Today’s thought – Blessing by Clinging

may25 004
Good Morning

Genesis 32:24-29
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

Jacob got the victory and the blessing
not by wrestling, but by clinging.
His limb was out of joint and he could struggle no longer,
but he would not let go.
Unable to wrestle,
he wound his arms around the neck of his mysterious antagonist
and hung all his helpless weight until at last he conquered.

We will not get victory in prayer
until we too cease our struggling,
giving up our own will
and throw our arms about our Father’s neck in clinging faith.

What can puny human strength take by force
out of the hand of Omnipotence?
Can we wrest blessing by force from God.
It is never the violence of willfulness that prevails with God.
It is the might of clinging faith,
that gets the blessing and the victories.
It is not when we press and urge our own will,
but when humility and trust unite in saying,
“Not my will, but Thine.”
We are strong with God only in the degree
that self is conquered and is dead.
Not by wrestling,
but by clinging can we get the blessing.
J. R. Miller

Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Romans 12:9

Cling . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 2, 2014 at 5:27 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – God Cannot Lie

may9 011Hollyhocks

Good Morning

Titus 1:1-2
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Faith is not working up by the will power
a sort of certainty that something is coming to pass,
but it is seeing as an actual fact
that God has said that this thing shall come to pass,
and that it is true,
and then rejoicing to know that it is true
and just resting because God has said it.

Faith turns the promise into a prophecy.
While it is merely a promise
it is contingent upon our co-operation.
But when faith claims it,
it becomes a prophecy,
and we go forth feeling
that it is something that must be done
because God cannot lie.
—Days of Heaven upon Earth

Resting in the words of a Truthful God . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on May 16, 2014 at 10:34 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Be Thankful

february 21 003February 21, 2012, the Farmer planted star jasmine on this metal lattice.

may9 010 May 9, 2014    Look how the jasmine as grown!

Good Morning

Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,  to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Which comes first-
the gift,
or the spirit of thanksgiving?
Common wisdom says that we get the gift first,
then we say thank you for receiving it.
While that is true,
some gifts will never be recognized
or received without a spirit of thanksgiving.

How many people sabotage the blessings in their life
because of a crummy attitude?
They are dissatisfied and disappointed–
and let the world know it–
despite a plethora of gifts from God
and others around them.

All of us can be thankful for the many things
God has done for us.
But there may be deeper levels of spirituality–
even more of His nature and goodness–
that we can experience through the attitude of gratitude.
Have you said thank you to God today?

Colossians 3:15
And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always]  Amplified Bible

Be thankful . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on May 13, 2014 at 10:20 am  Leave a Comment  
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Mother’s Day

may9 012Golden Celebration bud for my mom.

Good Morning

Why God Made Mothers

God knew that everybody needs
Someone to show the way,
He knew that babies need someone
To care for them each day . . .
He knew they needed someone sweet
To sooth their baby cries,
To teach them how to walk and talk,
And sing them lullabies. . .
That’s why God made Mothers.

He knew small children need someone
To lend a guiding hand,
To answer all their questions
And to smile and understand,
Someone to read them storybooks,
To teach them wrong from right,
To show them wonderful new games.
And hear their prayers at night . .
that’s why God made Mothers.

And then throughout their childhood years,
God knew that children need
Someone to smile at them with pride,
Encourage each new deed.
As they grow up and all their lives,
God new that everywhere
All Children need a Mother’s heart
To understand and care,
And that’s why God made Mothers.
Robin St. John

2 Timothy 1:5
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

Thankful for God’s plan to create Mothers.
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on May 11, 2014 at 5:01 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Wagons Laden

apr11 012One more beautiful iris from Grandma Crain’s garden.

Good Morning

I’ve been pretty sick the past week
(only knit a little on two days),
but feeling better.

Genesis 45:27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and
when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:

A very simple sight: just some farm wagons laden with corn–
food for the staving household.
It was these wagons turning into the courtyard
that raised the fast-falling hopes of Jacob expectancy.
They remind me of other wagons laden
and sent by another One greater than Joseph,
even our Lord Jesus Christ.
These wagons of His are a great stimulus to our faith.
They come unseen to us in our hours of darkness —
when our hopes are dashed to the ground.
Yes,
when we are in the awful grips of spiritual starvation,
how blessed are these wagons as they are seen approaching!

Lift up your eyes!
Look out for them:
When they come they will not be empty!
You will be fed and nourished
with the choicest of His stores.

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.”

On the porch looking . . .Today

With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on May 9, 2014 at 10:41 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Unfailing Love

apr30 002A side view of the cactus flower.
Happy birthday to the Farmer!

Good Morning

Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. . .
As for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord God my refuge.
Psalm 73:25-26,28  NASB

God is not only the answer to a thousand needs,
He is the answer to a thousand wants.
He is the fulfillment of our chief desire
in all of life.
For whether or not we’ve ever recognized it,
what we desire is unfailing love.
Oh, God, awake our souls to wee–
You are what we want,
not just what we need.
Yes, our life’s protection,
but also our heart’s affection.
Yes, our soul’s salvation,
but also our heart’s exhilaration.
Unfailing love.
A love that will not let me go!
Beth Noore

“Open my eyes and let me see”. . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on May 1, 2014 at 12:05 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – The God Who Listens

apr22 004the Farmer’s cactus has such spectacular blooms
in comparison to the humble-looking plants.

Good Morning

“I love God because He listened to me.” Psalm 116:1

God knows everything and everybody;
and everything about everybody.
He knows even that which is yet unknown to anybody.
There is no thought, idea, invention, place, person, plan,
or purpose which He does not know all there is to know about.
Imagine, then, the wonder of His genuine attentiveness —
“He listened to me.”

Have you ever tried to say something important or
personal to someone who wasn’t listening?
Oh, sure, they held eye contact,
only occasionally glancing away at some passing distraction.
And they nodded at appropriate moments,
and even muttered a muted grunt while you were speaking.
But, despite their feigned interest,
the moment they get a chance to reply,
they either fire back some trite response
that has nothing whatsoever to do with what your were saying;
or, they quickly excuse themselves with some pressing need
that somehow suddenly came to their mind. Bye.
But God is not like this.
He listens.
Obviously, it is not for what He may learn —
for He already knows.
So why does He do it?
Because it gives Him pleasure —
the pleasure of seeing, hearing and enjoying our learning process,
and the passions that stir our hearts in life.
When you pray, therefore,
do it with the awareness that He is the God who listens,
and is delighted to do so.
Your words matter;
each one is carefully weighed by the Master of Words;
each phrase is turned over
and examined with artful care in His great heart.
And He appreciates with Fatherly pride
everything you think and say.
And, having listened to you,
He will also speak.
But here’s the question —
do we then listen to Him? Rylie

Am I listening . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 30, 2014 at 11:15 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – We Know Not . . .

iris nove 2011 002Great-Grandma Frame’s iris

Good Morning

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

We know not precisely what is best for us.
We know not what will make us truly happy.
We know not what will help us best
in our struggle against temptations.
And if we were to try to make a distinction
between our mere passing wishes and
that which our souls really needed,
we should utterly fail.
But we need not try.
Let us take all our wishes,
our longings,
all our the promptings of our consciences,
to the feet of our Father.
He will hear and He will do.
He will hear all we say.
He will know what parts of our prayer
are best for us to have, and what are not.
And He will give us what His fatherly love will choose.
And therefore to all our prayers we will add,
“Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.”

Frederick Temple

Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 29, 2014 at 11:20 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Peace in My Heart

apr11 008Fourth of July, I think, is the name of this happy rose.

Good Morning

Hebrews 10:22-24 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

You can do everything right
and still not feel at peace in your heart
about your relationship with God.
Eighteenth-century giant, John Wesley,
came to America as a missionary,
ministered to prisoners,
and preached throughout the English countryside
in open-air revival services.
He read his Bible and prayed everyday.
But despite all those efforts,
he still felt insecure and unsure of his salvation.

