Together...

I seek the will

of the

Spirit of God

through

or in connection

with the

Word of God.

 

 The Spirit and

 the Word must

 be combined.

 

 If I look to the

Spirit alone without

the Word,

 I lay myself open to great delusions also.

 

George Mueller

Thanksgiving on Thursday...

Recently, I was privileged

to drive to a 

neighboring state 

with one of 

'my girls'

whom

 I was taking to 

Bible School.

What a trip that was!

It seemed the whole

trip was filled

with incredible

moments of Light

from heaven,

and I came home

feeling very humbled

to have been given

SO MUCH

from God.

I took the opportunity to stop by and

visit with my paternal grandmother,

who lives very close to the friends'

house where I was staying.

Let  me just say, 

IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE VISIT!

This Grandma loves the Lord.

I have always known it,

never doubted it.

Even though she is part of a traditional

Anabaptist-descended church group that

is shy about speaking for the Lord,

I am blessed by the godly selflessness 

of  my Grandma.

When I am privileged to go to

her house, I always look with reverence

and an encouraged heart at the little table

by the window in her family room

that holds an open Bible and devotionals.

When I stepped in there last week, I 

told Grandma that this always blesses me,

and she said that she NEEDS to read them.

This Grandma has served countless meals

to my brothers and sisters and parents,

uncles, aunts and cousins over the years.

And she always had a smile on her face

for all of us, and delighted in all of us,

even for all my siblings and I who were

adopted and some of us of varying colors

even though adoption was a fairly new thing

in our  generation among 'our people',

and many 'myths' surrounded us as 

were growing up.

.

This Grandma has known sorrow in her life.

She loved her husband deeply and served him

faithfully in his home and as his secretary for

the feed mill that has been in our family

since 1894, even helping in the business

for over 30 years after her husband died.

She loved her husband thru a sudden and short

bout with cancer and is now a widow

longer than she was married.

And now this Grandma of mine has to watch

her son suffer with that same, awful disease her

husband died from

 over 30 years ago.

When I visited her last week, she spoke

of her husband and her son with tears

and pain in her eyes. It was a blessing to

visit with her,

 and even though it is

not common for 'her people' to 

pray aloud together, I felt the Lord

prompting me to pray with her.

So I asked her if I could pray.

She grasped my hand in hers and said with

feeling, "I wish you would!"

We sat on the old wooden rockers 

in her family room, 

and she took my two young hands in

her wrinkled, well-used and worn hands,

and held them firmly all the while

I took the opportunity to thank God

from the bottom of my heart for this

godly Grandma, for specific ways she

blessed my life through the years.

It was a great pleasure to ask His blessing

and favor upon this godly woman,

and to pray for her to have courage and

peace as she watches her son die.

When I was finished, she squeezed my hands

and kept exclaiming how wonderful it was

to pray together and share our hearts.

And then it was time for me to leave.

As I turned to her to say goodbye,

she firmly placed her hands on

my shoulders, and I was stunned 

and blessed beyond words

to receive a generational blessing

from this woman who chose to

be my Grandma, even though

we have no biological blood

between us!

As I drove down the road, my heart

welled in deep thankfulness for

this unexpected and 

much-appreciated

blessing!

I am so incredibly amazed

at how that blessing has boosted

my courage and my desire

to live my life wholly for Jesus Christ.

I don't think Grandma even knows

what a huge impact she has had in my life,

nor what a tremendous thing she did

by blessing me that night.

I come from a home of broken relationships.

It has caused deep, deep sorrow in my life

all these years, and although I have 

learned to let Jesus be my All in all,

there is something missing when parental

and grandparental blessing is absent.

I understand why it is missing in my life,

and I have learned to live wholly 

without it 

only in JESUS, 

but it still leaves me aching in my heart

for what is missing, that God

has designed for us to have.

My thanks today is rather lengthy...

and I hope that you are ok with that.

I am blessed beyond words

for a godly Grandma...

and for parents who adopted me

so that I could even know 

this privilege.

My encouragement is

that if you at all possibly can,

BLESS your children,

and BLESS your parents...

and grandparents.

It is a great encouragement.

This world is not a friend to grace.

Many are struggling and losing their way.

Let's lift up the hands that hang down,

and let's recognize and acknowledge

Jesus in each others lives.

Go bless someone today.

To Know or Not to Know...

“Teach us to know that we cannot know, for the things

of God

knoweth no man,

 but the Spirit

of God.

Let faith

support us

where reason fails, and we shall think because we believe, not in order

 that we may believe.”

― A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy    

The Pure Word...

His Word Endures...

The

vigor

of our

 spiritual

 life

will be

in exact proportion

to  the

 place

 held

by the

Bible

in our life

 and

thoughts.

 

George Mueller

Did You Pray?

I was encouraged by this the other day:

"I wish you could know how much I

have struggled in prayer 

for you and for Laodicea,

and for my many other friends

who have never known me

personally.

This is what I have asked God for you:

that you will be encouraged

and knit together by strong 

ties of love,

and that you will have the

rich experience of knowing Christ

with real certainty and

clear understanding.

For God's secret plan,

now at last made known,

is Christ Himself.

In Him lie hidden all the

mighty, untapped treasures

of wisdom and knowledge."

Col. 2:1-4

I was encouraged.

When I was at Youth Bible School

this fall, I felt the call to come

higher with God in prayer...

Ever since I was born again,

I have valued prayer as the

vital breath of my life to

communicate with my 

Father...

but we go through experiences

to change us from glory to glory,

and God has taught me in

the past few years how to

travail in my soul for those

loved ones who are placed upon my heart.

To help me to go deeper in this

'struggling in prayer' for loved ones,

I set the alarm on my phone to

remind me to stop and pray specifically

for people and situations that God

puts on my heart.

It's been good.

It keeps me in a constant state of 

dependence of God

as the solver of problems,

the Healer of healers,

and the Miracle worker...

when we are weak

(unable to control situations

or even make them right),

then He is strong.

I recommend it to any 

who are willing

to be 'inconvenienced' 

for the sake

of the Kingdom.

Only eternity will truly reveal

the full harvest of our

'struggling in prayer'

for loved ones.

The reason we do it?

Col. 2:4

"I am saying this 

because I am afraid

that someone may fool you 

with smooth talk..."

The enemy of souls is very busy.

It is imperative that we face

every day prayed up and

on our guard.

Others need Him too.

PRAY.

Did You Think to Pray?

The Pure Word...

In Psalms and Hymns...

Not exactly a psalm, hymn or spiritual song, but since today is the day to post music, and I am feeling a bit of cabin fever and looking forward to spring...here is a little something to aid in the waiting. 

The Four Seasons (Spring)

Winter is so beautiful with it's white snow,

and frosty windowpanes,

and fires burning brightly on the hearth.

But the sun has shining so brightly

 the past few days,

and spring is in the air...

and I want to garden~

although in this frozen tundra

where I live, it will be

a LONG time til we can dig our toes 

in warm garden earth,

and pick tulips and daffodils...

SO...

I 'patiently' wait for the coming of the next season,

and find joy in today...

Happy rest of winter, friends!

~Marcia

Complete Death...

There was a day when I died; died to self, my opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.

George Mueller

On Sunday we had a sermon about Peter,
and his rash, impulsive ways,
which often got him into trouble
and were not what Jesus
would have had him do
(i.e. Cutting off the man's ear...)

I sat there, pondering
and I thought about Peter
AFTER
his repentance
AFTER he had denied Jesus three times,
when he obviously chose to
truly follow Jesus not just in
physical tramping around the 

 countryside,
but in his heart and will...

The Peter after Pentecost
certainly was not afflicted
with man fear...
he preached a simple, but dynamic message
about Jesus
and brought thousands
to repentant faith in the Son of God.

The Peter after Pentecost
plunged himself into living the nature
of CHRIST,
not of Peter...
and instead of impulsive and rash,
he became bold and courageous
in proclaiming the Word...
writing letters of encouragement and teaching
to believers in other places,
words that we can read, even today.

That Peter displays the power that God
has on anyone who chooses to
lay down themselves and live Christ.

I want that.
All my days.
I don't want to be one who
says,
"Well, I'm just human"
when I slip and stumble
and don't reflect Christ as I ought.
I want to learn from it
and move on in humble
following of Jesus,
being conformed more and more
into His image.

May it ever be so.
Until the day I am called Home.

Thanksgiving on Thursday...

In preparation for our special 'love feast' on Friday night with friends, our children were reminiscing about the Storyteller who is coming, who does all the voices and expressions and makes children sit with wide eyed fascination.

This Storyteller has been with our family at Valentine's suppers, 

winter cabin

 'home schooling field trips', 

summer cabin vacations and New Year's Eve suppers at our house. 

His stories
of
long ago,
and from the Bible have left a lasting impact on my children.

So in preparation for tomorrow night,
I put in a request that he allow himself to be 'put on the program' to tell the a story.
The story the children chose as a fond memory of episodes past? 

Elijah on Mount Carmel

And as I thought about the memories my children have

surrounding a pivotal message from Scripture,

my heart knelt in deep thankfulness that

God would provide for them this gift.

They might not 'get' the message in 

the magnitude they will in adulthood,

but I am so blessed that my children

get to hear about a man who was 

courageous and stood alone

for the one, true God...

They get to hear about how idol worship

makes people frantic and powerless

while worshiping God gives one all

the resources needed to live the way

He asks us to.

Today...I thank that One, true God

that we know many parts of the

Body of Christ

who are willing to be used of God

in whatever way He calls...

even telling stories to children,

ESPECIALLY
telling stories to children!

One 

day, 
they 
will 
be all grown

and 
it 
will
 be their turn 
to 
shoulder

the responsibility of passing along

God's Words to children.

I pray we tell them well...

(Psalm 78:1-8)

The Preaching of the Cross...

I listened to this sermon
the other day:
Satan Found a Whisperer

by Keith Daniel
and it caused me to reflect:

A few years ago,
I was ignorantly caught up
in being 'honest',
in the way some undiscerning people
define honesty, based on some
false teaching that is very popular
these days.
It involved tale bearing,
 and airing struggles that
revealed the sins/faults/failures
of others to people who had no
 business hearing these things.

Through a series of
heart breaking events,
God put me into situations where
I was the object of
tale bearing/false accusation
and where I had to undergo the
Pruner's Knife in this area.

Through the gossip that separates
 very friends and plunges like a knife
into the deepest part of the heart,
I became aware of how God
really views tale bearing...
(He ranks it up right up there with
murder! Truly, from my experience,
it DOES murder the spirit of a person,
plunging them into a grief and loss
so deep it can hardly be explained.)

I am glad that I know the Father
who knows me infinitely,
and Who is not willing to let
me even innocently
walk separately from Him.

I am sorry it took hardship
and this experience to
open my eyes
but I am so thankful
to have the eyes of my
understanding enlightened.

I am newly sobered,
knowing that I cannot
be right without Him.

My encouragement is that we walk carefully,
 not going from one ditch into another.
Sometimes people
are in reaction to terrible things that
happened in their past
that should never have happened,
who simply jump into the opposite ditch
and include gossip and tale bearing in their
belief of 'being honest'.
Be very careful who you listen to,
and most of all Who you follow.

FOLLOW JESUS!

The Secret of Jane

Sometimes
love covers a multitude of sins
while helping the helpless.
And in doing so,
it is silent where modern teaching
says to 'be honest'...
and to be truth tellers.
Beware...
it may all sound so freeing
and so right,
but weigh it with the whole counsel
of God before you use your
mouth to share with others
what may be unedifying,
or gossip,
or cause others to become
involved who have no business
being involved.

I write this,
not to sweep sin under the rug,
nor to turn a blind eye
on the oppressed,
but to sound the cry
that there is a right and a wrong way
to use our mouths,
even in sharing hearts.

Be careful who you share things with.
Some day, the people you talk about
just might make their wrongs right,
and would you really want to be responsible
for having passed on their wrongful deeds
in tales to others, and keep the
memories alive long after
they have been repented of?

These are things I've been thinking of
and experiencing, observing, and asking God
about for years because
I believe it is important to get it right.
Therefore, let's keep asking, seeking and knocking
on His door.
He never disappoints!

God bless you keep you...
Love and blessings,
Marcia

Become as Children...

"Nature teaches us that every believer 
should  be a soul-winner.
It is an essential part of the new nature.
 We see it in every child who loves
 to tell of his happiness and to 
bring others to share his joys."

I don't know where I found the quote above
but it struck me deeply.

I am a new creature in Christ,
given the best gift in the world:
freedom from sin,
forgiveness of sins,
full assurance that He lives
and that I am heading Home
to Him each day, to one day
live forever in His presence.

There is no small joy in my heart
that I have been given this gift.
I am humbled and overwhelmed
that He would do that for me!
And I want all people to know the life of freedom
in Him that I am privileged to know...

Recently I read in Col. 1:25,
"God has sent me to help His church..."

a little out of context here, I know,
but those words intrigued me.

I have loved His church since the day I was
born again 12 1/2 yr. ago.
I have sorrowed over the millions falling away;
My  heart has broken over the hypocrisy and
blind religion worship of many I know;
and I have wept many tears,
asking the Lord to spare my family
and bring us safely Home.

I ponder...
How do I witness of Him?

I think it is best done
by living that day by day
relationship with Him,
living out what He teaches me.

That is how I best help His church...
through much prayer and sober walking.

Lord, preserve us!
Find us faithful when You return!

Waiting...

the words of a wife who learned to let Christ be her all in all, 

despite the imperfect marriage she was in:

"I remember that anguish, those relentless tears, 

the heaving of my chest and my desperate crying out. 

I remember how it seemed as if sorrow would never leave my...

life...as if around every single corner more disappointment was lurking.

 I know well that place of want - 

desiring so much that redemption and restoration 

that others had experienced. 

I have been the praying wife.

 And I want you to know that you will get through this.

 You will know joy in the land of the living again. 

But you must set your heart in forward motion.

 You must choose to have a heart of gratitude. 

You must choose holiness over happiness. 

You must come to the place where you trust God 

when it doesn't make sense, 

when sorrows and disappointments continue to come

 in waves and it seems as if all is lost... 

because all is not... 

you are being refined and sculpted into a greater masterpiece 

and you are meant for something so much bigger than yourself. 

To God be the glory...that is the point. 

You are meant to glorify Him and He's working that out

 in you through this difficult season. 

So shine for Him, praying wife, 

let the world see that your hope is not in a saved marriage, 

a husband who surrenders or comes back ...

let them see that your hope is in Christ alone!"

I was thinking that  we tend to make our husbands God...when they can never be Him. Even though they are called to love us as Jesus loves the church, they still are not perfect and we must be careful that we have a complete trust in Christ alone, who then helps us to love our husbands and reverence them as we ought.

Food for thought...

I was encouraged.

The Pure Word...

Taking Him At His Word...

Faith is the assurance that the

thing which God has said

 in His word is true,

 and that God will act

according to what He has said

 in his word...

 

Faith is not

a matter of impressions,

 nor of probabilities,

nor of appearances.

 

George Mueller

 

 

Thanksgiving on Thursday...

One day this week, just as we sat down for lunch
my farm girl daughter just 'happened' to glance
out the window to see cows running down the road!

With 700 heifers of various sizes and ages on this old farm,
that is never a good thing...

We all instantly jumped into boots,
and SOME of us threw on coats
before running out the door
into the winter day.

The Farmer jumped into his truck to go find the
hole the escapees found
while the rest of us headed out to herd cows home.

I saw that there was no way we would be able to reach those
cows before they ran out onto the highway...
so I did the only logical thing there was to do~
I lifted my hands to heaven and beseeched
the  Maker of those cows
to please turn them around before they hit
the highway.

I had visions of 6 car pile ups
and tangled bodies
of beasts and people,
and semis jack knifed in the snow-filled ditches
and law suits and on and on...

And then we stood,
we four ladies of the household
like silent sentinels
waiting...
while the Jr. Farmer
put his feet into gear
and ran after cows.

And then, slowly, slowly, those
huge 'stampeding' beasts
turned and headed back towards the farm,
and to my amazement,
I saw they were being herded by a
truck who was coming down our road.

What a neighborly truck driver!
He just slowly kept herding those cows...
while we ladies stood
guarding our precious lawn from
all those dangerous cow hooves...

The funny thing is:
I do not even like cows!
(for many, many reasons!)
I do not make a good farmer.
I don't like manure .
I don't like the smells of farm life
(well, I'll take new mown hay...).
I don't like the dirt.
I don't like the inability to
have a schedule the 7 months of
seedtime and harvest.
(altho I am growing up and becoming
practical and supportive, praise God!)

(I think that God has a sense of humor...
and that sometimes I just need to have to
chase cows to keep me from getting
too selfish and set in my likes/dislikes...
and to remind me of who I am and
what I committed to:
a woman deeply in love with a
Farmer...)

Today, I am thankful to serve a God
who protects and provides...
who makes people glance out windows
at opportune times...
and who sends truck drivers along
at just the right moment...
I serve a God who gave us
calm Farmers to chase cows on slippery  ice
and directing them to run on grass
so they wouldn't break their legs...
We lost no animals that day,
not even the one who got herself
stuck in a ditch of snow...

I am thankful for the opportunities
and the health and strength needed
to bless my Farmer in
whatever ways he needs me to...
whether it is providing him with nutritious meals,
making sure his home is peaceful, tidy and orderly,
running errands for him,
or chasing cows!

 And I am deeply grateful for the gift
of Jesus...
who has freed me from my  old nature,
and given me the power and freedom
to live His life,
learning to bless my husband,
because I was made for him...
living for the good of others
and letting go of my petty selfishness...
and learning to see humor
in chasing cows.

Yes, indeed. I am wholeheartedly
committed to learning to live and love
Jesus' way...
and if it means I have to chase cows
sometimes,
in order to grow me into someone like Him,
then by all means,
let me chase cows cheerfully
and see God in it!

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise;
be thankful unto Him
and bless His name..."

(Psalm 100:4)

PS
Just to be clear...
I love country living...
I love farm life.
I love it that my children to live out their childhood
with wide open spaces
and wooded trails to explore...
I love it that that I get to sit
down to three meals a day with
the whole family most days...
I love hauling wood,
and gardening with my children...
I love summer evenings on the front porch...
and tailgate suppers in the fields when
the Farmer is planting or cultivating...
I love so many things...
just not cows.
:-)

Heaven's "Hup"...

I listened to this sermon today.

Second Mile Christianity

by David Gibbs

I am deeply stirred.

I am newly encouraged to keep pulling

but to pull harder and with more purpose.

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Let Your Light Shine...

We are told to let our light shine,

and if it does,

 we won't need to tell anybody

  it does.

 

 Lighthouses don't fire cannons to

call attention to their shining-

they just shine.

D. L. Moody



The Pure Word...

In Psalms and Hymns...

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross