Repost from May, 2013 – Follow the Thread

May 6 garden velma 017Dutch Iris at Grandma Crain’s

Good Afternoon

Have faith in God. Mark 11:22

In the catacombs, we are told, explorers take a thread with them through all the dark passages and tortuous windings, and by this thread find their way back again to the light. There is such a thread running through all the dark corridors with we tread, and if we simply, practically trust in God we shall steer past every peril and land in the world of light. This is the counsel to remember in all the perplexities of our actual life.

There is an answer to every questioning “Why” It is this: Have Faith in God.

Have faith that He knows all, sympathizes with all, can rectify, what is amiss in all! Have faith in the outworking of His beneficent purpose: that the ruin will become a magnificent pile; the desert will blossom into a garden. Have faith in God. Keep close to Him–His side, His will–and He will teach us the true thing, the right way. Have faith that God knows and that we shall know by and by, why things are as they are. “Selected

Follow the thread of faith . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on October 24, 2016 at 3:46 pm  Leave a Comment  
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The Consecrated Soul

peace

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
F. R. HAVERGAL.

I am the Almighty God; walk before me,
and be thou perfect.–Genesis 17:1

Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord.
–Exodus 32:29.

I have noticed that wherever there has been
a faithful following of the Lord in a consecrated soul,
several things have inevitably followed, sooner or later.
Meekness and quietness of spirit become in time
the characteristics of the daily life.
A submissive acceptance of the will of God
as it comes in the hourly events of each day;
pliability in the hands of God to do
or to suffer all the good pleasure of His will;
sweetness under provocation;
calmness in the midst of turmoil and bustle;
yieldingness to the wishes of others,
and an insensibility to slights and affronts;
absence of worry or anxiety;
deliverance from care and fear;
–all these, and many similar graces,
are invariably found to be the natural outward development
of that inward life which is hid with Christ in God.
H. W. SMITH.

from Streams in the Desert volume 1.

Published in: on October 22, 2016 at 6:17 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Five Minute Friday – Park

Joining with Kate at Heading Home

For five minutes of free writing.
“This is meant to be a free write, which means:
no editing, no over-thinking,
no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.
Just write.”

This week’s prompt – Park

Put it into Park!

park

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the long day
sitting in the car in the driveway
Put the car into park.
turn of the key.
Sit in the silence for a moment
before the next phase of the day.
__________________________
__________________________
_____________________________
You can fill in the blanks.

but let’s pause in that wee quiet time
before we open the door
and try to carry all the bags at once.

Be in the present
Be in His presence
Be still
Wait
Listen
Whisper Thanks
Ask for Grace
Trust in His Love.

Parking just might be the very best time of the day.

Stop

Psalm 46:10-11
Let be and be still, and know
(recognize and understand)
that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations!
I will be exalted in the earth!
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our Refuge
(our High Tower and Stronghold).
Selah
[pause, and calmly think of that]!

Amplified Bible

Published in: on October 21, 2016 at 9:32 pm  Comments (1)  
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God’s Mercy and Loving-kindness

feb10-evning-light-002

Your mercy and lovingkindness, O Lord, extend to the skies,
and Your faithfulness [reaches] to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God,
Your judgments are like the great deep.
O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

How precious is Your steadfast love, O God!
The children of men take refuge
and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

They relsisih and feast on the abundance of Your house;
and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures.

For with You is the fountain of life
[the fountain of life-giving water];
in Your light do we see light.

O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
Your righteousness (salvation) the upright in heart.

Psalm 36:5-10
Amplified Bible

Published in: on October 19, 2016 at 10:53 am  Leave a Comment  
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Five Minute Friday – Mail

Joining with Kate at Heading Home

For five minutes of free writing.
“This is meant to be a free write, which means:
no editing, no over-thinking,
no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.
Just write.

This week’s prompt -Mail

go

may20-009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mail was an important part of my life growing up
Birthday cards with a two dollar bill from Grandma
Many Christmas cards, bright, hung from yarn around the room
Letters from family from far away

Later, I found im my mail box
Bills
Ads
Catalogs
Junk
Christmas cards – Happy New Year
and from my mother-in-law and mother
Happy birthday and Happy Anniversary cards

Now
Bills are paid on line
Ads pop-up on blogs I read
Messenger & Texting come from family and friends

may20-006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I visit my mailbox every 10 days or so
only medical bills and information
some catalogs
at Christmas cards come but fewer each year
but mostly Junk.
except for Mom,
she is still sending Birthday greetings
and Anniversary ‘Best Wishes’
The very very most important pieces of mail I could every receive.
Just like getting a mother’s kiss.

Greet one another with an holy kiss.
2Corinthians 13:12

Published in: on October 14, 2016 at 5:08 pm  Comments (1)  
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In Nothing Stay Anxious

fall-101316It’s beginning to look like fall!

Do not be anxious about anything.
Instead, in every situation,
through prayer and petition with thanksgiving,
tell your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6

No anxiety ought to be found in a believer.
Great, many and varied may be our trials,
our afflictions, our difficulties,
and yet there should be no anxiety
under any circumstances,
because we have a Father in Heaven who is almighty,
who loves His children as He loves His only-begotten Son,
and whose very joy and delight it is to succor
and help them at all times and under all circumstances.
We should attend to the Word,

“In nothing be anxious,
but in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God.”

