Thoughts of Grace

Guarding the yarn remnants.

Good Morning

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns;
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they?
Matthew 6:26

How do you measure you value?
Dollars in the bank?
Cars in the driveway?
Letters after your name?
During the Depression,
you were something special
if you had a little meat on your bones.
That meant you were prosperous,
that nobody at your house was starving.
People could see you were well cared for,
and for that matter,
cared about.

Well, suppose we. . .look at the birds of the air.
Have you ever seen a skinny bird?
Maybe if it were sickly and couldn’t fly off to find food,
but the ones in the air are plump and healthy and flying high.
Even though they have no food stored up for tomorrow,
they seem to be doing fine today on the food
that their heavenly Father has provided…
And Jesus said we are of more value to God
than those happily fed birds,
meaning he will look out for all our needs,
not just physical, but spiritual needs, too.
Liz Curtis Higgs ~~ Reflecting His Image

Watching the birds of the air. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Good Morning

“We’re doing our best setting things right.”
2 Corinthians 6:7, The Message

In 1907 Grant C. Tullar wrote,

“Hear ye the Master’s call, ‘Give Me thy best!’
For, be it great or small, that is His test.
Do then the best you can, not for reward,
not for the praise of man — but for the Lord.
Every work for Jesus will be blessed;
but He asks from everyone his best.
Our talents may be few, these may be small —
but unto Him is due our best, our all.”

Are you giving your best?
Or, like so many others,
do you just cruise along merely doing only what is acceptable.

Paul the Apostle said,

“Whether we are at home with the Lord or away from him, we still try our best to please him”
(2 Corinthians 5:9 CEV).

Indeed, we are called to do our best
at setting things right in a world gone wrong.
Nothing more could be asked,
and nothing less would be acceptable.

The story is told of how the great Leonardo Da Vinci
had started work on a large canvas in his studio.
A few of his students watched as he worked at it —
choosing the subject,
planning the perspective,
sketching the outline,
and applying the colors;
all with his own inimitable genius.
Then he unexpectedly paused,
the painting still unfinished,
and, summoning one of his students,
invited him to step up and complete the work.
The student protested that he was unworthy
and unable to complete the great painting
which his master had begun.
But Da Vinci answered,
“Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?”

Do you think that Jesus might be saying a similar thing to you?
Your life can honor God greatly,
and benefit some many others in positive and lasting ways.
Everything you need
for this has already been provided by Jesus.
Believe it,
take hold of it,
press on with it,
and give it your best shot.
Surely you can do no less,
seeing how much He has done already.

Finish the painting, my friend —
for Jesus believes in you.  Rylie

Great or Small. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

the Farmer has dug up all the grass at Cozy Acres,
defined two flower areas with river rock borders,
planted flowers I brought home from Grandma Crain’s
and hopes to sow grass seed this week.

Good Morning

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

Perhaps nothing diverts us from focused living
more than our concept of success.
Published studies inform us
of what conveys power in body language,
business lunches, and the cars we strive.
We ‘dress for success.’
Society is not only preoccupied with the image of success,
but for the most part is dependent on
someone else to define success. . . .
Was Jesus successful?
He had no home of his own.
The successful people of His day viewed Him skeptically,
if not with hostility.
His followers were a ragtag bunch
without social or political influence.
And even this motley crew fell away
as He approached the Cross.
None of His disciples
accompanied Him in His darkest hour.
He had neither wealth, political power,
or unusual physical beauty. . .
Jesus measured His own success by one criterion:
“I came. . .not to my will
but to do the will of him who sent me” John 6:38.
“I finished the work.”
Jean Fleming Finding Focus in a Whirlwind World

Seeking to follow God . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Advice from Taco Bell

Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
Psalm 119:24

How do you feel when you find
that wad of cash you hid
in your sock drawer for safekeeping
and forgot about?
Or when you find the diamond
that dropped out of your engagement ring?
Or when you find the child
who got away from you
in the shopping mall and wandered out of your sight.

You rejoice.

For each is a rich treasure,
and finding it brings joy.
But God’s Word offers so much more.
Unlike any other treasure
it offers peace of mind
to those who love and pursue it.
Unlike any valuable,
the Word of God gives strength, vigor,
and energy to live
without stumbling in weariness or fear.
Open your spiritual treasure chest today
and dig deep.

