Once, in a Blue Moon

It's a beautiful Labor Day weekend. We have had two great campfires with family. There was plenty of sweet, roasted corn on the cob Friday night.  I believe I counted 15 of us. Of course, no party of ours is complete without dogs. There are seven of them here this weekend, though 8 on Friday night! Koba is the newest addition. She belongs to Bobbi Jo (niece) and Danny, but Sturm and Ruger want her to move in with us.

Koba, so proud of her corn husk!

obviously, everyone had to take turns checking her out...

 and holding her.....

Ruger says, 'Can I hold her now'?  He was so very gentle with her

                                                     

                                                                     Niece, Vello's friend, Abby

                                       

                                                 Sarah with Koba.

As we sat around the fire, I hear brother, Kim, say..."Cyndy, bring your camera if you want to see Grammy up a tree!"
Here is what I saw...

hmmmm! what have we here?

Uh-oh! I think Aunt Cyndy spotted us!

"helloooo"

Great Grammy with Beth, Tristan (hiding) and Lucius

She's 83 but has LOTS of energy. I hope I have this much when I'm 33 years older than now! Truthfully, I hope that the Lord has come to take us all home before then, but IF I'm still here, I'd love to be this spry. The grand kids and great grand kids have such fun with Gram!

The blue moon was lovely, though so hard to get a photo of. I did manage to get one of last night's horizon. Check out the fire - doesn't it resemble an evil cat, with his huge tail in the air and an ugly face? Still, I thought it was beautiful.

We spent a beautiful Lord's Day together around the Word of God. Pastor was teaching from the book of James. "I will show thee my faith by my works". What practical teaching James gave about the out-working of one's faith in Christ!

I hope you all have a good Labor Day. It is nearing the end of Summer (I call the entire month of September "summer"). Sarah, Mom and I were talking about how quickly time passes, we were bemoaning it, actually...but the Lord has impressed upon my heart during the last few days...why look at it in a negative way? He is just bringing the day of the Rapture quicker!! "Even so, Come, Lord Jesus".

Thanks for stopping up to Darling Hill!

"Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee ; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." Psalm 40:5

Confidence in God's Constancy

           "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."  Matthew 11:6

I have asked myself this week, How is my confidence in God and the Lord Jesus Christ? I had shared with you a whole week ago now, that these have been busy days. It is amazing, the influence which over-activity has on one's mind. Things spin so fast in the brain that it is hard to think on spiritual things enough to put them into words. I asked the Lord this morning to help my brain to have the ability to meditate on His Word, even when outer circumstances pull and press. The verse, "Be still and know that I am God," comes to mind; which, I suppose means purely stillness of the soul. Today I determined to put a few thoughts into a post. I do hope that they're not too scattered to be understood. 

These most recent quiet times with the Lord have been precious; those hours and minutes that come before the day really begins. Today I read about the raising of Lazarus. Jesus said, "Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" Sometimes I notice that when I'm "on the mount" (spiritually and/or circumstantially) it is easy to believe that the Lord can provide and answer prayer, but is it as easy to believe Him and have confidence in the Lord (not be offended in Him) down in the valley, when life seems a little out of control, or when my feathers get ruffled? These are the very times when I should be still (at least on the inside) and know that He is God, and is going to be the same as He was yesterday, ten years ago and through eternity! I read a quote, "Faith must be tested, because it can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict...Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us." 

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we do not know what to pray for. At prayer meeting last night I prayed that we Christians would 'be hard on ourselves'. After praying it I realized that this is exactly what I need to do. In the light of God's great holiness I must bring myself up against sin all the time. What confidence in the Lord this takes; no confidence in the flesh, but only in the power of the Lord. If I am not offended in Christ, I will be always offended by sins and weights that come along to beset me.

Today it seems that the Lord is reminding me that if I am to see His glory, I must not draw back, but 'believe', take a hard look at sin and forsake it and I must not be offended in Him but have confidence in His constancy. Those of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ serve a God who will never leave us or forsake us. He is personal and wants this close abiding relationship with us, His branches. We are truly blessed!

Be still

Look to God, in prayer

Read and meditate in His Word

Trust
(P.S. this picture is not mine. I found it on the web)

God Directs Our Paths

These have been exhausting weeks! For a lady who wishes to focus on her home, being gone from it every day of the week is a matter of prayer for me. I am thankful, though, that these extra hours came as no surprise to the dear Lord, Who we serve, whether in the home or out of it. He has given the grace for the hour and has done so abundantly!  I know that a few of you had already been making this a matter of prayer and I thank you for that.

You may or may not know that I work in 8 different Post Offices (covering for any postmaster who cannot be there on any given day) and also have a bookkeeping job here in our hometown. It seems that all the PMs have needed lots of coverage over this beautiful Summer season and my 12 hr/week job has had to fit in there between them all. I am praying that my September and October calendar does not fill up quite so much as July and August did.

