Illustrated Quote: World of Chance

The Problem of Faith: Illustrated J. R. Miller quote

Nevertheless Afterward By J. R. Miller

(I read this yesterday and was so blessed that I had to share it! :-) I hope it is a blessing to you as well, even though it may seem a bit long.)

"If we could see beyond to-day

As God can see;

If all the clouds should roll away,

The shadows flee—

O'er present griefs we would not fret,

Each sorrow we would soon forget,

For many joys are waiting yet

For you and me.

"If we could see, if we could know,

We often say,

But God in love a veil doth throw

Across our way;

We cannot see what lies before,

And so we cling to him the more.

He leads us till this life is o'er;

T

Trust and obey."

HINGS are not finished as we see them to-day. Tomorrow they will appear larger, greater. The bud you see one morning in the garden will be a full blown rose in a little while. The brown seed you dropped in your window-box will be a beautiful plant by and by. Wherever there is life there is growth. Every act has its consequences. We cannot foretell what results shall follow from any choice we may make. We must always take account of the afterward, whatever it is we are doing, through whatever experiences we are passing. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews has a suggestive passage about chastening. He quotes from the Book of Proverbs: "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." People sometimes chafe when they have troubles. They fret and blame God. "What have I done," they ask, " that God is punishing me so? " But God may not be punishing them at all. Chastening is not punishing. "All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby." The present is hard and painful, but there will be an "afterward." Chastening now; afterward, peaceable fruit.

The figure of pruning is used by our Master. He tells us that every fruitful branch of the vine the wise husbandman prunes—the fruitful, not the unfruitful, branch. It is a wonderful comfort to suffering Christians to know that pruning is therefore really a mark of approval. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." There is a purpose also in the pruning. It is not any reckless trimming— the husbandman knows what he is doing. Pruning seems destructive. Sometimes it appears as if the whole vine is being cut away. But there is an afterward—that it may bear more fruit.

One tells of a visit to a great hot-house, filled with wonderful clusters of luscious grapes. The owner said, "When my new gardener came, he said he would have nothing to do with these vines unless he could cut them clear down to the stock; and he did, and we had no grapes for two years. But this is the result." Stems and branches cut, bleeding, almost destroyed; afterward, a marvellous vine bending under its load of fruit. It is only when we learn the truth about life that we are able to live with faith and courage. Because they have not learned it, many people fall into despair in the midst of present disappointments and sufferings. They see only the hard things

in their circumstances, and pains that make the days almost unbearable, the wrongs and injustices that are crushing them. They stand right in the midst of all the bitter trials and see no light, no hope, no comfort. We need to learn to stand away from the immediate present and get a view of the experience from a remoter distance. We see only part of the experience while we are in its midst. A visitor to Amsterdam had heard about the wonderful chimes of St. Nicholas—so the story runs. He was told that he must hear them, whatever else he might miss in the old Dutch city. The tourist did not know how best to hear the chimes, so he went up into the tower of the church to get as close as he could to the bells. He thought he would thus be best able to get the full benefit of his visit. There he found a man with great wooden gloves, like hammers, pounding on a keyboard. All he could hear was the crash of the keys, the harsh clanging and the deafening noise of the bells above his head. He wondered why his friends had talked so enthusiastically of the chimes of St. Nicholas. To his ears there was no music in them, nothing but terrible clatter and clangor. Yet at that very time there floated over and beyond the city the most entrancing music. Men in the fields a mile or more away paused in their work to listen. People in their homes and travellers on the highways were thrilled by the marvellous notes that fell from the tower. The place to listen to chimes is not close to them, but a distance away, where the clangor has softened into sweet music.

So it is with the experiences of life. When we are in their midst we hear only the jarring notes of pain, the bitter cries of suffering. "All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous." We are too close to it yet. But when we get farther away, when the sharpness of the pain is past, when the hardness is over and forgotten, the music grows sweet. Not until afterward comes with its comfort, its alleviation, its peaceable fruit, its new blessing, do we begin to understand the meaning of the discipline of the experience that was so hard. Afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit.

It is only afterward that the meaning of many of God's providences can be clearly read. Now we see through a glass darkly; afterward we shall see face to face. Now we know in part; afterward we shall know fully. The things we think destructive and calamitous are blessings yet in their first stage, fruits still green and bitter, not yet ripened and mellowed.

"Then be content, poor heart;

God's plans like lilies pure and white unfold.

We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart,

Time will reveal the calyxes of gold.

And if, through patient toil, we reach the land

Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest,

When we shall clearly see and understand,

I know that we will say,' God knew the best.'"

