Today’s thought – Revive Me

P1030215Hollyhocks

Good Morning

Psalm 138:7-8
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

It is very helpful to make a habit of offering,
morning by morning,
the troubles of the day just beginning
to our dear Lord,
accepting His will in all things.
especially in all little personal trials and vexations.
Some persons have found great benefit from making,
when first they wake,
the act taught to Madame de Chantal by St. Francis de Sales,
accepting “all things tolerable and intolerable”
for the love of Christ;
then at midday,
a moment’s inward search to see
whether there has been any voluntary slackening of submission,
any deliberate opposition to God’s will,
and hesitation in resisting the distaste or fretfulness,
the impatience or discouragement we are tempted to feel
when things go contrary to our own will and likings,
making a fresh resolution to go on heartily;
and, at night,
a quick review of the day’s failures for which to ask pardon,
and strength to go on better anew.
Some such habit as this is a great check
to that terrible hindrance of the spiritual life
which terrible though it be
is so apt to steal upon many good and earnest souls,
–a complaining, grumbling self=pitying spirit.
H. L. Sidney Lear

Check me . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 26, 2014 at 4:42 am  Leave a Comment  
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Yarn Along – Just a Little Knitting

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.

For various reasons, my knitting has been patiently waiting and rolling their eyes. I was ignoring everything that needed a hook or needles, except this very simple diagonal scarf. I only had to think twice on the right side row and not at all on the wrong side.  I just didn’t think I could handle more.

june25 yan along 001

june25 yan along 002Very quiet colors for my very tired mind.

For some reason this old  project called out very loud. I heard and dug out the pieces of this English paper-piecing project. I can’t remember when I started it, but I do remember working on it in 2007. My version of a Grandmother’s Flower Garden using reproduction 30’s fabrics.

june25 yan along 005Paper hexagons, fabric square pinned on, then trimmed to 1/4 inch from paper. The fabric edges are folded over the paper and basted to the paper.

june25 yan along 004
I first made ‘flowers.’
june25 yan along 003
Then I added ‘leaves’ around the flowers. The sunny yellow will connect all the flower units
june25 yan along 007
I have a along way to go until this is big enough for my bed.

I hope the knitters and crocheters don’t mind a little quilting visiting ‘Yarn Along’ today.
If you want to see others’ neat stuff, click here.

Published in: on June 25, 2014 at 7:13 pm  Comments (2)  
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Today’s thought – God’s Promises

june 16 008
Good Morning

2 Peter 1:4
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

If you would know experimentally
the preciousness of the promises,
and enjoy then in your heart,
meditate much upon them.
There are promises which are like grapes in the wine-press;
if you will tread them the juice will flow.
Thinking over the hallowed words will often be
the prelude to their fulfillment.
Many a Christian who has thirsted for the promise
has found the favor which it ensured gently distilling into his soul
even while he has been considering the divine record;
and he has rejoiced that ever he was led to lay
the promise near his heart.

But besides mediating upon the promises,
seek in thy soul to receive them as being the very words of God.
Speak to thy soul thus,
“my soul, it is God, even thy God,
God that cannot lie, who peaks to thee.
therefore, seeing that it is the word of a God so true,
so immutable, so powerful, so wise,
I will and must believe the promise.”

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

Published in: on June 24, 2014 at 4:54 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Go Forward

June 4 018I think grapes vines are beautiful in every season.

Good Morning

Matthew 14:14-32
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

Peter had a little faith in the midst o his doubts, says Bunyan; and so with crying coming he was brought to Christ.

but here you see that sight was a hindrance; the waves were none of his business when once he had set out;
all Peter had any concern with, was the pathway of light that come gleaming across the darkness from where Christ stood. If it was tenfold Egypt beyond that, Peter had no call to look and see.

When the Lord shall call to you over the waters, “Come,” step gladly forth. Look not for a moment away from Him.

Not by measuring the waves can you prevail; not by gauging the wind will you grow strong; to scan the danger may be to fall before it; to pause at the difficulties, is to have them break above your head. Lift up your eyes unto the hills, and go forward–there is not other way. selected

Lift up your eyes . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 23, 2014 at 4:21 am  Leave a Comment  

Today’s thought – I Have Finished . . .

June 4 026We’re picking the last of these wonderful boysenberries. I love them.

Good Morning

2 Timothy 4:7
I have finished my course.

There is a course prepared for each believer from the moment of his new birth, providing for the fullest maturity of the new life within him, and the highest which God can make of his life in the use of every faculty for His service. To discover that course and fulfill it is the one duty of every soul. Others cannot judge what that course is, God alone knows it. And God can just as certainly make known and guide the believer into that course today, as He did with Jeremiah and other prophets, Paul and Timothy and other apostles. J. P. L.

Why do I drift on a storm-tossed sea,
With neither compass, nor star, nor chart,
When , as I drift, God’s own plan for me
Waits at the door of my slow-trusting heart?

Down from the heavens it drops like a scroll,
Each day a bit will the Master unroll,
Each day a mite of the veil will He lift.
Why do I falter? Why wander, and drift?

Drifting, while God’s at the helm to steer;
Groping, when God lays the course so clear;
Swerving, though straight into port I might sail;
Wrecking, when heaven lies just within hail.

Help me, O God, in the plan to believe;
Help me my fragment each day to receive;
Oh, that my will may with Thine have no strife!
God-yielded wills find the God-planned life.
James H. McConkey

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

Published in: on June 20, 2014 at 4:10 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – If Ye Shall Ask

june30-july1.12 monterey 022Sunset

Good Morning

John 14:14
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

The God who holds the sea in the hollow of His hand,
who swings this ponderous earth in its orbit,
who marshals stars and guides planets,
is this very God who says.
“If ye ask, I will do!”
James H. McConkey

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

Published in: on June 19, 2014 at 4:36 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Living in God’s Presence

silouetteSunrise

Good Morning,

Ephesians 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

How do I live in God’s presence?
How do I detect his unseen hand on my shoulder and his inaudible voice in my ear? . . .
How can you and I grow familiar wit the voice of God?
Here are a few ideas:

Give God your waking thoughts.
Before you face the day, face the Father.
Before you step out of bed, step into his presence.

Give God your waiting thoughts.
Spend time with him in silence.

Give God your whispering thoughts.
Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communion with God.

Give God your waning thoughts.
At the end of the day; let your mind settle on him.
Conclude the day as you began it: talking to God.

Just Like Jesus – Max Lucado

Give God . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 18, 2014 at 4:20 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – I Am the Vine

April 22 - planting 002
Good Morning

John 15:1-5
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Open wide every avenue of your being to receive the blessed influences your Divine Husbandman may bring to bear upon you.
Bask in the sunshine of His love.
Drink in of the waters of His goodness.
Keep your face upturned to Him.
You need make no efforts to grow.
But let your efforts instead be all concentrated on this,
that you abide in the Vine.
Hannah Whitall Smith

Abide in Him . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 17, 2014 at 4:14 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – It’s Raining Tenderness . . .

2009 QubecHappy 47th Anniversary to us.

Good Afternoon,

Genesis 41:50-52
50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh:
For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim:
For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

. . . Perchance some of God’s children are even now saying,
“O God, it is raining hard for me tonight.”

“Testings are raining upon me
which seem beyond my power to endure.
Disappointments are raining fast,
to the utter defeat of my plans.
Bereavements are raining into mu life which are making my shrinking heart quiver in its intensity of suffering.
The rain of affliction is surely beating down upon my soul these days.”

With, friend, you are mistaken.
It isn’t raining rain for you.
It’s raining blessing.
For, if you will but believe your Father’s Word,
under that beating rain are springing up spiritual flowers of such fragrance and beauty as never before grew in that stormless, unchastened life of yours.

You indeed see the rain.
But do you see also the flowers?
You are pained by the testings.
but God sees the sweet flower of faith which is upspringing in your life under those very trials.

You shrink from the suffering.
But God sees the tender compassion for other sufferers which is finding birth in your soul.

Your heart winces under the sore bereavement.
But God sees the deepening and enriching which that sorrow has brought to you.

It isn’t raining afflictions for you.
It is raining tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed Spirit, which are bringing into your life such a spiritual enrichment as all the fullness of worldly prosperity and ease was never able to beet in your innermost soul. –J. M. McC.

In everything give thanks . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 16, 2014 at 2:01 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – The Creeping Wilderness

june13 0012014 Garden,
grapes, squash, winter squash, melons, corn, okra, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, from left to right.
the Farmer is helping the cucumbers climb up the field fencing,
making the cukes easier to pick and taking up garden space.

Good Morning

Proverbs 10:17
He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction:
but he that refuseth reproof erreth.

The neglected heart will soon be a heart
overrun with worldly thoughts;
the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos;
the church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession
and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode
of every evil bird and the hiding place
for unsuspected corruption.
The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church
that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray.
A. W. Tozer

No company sets a goal to slide into mediocrity. No in-love newlyweds plan to divorce down the road.No fit, muscular athlete figures how to put on a hundred pounds and get totally out of shape in the next few years. No neighborhood holds a meeting to outline steps toward a rundown community. No committed, vibrant Christian dreams of a day when he or she will walk far from God, living a life of joyless compromise.

The common denominator in all the above too-often scenarios is neglect. The wilderness does not swallow up a great city in a day, it creeps closer and closer–through neglect.

Prayer.
God’s Word.
A community of believers.
These are neglected at great risk to your souls!

Watch out for neglect . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 13, 2014 at 10:23 am  Comments (2)  
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Today’s thought – Romans 5:8-10

june11 002the Farmer picked raspberries and blackberries Wednesday evening.

Good Morning

I’ve received such encourage from this scripture this week.

Romans 5:8-10

But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us
by the fact that while we were still sinners,
Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.

Therefore, since we are now justified
(acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God)
by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that]
we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.

For if while we were enemies
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,
it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled,
that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion)
through His [resurrection] life.  Amplified Bible

The phrase “daily delivered from sin’s dominion” seemed like it was in bold letters.

With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 12, 2014 at 4:26 am  Leave a Comment  
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Chatting on the Deck

chatsonthefarmhouseporch

“Chats on the Farmhouse Porch” is a group of friends
gathering to visit,
sip their favorite beverages,
nibble delicious treats
and share their likes and dislikes.

Patrice and Wendell have invited me to join the chatting.
Patrice provides the questions,
we answer.

Do you have a vegetable garden this year? Have you in previous years?

the Farmer plants a large vegetable garden every year.
june10 squashOur  squash is already producing buckets each picking
This is what he put out to sell on Tuesday night

What is your computer sitting on right now? Desk, dining room table, lap…

june11 001This is how my corner of our home looks this evening.

Do you go shorter with your hair in the summer?

I’ve worn my hair long for 49 years.
1497575_10202998223861136_504880166_nMost of the time it is in a braided pony tail.

Are you an early top bed person, or a night owl?
NIGHT OWL! I have loved the quiet hours after everyone went to bed and I was all alone.

Tell me something funny. I’ll tell you something funny too. 🙂
42812 001           42812 005

My cats thinks this is a cat door.

Join Patrice on her porch here.

Published in: on June 11, 2014 at 10:38 pm  Comments (7)  
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Today’s thought – O Blest Assurance

june10 004Another cactus blossom

Good Morning

Genesis 50:18-21
And his brethren also went and fell down before his face;
and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
And Joseph said unto them,
Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
But as for you, ye thought evil against me;
but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass,
as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Now therefore fear ye not:
I will nourish you, and your little ones.
And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

“God meant it unto good”–O blest assurance.
Falling like sunshine all across life’s way.
Touching with Heaven’s gold earth’s darkest storm clouds,
Bringing fresh peace and comfort day by day.

‘Twas not by chance the hands of faithless brethren
Sold Joseph captive to a foreign land;
Nor was it chance which, after years of suffering.
Brought him before the monarch’s throne to stand.

One Eye all seeing saw the need of thousands,
And planned to meet it through that one lone soul;
And through the weary days of prison bondage
Was working towards the great and glorious goal.

As yet the end was hidden from the captive,
The iron entered even to his soul;
His eye could scan the present path of sorrow,
Not yet his gaze might rest upon the whole.