What he discovered was that peace of heart,
assurance of our relationship with God
can only come from God Himself,
not our efforts.
While someone read from Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to Romans
at a prayer meeting,
he had an experience that changed his life forever:
“While he was describing the change
which God works in the heart trough faith in Christ,
I felt my heart strangely warmed.
I felt I did trust Christ.
Christ alone for salvation;
and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins,”

If you’re lacking assurance,
turn to Christ alone,
and your heart, too, can be “strangely warmed.”

from A Daybook of Grace

Turn . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 22, 2014 at 10:39 am  Leave a Comment  
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This is MY Risen Lord!

apr11 002
Good Morning

This is my Risen Lord,

Do you know Him? . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 20, 2014 at 5:56 am  Comments (3)  
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Today’s thought – Who me?

apr19 002the Farmer’s cactus garden, one is a bloom!

Good Morning

Matthew 26:20-22
Now when the even was come,
he sat down with the twelve.
And as they did eat, he said,
Verily I say unto you,
that one of you shall betray me.
And they were exceeding sorrowful,
and began every one of them to say unto him,
Lord, is it I?

 
When our Lord said, “One of you will betray Me,”
thank God thous disciples had enough spirituality
that nobody said,
“Lord, it is he?”
Everyone of those disciples said,
“Lord, is it I?”
If they would not have so responded
there could not have been a Pentecost.
But because they were humble enough
to point the finger in their own direction
the Holy Spirit fell upon them. . . .
A. W. Toxer

Bow at the cross of Jesus . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 19, 2014 at 11:00 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Coming!

apr11 009
Good Morning

‘It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Coming’
is my favorite message during Easter.
It reminds me –
in the midst of hopelessness and despair
there is still HOPE.
God’s Word is still true.
BE still, it’s only Friday.

‘It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Coming’

S M Lockridge

BE assured it is only Friday!
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 18, 2014 at 10:48 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Abraham’s Faith

apr11 003Boysenberries vines are loaded this year, Yum, Yum!

apr11 004
Good Morning

He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8

In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.

Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.

The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day—in and day—out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith—a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God. . .” (Romans 4:3)

My Utmost for His Highest– Oswald Chambers

By faith  . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 15, 2014 at 10:21 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – . . . But as Thou Wilt

apr14 002the Farmer has radishes to pick and eat!

Good Morning

Matthew 26:36-39 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Choose but the will of God,
and thou willest His wisdom,
with His all-perfect choice;
thou enterest inot His counsels;
thou lovest with His love.
Be this our watch-word, brethren,
for the Church,
for those we love,
for our own souls.
Be this our rule in action,
“not what I, but what Thou”;
this, in suffering;
“not what I, but what Thou”.
This shall hallow our hopes;
this shall hush our fears;
this shall ward off disquiet;
this shall preserve our peace;
this shall calm anxieties,
this (if so it must be) shall soothe our heart-aches;
this shall give repose to our weariness;
this, the deeper our trouble,
shall be the deeper foretaste of everlasting peace and rest.
“Lord, not what I will, but what thou”:
not what I, in my misery,
and ignorance, and blindness, and . . .,
but what Thou, in Thy mercy,
and holiness and wisdom and love.
E.B. Pusey

Committing . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 14, 2014 at 9:41 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – In All Circumstances

apr5 006Blossoms from a nest of Hens and Chickens.

Good Morning

I Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks:
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you

A farmer who lived near London during World War II
wrote to the Scripture Gift Mission requesting prayer
that no bombs would fall on his small farm.
He enclosed a five-shilling offering.
He explained that his harvest had been awful,
and he didn’t have enough money
to bring water for the parched crops.
He could not afford another setback without losing his farm.
The secretary of the mission wrote back
and said he could not ask that his farm be spared
but instead would bray that God’s will would be done.

Soon afterward the largest bomb in the German arsenal
hit the man’s farm.
The impact was so big that it unearthed a spring.
The spring not only amply watered his farm,
but also enabled him to share water with his neighbors.
And the next year,
he enjoyed an abundant harvest.
He sent a fifty-pound check
to the mission as a thanksgiving offering.
from A Daybook of Grace, Fall River Press

Thank God for unexpected blessings. . . Today
with my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on April 10, 2014 at 1:13 pm  Leave a Comment  
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