Life is a school. All its experiences are lessons. God is educating us. School is not easy. All true education looks to the building of the finest, noblest character in the end. It is especially so in God's school, for he is the perfect Teacher. His purpose is not to give us an easy time at present, but to make something of us afterward. Sometimes we chafe and fret, saying that God is harsh and severe, perhaps that he is even unkind. We cannot see that good ever can come out of the painful discipline. But there are lives which only in the school of severity can ever reach their best. There are some plants that would die in the warmth of a conservatory. They must be kept in the cold if they would live and grow. One of the papers not long since told of a strange plant recently discovered in northern Siberia. It shoots up out of the ice and frozen ground. Its leaves grow on the side of the stem toward the north. Each leaf appears to be covered with little crystals of snow. On the third day the extremities of the anthers show minute glistening specks like diamonds. These are the seeds.

Is not this plant an illustration of many Christian lives? God seems to set them in beds of ice and snow, and yet they grow up out of the wintry cold into fair and wondrous beauty. We should say that the loveliest lives of earth would be those that are reared amid the kindliest influences, under summer skies, in the warm atmosphere of ease and comfort. But the truth is that many of the noblest developments of Christian character come from the wintry gardens of hardship, struggle, and sorrow. Trial, therefore, is not something meant to discourage us, to stunt and dwarf our life and mar its beauty. The snow plant would die in a tropical garden. There are lives that never could become Christ like and never could reach heaven without the discipline of hardness. No hardness is too severe which teaches us to live worthily. " To serve God and love him," says some one, " is higher and better than happiness, though it be with wounded feet,

bleeding hands, and heart loaded with sorrow."

"So much we miss

If love is weak; so much we gain

If love is strong. God thinks no pain

Too sharp or lasting to ordain

To teach us this."

We must guard against the dreading of the cost of life's best things. If we cannot pay the price we cannot get the blessings. We must have the sharp, biting winter if we would get, by and by, the genial spring with its bursting blossoms. We must have the ploughshare cutting through the ground if we would have the harvest of golden grain. There is no trial in our lives that does not come to us as the bearer of good. We meet a grievous loss when we are not profited by the hard or painful experience that comes to us. We cannot see this to-day. It seems to us in the keenness of our sorrow that nothing which may come in any afterward will make up for what we are now suffering. But if not in this life, then somewhere in the great eternal afterward we shall be able to say: "Now I understand." "All chastening seemeth for the present grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit."

Remember Joseph. He was cruelly wronged by his brothers, torn away from his home, sold as a slave, maligned and cast into chains—a dark beginning, surely, for a young man's life. Yet afterward came honor, power, glory. It takes time to work out God's best things. There is a story of a rabbi who met a child carrying a basket closely covered. "Tell me, little maid," said the rabbi, " what you have in that basket." The child answered, " If my mother had wished that any one should know what is in this basket, she would not have covered it up." If God had meant us to know all his plans of love for us, he would not have covered them up under experiences of pain and suffering. We may be sure, however, that for all our times of chastening and trial there is an afterward, full of glorious good, waiting for us. We miss a great deal by living so entirely in the present and not having ourselves to think of the afterward. We are alarmed when we find ourselves in hard conditions and circumstances, forgetting altogether that these are only processes through which we must pass to reach fineness of character, sweetness of spirit, strength, courage, discipline, and all the qualities which go to make up the best life. We are too short-sighted when we are in trouble. We see only the suffering, the loss, the struggle, and think not of the mission of the trouble and what is coming out of it. We should widen our vision so as to take in the afterward as well as the present hour.

Life is all one piece. One experience follows another. God always loves us—loves us just as surely and as tenderly, when all things seem to be against us as he does when all things seem to be favoring us. When trouble comes, no matter what its direct and natural cause, it has a mission—it comes to make us better, to cure us of some fault, to cleanse us of some blot, to make us gentler, to teach us to be trustful and strong, to make us more thoughtful and more helpful. Instead of vexing and fretting ourselves with the question how God can truly love us and yet allow us to suffer, to endure loss, to be treated unjustly and wrongfully, we would better change our attitude altogether toward our trials and ask rather what errand this pain or affliction has for us, what it should teach us, what change it should work in us. There is no trial in our lives

that does not come to us as the bearer of a blessing. We meet a grievous loss when we are not profited by any hard or painful experience that comes to us. The other morning one told of an unhappiness which came from the loss of a friend—not by death, but by the friend's unfaithfulness. Well, it is hard when one has to lose out of one's life such a friend, who for years has seemed to be true and whose friendship has come to mean so much of strength, of companionship, of joy; but there will be an afterward, and we may be sure that when the afterward has opened its treasures into the lonely life, it will be seen that God is good and loving in just what he did. You do not know what poison was hidden in the cup you thought was filled to the brim with happiness. God took it out of your hand to save you from a deeper, bitterer sorrow than that which you are now enduring.