Faith failed not through those long,dark days of waiting,
His trust in God was recompensed at last.
The moment came when God let when God led forth his servant
To succour many, all his sufferings past
.
“It was not you but God, that sent me hither,”
Witnessed triumphant faith in after days;
“God meant it unto good,” no “second causes”
Mingled their discord with his son of praise.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“God means it unto good” for thee, beloved,
The God of Joseph is the same today
His love permits afflictions strange and bitter,
His hand is guiding through the unknown way.

Thy Lord, who sees the end from the beginning,
Hath purposes for thee of love untold.
Then place thy hand in His and follow fearless,
Till thou the riches of His grace untold.

There, when thou standest in the Home of Glory,
And all life’s path lies open to thy gaze,
Thine eyes shall SEE the hand which now thou trustest,
And magnify His love through endless days.
–Freda Hanbury Allen

 

Trust in the Lord . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours,  Leslie

Published in: on June 11, 2014 at 4:42 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – The Lesson for Faith

P1030368the Farmer works together with his tools . . .

P1030376. . . something good is the result

Good Morning

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things
work together for good
to them that love God,
to them who are the called
according to his purpose.

How wide is this assertion of the Apostle Paul?
He does not say.
“We know that some things,”
or “most things,”
or “joyous things.”
but “ALL things.”
From the minutest to the most momentous;
from the humblest event in daily providence
to the great crisis hours in grace.

And all things “work“–they are working;
not all things have worked or shall work;
but it is a present operation.

At this very moment, when some voice may be saying,
“Thy judgemnts are a great deep,”
the angels above,
who are watching the development of the great plan,
are with folded wings exclaiming,
“The Lord is righteous in all his ways,
and holy in all his works.” (Psalm 145:17)

And then all things “work together.”
It is a beautiful blending.
Many different colors,
in themselves raw and unsihtly,
are required in order to weave the harmonious pattern.

Many separate tones and notes of music,
even discords, and dissonances,
are required to make up the harmonious anthem.

Many separate wheels and joints
are required to make the piece of machinery.
Take a thread separately,
or a note separately,
or a wheel or a tooth of a wheel separately
and there may be neither use or beauty discernible.

But complete the web,
combine the notes,
put together the separate parts of steel and iron,
and you see how perfect ad symmetrical is the result.
Here is the lesson for faith:
“What I do thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter.”
Macduff.

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

Published in: on June 10, 2014 at 5:00 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Everlasting Streams of God

dec8 clif's 005This devotional reading reminded me
of a Manzanita tree in my brother’s back yard.

Good Morning

Job 14:7-9
For there is hope of a tree,
if it be cut down,
that it will sprout again,
and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,
and the stock thereof die in the ground;
Yet through the scent of water it will bud,
and bring forth boughs like a plant.

Once there was an oak tree
that clung to a crag on a mountainside.
The wind swept its crest,
and the snows and rains tore at its soil.
Its roots ran along a pathway
and were trampled by the feet of men.
But the rain and the snows an down the mountain,
and the oak tree was dying of drought.
Patiently and persistently
its underground tendrils and gone
forth in every direction for relief.
All its power was put into the quest
by which it would save its life.
And, by and by,
the roots reached the mountain spring.
The faithful stream that touched the lips of man and beast
ran up the trunk and laved the branches
and gave new life to the utmost twig.
The tree stood in the same place;
it met the same storms;
it was trodden by the same hurrying feet.
but it was planted by the rivers of water
and its leaf could not wither.
Out into the same old life
you must go today as ever,
but down underneath you can be nourished
by the everlasting streams of God.

Travelers returning from Palestine report
that beneath the streets of Shechem
there are rivers flowing.
During the daytime it is impossible
to hear the murmuring of the waters,
because of the noise.
But when night comes
and the clamor dies away
then can be heard
the music of the hidden rivers.

Are there not “hidden rivers” flowing
under the crowded streets of our 20th century life?
If we can be assured that there is still the music
of deep-flowing waters beneath
all the noise and tumult of the working hours,
we can walk the way of the conqueror.

Listen for the river of peace . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 9, 2014 at 4:58 am  Leave a Comment  
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