Keep On!

March 16 005Finished!

Oh, how this scripture spoken encouragement to my soul!

Matthew 7:7-11
Keep on asking and it will be given you;
keep on seeking and you will find;
keep on knocking [reverently] and
[the door] will be opened to you.
For everyone who keeps on asking receives;
and he who keeps on seeking finds;
and to him who keeps on knocking,
[the door] will be opened.
Or what man is there of you,
if his son asks him for a loaf of bread,
will hand him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish,
will hand him a serpent?
If you then, evil as you are,
know how to give good
and advantageous gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father
Who is in heaven
[perfect as He is]
give good and advantageous things
to those who keep on asking Him!

from Clark’s Commentary
Prayer is the appointed means for obtaining what we need.
Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer,
and be serious and earnest in it.
Ask, as a beggar asks alms.
Ask, as a traveller asks the way.
Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost;
or as the merchantman that seeks goodly pearls.
Knock, as he that desires to enter
into the house knocks at the door.
Sin has shut and barred the door against us;
by prayer we knock.
Whatever you pray for,
according to the promise,
shall be given you,
if God see it fit for you,
and what would you have more?
This is made to apply to all that pray aright;
every one that asketh receiveth,
whether Jew or Gentile,
young or old,
rich or poor,
high or low,
master or servant,
learned or unlearned,
all are alike welcome to the throne of grace,
if they come in faith.
It is explained by a comparison taken from earthly parents,
and their readiness to give their children what they ask.
Parents are often foolishly fond,
but God is all-wise;
he knows what we need,
what we desire,
and what is fit for us.
Let us never suppose our heavenly Father would bid us pray,
and then refuse to hear,
or give us what would be hurtful.
Amen

Published in: on March 31, 2015 at 12:13 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Surely Goodness and Mercy Have Followed Me

Feb 24 catch up 032Lenten Rose blooming in March.

Good Morning

Thou shall guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.–Psalm 73:24. 

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
–Hebrews 4: 9.

Go forth to meet the solemnities
and to conquer the trials of existence,
believing in a Shepherd of your souls.
Then in Him will support you in duty,
and duty firmly done will strengthen faith;
till at last, when all is over here,
and the noise and strife of the earthly battle
fades upon your dying ear, and you hear,
instead thereof,
the deep and musical sound of the ocean of eternity,
and see the lights of heaven
shining on its waters still and fair in their radiant rest,
your faith will raise the song of conquest,
and in its retrospect of the life which has ended,
and its forward glance upon the life to come,
take up the poetic inspiration of the Hebrew king,
“Surely goodness and mercy
have followed me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
STOPFORD A. BROOKE.

Go forth . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 30, 2015 at 4:28 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Every Day

Good Morning

Five years ago – a season of many changes, my whole life seemed to be turned upside down. My financial foundation crumbled, almost everything we had worked for gone, March 12, 3010 felt like a funeral had taken place.

Even so:

Every day I wake up and I have these treasures:

EVERY DAY: I will load thee with benefits Psalms 68:19

EVERY DAY: I will hold your right hand Isaiah 41:13

EVERY DAY: The Lord is my Shepherd Psalms 23

EVERY DAY: I will send a comforter John 14:16

EVERY DAY: My peace I will leave with you John 14:27

EVERY DAY: Let not your heart be troubled John 14:1

EVERY DAY: My GRACE is sufficient 2Corinthians 12:9

EVERY DAY: Fear not! Isaiah 41:10

EVERY EVENING: I will never slumber or sleep Psalms 121:4

Thank you, Father . . . Every Day
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 25, 2015 at 5:33 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Hidden in the Cleft of the Rock

Good Morning

Could it be that the darkest places in our lives are when God puts us in the cleft of the rock and then He passes by to do the work that needs to be done and when se come out of the cleft we see how abundantly above He answered our prayers and worked things together in a way so ‘much higher’ than our thoughts?

Yes, the cleft is a hard place, it is rock. It is dark. It is a dead end place we cannot see what is ahead. It is also a place of shelter. A place of refuge, A place of safety, A place of protection. It is a place by God. It is a place whose foundation is a rock. It is a place where God’s hand supports my leaning weak frame. It is the center of God’s will.

And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
(God)And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
(Moses)And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
(Moses)And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
(God)And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. Exodus 33:12-23

Close To Him
God never would send you the darkness,
If He felt you could bear the light;
But you would not cling to His guiding hand
If the way were always bright;
And you would not care to walk by faith
Could you always walk by sight.

So He sends you the blinding darkness,
And the furnace of sevenfold heat;
‘Tis the only way, believe me,
To keep you close to His feet;
For ’tis always so easy to wander
When our lives are glad and sweet.

Then nestle your hand in your Father’s,
And sing, if you can, as you go;
Your song may cheer someone behind you
Whose courage is sinking low.

Hide close to God . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

(picture – http://acts2gathering.com/sos-final/rock-cleft )

Published in: on March 23, 2015 at 5:24 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Cleave – to adhere firmly

Good Morning.

I feel like these thoughts need a disclaimer: This is a declaration against the enemy of our souls that delights in discouraging, lying to, separating and destroying God’s people.

Because sometimes ” your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1Peter 5:8

[Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God. Hebrews 3:12 Amplified

Cleave to adhere firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly

We cannot be cleaving
If we hold each other at arms’ distance.
If we just gaze and then look away quickly
If holding hands feels like a handshake
If in our minds we are making a distance
If we question
If we doubt
If we hide behind our hurts
Until a thought becomes

a withdraw
a space
a wall

It’s time to gird ourselves with truth, not lies
It’s time to cast out the stones
It’s time to rebuke the destroyer
It’s time to march around the city

for how ever many times it takes
to
bring
the
walls
down.

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. James 4:8

Let love be without dissimulation.
(disguising (one’s intentions, for example) under a feigned appearance.)
Abhor that which is evil;
cleave to that which is good. Romans 12:9

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

( Picture from Animal Zoo Park
http://animalszooguru.blogspot.com/2010/11/lions-roaring-pics-roaring-lion.html )

Published in: on March 20, 2015 at 10:24 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Wait, Patiently, Wait

Feb 20 heartHearts on a wall.

Good Morning

! Kings 17:5-7
So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Week after week, with unfaltering and steadfast spirit,
Elijah watched that dwindling brook;
often tempted to stagger through unbelief,
but refusing to allow his circumstances
to come between himself and God.
Unbelief sees God through circumstances,
as we sometimes see the sun shorn of his rays through smoky air;
but faith puts God between itself and circumstances,
and looks at them through Him.
And so the dwindling brook became a silver thread;
and the silver thread stood presently in pools
at the foot of the largest boulders;
and the pools shrank.
The birds fled;
the wild creatures of field and forest came no more to drink;
the brook was dry.
Only then to his patient and unwavering spirit,
“the work of the Lord came, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath’.

Most of us would have gotten anxious
and worn with planning long before that.
We should have ceased our songs as soon as the streamlet
caroled less musically over its rocky bed;
and with harps swinging on the willows,
we should have paced to and fro upon the withering grass,
lost in pensive thought.
And probably, long ere the brook was dry,
we should have devised some plan,
and asking God’s blessing on it,
would have started off elsewhere.  ( How true)

God often does extricate us,
because His mercy endureth forever;
but if we had only waited first
to see the unfolding of His plans;
we should never have found ourselves landed
in such an inextricable labyrinth;
and we should never have been compelled
to retrace our steps with so many tears of shame.
Wait, patiently wait!
F. B. Meyer

Wait for God’s leading . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 17, 2015 at 10:26 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – As to the Lord

stnd
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.–I Corinthians 10:31

With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not unto men.–Ephesians 6:7

Surely the truth must
be, that whatsoever in our daily life is lawful
and right for us to be engaged in,
is in itself a part of our obedience to God;
a part, that is, of our very religion.
Whensoever we hear people complaining of obstructions
and hindrances put by the duties of life
in the way of devoting themselves to God,
we may be sure they are under some false view or other.
They do not look upon their daily work
as the task God has set them,
and as obedience due to Him.
We may go farther; and say,
not only that the duties of life,
be they never so toilsome and distracting,
are no obstructions to a life of any degree of inward holiness;
but that they are even direct means,
when rightly used, to promote our sanctification.
H. E. MANNING.

Do all, as to the Lord . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 16, 2015 at 2:32 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – My Prayer

Feb 24 catch up 048The garden plot is resting,
waiting for the Farmer to bring plants and seed.

Good Morning

1 Kings 12:22
But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
23 Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 24 Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart, according to the word of the Lord.

