Thoughts of Grace

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

Winter garden beginnings

Good Morning

They continue saying things that mean nothing , thinking God will hear them because of their many words, Matthew 6:7

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Matthew 6:7 KJV

I love the short sentence. . .
What follows are cuts from some of my books and a couple of others.
Keep the ones you like.
Forgive the ones you don’t.
Share them when you can.

Pray all the time. If necessary, use words.
God forgets the past. Imitate him.
Greed I’ve often regretted Generosity — never.
Don’t ask god to do what you want. Ask God to do what is right.
No one is useless to God. No one.
Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did.
You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.

Max Lucado, When God Whispers Your Name

And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking Matthew 6:7 Amplified Bible

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

Beautiful tile work seen in Carmel

Good Morning

Tested By the Word of the Lord

“He sent a man before them — Joseph— who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters; he was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.” (Psalm 105:17-19)

Joseph waited years before his dreams came true. The waiting was not in vain. God used the time to refine Joseph as gold in a furnace. Joseph’s dreams were from God, but his childish pride was not. The harsh years were not for the sake of proving the dreams true, but for proving Joseph to be true.

The Lord’s refining process does the same in our lives today. Many receive dreams and visions from God, but conduct themselves with immaturity. Like Joseph, they must go through seasons of refinement.
Joseph held to the vision God gave him for his life. It kept him through everything he experienced. He was restrained from sin, redeemed from sorrow and restored to honor by holding on to the dreams from God.

It may be, my fellow traveler, that you are undergoing a test from the Lord, which is applied in love to insure that when your dream comes true — you will be true as well. Rylie

He sent a man before them,
even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:
Whose feet they hurt with fetters:
he was laid in iron:
Until the time that his word came:
the word of the LORD tried him. Psalm 105:17-19 KJV

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

Just a random picture of the deck…

Good Morning

For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called
Wonderful,
Counsellor,
The mighty God,
The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

”He was poor, that he might make us rich.
He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God.
He took our flesh, that he might give us His Spirit.
He lay in the manger, that we may lie in paradise.
He came down from heaven, that he might bring us to heaven….
That the ancient of Days should be born.
that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle….
that he who rules the stars should suck the breast;
that a virgin should conceive;
that Christ should be made of a woman, and of that woman which himself made,
that the branch should bear the vine,
that the mother should be younger than the child she bare,
and the child in the womb bigger than the mother;
that the human nature should not be God, yet one with God
Christ taking flesh is a mystery we shall never fully understand till we come to heaven
If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us .
Behold love that passeth knowledge!”
~Thomas Watson

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