You cannot see this to-day. It seems to you in the keenness of your sorrow that nothing that may come in afterward will make up for what you have lost. But trust God with that. The future is long. It stretches away into the eternal years. If not in this life, then somewhere in the great eternal Afterward you will be able to say: "Now I understand."

"When the last day is ended,

And the nights are through;

When the last sun is buried

In its grave of blue;

"When the stars are snuffed like candles,

And the seas no longer fret,

When the winds unlearn their cunning,

And the storms forget;

"When the last lip is palsied,

And the last prayer said,

Love shall reign immortal

While the worlds lie dead!”

A Truly Seeking Heart: Illustrated Quote

Doing God's Will: Illustrated Quote

Christ Saves Men By Becoming Their Friend: Illustrated J. R. Miller Quote

Some excellent thoughts here!

We Would Wreck Everything

Not only does God love us and desire our good--but His wisdom is infinite. He knows what is best for us, what things will do us the good we need. We ourselves do not know. The things we think would bring us blessing--perhaps would bring us irreparable harm! The things we dread as evil, and shrink from--perhaps are the bearers to us of divinest good! We would make pitiful work of our lives--if we had the ordering of our affairs in our own hands. If for but one day we could take matters into our own hands, out of God's hands--we would wreck everything!
J.R. Miller via gracegems.org

He Can Surely Manage Them

Cheap Entertainment: Illustrated Quote

Whatever the Experiences Be...Illustrated Quote

Rutherford Illustrated Quote

Small Thoughts on Memorial Day

    I know someone who thinks that it is unnecessary to thank veterans for their service: they are simply doing their duty. If I am not mistaken, I recall that this person is someone who has served in the military, which certainly entitles them to that opinion. However, I couldn’t help thinking about why we should thank veterans for doing their duty. The most obvious reason is because they served, therefore you don’t have to. Furthermore, they serve/served in your stead. Each citizen owes something to their country. Someone must serve in America’s military, therefore it is the duty of each citizen to serve. Not everyone is needed actually in the military, so some volunteer. Does it really matter why they joined? Yes, I’ve heard of many who have signed in order to get a bonus, or to get college money or other less noble reasons. The fact still remains that with them there, you needn’t be. And it is equally true that they have to go fight when called, while you remain safely at home. Those who didn’t plan to fight, but rather to be financially supported by you, are still protecting you, though that wasn’t their original plan. So they still deserve your thanks, for going in your place. What about those who were drafted? Do they not deserve our thanks simply because they didn’t volunteer? They still served in your place, or, if you weren’t even born then, they served to keep this country free so you may enjoy that freedom now. They still deserve your thanks. They are patriots regardless. And there are still those who serve because they choose to. They choose to leave their family behind, so that you can stay with yours. They choose to give up comforts so that you can enjoy them… They choose to give up so many things, and you get to enjoy all those things in your life, due to their sacrifice. They love your country, and are supporting in one of the most vital ways. They deserve thanks.

     Every veteran deserves our thanks. Remember those who have given.

Scorn a Pleasure...Illustrated Quote

J. R. Miller Illustrated Quote

My Year in J.R. Miller Quotes: December Edition

From “Turning Northward”: (Scripture reference for book is Deuteronomy 2:3)
     (From Introduction):
     • “While we live we must be moving on.”
     • “When we stop we begin to die.”
     • “Rest is necessary, but only to renew our strength that we may press on again.”
(From book):
     • “It would not be well if we were released from the daily round, though it is monotonous. We owe much to it. It trains us.”
     • “We must not let our life run forever and only in a little circle, but must reach out, learn new lessons, venture into new lives, leave our narrow past, and grow into something that means more.”
     • “We must not allow our narrow occupation to dwarf our souls.”
     • “Our work itself is valuable and noble, and we must never be ashamed of it and must do it with zest and enthusiasm.”
     • “We never can get on to higher things if we insist on clinging to our past and carrying it with us. We can make progress only by forgetting.”
     • “Some people keep compassing regretfully the mountains of their one year’s mistakes through all the following year.” (See Scripture Reference)
     • “Worry undoes no folly, corrects no mistakes, brings back nothing you have lost.”
     • “To err is human. We learn by making mistakes. Nobody ever does anything perfectly the first time he tries it. The artist spoils yards of canvas and reams of paper in mastering his art. It is the same in living. It takes most of lifetime to learn how to do work passably well.”
     • “There is a strange power in the divine goodness which can take our mistakes and follies, and out of them bring beauty, blessing, and good. Forget your blunders, put them into the hands of Christ, leave them with him to deal with as he sees fit, and he will show them to you afterward as marks of loveliness, no longer as blunders, but as the very elements of perfection.”
     • “Move entirely out of the past. It is gone, and you have nothing whatever more to do with it. If it has been unworthy, it should be abandoned for something worthy. If it has been good, it should inspire us to things yet better.”
      • “It is possible for us to have all the semblance of life in our religious profession, in our orthodoxy of belief, in our morality, in our Christian achievements, in our conduct, in our devotion to the principles of right and truth, and yet not have life in us.”
     • Discoursing upon one’s prayer to be “clean all through”: “It is to this we are called each New Year, for example, each birthday. We are summoned to leave our routine Christian life, the commonplace godliness that has so long satisfied us, and turn northward.”
      • “The true life within us should become diviner continually in its beauty, purer, stronger, sweeter, even when the physical life is wasting.”
     • “The hard things are not meant to mar our life – they are meant to make it all the braver, the worthier, the nobler. Adversities and misfortunes are meant to sweeten our spirits, not to make them sour and bitter.”
     • “We cannot fulfill our Master’s requirements for us as Christians unless we are ready for self-forgetful devotion to service.”

My Year in J. R. Miller Quotes: October Edition

From “Secrets of Happy Home Life”:
 • “[Home] is a resting-place whither at close of day the weary retire to gather new strength for the battle and toils of tomorrow.”
 • “One instrument out of tune in an orchestra mars the music which breaks upon the ears of the listeners. One discordant life in a household mars the perfectness of the music of love in the family. We should make sure that our life is not the one that is out of tune.”
 • “Christ’s peace is a blessing which comes out of struggle and discipline.”
 • “A happy home does not come as a matter of course because there has been a marriage ceremony, with plighted vows and a ring, and the minister’s ‘Whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder,’ and a benediction.”
 • “Happiness does not come through any mere forms or ceremonies; it has to be planned for, lived for, sacrificed for, prayed for, ofttimes suffered for.”
 • “At few points in life is divine guidance more sorely needed than when the question of marriage is decided.”
 • “Wedded happiness depends greatly on reverent, prayerful, deliberate, wise choosing before marriage.”
 • “A true woman’s heart craves gentleness.”
 • “Love craves its daily bread of tenderness.”
 • “Love always serves, or it is no love at all.”
 • “We say we train our children; but they train us, too, if we think of them as we should – as immortal beings come from God to be prepared by us for their mission.”
 • “The modern tendency to put upon the wife and mother all the responsibility for the making of the home and its happiness is not sanctioned by Christian teachings.”
 • “The divine commands for the building of the home and the training of the children are given primarily to the man, although meant for both husband and wife.”
 • “Love’s first lesson is that of giving up one’s own way, denying one’s self, suffering in silence.”
 • “Another suggestion is, that we should not grow discouraged, even if our homes are not yet what we crave. There are some who feel that the battle is hopeless; that they can never grow into beautiful life and character in their present circumstances. That is a mistake. It is possible to grow into all the beauty of peace wherever we may be placed. A lily finds its home in a black bog, but blooms into perfect loveliness.”
 • “Criticism never fosters affection; you never loved any one better for criticizing you. Usually the best service we can do to a brother or sister is to live a sweet, patient, beautiful, Christly life ourselves, leaving to God the fashioning of their lives. If they are true Christians, He is teaching them and putting His own image on their souls. We might mar this divine work by our criticism.”
 • “The comforts of Christian faith do not reveal themselves to us in their richest light and peace till the darkness of sorrow rests upon our home.”

My Year in J. R. Miller Quotes: September Edition

From “Mary of Bethany”:
    • “At Christ’s feet is the place of discipleship, where one learns the lessons the Master has to teach, where one’s soul receives the blessings He has to give.”
    • “We can give out to others only what God has given to us.”
    • “The first thing is, not what you shall do for Christ, but what you shall let Christ do for you; not what you shall give to Him, but what you shall receive from Him.”
    • “True refinement is not outside polish. It goes deeper, and penetrates the very foundations of character.”
    • “That which truly refines is purity of heart.”
    • “Is there no alabaster box of sacred ointment which you can bring out and break, to anoint the feet of your loving Lord?”
    • “There is constant danger that the duties which lie closest shall be overlooked while the eye is watching farther off for services conspicuous and large.”
    • “The Christian young woman who blesses her own home with her love cannot but be a blessing wherever she goes.”
    • “It matters little what the particular form of ministry may be. God knows what he wants his children to do. The important thing is to be filled with the love of Christ; then, wherever you go, you will be a blessing.”

My Year in J. R. Miller Quotes: August Edition

From “Loving My Neighbor” (which is built on the parable of the Good Samaritan):
    • “We call it a sin for one to do another an injury; but we are not so likely to call it a sin when one fails to show another, suffering or in need, a kindness which it is in his power to render.”
    • “Forbearing to help when it is in our power to help is a sin of which God takes note.”
    • “The test of life is loving.”
    • “The only proof that we have the love of God in our hearts is our love to our fellow-men.”
    • “Sometimes love’s duties are crowded out by other seeming duties.”
    • “We shall be judged, not only by what we do, but quite as much by what we leave undone.”
    • “Some people are willing to pay for the care of those who are in distress, but are not willing to take any trouble themselves. Money does good service in many cases, but the love which is illustrated in our Lord’s parable gives more than money; it ministers with its own hands; it gives human sympathy and personal attention.”
    • “We add greatly to the value of whatever we do for others if we give part of ourselves in and with our serving.”
    • “We represent God in this world and we are to help as he helps, never niggardly, but always generously and abundantly.”

My Year in J.R. Miller Quotes: July Edition

From “The Blessing of Cheerfulness”
       • “One who speaks wholesome words which enter other lives, and influence, guide, strengthen, inspire, or enrich them, blesses the race”
       • “Every one carries an atmosphere about him. It may be healthful and invigorating, or it may be unwholesome and depressing. It may make a little spot of the world a sweeter, better, safer place to live in; or it may make it harder for those to live worthily and beautifully who dwell within its circle.”
       • “It is the privilege of every friend of Christ to be of good cheer, no matter what the circumstances of his life may be. Privilege makes duty.”
       • “All the fine things in Christian nurture and Christian culture have to be learned.”
       • “If we would learn the lesson, we must abide with Christ.”
       • “If we are truly experiencing the friendship of Christ, we shall find the inner joy increasing just as the outer lights grow dim.”
       • “There are blessings, rich, deep, and satisfying, which we never can know until we mourn.”
       • “The deeper the earthly darkness, the richer are the Divine comforts which are given to us, enabling us to be of good cheer whatever the tribulation.”
       • “But if we look at others through Christ-eyes, then even the things in them which cause us pain and sorrow become new chances of joy and blessing for us.”
       • “Every human sorrow or infirmity that makes its appeal to us is a new chance for us to do a beautiful thing, to grow in Christ-likeness.”
       • “Every new burden of care rolled upon us, demanding self-denial, sacrifice, or service, carries in it a new blessing for us, if only we will accept it.”
       • “He who carries about with him a cheerful spirit is a blessing wherever he goes.”
       • “We have no right to go among men with our complaints and our murmurings.”
       • “We have no enemy more to be dreaded than discouragement.”

My Year in J.R. Miller Quotes: June Edition

From “A Cure for Care"
• “We need to learn to live. This is just what being a Christian is – learning from Christ to be Christlike.”
• “Surely it is not fitting that the children of the heavenly Father should worry!”
• “[Christians] are living in their Father’s house in which are stored the rich treasures of divine love. Yet many of them seem not to know of these treasures, and live in distress, as if no provision were made for their wants.”
• “There really never is any reason why a child of God should worry about anything.”
• “The mind must be centered before it can have perfect peace. It must have one motive, one aim, one allegiance, one ground of confidence. If it is divided between two interests, there will be distraction, and the peace will be broken.”
• “Anxiety is a sin, because it is not trusting God fully and wholly.”
• “Work is not part of the Adamic curse, as some people imagine. It was a divine ordinance for man from the beginning.”
• “A great deal of the worrying that is so common is over matters that we have no power to change.”
• “There are troubles or misfortunes which have already passed; why should we vex ourselves over these?...Worry will not retrieve it, nor give us back the old favorable conditions.”
• “Sadness only unfits us for duty.”
• “Regret never helps anything.”
• “We would better accept what is done and is beyond any power to recall, and take life just as it is now, working out our little duty bravely and with quiet faith.”
• “Hard work is made easier when we can sing at it. Burdens are made light when one’s heart is filled with joy.”
• “When we acquiesce in any unpleasant experience, we have conquered the unpleasantness.”
• “We should learn to put the emphasis upon duty, not upon care, for duty only is ours.”
• “We should keep each day with its needs shut off by itself. Tomorrow’s cares we must not bring back into today’s little hours. There is no room for them there, nor have we strength for them.”
• “No one ever finds one day’s load too heavy; it is when we try to carry the burden of other days in addition to today’s that we break down.”
• “He who learns the lesson – to live without anxiety – has mastered the art of living.”

New CD by my friend, Jamie Bird

Looking for a new Christ honoring music cd? Allow me to recommend "Behold Your God" by Jamie Bird with Jen Zimmerman. Here is a photo of the cover, and some clips of three songs on Jamie Bird's new cd. I love to hear her sing at church services!

Contact Mrs. Bird at:

Grace Baptist Church

960 Children's Home Road

Urbana, OH 43078

(937) 652-1681

www.choosegrace.net

My Year in J. R. Miller Quotes: May Edition

From "In Perfect Peace"

• "If we do not have [peace] we have missed part of the blessing of being a Christian, part of our inheritance as children of God. It is not a peculiar privilege which is only for a favored few; it is for every one who believes in Christ and will accept it."
• "The Christian's peace is not found in a place where there is no trouble -- it is something which enters the heart and makes it independent of all outside conditions."
• "To love is to weep some time in the journey."
• "[The peace of God] gives us songs in the night. It puts joy into our hearts when we are in the midst of sorest trouble. It turns our thorns into roses."
• "The life of Christian faith is not freed from pain, but our of the pain some rich blessings."
• "If we would have unbroken peace we must have unbroken trust, our minds stayed upon God all the while."
• "It is our privilege and duty to be free always from anxiety and to show the sad world only victorious joy."
• "It is the duty of every Christian to have peace. Not to have it is to reject the Master's behest -- "Peace I leave with you...My peace I give unto you"."
• "The will of God is to be done, not only suffered, as some people seem to think, but done in unbroken obedience and service."
• "Peace is the music which the life makes when it is in perfect tune, and this can be only when all its chords are attuned to the keynote of love."
• "We can stay our minds upon God only when the will of God has been done by us or endured patiently and cheerfully."

Memorial Day

A Day to Remember.
Pause today to think about the reason behind the "holiday", which isn't a holiday at all.
Thank a veteran for their sacrifice. It is a true saying that "All gave some, but some gave all". Remember that the group that "gave some" may not be "serving" still, but may well be still giving, unknown to you, dealing with their memories, their questions, their fears.

Memorial Day: Remember.

My Year in J.R. Miller Quotes: April Edition

From “A Gentle Heart”
• “We are strong only as we are gentle. Gentleness is the power of God working in the world.” (from introduction)
• “[Gentleness] is essential to all true character.”
• “No man is truly great who is not gentle.”
• “[Gentleness] is the crown of all loveliness, the Christliest of all Christly virtues.”
• “No wrong or cruelty ever made [Christ] ungentle.”
• “Home is meant to be a place to grow in. It is a school in which we should learn love in all its branches. It is not a place for selfishness or for self-indulgence.”
• “…but in all our occupations the real business of life, that which we are always to strive to do, the work which must go on in all our experiences, if we grasp life’s true meaning at all, is to learn to love, and to grow loving in disposition and character.”
• “Our Master manifested himself to his own as he did not to the world; but the world, even his cruelest enemies, never received anything of ungentleness from him.”
• “We must never forget that religion in its practical outworking is love.”
• “A good creed is well; but doctrines which do not become life of gentleness in character and disposition, in speech and in conduct, are not fruitful doctrines.”
• “The final object of all Christian life and worship is to make us more like Christ, and Christ is love.”
• “The way to acquire any grace of character is to compel thought, word, and act in the one channel until the lovely quality has become a permanent part of our life.”

My Year in J.R. Miller Quotes: March Edition

From “The Master’s Friendships”
(From Introduction):
• Perhaps no short coming in good lives is so common as the failure to be a friend to those around us.
• We begin to be like Christ only when we begin to be a friend to everyone.
(From Book):
• Therefore [Christ] was a friend to the worst, that he might make them to be among the best.
• Christ never shut his heart on any one. He is ready to give love to every one.
• But are we ready and willing to be a friend to those who are unattractive and uncongenial, even disagreeable, who have nothing to give to us in return, who have only needs, cares and burdens to share with us, to those we have to lift and carry?
• Need is always that which attracts [Christ’s] attention.
• At no time do we more need divine wisdom in our experience than when we are deciding whether or not we shall accept this or that person as our personal friend.
• Always the friendship of Christ discovered the best that was in man. He saw possibilities in them that no other one had ever dreamed of. Then he set about to develop these possibilities.
• Concerning Romans 1:11 (“For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;”): This was a lofty wish of friendship. It suggests what our longing for our meetings with our friends should be.
• No other culture is so fine as that which comes from communication with Jesus Christ.
• (John 11) Some day when you are in sorrow or trouble and send for Christ, he may delay to come, delay till it seems too late to come at all. Remember, then, that it is because he loves you and yours that he delays. We must learn to trust Christ’s friendship even when it seems to fail us.

My Year in J.R. Miller Quotes: February Edition

From “The Transfigured Life”:

· “To have a life whose power we cannot control is a fearful thing. The more magnificent the life may be, the more terrible it is not to be able to rule it.”

· “To know one person who is absolutely to be trusted will do more for a man’s moral nature – yes, and even his spiritual nature – than all the sermons he ever heard or can hear.” George MacDonald quoted by J.R. Miller

· “There is not an element in our nature that needs to be crushed or destroyed; everything is meant to be under control of conscience and will, and to be used to honor God and bless the world.”

· Definition of a life transfigured: “In a word, it is the beauty of Christ shining in a human life.”

· “In what measure Christ enters into us and fills us and abides in us, depends upon the measure of our surrender to him.”

From “The Face of the Master”:

· We cannot altogether hide our inner life from men’s eyes. What goes on in the depths of our being comes up to the surface in unmistakable indications and revealings.”

· We look for him where he is not, – we look for flashes of splendor, – and meanwhile we miss the glory of his presence where it shines in all its beauty in some lowly thoughtfulness and tenderness.”

· “But, as a rule, we find our best work, the things we are meant to do, our chance for being useful to others, in the line of our common duty.”

· “Do the duty that comes next to your hand, and you will find yourself near to heaven.”

· “If a Christian dwells remote from Christ he soon grows earthly and loses the spiritual loveliness out of his life.”

· On Romans 8:28: “That is, we must always believe in his love for us even in the most trying experiences, and must keep love in our hearts. If we lose our trust, if we rebel against God, if we grow disobedient, we miss the good that we might have received from “all things,” and take hurt instead.”

My Year in J.R. Miller Quotes: January Edition

I am planning on posting at the end of each month the quotes I have copied from The Transfigured Life: Selected Shorter Writings of James Russell Miller.

From "The Transfigured Life":
· [Christ] will possess us just as far as we yield our life up to him.

· Love sees in every other person one to be served, to be ministered unto, to be helped, to be patiently borne with, to be treated kindly in spite of his faults.

· Love transforms all conditions of life, all circumstances. Its’ business is to be sweet no matter the weather, or the wrong, or the suffering. Thus it takes the bitterness out of whatever would otherwise be bitter.

· The joy the Holy Spirit gives lives on in the heart when all earthly sources of gladness have failed.

· The lesson of peace is one that has to be learned in the school of life. It is not gotten by the changing of life’s circumstances so as to hide one away beyond the reach of storm. Nor is it acquired through the deadening of the feelings and sensibilities, so that life’s pains and trials will not longer hurt the heart. This would be paying too great a price even for peace. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It comes through the encircling of the life with God’s own peace.

· The true object of all education and discipline is to develop all the powers of the life to their highest possibilities, and then to hold them in perfect mastery.

Stephen, M.D. by Susan Warner. A book recommendation.

I have read many books that have convicted me in various ways. Some have left me determined to leave off a sin it has brought to light in my life, or to begin to do something that I ought and hadn’t seen before, to love God more, to seek his will, on and on…but this book left me gripped with the desire for God! Before I could even come to the end of the story, I was gripped with the longing simply for God. My computer downloaded book was quickly filled with numerous highlights and bookmarks, and this book is not going to be thrown away, as most of them are when I finish reading them (I have too many on my computer to keep them all anymore, though they are excellent books and worth re-reading.). This boy’s life and testimony is such to make one long for more of Christ…and realize that it is not only attainable, but that every Christian should attain what Stephen had. Verses he quotes I have often read, but never seen in such a light as his life puts them, and yet leaving me shaking my head asking why I hadn’t…seen that before? No, actually believed just what God said. The hymns (“poetry”) he reads, and which are quoted in this book, are also a plus. Another top-of-the-list “based-on-fact” story from Susan Warner. Find it as a free Google ebook and read it!

The Best Advice I Received in 2011

The best advice I received in 2011? “The goal is Christ”; it’s easy to get wrapped up in the work or plan He has for us, but that isn’t the goal. If we focus on the path, the way, the plan, we’ll lose it, but if we focus on Him, we’ll be right where we should be, right where He wants us.

My motto for this year was drawn from that advice and a comment from Pastor:

Destination: Christ.

Reading list I Just Finished

I thought I’d share my reading list for the past 4 months, as the new year begins. I’m really glad that I was able to meet my goals, and then some! So I’m ready to begin fresh and new in 2012!

Under the history/ more “serious” (that which takes more concentration for me) reading:

· The Swamp Fox: the life and campaigns of General Francis Marion by Robert Bass

· Mad Anthony: the story of Anthony Wayne by Rupert Sargent Holland

· The Hoosier Schoolmaster

· Jeb Stuart by John W. Thomason, Jr.

· For Name and Fame by G. A. Henty

Under the “lighter” (that which I enjoy, though it tends to be more character building and “religious” in nature, plus classics) reading:

· Sunshine Country by Kristina Roy

· The Three Comrades by Kristina Roy

· The Two Wealthy Farmers by Hannah More

· Sense and Sensibility (Not necessarily recommended to everyone, and to no one without Wite Out in hand.)

· Three People by Isabella Alden (Pansy) (found my own copy of this at Goodwill for $0.99!)

· The Sun Is Shining on the Other Side by Margaret Jenson (Loaned from a friend)

· Probable Sons by Amy LeFevre

· Peace Child (Loaned from a friend, I forget the author)

· My Desire by Susan Warner

· Hidden Rainbow by Christmas Carol Kauffman (An old favorite I needed to re-visit)

· My Little Corner by Mrs. O.F. Walton

· Nobody by Susan Warner (ebook; one of my favorites)

· The White Dove by Christoph von Schmid

· Wych Hazel by Susan Warner (ebook)

· The Gold of Chickaree by Susan Warner (ebook)

· The Courage of Nikolai by Mary Ropes

· The Betrothed by Sir Walter Scott (Glad it was a free ebook, for I threw it out all the more cheaply for that! J)

· Nothing Daunted: the story of Isabel Kuhn by Gloria Repp (church library loan)

· By Searching by Isobel Kuhn (I really enjoyed this one) (church library loan)

· Toys of Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Actually didn’t finish this one; I threw it away before I finished. Not recommended!)

· Crown of Success by A.L.O.E. (ebook)

· Rambles of a Rat by A.L.O.E. (ebook; I was rather disappointed in this one, feeling like it didn’t live up to her other works. Probably there was something there and I missed it.)

And still on my shelf for my Sunday reading, is “John Ploughman’s Talk or Plain Advice for Plain People” by C. H. Spurgeon.

I also listened to a few books thanks to librovox.org:

· The Hidden Hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth (Okay but not excellent.)

· The Missing Bride by E.D.E.N.Southworth (Not recommended unless you want a novel with nothing to it.)

· Little Fishers and Their Nets by Pansy (Isabella Alden)

And on the list for January thru April, thus far:

· General Douglas MacArthur

· To Herat and Cabul by Henty

· Guadalcanal Diary

· And I want to get more Henty through the library

Second part:

· Clean Hands and Circulating Decimals (KOF – maybe Alden)

· Princess in Calico (R&S)

· Thrilling Escapes by Night (R&S)

· An Old-Fashioned Girl by L. M. Alcott

· For One Moment by C. Carol Kauffman

· My Mates and I by O.F. Walton

And to finish John Ploughman.

I’m also looking forward to again following the Bible reading schedule that Pastor has brought to us, reading the OT through once, the NT through twice, and Psalms twice and Proverbs 12 times in a year.

No Man Cared for My Soul

by Leah S. Carpenter

“…no man cared for my soul. Ps. 142:4

Let it never be said of us, that we cared not for another’s soul! Could thy co-worker, thy employer, thy neighbor say, that you cared not for their soul? Worse yet, could thy unsaved family member say so? Have you told them of the Man who so cared for their souls that he left his glory, his Father, his throne, to bear the punishment of their sins for them, that they might be freed?

Have you shared with them the blessed comfort you have had when you looked on your right hand and beheld, and there was no man that would know you, refuge failed you, and no man cared for your soul, then you looked up and beheld the Man hanging on the cross for you? The Man with arms of love opened wide, proving a sure refuge? Have you shared that that refuge may be theirs also? That this Man cares for their souls?

Christian, have you been – are you – in a situation where your fellow believers have cut you off? You have searched, but your familiar friends would not know you; they have left off caring for your soul. There is still One who cares, One Who will never fail to be a refuge for you. Look unto Jesus; fix your eyes on him. His love never fails, nor his care for your soul.

~Jesus cares for men’s souls through us~

8/29/10