“return every man to his house;”
no fighting
no hardness
no danger
return to your homes
return to your rest

“for this thing is from me”
God says,
“I have a plan
I have a reason
This is for your good.”

from streams in the Desert
by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
February 1

My child, I have a message for you today;
let me whisper it in your ear,
that it may gild with glory any storm clouds which may arise,
and smooth the rough places upon which you may have to tread.
It is short, only five words,
but let them sink into your inmost soul;
and use them as a pillow to rest your weary head.
“This thing is from me.”

Have you ever thought of it,
that all that concerns you concerns Me too? . . .

This day I place in your hands this pot of holy oil.
Make use of it freely, My child.
Let every circumstance that arises,
every word that pains you,
every interruption that would make you impatient,
and every revelation of your weakness
be anointed with it.
The sting will go as you learn to see Me in all things.
–Laura A. Barter Snow

Dear Lord,
Please, anoint my day . . .
according to your will. Thank you. Amen

With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 10, 2015 at 4:34 am  Leave a Comment  
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Yarn Along – Easily Distracted

yarnalong_gsheller_gray

On Wednesday’s knitters go to Ginny’s to share all the wonderful projects being worked on, finished, frogged, cried over, and learned from. They also tell what they are reading and a little of the storyline or provoking thoughts. I think it is great. So many books, knitting ideas and hints on how to make knitting more enjoyable.

sept 6. trisha pinwheel 001 Knitting away on this ruffle –
I have 3 sections to ruffle.

March 5 002 One quarter of my quilt was sewn together this week.

March 5 004 What can I say. . .
when an unfaithful knitter/crocheter/quilter
finds a new pattern . . .
She just has to try it!

I haven’t used Homespun for a while because it doesn’t showcase the stitches I’ve worked so hard to make. but I have these 8 skeins purchased for another circle afghan that were pouting in the stash shed because they were being ignored and I had to try a new to me pattern. (Actually I tried the pattern in dishcloth cotton{it was close} and THE pattern begged to be crocheted up right now!) So this new project is really not my fault, is it?

Pattern – Corner to Corner Throw, Red Heart pattern, LW1595 by Catherine Watson.
The pattern starts with one shell in the corner grows diagonally to half size;
then decreases back to one shell, then add a shell/scalloped edge.

Ravelry link

Listening to the last book in the Shepherd’s Heart, Spring Meadow Sanctuary, Lynnette Bonner, light and easy listening.

I’m linking my post with Ginny and her Yarn Along.

Published in: on March 5, 2015 at 12:40 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – The Whole Duty of Man

farmer's tan 8-17-11Evidence of hours of working in the sun by the Farmer.

Good Morning

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil. Amplified Bible

The Old Man’s Comforts
and how He gained them.

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
The few locks which are left you are grey;
You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man,
Now tell me the reason I pray.

In the days of my youth, Father William replied,
I remember’d that youth would fly fast,
And abused not my health and my vigour at first
That I never might need them at last.

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
And pleasures with youth pass away,
And yet you lament not the days that are gone,
Now tell me the reason I pray.

In the days of my youth, Father William replied,
I remember’d that youth could not last;
I thought of the future whatever I did,
That I never might grieve for the past.

You are old, Father William, the young man cried,
And life must be hastening away;
You are chearful, and love to converse upon death!
Now tell me the reason I pray.

I am chearful, young man, Father William replied,
Let the cause thy attention engage;
In the days of my youth I remember’d my God!
And He hath not forgotten my age.
Robert Southey.

Duty first . . . Today
with my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 5, 2015 at 11:26 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Fear Not

Feb 24 catch up 023Blueberry blossoms!

Good afternoon

Isaiah 41:8-14
8 But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham My friend,

9 You whom I [the Lord] have taken from the ends of the earth
and have called from the corners of it,
and said to you, You are My servant—
I have chosen you and not cast you off
[even though you are exiled].

10 Fear not [there is nothing to fear],
for I am with you;
do not look around you in terror and be dismayed,
for I am your God.
I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties,
yes, I will help you;
yes, I will hold you up and retain you
with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice.

11 Behold, all they who are enraged and inflamed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
they who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.

12 You shall seek those who contend with you
but shall not find them;
they who war against you shall be as nothing,
as nothing at all.

13 For I the Lord your God hold your right hand;
I am the Lord,
Who says to you,
Fear not; I will help you!

14 Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel!
I will help you, says the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Amplified Bible

My Bible reading . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 2, 2015 at 2:30 pm  Leave a Comment  
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