Thanksgiving on Thursday...

I've been thinking about seasons the past while,
 as my favorite season is here.
 I am not letting myself dread the snow that shall follow,
 nor the long winter that will stretch out in seemingly endless days
of cold and ice and snow and cold and...
ok, maybe I am dreading it a little! :-)

As I chatted with a close friend recently,
we were talking about how God puts people into our lives,
 and sometimes just for a season are we responsible for some work
He calls us to do in their lives.
Then He moves them on for others to water or
 plant some more where we are not called to.

And I pondered...
(as I am often wont to do...)

Why hold onto what was?

Times and seasons come and go.
 Sure, our hearts hurt when it seems our work
was unappreciated, totally torn asunder by wolves,
 or little accepted in those He called us to nurture
 at different times and in different seasons of our lives.

But following God means that He will clearly call,
 give strength for the work,
 and then move them and us on at
the right appointed time.
We don't have to insist on
 keeping up a work which He has brought to an end.

That was good counsel my friend gave me.
 I appreciate that about my godly sisters in Christ
 (and my husband too, of course!)
They can help me figure out what season I am in,
or what is happening currently in my life.

So today, I give a huge praise report for the godly counsellors
 I have been given.
They are not many,
but they are certainly sent by God
and they do their job well.

disclaimer:
this post is about thanking God for the counsel of the godly
NOT about ignoring or discrediting the very real and raw
pain that comes to the human heart when broken
relationships happen...
Just thought I'd mention that.

Morning Musings...Encouragement...part 4

"The good man has his enemies. 

He would not be like his Lord if he had not.

 If we were without enemies we might fear that we 

were not the friends of God,

 for the friendship of the world is enmity to God."

~Charles Spurgeon

My thoughts today are the final installment of this subject of

encouragement...

I sat today in a courtroom of friends who were there to

support a family adopting two sons into their family.
And as I sat there, I thought of friendship,
and of relationship...
and how important God thinks these things are,
and how He longs for it between people and Himself,
and how He planned for it to be well oiled
amongst the people on earth.
I thought of how satan comes and destroys,
kills and steals relationships,
when people's hearts are not fully engaged 
in God.

I ponder...

Encouragement is so vital to the Christian life

because without it, the wilderness is harsher,

the winds blow stronger and the individual

staggers more easily under the blows of the enemies...

Be a friend today.

Your friends have enemies not of their choosing,

if they are the friends of God.

And although they do not ask for the temptations 

that come from the rejection, neglect and 

personal affronts that come from enemy 

territory, they need all the help they can

get from their friends in God...

GO...

encourage.

Perhaps the spark has dimmed in their eyes.

Maybe the candle God has lit in your own soul

has the purpose of lighting their spark again.

(Ps. 18:28)

Love and blessings,

Marcia

Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?

Proverbs 20:6

In Confidence, Walk On...

"Once you have the right relationship with God through

 salvation and sanctification, 

remember that whatever your circumstances may be, 

you have been placed in them by God. 

And God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances

 to fulfill His purpose, 

as long as you continue to

 'walk in the light as He is in the light' (1 John 1:7)."

 --Oswald Chambers, in My Utmost for His Highest.

I am not my own...

"To say, 'I am not my own,' is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature.

 The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus,

 but of being a perfect delight to Him. 

The secret is truly being able to say, 'I am His, and He is accomplishing His work 

and His purposes through me.' 

Be entirely His!"

 --Oswald Chambers,

 from the My Utmost for His Highest Perpetual Calendar.

Autumn Giveaway...

Can you believe autumn is here?! What beauty is just outside my back door as the maple trees do their yearly dance of color. I just came in from enjoying the sunshine on this lovely day, helping my husband reduce the huge cottage garden we have enjoyed the past 6 years in the front of our house. Time to admit that downsizing is a good idea. With all the things we have going on in our lives, there is just no time to properly care for vast places of landscaping on our property.

If you live locally, feel free to come by for perennial starts for a few weeks yet. I would be happy to send them off to other homes where they will bring joy to another.

Are you ready to hear about the giveaway? Remember the one I did in the spring? Well, I've been reading another book...and it's good! So good, in fact, that I would like to give away 2 copies. It has been challenging, convicting, thought provoking, and encouraging to me, and I would love to give you a copy to read.

For a chance to win a copy of this book written in the 1800's but with a message so poignant to today's society, please comment either here, or on Facebook, or Google Plus and share a blessing you are grateful for these days. Or ten blessings, or however many you would like to share :-)

I have found this book easy to read, and a real blessing to ponder.

I would recommend it to every man or woman, young or old!

This giveaway will be open for two weeks.
So in two weeks, on October 11, 2014,
I will put all the contestants' names in
a basket, toss them around,
and have my son draw two names.
I will announce the winners on the blog.
Looking forward to hearing from you!

God bless you...
and happy autumn to you all.

Morning Musings...Encouragement Part 3

Goodmorning friends...

In pondering encouragement further, the Lord brought a few things to mind through personal experiences since I wrote last Tuesday on this subject. Here is one experience I had that has me thinking more:

In my opinion, one of the most powerful forms of encouragement comes from pronouncing blessing on others. Just Sunday evening this happened to my  husband and I through a brother who shared how we have challenged and blessed him and his family. It was a simple statement, but enough to amaze me at first, then thank GOD that our lives bless others and point them to Jesus. It is humbling and exciting when others bless us in this way (altho we should never 'live' to have this happen!) because we know we cannot do this of ourselves, and although we are needy and sometimes have a faith too weak to believe that our lives account for much (yes, I am well aware and teach it myself: that the focus should never be US but HIM...this article is presenting the reality of temptation in a believer's life...), God brings people to us to encourage us to keep going in His Way. So my challenge today is to get out there and verbally bless the believers in your life. It is a hard, uphill climb to heaven. There are obstacles along the way. The enemy of our souls is working overtime it seems to drag us back over the Great Divide of allegiances to his side. There is much struggle, heartache, and rebuff if you are a child of God because the powers of darkness are at war with the powers of Light.

Go bless them. Specifically share how they have encouraged, challenged, convicted, or lifted up your soul. They need to hear it. Because let me tell you, no matter how mature they are, or how strong they seem, or how unmoved they are by the storms, you have no idea sometimes just how black the waves of discouragement or depression that lap at their door step, nor how strong the pull of self-pity or bitterness may be in their life. You have no idea how hard they are fighting and how raging is the storm that they might be going through, and even though technically God is supposed to be (and is) enough, your words of blessing and encouragement just might be the lift their hands that hang down need, or the strengthening their feeble knees need. 

I think it is time we the people stand up and use our words to bless and build each other up where we can. I realize that sometimes there are broken relationships that we cannot fix, but for who you can, BLESS with your words...and your actions too, as stated previously.

Ps

Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement

about an autumn giveaway this week...

The Whole of Things...

"The first thing that impresses us about the call of God is that it comes to the whole man, not to one part of him.

 The majority of us are godly in streaks, spiritual in sections; it takes a long time to locate us altogether to the call of God. 

We have special days and religious moods, but when we get into contact with God we are brought in touch with Reality and made all of a piece. 

Our Lord's life was all one reality; you could never cut it into two--shallow here and profound there.

 My conception of God must embrace the whole of my life." 

--Oswald Chambers,

 in He Shall Glorify Me

 from The Quotable Oswald Chambers.