Peter Wallace, What the Psalmist is Saying to You Today

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

the Farmer’s chickens are busy.

Good Morning

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith means
putting our full confidence in the things we hope for,
it means being certain of things we cannot see.

Romans 8:24-25
We were saved by this hope,
but in our moments of impatience
let us remember
that hope always means waiting
for something that we haven’t yet got.
But if we hope for something we cannot see,
then we must settle down to wait for it in patience.

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

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

Good Morning,

Daniel 6:16,19-22
Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel,
and cast him into the den of lions.
Now the king spake and said unto Daniel,
Thy God whom thou servest continually,
he will deliver thee.
. . . Then the king arose very early in the morning,
and went in haste unto the den of lions.
And when he came to the den,
he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel:
and the king spake and said to Daniel,
O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God,
whom thou servest continually,
able to deliver thee from the lions?
Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths,
that they have not hurt me:
forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me;
and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

Look at Jonah in the fish belly–
surrounded by gastric juices and sucked in seaweed. . .
He prays. . .
Before he can say amen,
the belly convulses,
the fish belches,
and Jonah lands face first on the beach.

Look at Daniel in the lions’ den;
his prospects aren’t much better than Jonah’s.
Jonah had been swallowed,
and Daniel is about to be . . .

Or look at Joseph in the pit,
a chalky hole in a hot desert.
The lid had been pulled over the top
and the wool had been pulled over his eyes. . .
Like Jonah and Daniel,
Joseph is trapped.
He is out of options.
There is no exit.
There is no hope. . .
Though the road to the palace
takes a detour through a prison,
it eventually ends up at the throne. . .

Such are the stories in the Bible.
One near death experience after another.
Just when the neck is on the chopping block,
just when the noose is around he neck.
Calvary comes.
Max Lucado He Still Moves Stones

HE is just the same . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

You are my rock and my fortress;
therefore, for Your name’s sake,
lead me ad guide me.
Psalm 31:5

God made us originally like Himself,
and when the human race
fell into willful disobedience,
we all lost something.

We lost the clear-cut lines of the original image
of God’s character stamped on our spiritual features.
We lost the desire to glorify Him.
God want to restore that original image in our lives. . .

My mother loves antiques.
She was always busy restoring some old chunk of wood—
or so it appeared to us.
But when her work was finished,
the image that had been hidden emerged,
bringing forth admiration and praise.

To fail successfully means to decide
that He must be allowed to complete His restoring work
in our lives for His name’s sake;
To fail to follow,
and to try, try again,
until we find ourselves succeeding means that
in the end,
our lives will give praise and appreciation to Him.

After all,
the whole duty of man
is to bring glory to God.
Jill Briscoe ~~How to Follow the Shepherd

Fail successfully . . Today
With my prayers,  desiring yours,  Leslie

Good Morning

Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand. Psalm 73:23

In the Old Testament,
when the high priest went into the Most Holy Place
once a year to sprinkle the blood of the lamb
on the mercy sear to make atonement for sin,
he wore a breastplate that covered his heart and chest. . .
The breastplate was encrusted with twelve stones,
each one carved with one of the names of the tribes of Israel.
Wearing this breastplate signified
that when the high priest went into God’s presence,
he carried the names of God’s children on his heart.
The first of those stones was a carnelian.
And the last was a jasper
When John described the One Who sat on the throne,
he said He “had the appearance of jasper and carnelian” (Rev.4:3a).
A jasper was a clear stone, much like a diamond.
A carnelian, or sardus stone, had more the color of a ruby . .
It is as though John was describing God saying,
even by the colors He wore,
“I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I carry you by name on My Heart forever.”
When seated on the throne at the center of the universe,
preparing to judge the world.
Jesus gives you and me evidence we are on His heart!
Annie Graham Lotz ~~The Vision of His Glory

Know you are near to the heat of God. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Stock and Tulip

“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (Joshua 5:12)

Joshua was born a captive in Egypt,and as a young boy
watched with wonder as God parted the Red Sea
and made a way in the wilderness.
He was with Moses as a young man
throughout the wilderness wanderings, all the while
being groomed by God for his future assignment.

Perhaps even now the Lord is grooming you for some future mission.