I am sure that we Christians all do this same thing; when we wake in the morning we thank the Lord for the strength and energy to face whatever He puts in our path today. He surely does give grace and strength. My dear hubby has been applying for jobs online and hoofing it to many interviews. God has provided food from the garden and taken care of us through so many various means, including extra PO hours. I am thankful that I can be a help, not only in the home, but outside it also. The Lord knows my heart, that I would rather be home at least two days per week, but He has other plans for me at this time and is reminding me that, as His child, I oughtn't try to change His plans. For the believer, waiting on the Lord should be the easiest thing ever. I must admit that I have been guilty of trying to direct my own orchestra of life at times.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."   ~Proverbs 3:5,6

What perfect verses to apply my heart to! It is a comfort to know that our God has ALL understanding and that He directs our paths. There have been people during these weeks who I would not have had the opportunity to speak with, had I not been in "God's path", but leaning unto my own understanding instead.

Interceding for Us!

I was reading the prayer in John 17, where Jesus prayed for His disciples and for those who would believe on Him through their word. He prayed for us! Verse 22 was the greatest blessing as Jesus prayed that we might be "one" with the Father, as Jesus himself was. This, so the world would believe that God had sent Jesus.

A dear believer and sister-blogger wrote to me yesterday, reminding me that prayer IS our ministry! It's the most important one we could have and as I thought on that fact, I was reminded that it is the one thing that Jesus spent most of His time in. He spent all night in prayer and God recorded it on several occasions throughout Scripture. Jesus was truly ONE with His Father. He prayed, in God's will, that we would be one with Him too. God will answer Jesus' prayer!

He prayed, too, that God would "sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth". Believers are set apart through the Word of God. We are truly blessed. Jesus is still at the right hand of the throne of God, interceding for us!

What communion we can have with God because of Jesus' shed blood on the cross of Calvary. We can be ONE with God because of Him!

I hope you have a blessed day.

Doesn't this look like an oil painting? It is a photo, taken from the top of Darling Hill. I call it 'December sunrise'

First Things First

"Therefore, take no thought, saying what shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed?...for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these  things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
Matthew 6:31-33

It so wonderful to remember that nothing can separate the believer from the love of Christ. He loves us in the midst of tribulation, distresses, famine, nakedness, peril or sword! most of which I have never yet encountered. No matter what the tribulation or distresses are, the focus has to be on God and His righteousness. I was reminded today to stop flitting around, seeking what ministry I can have in someone's life here...or there...God will bring the opportunities for ministry along my path as I am focusing on Him. It does little good to look good on the outside (trying to please people by constantly "meeting their needs", perhaps) if I am not first focusing wholly upon and pleasing God on the inside. This is just something that the Lord has reminded me of in the past several days. He has a way of working in us very individually, doesn't He? God knows me so much better than I know myself. Let's be so in tune with Him that when He prods us in a particular area, we are ready to recognize where we've turned aside, confess it and go on with the Lord!

The Christian life is one of such simplicity when it is in tune with the Saviour. I wrote a line of a chorus once, based upon Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." The first time that the Lord helped me understand that verse it was pointed out that the word "workmanship" was "poiema" (spelling?) which is where we get our word poem. The question I have written in the margin of my Bible there is, Am I walking in the path wherein He designed this poem? We are His poem!

The chorus was only ever partly written but it comes to my heart often when I consider the "well worn way" that my feet are to be taking daily. "A poem for Jesus; His workmanship are we; the world reads each line daily, each word they see." The most important One who sees our poem is the Lord Jesus Christ, but our children, grandchildren, neighbors, co-workers and others are reading it as well.

I am thankful that nothing can separate us from Christ's love and that He guides our feet in the path that we should take. My prayer is that I consider Him first, knowing that "all these things" will be added to my life as I am seeking the things of "His righteousness".

Whether it's strewn with flowers and sweet;

sun-flecked, or with rocks, and dim;

I'd rather have Jesus to guide my feet

than to travel the path without Him.

Look What Sarah Did!

We're blessed to have Sarah back in our lives. When I was growing up, Sarah was my younger neighbor. I used to babysit for her little sister, Amy (but not for Sarah because she was "too old"). I just "hung out" with her.  She would ride her bike to the house and sit and talk with my mom as Mom decorated cakes or caned a chair. She has been away for many years and recently the Lord has lead her back to the North country. She came back in contact with me via both Facebook and the blog. At this time she's spending quite a bit of time on Darling Hill and look what she did for us the last two days!!! This is something I do, usually twice per year. I'd not gotten to it this Spring, so the Summer 'weeding frenzy' was a big job!! 

                                                                       Thanks, Sarah!!

I can see my mailbox up by the road again! we don't use it for mail, just curb-appeal ( :   She cleared the bramble bushes away from the driveway so well that they weren't even nearly scratching the door of my car as I backed down in last night. I wish I could pay her in more than food and coffee. She is now putting her name out for local employment. Job searching will get easier now, as the satellite dish guy actually CAME today!! We have been without it since May 30th, as many of you know, and we've been on the phone to our provider, sometimes two times per week. Today's free service call was such a blessing (well, we'd already paid for it last time a tech came, and whatever he did did not work). We had gone back on to dial-up. Everyone laughs when we tell them that, but there was no other way if we wanted internet at home. Now Syd and Sarah can fill out their applications on line and save the gas in their tanks for interviews, which will surely come soon.

Our rooster, Buck-buck, made his way into the stew pot the other night. We knew we would't be keeping him for the winter, and his feed had run out. The dogs are now eating their food very slowly, but we assured them that we would buy them more food and keep them around. I truly do miss Buck-buck's crowing ---all day long. He was cute. His feathers made beautiful earrings though! Syd has tied some and taken them to one of the local art stores where he sells his goods.

Syd stopped at his former workplace to help them put a machine part back together. It could have gone together in about 6 different ways, so he thought he'd make it easier on them since he was the one who had disassembled it. His boss said, "I can't believe you came back just to help us out like this, after getting laid-off." Syd told him that he fully believed that they are going to call him back when work picks up. His boss said that they certainly are planning on it. We praise the Lord for that job in the past and again in the future, if the Lord is willing.

Coco is with us for a week and a half. She and Sturm are in constant motion while Ruger lays to one side, missing his little white friend. It used to be he and she playing all the time. Coco has finally gotten used to Sturm's rough style and it seems that he's actually toned it down just for her sake.

an old picture; Ruger and Coco

Well that's just a little update from the Hill. We're glad you stopped by!

Life Lessons

"What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose." 

Psalm 25:12

Have you ever thought about the way that the Lord's lessons come to us in bits and pieces? I used to believe that God would allow us to go through particular trials to teach us something, right then...something that would follow us through life and which we would always be able to look back on as a "lesson learned". I can think of particular situations and look back several years as to when God cemented that truth in my heart. If I looked even further back, however, I would probably realize that He had been teaching and leading me up to that decision for quite some time. And still, He uses reminders to keep me thinking "right" in that particular of  life. I read somewhere that He may not always lead us through a trial to teach us a new lesson, but to "undo" my thinking in that area so that He can teach me how to think correctly. --to simplify my belief so that my trust is like that of a little child.

I cannot pretend to know His ways; all I really know is that He is all-knowing!

As I read in the book of Mark yesterday I read again the account of Jesus just after He fed the multitudes with the loaves. He "constrained" His disciples to enter the ship and go to the other side while Jesus went into the mountain to pray. When he came by them, walking upon the water, entered the ship which was being tossed, the winds became calm. The disciples had a hard time understanding how Jesus could have such power. It said that their "hearts were hardened" and they had already forgotten about the miracle of the loaves which had happened that very day. These were lessons that our Lord was using to train these men who would one day be the pillars of the early church as well as the first martyrs. I find it wonderful to know that He is still doing the same thing in Christians today!

On Friday Syd got news that his place of work just didn't have enough business to keep all the workers on. His boss had tears in his eyes as he had to lay him off. When work picks up they want Syd to come back. We are grateful for the job that he had there and know full well that the Lord will supply all of our needs as Syd goes back into the job hunt. Our God has never failed to provide and will not fail us now. Through these 32 years we have been amazed over and over at the Lord's faithfulness to His children. It does not take just one lay-off to teach us every lesson we need to learn in this area. Perhaps this time He has new heights that He wants to take us to. We can trust the Lord, we know that. He is always good to us!

This old  hymn comes to my heart:

I'm pressing on the upward way; new heights I'm gaining every day. 

Still praying as I onward bound; 

Lord lead me on to higher ground.

Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith on Heaven's table land;

A higher plain than I had found; Lord lead me on to higher ground!

After I wrote this post, Syd called saying that he has met a couple from town (I have known them only through the post office). They would like him to come and do some work for them, as the husband has had a stroke. They asked if he could take about 20 minutes to come and look things over at their house. He was there for almost an hour and a half. Praise the Lord for this opportunity for work and, through prayer, we wish to be a good testimony and have open doors with our neighbors.

Just want to leave you with some "peaceful" pictures from the hill...

nephew, Nathan's, stone piles stand, even after several winters

Dennis' outhouse at the cabin

my brother, Dennis, built the end of the stone wall around this stone post