Wonderful Words of Life...

When Life is Hard...

This is one of those days when the ills of the world crushes my heart into tiny bits. So much brokenness. So much sorrow. So much that is not right in God's eyes. But what  comfort to run to the Father who never changes. Here in Him is purpose, here is peace, here are answers.

Let's look to the Father and let Him be our everything. People fail us. They do not understand us when we try to share our hearts and sometimes that hurts deeply but I try to always remember that GOD always knows my heart and he came to heal the broken in heart and to bind up their wounds. Because of that promise in Scripture, I know that He cares about my broken heart and wounds. Therefore, I go to Him in faith, expecting to be healed. BUT, to be healed, I need to let Him have everything that is hurting and breaking my heart.

I saw this one day and it came back to me today to ponder and encourage:

Let's worship Him. Every single day. With our lips and with our lives, from our hearts.  He is worthy of all the praise and trust we can give!

Love and blessings,
Marcia

Wonderful Words of Life...

Read Your Bible...

What a blessing we have in the Word!

I throw out this caution, my friends:

Be very careful what else you read.

Walk with God and be discerning.

There is much that is out there

that is sort of true

and sort of not true.

Be very aware of this.

I read in my Bible that 

I am created to love God

and love others

(known Him and make Him known).

Many modern books

cater to 'me' and do not

lay the ax to the root of the tree

(dying to me and living His life).

Many modern speakers

also preach and teach this.

It is not Scriptural.

Let's read the Word often

and walk daily with Jesus

in the light of His Word.

When we walk where He 

calls us to,

then He sheds more light

for the next step.

Many times we feel deeply disturbed

by things in our past, people who were not faithful at their post,

or wrongfully used us.

Modern teachings are appealing and often reel us in

by focusing on the offenders and on healing our 'selves'.

Jesus and the apostles did not teach this way.

They taught us to lay down our lives,

and to follow Him. That is the secret of healing.

One step at a time.

IN step with Him.

Every day.

And over time, we will find that He truly 

is the Healer of healers,

while He is Lord of our life.

If you find yourself in a place of 

'needing answers' and overloaded with

hurts from your childhood or any time in

your life, please know that the answer

lies in making Jesus your everything,

and in feeding on the richness of His

pure word.

Find someone who clearly shows

the fruit of walking with Him

and ask them to mentor you

in finding peace.

Be sure this person is interested

most of all in the Word of God

and is not caught up in 

teachings that are not found

in God's word.

God bless you.

He is in the business of changing lives

even today

but many times we do not want to go

through the pain and heart ache it 

might cost us, in order to find

true, lasting change.

I highly recommend His way.

No matter what.

It is very worth it!

Love and blessings,

Marcia

PS

There are many wonderful sermons recorded

and written in books that compliment the Bible

well in this our generation. I do not mean to

imply that they are not available or even recommended.

I simply share a concern that we be noble

Bereans because there are many books and

recorded teachings that are not wholly in agreement

with God's Word.

To Be Teachable...

I wonder...

What would happen

if we all lay down

our foolish pride,

and yielded our hearts

in humility to the Father,

allowing ourselves

to be taught of Him

through diving deep

into the Word,

and through listening

with humility to those

He sends into our lives to 

teach us?

I think what we would have

is alot of people who

find answers they seek

and the Life that they wish for

because they would be

faithfully applying what they

already know as the Lord

and those discipling them

give it.

How about it?

Where are you in the whole

'being teachable' business?

I can personally testify

to the huge benefits and

blessings that come

from being teachable.

Sure, it means I have to

admit that I do not know it 

all, but then again,

why not admit it and live 

with that knowledge?

After all, it is the truth.

On Leaving the Thirties Behind...

Today I stand in the glow of the sunset over the third decade of  my life.

As I stand at the threshold of my forties, I find myself pondering deeply

and raising my heart in gratitude to the Lord, my God.

My thirties were lived primarily and wholeheartedly for God.

I was born again when I was 25 years old, and decided that

I was all in or not at all so I've been up and running full tilt

since the day I found deep and radical new Birth was mine

through repentant faith in the One who died for me.