It was Joshua who led the spies into the Promised Land
and saw for himself what others only dreamed about.
He alone, with Caleb, argued the case for Faith when all others
caved in to doubt, fear, and unbelief.
And it was Joshua, the man of faith,
whom God anointed to lead the children of Israel
into Canaan to experience the fulfillment of promises
made by the Faithful God,
and to finish the business at hand of reclaiming the Land
from those who had been stolen by the powers of darkness.

These recollections serve as a great encouragement
to us today as we face a similar opportunities
for making progress in the things of God.
Just as the Lord rescued His people from Egyptian bondage,
so He has marked us by His love and redeemed us unto Himself
out of the fallen and faulted world system,
wherein we were held captive under the heavy hand of task-masters
who drove us with whip and stick in the lustful pursuit
of power, sex, and money.
Our lives were marred by corruption,
stained with shame,
and marked for death.
But God, who is rich in mercy
and unfailing in His faithfulness, redeemed us!

And now the Faithful God stands before us,
and beckons us to follow Him onward and
He takes us inward that we might go upward.
The challenges are not over,
nor are the changes complete,
but our hearts are lifted
with a sense of imminent breakthroughs;
things oft dreamed about,
and long-awaited,
seem to be so very close at hand.
The smell of rain is in the air.

Come, friend, take heart
and renew your trust in the Faithful God.
For it will be said of us as it was of our predecessors —

“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year” (Jos.5:12).

From Egyptian bondage, through desert dryness and testing,
to a land that flowed with milk and honey —
the Faithful God has ever been there for us, as He was with them. Rylie

Take heart . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Never leave a glass unattended.

“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (Joshua 5:12)

We have each traveled a long and laborious pathway
during these past few years as the World and the Church
have both undergone unprecedented challenge and change.
It seems that everything that can be shaken is being shaken,
and ultimately only those things that are unshakable will remain.

O to us may grace be given to stand in the unshakable Kingdom.

Sadly, some have not made the journey.
Having been turned aside by the lure of lesser things,
or backed down by the threat of difficult things,
or held captive by the hollow hope of nostalgic things —
not all who started out on this trek have made it this far.
We look around and they are gone.
“Demas hath forsaken me,” wrote the apostle Paul,
“having loved this present world” (2 Tim.4:10).

But not all who are gone from us have fallen.
There are those happy souls who have finished
their race with joy and been transported to the City,
whose builder and maker is God;
and we rejoice with them as we hope for heaven ourselves.
And our hope is not in vain,
nor will our longings be left unrewarded.
For we are neither lethargic nor nostalgic;
we are full of life and filled with dreams.

Today belongs to those who live by a faith
that sees beyond the limitations of human reason and effort;
a faith that trusts in the unfailing love of the Faithful God
who alone has brought us safe thus far;
and who alone will carry us all the way to our Hope of Glory.

Joshua serves as a splendid example of those who survive
and prevail by placing their faith in the Faithful God.
We’ll look at him in detail tomorrow. Rylie

Stand . . .Today in grace
With my prayers, desiring yours. Leslie

Tulip

Good Morning,

Nathanael said to Philip,
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip answered, “Come and see.” John 1:46

Nathanael’s question still lingers,
even tow thousand years later. . .
Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Come and see.

Come and see the changed lives:

the alcoholic now dry,
the embittered now joyful,
the shamed now forgiven. . .
marriages rebuilt,
the orphans embraced
the imprisoned inspired . .

Come and see the pierced hand of God
touch the most common heart,
wipe the tear from the wrinkled face,
and forgive the ugliest sin.
Come and see.

He avoids no seeker.
He ignores no problem.
He fears no search.

Come and see.
Max Lucado ~~A Gentle Thunder

Come and See . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Spring’s a coming!

Good Morning

Here are the typical components of a
“faith under fire”; a very troubling event,
an element of injustice or unfairness
(Why me?),
a silent God who could have intervened
but didn’t and a million unanswered questions.
Have you ever been there?

And when the chief Shepherd shall appear,
ye shall receive a crown of glory
that fadeth not away. 1Peter 5:4

Sometimes the Lord offers no explanation or interpretation
of His response to our requests and cries,
except by inference.
“This is My will for you.”

The LORD is good unto them
that wait for him,
to the soul that seeketh him.
Lamentations 3:25

There are purposes that you cannot perceive or comprehend,
you may never understand—
at least not in this life—
but you must never let go of your faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrew 11:1

The laws of physics tells us
that energy in the universe is never lost.
It is simply transformed from one state to another.
So it is with human experience.
Nothing is ever lost entirely.
God uses every happening to accomplish His divine purpose.

But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18

When we submit ourselves to the sovereign will of the Lord,
we can say with confidence that in all things
—yes, in all things—
God works for the good of them who love Him,
who have been called according to his purpose.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning.
James 1:17

Rev. Reubin Welch, minister and author, once said
“With God,
even when nothing is happening—
something is happening.”
It is true.

I wait for the LORD,
my soul doth wait,
and in his word do I hope.
Psalm 130:5

Scripture tells us
that we lack the capacity to grasp
God’s infinite mind or
the way He intervenes in our lives.

The secret things belong unto the LORD our God:
but those things which are revealed belong unto us
and to our children for ever,
that we may do all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 29:29

Jehovah didn’t explain to Joseph
what he was doing through years of heartache
(he was hated by his brothers,
sold as a slave,
imprisoned,
falsely accused of attempted rape,
threatened with execution).
He was expected,
like you and me,
to live out each day in something less
than complete understanding.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 55:8

We can say with confidence that while God’s purposes
and plans are very different from ours,
He is infinitely just and His timing is always perfect.

And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God,
and thy words be true,
and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
Therefore now let it please thee
to bless the house of thy servant,
that it may continue for ever before thee:
for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken it:
and with thy blessing
let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.
2 Samuel 7:28-29

If human intelligence
and perception are undependable
in assessing everyday reality,
which can be seen,
touched,
heard,
tasted,
and smelled.
How much less capable are they
of evaluation the unfathomable God of the universe?

While we look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen:
for the things which are seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18

Sooner or later our intellect will pose questions
we cannot possibly answer.
At that point,
we would be wise to remember
God’s ways are higher than ours.

And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD:
it shall rejoice in his salvation.
All my bones shall say,
LORD, who is like unto thee,
which deliverest the poor
from him that is too strong for him,
yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
Psalm 35:9-10

One of the greatest destroyers of faith is timing
that doesn’t fit our preconceived notions.
We live in a fast paced world
where we have come to expect instant responses
to every desire and need.
But God doesn’t operate that way. He is never in a hurry.

And he said unto them,
It is not for you to know the times or the seasons,
which the Father hath put in his own power.
Acts 1:7

Even Jesus, who lived thirty-three years on earth,
spent only three in active ministry!
Think of how many more people
He could have healed—
and how many mare divine truths
He could have imparted—
in another decade or two.
But He, too, ministered according to God’s schedule.

To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

James Dobson~~In the Arms of God

Trust God’s plan . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Blubs are blooming at Grandma Crain’s

Good Morning

Nathanael said to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip answered, “Come and see.”  John 1:46

Nathanael’s question still lingers, even tow thousand years later. . .
Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Come and see.
Come and see the changed lives:

the alcoholic now dry,
the embittered now joyful,
the shamed now forgiven. . .
marriages rebuilt,
the orphans embraced
the imprisoned inspired . .

Come and see the pierced hand of God
touch the most common heart,
wipe the tear from the wrinkled fance,
and forgive the ugliest sin.
Come and see.

He avoids no seeker.
He ignores no problem.
He fears no search.

Come and see.

Max Lucado ~~A Gentle Thunder

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

Tilling done, racking, leveling, seeding, watering on the Farmer’s to-do list

Good Morning

…for I am God, and not man;
the Holy One in the midst of thee: …Hosea 11:9

‘I am God and not a human; I am the Holy One,
and I am among you.’   Hosea 11:9 NCV

Before you read any further,
reflect on those last four words:
“I am among you.”
Do you believe that?
Do you believe God is near?
He wants you to.
He wants you to know he is
in the midst of your world.
Wherever you are as you read these words.
he is present.
In your car.
On the plane,
In your office, your bedroom, your den.
He’s near.
God is in the thick of things in your world.
He has not taken up residence in a distant galaxy.
He has not removed himself from history.
He has not chosen to seclude himself
on a throne in an incandescent castle.
He has drawn near.
He has involved himself in the carpools,
heartbreaks, and funeral homes of our day.
He is as near to us on Monday
as on Sunday
In the schoolroom as in the sanctuary.
At the coffee break as much as the communion table.
Max Lucado~~And the Angels Were Silent

Draw near to God . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie