The Lord's In His Heaven; Illustrated Quote

Restlessness: Illustrated J. R. Miller 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.

What We Give To God

by Leah S. Carpenter

I have been bombarded recently, it seems, by comments about, and "encouragement" to, ministry. While I am a firm believer that each child of God has a particular ministry to fulfill, I also realize that for some, that means remaining precisely where He has placed us! However, despite this knowledge and conviction, I was beginning to get discouraged. Then I found this sweet bit of encouragement to continue in what He has given me to do: “Whatever is in our hand, that is what we give back to God.”

I read these words, and they blessed me. I have been wanting to give back to God what I don’t have – what he had given me for a season, but I don’t have right now, as well as a "ministry" He never gave me, but that others have suggested. You mean I can give back to God what I’m left with, though it seems like nothing? Oh, it doesn’t seem like nothing now, not if I can give it back to God! That makes the “nothing” I have left into “something”. Instead of worrying and reaching after something else, I can smile and work in enjoyment of what God has put in my hand to give back to him, just as instructed in Ecclesiastes.

Ah, sweet freedom!

“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”

Jn. 4:34

Can we say the same? Is God’s work more important to us than our necessary food? So we esteem God’s will above our sustenance, so that seeking his will satisfies our longing as physical food cannot? Do we crave to do God’s will as we crave food? Often, I fear, God’s children, with all of his abundance at our command, starve for want of spiritual craving. We are sent to his work, to labor in his vineyard, to harvest in his fields, yet we stop or stay from the work to feast on his blessings, rather than on his work and will. Ah, friend, let us leave the well and our water pot and go tell his goodness and mercy in order that others may come and drink, then also begin eating the meat of God’s will and work as well. The Father has given us the wonderful privilege of carrying on his work below; let us not stay selfishly by the well, but go out to do his will and work. Let us make his will our meat.

~Learn to crave the meat of God’s will~

Thoughts for a Discouraged Christian

I came across these lines recently which were written for a despairing Christian who wished to hide from all the world in shame over their sin and the false hope that their sin might be less if they had no chance to show it; if they were removed from temptation, as it were. I thought these lines were good and that perhaps others would like them as well.

“One must realize that such problems must be quietly faced head-on, yet with a degree of patience and much determination. One must always realize that the cleansing, changing, molding work is the Lord’s work, not our own work to push through or to despair over. No excuse for sin should ever be; I do not say that. I mean that we are not to demand of God how he should work. When we fall we must repent and acknowledge our sin. However, we often let Satan work, rather than God, by giving over to despair when we should instead remember the promise in Phil. 1:6, “that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”. One must take their eyes off themselves and fall at the cross of Christ for renewed strength. Phil.1:6 is a humbling, hopeful, joyous promise to one who has fallen yet again: God has not given up on you yet, and never will.”

Fixed On God

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.”

Ps. 57:7

“…his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”

Ps. 112:7

Ah, how blessed the one whose heart is fastened to the Lord! How trusting one is whose heart is established on God and his Word. “My heart is fixed…I will sing and give praise.” When we are fixed on Jesus we will encourage ourselves only in the Lord our God and we will never be ashamed. In the darkest circumstances we will see, not the tempest, but the Master; not the fiery furnace, but the Son of God with us; not the thorn, but the sufficiency of God’s grace; not the enemy surrounding, but the fiery chariots guarding; not the cross, but the crown. How bright is the outlook when our heart is fixed, for all we see is Jesus.

When Peter walked in the water, he was initially fixed on the Master of the wind, but he “unfixed” his heart and eyes and thereby his faith. Let us purpose to remain firmly fastened to God, to draw near to him, to put our trust in him, that we may declare all his works. (Ps. 73:28)

~Fixed on God, never to be discouraged~

It Is The Storm

“But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went into them, walking on the sea.” Mt. 14:24-25

How the storms of life frighten and weary us! How we seek to be delivered from them, or avoid them altogether! We are bruised by the tossing of the tempest and know not how we can make it through this storm. Then Jesus comes walking on the sea; using the very thing we wished to escape from to come to us. All his waves and his billows that come over us are bringing our Saviour, the Master of the Wind, nearer and nearer. There he is, in the midst of our storm, just as we are. He comes to us as we are, totally unable to steer our vessel to him, unwilling that we should be parted. And yet we ask to avoid of be delivered from the storms!? Ah, my friend, it is in the storm that Jesus comes to us, bidding us “be not afraid”.

It is the storm which brought him near.
“It is I, be of good cheer;
Look to me, my child; have no fear;
In the midst if your storm I am here.”

