Quote of the Day

"God does not grant the necessary grace before the trial. He builds the bridge when we reach the river. We often fear that we shall sink under the fiery trials that we see others endure. We see in the distance and are afraid of the mystery and anguish of what is to befall us; but we have not yet reached the crises, and grace is not vouchsafed before it is needed. 'Jesus comes with our distress'." (Mrs. Charles E. Cowman)

Quote of the Day

"...When every prop is gone- all else but God- then He knows your heart cry is one of utter dependence upon Him. You can also experience the 'hardest place in life' as being the sweetest. It is there one makes a fresh discovery of God."
(Mrs. Charles E. Cowman) Taken from Streams in the Desert V. II

Spiritual Lessons 

Torrents of Grace

Satisfied with the things He has given and content to do without the things He has denied. What a joyful place to be. I have limited my social media because He asked me to, and He has shown me the things I would've missed if I hadn't.

They are all little things. Noticing details. Soaking in the sunny rays of moments and taking note to enjoy them.

                                                                                                                            Abigail Grace 

The other morning I was sitting outside on our little green porch, drinking in the early hours, when out comes Abbie in her nightgown, barefooted and her hair bed-bedraggled. She trotted past me, spotted the flock of chickens and raced down the hill to chase them, her blond wisps wildly blowing behind her. Perfect moment.

Time spent with friends, moments of quiet, the smell of mowed lawn, warm breezes, fresh rain, Abbie kissing the little kitty on her birthday card, meeting new people, learning who my family members really are, seeing acquaintances how Jesus sees them. Hearing His quiet answers. Sunrises at 5:00 am. Chaos at our dinner table.  Friendships. Asking and having Him provide, so quietly, so proficiently.

Of course I still have the inconvenient little ailments, the burdens, the hectic schedule, the responsibilities, the time to manage, or lack of it... Who doesn't? But it is all peace when given to Him. These little hardships can be contentedly pursued and life can be relished when it's His life and I seek His will and follow Him. Life isn't a battle to be fought. I don't have to seek the status of functioning. But I can live above survival mode and revel in my every moment.

“When you find that weariness depresses or amusement distracts you, you will calmly turn with an untroubled spirit to your heavenly Father, who is always holding out His arms to you. ...He will never leave you in want. A trustful glance, a silent movement of the heart towards Him will renew your strength; and though you may feel as if your soul were downcast and numb, whatever God calls you to do, He will give you power and courage to perform. Our Heavenly Father, so far from overlooking us, is only waiting to find our hearts open, to pour into them the torrents of His grace.” ~ Francis Fenelon

Quote of the Day

"I have seemed to see a need of everything God gives me, and want nothing that He denies me.  There is no dispensation, though afflictive, but either in it, or after it, I find that I could not be without it.  Whether it be taken from or not given to me, sooner or later God quiets me in Himself without it.  I cast all my concerns on the Lord, and live securely on the care and wisdom of my heavenly Father.  My ways, you know, are in a sense, hedged up with thorns, and grow darker and darker daily, but yet I distrust not my good God in the least, and live more quietly in the absence of all by faith, than I should do, I am persuaded, if I possessed them."  ~ Anonymous, 1810, Daily Strength for Daily Needs, 148

Quote of the Day

"The crosses which we make for ourselves by over-anxiety as to the future are not Heaven-sent crosses.  We tempt God by our false wisdom, seeking to forestall His arrangements, and struggling to supplement His providence by our own provisions.  The future is not ours.  Let us shut our eyes to that which God hides from us in the hidden depths of His wisdom.  Let us worship without seeing.  The crosses actually laid upon us always bring their own special grace and consequent comfort with them...But the crosses wrought by anxious forebodings are altogether beyond God's dispensations;...so everything seems hard and unendurable;... All this comes of not trusting to God and prying into His hidden ways.  'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' Our Lord has said, and the evil of each day becomes good if we leave it to God."
 ~ F.F. (Traveling Towards Sunrise) 

Quote of the Day

"Nothing is small or great in God's eyes; whatever He wills becomes great to us, however seemingly trifling. Once the voice of conscience tells us that He requires anything of us, we have no right to measure its importance. On the other hand, whatever He would not have us do, however important we may think it, is as nought to us. How do you know what you may lose by neglecting this duty, which you think so trifling, or the blessing which its faithful performance may bring? Be sure you will not be left without sufficient help if you do your very best in that which is laid upon you daily...give yourself to Him, listen to His voice and then go on bravely and cheerfully." 
(By J.N. G'rou -Taken from Daily Strength for Daily Needs P. 30)

Quote of the Day

"As the violet abides peacefully in its place, content to receive its daily portion without concerning itself...so must we repose in the present moment as it comes to us from God, content with our daily portion and without anxious thoughts, sure that all things will be made to prosper us.

This is the kind of growth in grace in which we who have entered into the life of full trust believe.  We can have a growth without care or anxiety on our part.  We can blossom out into flower and fruit and become like a 'tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper'. (Psalm 1:3)." ~ Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 101

Spiritual Lessons

A Desert Flower 

Do you seem to be planted in a desert place?

I have felt that way the last few days.  I have been in a dry place...thirsting.  Of course the obvious solution would be Christ.  But sometimes He isn't that easy to apply...to find...to drink.

I searched my heart and felt convicted of a few things.  When it all came down to it...it was my meditations that were under attack.  I was full of my thoughts and they roared.  I couldn't hear Him.  He allowed the dryness to show me what I was missing.  

In my searching I came across Psalm 63:1-8 "O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is....Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee...My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips...

I stopped there.  Satisfied as with marrow and fatness.  I longed to be satisfied.  I was the the antithesis of satisfied.  I felt anxious...wanting...  "With marrow and fatness".  I smiled here.  I remember as a little girl reading the Palms and Proverbs and being amused with the Bible's allegories of "fat bones" and such.  But it made sense to me just now.  On my elimination diet I went through a time of having no fats. Did you know that healthy fats give the brain thinking power?  They also satisfy hunger.  I remember when I first had fat back in my diet.  I devoured it!  I licked the casserole dish clean.  I had never experienced relishing the actual fat...I consumed it and it physically made me feel happy and full and alert and...satisfied.   Christ says that our souls can be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.  

What kept me from this satisfaction?  I knew I needed Him.  I knew I longed for Him.  What stood in my way from consuming and relishing Him?  The problem was I was already full.  Full of my things.  And they were good things.  Innocent things.  And yet, it is simply vain words to talk of wanting Him when I deliberately fill myself with distracting (though innocent) thoughts of self.  

It caused me to take a hard look at my life.  What was it full of?  What had He asked me to do?   Was I doing it?  I realized that in almost every relationship that I have, I was lacking in communication and connection.  I didn't have time to hear simple things...to participate in the small worthwhile moments that make up our memories, to invest in people that matter, to be aware of other's needs.  Hours passed without me.  Weeks flew by.  All because somewhere down the road I stopped filling my thoughts with Him and started feasting on my own thoughts.  Because He is a just God He knows He can't force-feed His children.  Love is a choice.  

So I made the simple choice to fill myself with Him.  Of course with this choice came some sacrifice of other things.  Innocent fun things.  Things others can do, but were causing me to be distracted.  With this choice comes the small cost of solitude.  Choosing Him sometimes includes a loneliness in certain areas. And with my personality, being "left out" is the last thing that I want.  But.... I can say with total honesty that it's worth it.  He has already stepped in and started working in relationships.  He didn't reveal Himself suddenly or dramatically, but simply, quietly...and this morning I realized:  I'm satisfied. 

"Do you seem to be planted in a desert soil where nothing can grow?  Put yourself into the hands of the good Husbandman, and He will at once begin to make that very desert blossom as the rose... (Jer. 17:8)
It is the great prerogative of our divine Husbandman that He is able to turn any soil, whatever it may be like, into the soil of grace the moment we put our growing into His hands.  He does not need to transplant us into a different field, but right where we are, with just the circumstances that surround us, He makes His sun to shine and His dew to fall on us, and transforms the very things that were greatest hindrances into the chiefest and most blessed means of our growth."  ~ Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, 179   

Quote of the Day

"Say not you cannot gladden, elevate, and set free; that you have nothing of the grace of influence; that all you have to give is at the most only common bread and water.  Give yourself to your Lord for the service of men with what you have.  Cannot He change water into wine?  Cannot He make stammering words to be instinct with saving power?  Cannot He change trembling efforts to help into deeds of strength?  Cannot He still, as of old, enable you in all your personal poverty "to make you rich?"  God has need of thee for the service of thy fellow men.  He has a work for thee to do. ...'Whatever He saith unto you, do it.'"  -- George Body Daily Strength for Daily Needs, 110