So by the time my thirties came along, I had sure footing,

settled peace in my soul and a zeal to live for God

above anything else, but He has had many

things to teach me about complete trust in Him

no matter what I face or what is denied me

that would seem like a good thing.

He has had to teach me much about 

being ok for the messiness of life to touch me,

caring deeply about the devastation that touches 

others because of sin and the fall of man...

trusting Him to write His thots on hearts

that seem blind and hard,

reaching into the darkness 

and holding forth the Word of life while

loving them, knowing that His job is

to do the transforming.

My thirties were far from peaceful externally.

Oh my no! I have walked thru the wild wind of

the wilderness, felt the burning desert sand beneath my feet,

and found myself crushed beyond anything I had

ever known. I have lost alot in my thirties...

felt the crushing blows of disappointment,

and known the Knife of the Master Pruner.

I came across a quote recently that really 

describes my thirties better than I can:

But in all that, I came to know the sweetness of

fellowship in Christ, the kind that happens 

when you stand stripped of all self-sufficiency.

I have known peace in my heart that could not be shaken

unless I had strayed away from God myself.

Looking back, I would have to say that

my thirties have been some of the best

years of my life.

I have met many new friends whose hearts

beat high with the same joy mine does,

some of them very much younger than I

but with a passion that encourages me

to keep walking with God.

I have not ever been in want. Not once.

And what I lost, well, I completely

trust God that it was a good thing.

And I choose to walk in quiet surrender,

reaching my hands out to work in the

part of the Vineyard where I am called.

He knows best.
I honestly believe that with every

fiber of my being.

And so, as I stand at the entrance of a

new adventure, a new decade of life,

as God tarries,

I do not fear. I am not scared to see the gray hair

becoming prominent on my head.

I am not afraid of the unknowns that lie ahead.

I have God. I love His ways and I am 

completely safe in His care.

In a testimony shared in church on Sunday,

I soberly recounted how choices are

so very important as I ponder where I

could have been had I not decided to follow Jesus.

I see friends and family who still stumble in

darkness and selfish living and I weep for them

to know the LIFE that I know because of

JESUS.

I can boast of nothing but the Cross of Jesus Christ.

In every single day, I am keenly aware 

of who I am outside of His powerful life

 that flows through me.

I can do nothing on my own.

I only know that I do not want 

to live for me.

I want HIM. Always.

In every single day that

 He gives me breath.

Here's to the 40's for me!

To God be the glory,

GREAT things He has done

so far...he melted my heart of stone

and replaced it with the peace 

that passes all understanding!

Love and blessings,

Marcia

Let Your Light Shine on Us

This song has become the crowning theme

for me as I look back over my thirties

and realize how graciously God has led

me all the way, ever constant in His

light, grace, and love.

He'll be that to anyone who truly

follows Him and allows Him to 

make them wholly His.

I promise.

The Hard Times...

"...and I'm sorry you had to feel hurt, too," she said to me with sweet caring, during a discussion about the season of  heartaches in which she finds herself.

And I pondered it...in the days since that kind and caring statement was presented to me.

Those hurtful things I've walked through in the past 40 years. No...I would certainly not want to walk through them all over again. And some of them happened because of my own sinfulness while others happened because I live in a broken world where other people's messiness touches my life, leaving me betrayed, neglected or rejected where someone should have been standing faithfully at their God-given post but wasn't.

And I conclude...(as the sun sets on the third decade of my life) that I have learned alot through hurtful things. I have learned to let God be my everything and I have learned that expectations ruin relationships...to just accept people where they are while showing them love and hope. I have learned so very much and I treasure the deep fellowship I have found with Jesus as I traveled over many miles of wilderness.

He is a faithful Guide. I have never been in want. I have only needed to reach out and receive what He was offering in abundance: grace, mercy, forgiveness, new LIFE!

And life Joseph, I honestly say from the bottom of my heart: "Satan meant (it) for evil, but the Lord meant it for good."

I am content. I am at rest. My heart is perpetually peaceful tho stormy winds might blow around me at times. And I am well cared for by the One who knows each end from its beginning.

Wonderful Words of Life...

When Troubles Rise and Storms Appear...

So when the strong winds of January blow across the land,

blowing the cover off the calf barn,

requiring the poor Farmer to go out there with his employees

in said strong freezing winds

to repair the damage, 

The Farmer's wife ponders what she can do to help her poor darling out, and she gets in for walking out in the freezing wind to observe the project,

bringing coffee to the cold men,

and then makes a "comfort food supper" for the Farmer...and I pause to ponder.

 I think that when our hearts are in the right place, it sure helps for us to be able to be 'instant in season and out of season' like Paul admonishes in one of his epistles (Romans?). There was a day that I would have seen yesterday as a huge interruption. I did not appreciate farming (still don't like some kinds of farming but I do appreciate that farmers can impact the world in a good way!)

I am deeply grateful that God

in His mercy and love

reached down from heaven

and changed my heart...

and what a hard heart it was!

Oh my, when I think of

the struggles I went through

as I was being broken.

I am so thankful He stuck to it

and kept working on me to 

bring me to that place of

complete brokenness.

And I am so thankful that

my darling Farmer

stuck it out too and so

kindly allowed me

to struggle...

that was a gift of love

to be sure!

We approach our 20th wedding anniversary,

and I find myself pondering where He's

brought us from and where we could be

if we had not decided to follow

JESUS.

I warn you now...

I'm about to turn 40

and I'm about to have a 

20th wedding anniversary

with the man I love...

You might be subjected to 

more blog posts on

marriage and entering

new seasons of life...

But then again,

I suppose you don't have 

to stop to read them if

you get tired of them 

:-)

Happy winter to all.

(I'm so glad that we got this far

in the Fingerlakes of NY without

much cold and snow!)

With My Heart in the Right Place...

I've been pondering this verse here of late.

Life with its twists and turns will come.

It does to us all.

I have noticed that those who are the

most serene through the thick and thin

are those whose hearts are empty of

themselves...be it their fears, dreams,

wants, wishes and feelings,

and are kneeling perpetually at the

Cross, walking in the way of the

Master, harboring few thots of

themselves but letting Him live

in and thru them.

These people are those who will listen

without reacting immediately,

giving one a fair 'hearing' to share

what is in their hearts.

It may be that later

 they will have a word

from God for this struggling one

that might not sit well with their flesh,

but even that will be thought through

and prayed over and delivered

gently...

because they are 'poor in spirit',

and tremble at His word.

These people are those who

do not demand that their

ideas are considered,

or that their thoughts are given

priority in a group,

whether in a family or 

among friends or in a 

church group...

because they are 'poor in spirit'

and tremble at His word.

These people know that God will 

always prevail and they do not

make it their business to see

to it that He prevails.

It means that they walk thru the

messy parts of life not demanding

that others clean up their act,

tho not tolerating the sinfulness.

It means they choose compassion

even tho that person does not

deserve it

(who among us actually deserves 

all the compassion we get?!)

These are the people who,

because God has done much for them,

and because they have experienced

His great grace and are grateful for it,

will reach down into that

messiness of someone else's life

and extend the hand of love

and help, just like Jesus

did for Peter who was sinking in

the waves

(because he stopped looking at and

trusting in Jesus!).  He helped him

first and then he poured on the

teaching.

This verse is a great reminder

of where God desires our hearts to be.

I take up the challenge.

Do you?

Wonderful Words of Life...

Community...Again..

The chalkboard in the front hall of my old farmhouse looks like this

right now, a silent testament to the fact that community has

happened alot at our house lately.

I love having people at my house.

Sure it get gets messy sometimes

and requires alot of prep work usually,

but it really blesses me to provide 

a place for people to fellowship

and be warm, happy and comfortable.

And when they leave,

and I see their doodles on my chalkboard

likely spurred on by the one before them

who tried their hand at writing,

I smile...

and I thank God for the opportunity

to have blessed and been blessed.

I have had many opportunities in the

past  4 weeks to open my home

to guests. I'm glad for the help I 

was given in preparing, and in serving,

and I carry many memories

on my heart of laughter, tears,

conversation, and the joy

of seeing people enjoying 

themselves while gathering

together in my home.

Thought the pictures could give 

you a little taste of what has

been happening at 

my house lately.

And why I've been quiet on 

this blog!

Please do come see us! We will be happy to

have you in our home!

Wonderful Words of Life...