He Will Speedily Come to Aid

by Leah S. Carpenter

Read Luke 18:1-8

Jesus taught in this parable that we “ought always to pray and not to faint”. He continued to comment that we may cry day and night and he bear long with us, yet he will avenge us speedily. Is not this an example of man’s timetable versus God’s timetable? Faint not, praying child: continue in faith. By your timetable Jesus may be four days late, as when Lazarus died, but God—our sovereign King of kings, Lord of lords, Creator of the universe—works speedily on our behalf. And he is always exactly on time! Never a split second early, never a split second late. God may be bearing long with you to perfect and try your faith; when he comes to speedily avenge you, will he find faith in your heart? Pray on. Faint not. Believe the promise he gave you here. And remember, though the time seems long to you, God is speedily coming to your aid.

He Made It Again

“And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.” Jer. 18:4

I knew and loved this verse, yet I began to understand it a little more as I sat sewing one day. Being a quilter, I cannot bear to throw my old dresses out. I wear them until they are worn, frayed, mended and coming apart, but there is still useful material there, especially in the skirt. There is always usable material left though the dress is of no use in and of itself. So, I took one of my worthless dresses and made a smocked dress out of the skirt. I made it again into something useful and more beautiful than the original. Is that not what Christ does? We are worn and ugly, in the way and of no use. Then the Great Potter comes and makes us again into something lovely and useful to Him. Is it not wonderful to think of how he humbles himself to work with such clay!? He takes away the unusable material about us and makes us again, as it seems good to him. Resent not his cutting—I cut away the unneeded scraps, the worn, mended, patched pieces in order to make a new dress—just thank God that he chose to use and remake you, an unworthy vessel of mercy.

The Sweetest Lady I Know: A Tribute

Emma M. Brown-Kirkman

Loaned to us October 1, 1922

Went Home to The Father on February 17, 2010

She’s the sweetest lady I believe I have ever met, and a role model for me. If ever I have wanted to be like someone, it is her. She had the sweetest voice, so soft and gentle, and a soft little laugh. I know I’ve heard her laugh many times, for she laughed easily (such a gentle, joyous—or sympathetic—laugh) but I don’t really remember her laugh very much: her constant, sweet smile overshadowed that for me. It seems to me that anyone who sees her smile cannot go away the same person they were before. She rarely said much, and what little she said was usually confined to kindly questions about you and your family, but she would sit or stand beside you holding your hand in silence that was sweet, like everything else about her. Usually, one has to be very familiar with someone to be comfortable with silence between them, but you never thought of it with Mrs. Kirkman—there was no such thing as discomfort with her. You knew instinctively that you could trust her fully, that she was understanding and full of love—the love God had placed in her heart which and she had cultivated. I watched her growing more frail as the years passed, and knew we wouldn’t have her much longer. She had been sickly for a while, and I grieved to hear it, and, for her, was anxious for her summons Home, but it is hard to think that it will seem so long to me before I see her again. I know it sounds trite to say that earth’s loss is heaven’s gain, but it seems so true in this case. Her angels were Gentleness and Love, and how they must rejoice to have her Home at last. And I am thankful that I had her on earth as a friend and example for a little while. Her memory will live on in my heart, and I pray that her example will be followed by me and many other women. Words and space cannot allow a proper tribute to her life, because her life was devoted to God. She and her dear husband are an inspiration to all who know them. Their outpouring of God’s love to all they come in contact with are a testimony of His greatness and mercy. Her husband was spreading God’s love at the funeral service just as he always has each time I have seen him, even when he is weak and ill. I thought of both of them as I read James 3:17 & 18 “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”

Thoughts on the Classics

I enjoy some of the classics. That rather surprised me, as I had never read any of them until I was out of school, but I found a few I could read, and now I am trying to get more to read (Aren't libraries nice?). Robinson Crusoe captivated me with not only its' moral teachings, but its' language. We don't get books whose language is that rich anymore. One of my favorites thus far is Ben-Hur. However, it drives me nuts! Why? Because I always feel that there is more in it than I am getting ahold of. I keep reading it, and thinking about it, and I always come back to the same thing: "There is more there. I'm just not getting ahold of it." And I want to read it until I get more out of it.

Well, there is more to the Bible than I am getting out of it. Do I want to read until I get ahold of all that is there? Do I think about it, trying to discover all that a certain passage means? Talk about a REAL classic! And nothing in English is richer than the language of the King James' Version. And it is the only one we need to understand. And we do need to understand it. So let's try digging into The Word of God as much as we do other things.

And have a wonderful day with Jesus.