“In everything,” that is not merely when the house is on fire,
not merely when the beloved wife
and children are on the brink of the grave,
but in the smallest matters of life,
bring everything before God,
the little things,
the very little things,
what the world calls trifling things–everything–
living in holy communion with our Heavenly Father,
and with our precious Lord Jesus all day long.
And when we awake at night,
by a kind of spiritual instinct again turning to Him,
and speaking to Him,
bringing our various little matters
before Him in the sleepless night,
the difficulties in connection with the family,
our trade, our profession.
Whatever tries us in any way,
speak to the Lord about it.

“By prayer and supplication,”
taking the place of beggars,
with earnestness,
with perseverance,
going on and waiting,
waiting,
waiting on God.

“With thanksgiving.”
We should at all times lay a good foundation with thanksgiving.
If everything else were wanting,
this is always present,
that He has saved us from hell.
Then, that He has given us His Holy Word–
His Son, His choicest gift–
and the Holy Spirit.
Therefore we have abundant reason for thanksgiving.
O let us aim at this!

“And the peace of God which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
And this is so great a blessing,
so real a blessing,
so precious a blessing,
that it must be known experimentally to be entered into,
for it passeth understanding.
O let us lay these things to heart,
and the result will be,
if we habitually walk in this spirit,
we shall far more abundantly glorify God,
than as yet we have done.
–George Mueller, in Life of Trust

Published in: on October 14, 2016 at 4:07 am  Leave a Comment  
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Five Minute Friday – Test

Joining with Kate at Heading Home

For five minutes of free writing.
“This is meant to be a free write, which means:
no editing, no over-thinking,
no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.
Just write.”

This week’s prompt – Test

Testing, Testing, Testing

Do you hear me?

Am I speaking clearly?

Do you understand what I am saying?

Are you willing to follow my words?

As with Samuel –
God called “Samuel, Samuel”

Can I anwser
“Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.”

This is my test.

hearing
understanding
willing to follow the directions

I do not like tests.

I always worry about my answers.
(Even eye exams – did I give the right answer?
Is the 1st ‘click’ or the 2nd ‘click’ clearer?)

What does God want me to learn from my tests?
God, first, wants me to listen.
Secondly, God’s desire for me is willingness to try.
Thirdly, God wants me to lean on Him during the test and
not on my own understanding.

I may not always get an ‘A’ on God’s test,
but I can receive a “Well Done”.

That is good enough for me.

stop

Published in: on October 7, 2016 at 11:31 pm  Comments (1)  
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Let Us Lay Aside Every Weight

march-29-30-yp-cabin-trip-033 Lay all our weights at the foot of the cross

Hebrews 12:1-2
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

There are weights which are not sins in themselves,
but which become distractions and stumbling blocks
in our Christian progress.
One of the worst of these is despondency.
The heavy heart is indeed a weight that will surely
drag us down in our holiness and usefulness.

The failure of Israel to enter the land of promise
began in murmuring, or,
as the text in Numbers literally puts it,
“as it were murmured.”
Just a faint desire to complain and be discontented.
This led on until it blossomed
and ripened into rebellion and ruin.
Let us give ourselves no liberty ever to doubt God
or His love and faithfulness to us in everything and forever.

We can set our will against doubt
just as we do against any other sin;
and as we stand firm and refuse to doubt,
the Holy Spirit will come to our aid and
give us the faith of God and crown us with victory.

It is very easy to fall into the habit
of doubting, fretting and wondering
if God has forsaken us
and if after all our hopes are to end in failure.
Let us refuse to be discouraged.
Let us refuse to be unhappy.
Let us “count it all joy”
when we cannot feel one emotion of happiness.
Let us rejoice by faith, by resolution, by reckoning,
ad we shall surely find that God will make the reckoning real.
~~~Selected

Published in: on October 2, 2016 at 4:48 am  Leave a Comment  
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By Faith and Not By Sight

th

“When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

By faith, and not appearance;
God never wants us to look at our feelings.
Self may want us to;
and Satan nay want us to.
But God wants us to face facts,
not feelings;
the facts of Christ
and of His finished and oerfect work for us

When we face these precious facts,
and believe them because God ways they are facts,
God will take care of our feelings.

God never gives us feeling to enable us to trust Him;
God never gives feeling to encourage us to trust Him;
God never gives feeling to show that we have already and utterly trusted Him.

God gives feeling only when He sees that we trust Him apart from all feeling,
resting on His own Word,
and on His own faithfulness to His promise.

Never until then can the feeling
(which is from God)
possibly come;
and God will give the feeling in such a measure
and at such a time as His love sees best for the individual case.

We must choose bewteen facing toward our feelings and facing toward God facts.
Our feelings may be as uncertain as the sea or the shifting sands.
God;s facts are as certian as the Rock of Ages,
even Christ himself,
who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Following Jesus from day to day,
Gently He leads me along the way;
E’er will I trust Him all foes despite,
By faith and not by sight.

Published in: on October 1, 2016 at 4:20 am  Leave a Comment  
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