Thoughts of Grace

Front flower bed cleared of summer asters and goldenrod and planted with pansies and violas.

Good Morning

We’ve been in Redding helping with the Farmer’s mother. She has been in the hospital with pneumonia, etc, but is much better now. She has been transferred to a care center and we have been able to come home. The only internet connection we had was in the hospital, so I didn’t do much but check my mail and posted updates on Facebook to the family. We have seen God’s mercy as she has improved.

“He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Malachi 3:3

Our Father, who seeks to perfect His saints in holiness, knows the value of the refiner’s fire. It is with the most precious metals that the assayer takes the most pains, and subjects them to the hot fire, because such fires melt the metal, and only the molten mass releases its alloy or takes perfectly its new form in the mold. The refiner never leaves his crucible, but sits down by it, lest there should be one excessive degree of heat to mar the metal. But as soon as he skims from the surface the last of the dross, and sees his own face reflected, he puts out the fire. ~~Arthur T. Pierson.

“He sat by a fire of seven-fold heat,
As He watched by the precious ore,
And closer He bent with a searching gaze
As He heated it more and more.
He knew He had ore that could stand the test,
And He wanted the finest gold
To mold as a crown for the King to wear,
Set with gens with a price untold.
So He laid our gold in the burning fire,
Tho’ we fain would have said Him ‘Nay’
And He watched the dross that we had not seen.
And it melted and passed away.
And the gold grew brighter and yet more bright,
But our eyes were so dim with tears,
We saw but the fire–not the Master’s hand,
And questioned with anxious fears.
Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,
As it mirrored a Form above
That bent o’er the fire, tho’ unseen by us,
With a look of ineffable love.
Can we think that it pleases His loving heart
To cause us a moment’s pain?
Ah, no! but He saw through the present cross
The bliss of eternal gain.
So He waited there with a watchful eye,
With a love that is strong and sure,
And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat,
Than was needed to make it pure.”

Again, trust God for your day. . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

I’m ready for another trip to the beach!

Good Morning

. . . and yet I show you a more excellent way 1Corinthians 12:31

I carefully laid every plan:
the future seemed so bright.
My hopes and dreams they towered high–
I saw no trace of night.

And then at closing of the day
I knelt in usual prayer,
And prayed; Dear Lord, bless every plan–
All that I hope and dare.”

But day by day my plans all failed.
My hopes came tumbling down.
All my ambitions disappeared,
And FAILURE was my crown.

Perplexed–I could not understand,
Had I not knelt in prayer?
And asked that every plan and hope
Would find a blessing rare?

Then in the stillness of the night,
Out from the shadows dim,
I heard a sweet persuading voice
That called me close to Him.

“Why don’t you let Me make your plans?
I’ve trod the path before.
Just leave the future in My hands,
I’ll lead thee o’re and o’re.”

In shame, I bowed my humble head;
My spirit low was brought,
For I had caught a strange new light,
By HIs own Spirit taught.

No longer do I pray as once,
“Dear Lord, bless all my plans.”
But now I pray: “Lord, plan for me,
The future’s in Thy hands.” ~~Selected

Even Today – trust God for your day.
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

The last of the zinnas.

Good Morning

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh:
is there any thing too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:27

We need to hear that God is still in control.
We need to hear that it’s not over until he says so.
We need to hear that life’s mishaps and tragedies
are not a reason to bail out.
They are simply a reason to sit tight.

Corrie ten Boom used to say.

“When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark,
do you jump out? Of course not.
You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through”. . .

The way to deal with discouragement?
The cure for disappointment?
Go back and read the story of Job.
Read it again and again.
Be reminded that you aren’t the first person to weep.
And you aren’t the first person to be helped.

Read the story and remember, [the] story is yours!
Max Lucado, He Still Moves Stones

Trust God for your day. . .Today.
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

This building is known as the Stash Shed.
(Thank you, again, Dan)
The Stash shed received a long over due cleaning and straightening on Monday,
which included a trip to the Goodwill drop off center.

Good Morning

Exodus 5:22-23
And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people?
why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name,
he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.

Exodus 6:1-8
Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh:
for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.
And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob,
by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
And I have also established my covenant with them,
to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.
And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel,
whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD,
and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,
and I will rid you out of their bondage,
and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
And I will take you to me for a people,
and I will be to you a God:and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God,
which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
And I will bring you in unto the land,
concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob;
and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD. (bold mine)

Abraham didn’t ask to be chosen of God, at least I haven’t read of his asking.
God wanted a people.
God had a plan.
One important part of the plan was that the people would worship and trust the Lord.
How comforting to read in chapter 6, God’s reassurance to the people.

