Reinhold Niebuhr’s famous poem
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
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Thoughts of Grace 