I AM THE LORD.
I appeared…
I have established…
I have heard…
I have remembered…
I AM THE LORD.
I will bring…
I will rid…
I will redeem…
I will take…
I will be…
I AM THE LORD.
I will bring…
I will give…
I AM THE LORD.

What are our problems today?
Is God any less able?

I AM THE LORD has said:

I AM THE LORD.
I appeared…to you
I have established…you
I have heard…you
I have remembered…you
I AM THE LORD.
I will bring…you
I will rid…you of
I will redeem…you
I will take…you
I will be…with you
I AM THE LORD.
I will bring…you
I will give…to you
I AM THE LORD.

Are our problems greater than I AM THE LORD?

Trust God your you day…Today.
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

“And you are doing what?”

“Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.” (Psalm 4:1, KJV).

The poetry of this verse is too beautiful to overlook. David is deliberately placing two extremes side by side to demonstrate the profound difference that God’s power makes in our lives when we call out to Him for mercy.

Distress means “a tight spot.” Enlarged means “a spacious place.”
From the very moment of our birth we have known that in order to get to a spacious place, we must first pass through a tight spot. Our mother’s labor pains pushed us through the distress of delivery and ushered us into the largeness of Life itself.

Is it not the same when we are born again? Wasn’t it some pressing weight of sorrow, some overbearing load of guilt and shame, some driving fear, or suffocating loneliness that distressed your soul sufficient enough for you to call upon the Name of the Lord? And didn’t He answer in the day of your trouble and deliver you into a large place?

It is a law in the Kingdom of Heaven — God always enlarges us when we are in distress.

Therefore, when God wants to make us larger than we have settled for being, what do you suppose He does? He introduces distress into our comfortable lives, and thereby invites us to ascend to a larger place.

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “I must confess that all the grace I have got out of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows and pains and griefs is altogether incalculable. What do I not owe to the hammer and the anvil, the fire and the file!”

If you are in a tight spot — God is enlarging you my friend, and the best you can do right now is to thank Him for it.  Rylie

Trust God for your day. . .Today.
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Good Morning

James 1:2-4
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. KJV

Fall corn

James 1:2-4
Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.
Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. Amplified Bible

Yarn and Pearl

Good Morning

My presence shall go with thee. . . Exodus 33:14

Christ’s presence does not keep the storms away;
but He is with us in the storms,
We are safer in danger with Christ than in quietness without Him.
We do not place our hopes in the sinking sands of time,
rather is our confidence in the steadfast Rock of Ages.
But we must be like our Master;
it is the spirit of sacrifice
and yielding to the cross that invests our lives with value. . .
Amid the wildest tumult,
Christ was never too weary to listen to the cry of human distress.
Then why fear the tempest,
when it is under the control of our Heavenly Father?
He was never so engrossed in one case of need
that He could not stop to give attention to another.
The restoration of a sick child to her parents
represents how He will restore friend to friend.
Some who most needed His help
took no notice of His desire to help them,
like drowning men,
amazed at the beauty of the lifeboat,
might stay in the waves to perish.
The ways that seemed to take their Lord away from the disciples
really brought Him nearer to the boat.
The fishermen had come to their wit’s end
before they came to their journey’s end.
How often has the Savior intervened
when the strength of man is exhausted!

G.G.Cawston, from Living Waters leaflet
printed by Christian Progress Scripture Union, London

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Wild sunflowers in the morning sun.

Good Morning

The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table  Matthew 15:27

While Jesus was ministering Tyre and Sidon a woman came to Him asking that He heal her daughter. According to His wisdom He hesitated until her persistent pleading drew from Him these words.
“It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs.”
Both the humility and the quick eager faith of this woman appear in her response.
“Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
She was not offended by the figure our Lord used.
She was willing to be as a little dog under the Master’s table.
The children were first served, and then the pieces they let fall belonged to the dogs. All she asked was the portion that ordinarily went to the dogs. And even the crumbs from that table were enough for her, more than the richest dainties from any other table.
Thus both humility and faith were shown in her answer; and in both she is an example to us. We should come to Christ with a deep sense of our unworthiness, ready to take the lowest place. It is such a precious thing to be permitted to take even the crumbs from the Master’s table, that we should exult in the privilege. The crumbs of His grace and love are better than the richest feasts of this world.
Yet we are not fed with crumbs;
we are seated at the full table.
with the richest provisions before us.
The prodigal, returning, asked only to be made a servant,
as he felt unworthy to be restored to a son’s place.
But the father-love knew no such halfway restoration as that.
The white robe, the shoes, the ring were given to him, insignia of sonship. God puts the lowliest and unworthiest at once into the children’s place, and feeds them abundantly.
~~J, R, Miller, from Come Ye Apart

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie