Neither, Nor

"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities,

 nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any

 other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in

 Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38, 39

...that's a lot of "nor"s! More than anything, I want to be "persuaded", truly persuaded of this. I am persuaded in my brain, but sometimes my heart forgets. No matter our failings, a Christian can be sure that our Lord God loves, loves, loves us. 

Blessings are surely had in putting God's Word to memory. I am thankful for children and teens in our church who we can memorize with. I am finding that a teen's mind is so much keener than mine these days. No excuses though. We are to hide God's Word in our hearts "that I might not sin against thee".

It is also a "persuader", as we reckon the Word to be true!

We have been through many things with Mom these past two weeks. Those of you who are "pray"ers ~you know who you are (:  ~we would appreciate much prayer for her. These days I have been more and more thankful for her as she goes through struggles and praises the Lord regularly. It is truly a blessing to spend time with Mom. She teaches me daily. Now she is struggling with health problems that she's never experienced. She is trusting the Lord. We, as family members, are learning to do so too.

The tomatoes are on the vines here. Many of you are probably enjoying their fruit already. Ours are still green, but we're looking forward to picking soon. 

Happy Summer to you all!

A Personal Moment

I have not posted in so long! I miss it, but things get so busy. The little (and huge) blessings come along and I miss recording them. Today's was just too sweet not to post about.

You know, when you're praying to the Lord and Satan tries to get his little "digs" in, trying to disrupt and cause you to sin? This morning I was thinking of a conversation I had with someone yesterday. As I prayed about it, I said, "Thank you, Lord, for this little cabin that you've given us. It's nothing grand, in fact there are SO many little things that are inconveniences...." THAT'S when Satan stepped in and tried to make me discontent. The verses that came to mind were I Timothy 6:6 and 8..."But godliness with contentment is great gain"..."And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content." I quoted them to the Lord as I prayed.

If any of you read the little devotional, Feature, today, you'll know the section of Scripture that was on today's agenda...I Timothy 6:6-11! As I opened my Bible, there it was! The Lord is so good to us always. It's these personal times that amaze us, isn't it? I love Him.

Thank you for stopping by the hill today. I would not have blamed you if you'd given up on visiting Darling Hill. We have not had much time, and not a lot of happenings to blog about, but the Lord is always the best topic of conversation - and He is always someone we can exalt and promote on the Hill. Take care, friends!

Giving Thanks

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I Thess. 5:18

This morning I start a job that I had not sought, but one that is obvious that the Lord wants me to do. It involves moving from my "beloved" (my favorite, at least) Post office to one 7 miles away. We have prayed for the Lord's will, and not our own, to be done. He has made the answer clear and now it is time to continue to thank Him for answer to prayer... to thank Him this morning, and to continue to thank Him throughout the days and weeks ahead. He reminded me today, through time in the Scriptures, that through thanksgiving is the only way that I can be used in the place where He has put me. It is amazing how many reminders we need, over and over; and how easily we forget the lessons that we thought He had taught us!

This morning God led me to the Mountain View Bible Church website, after visiting it last evening. When it was time to listen to a morning message, God seemed to lead me back there. Pastor Pelletier was preaching on contentment, from Philippians 4. He had asked his mother to open the service by giving a short testimony. Many years ago, when the children were young, her husband had committed suicide. She shared that one morning as she sat on her bed she quoted the above verse; one which her husband had shared with her only weeks previous, after attending a Christian seminar. As she sat there she prayed, "Lord, I thank you for this situation. I don't like it, but I thank you for it." I thank the Lord for her testimony, through such sad and adverse circumstances. What a loving, great and personal God we serve!

I know that (as well as the rest of the message Pastor Pelletier preached) this is one thing that the Lord wanted me to hear today. I hope that if you are experiencing a situation that is difficult, distasteful or simply trying on your patience today, that God will give you the grace to give thanks for even that very thing. He promises to bless obedient children. Christians have a loving Father and the power of God's Spirit gives us strength to obey.

Step by step, step by step, I will follow Jesus; all the day, all the way, keeping step with Jesus.

I hope that you all have a wonderful day. It is a rainy one here. How green and lush everything is. This rain does remind me to pray for the people out in Texas who are underwater and in dire circumstances today.

Thank you for stopping by the Hill.

Okay, It's Summer!!

Happy Memorial Day! 

It's the start of Summer. After such a long Winter, it is surely a welcome day. We hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. We been working outside, as probably most of you have been.

Below is the start of one of Syd's big projects. Soon we hope to have a very large composting tub (the one laying on its side) installed in our side yard. This tank is so long and we hope to start the compost on one end and rotate it, in stages, to have it "finished" at the other end. Syd's going to fix a hinged, two piece, cover. That's mostly to keep our big piggy out (well, actually he's a big lab who loves to eat compost!)

I spent the morning weeding in the little front garden. There's still SO much to do! I wanted to share a picture of the begonia that a friend gave me. I just think that "begonia orange" is such a beautiful color! Mom and I met up on the road, taking our afternoon walks.

I hope you all get to celebrate this Memorial Day in special ways. We are thankful to all of those who have given their lives to fight for our freedoms. We are thankful to our Lord God, Who has blessed us with a free country!

Sowing, Watering and Reaping

Our leaves are truly unfurling so quickly! We've been through a busy two weeks here and sometimes I have not taken the time to look at those leaves two days in a row. Suddenly everything is looking SO green and lush! Yes, the weeds are coming up too, as we all know.

On Wednesday I went out and put some of our plants into the ground. Our South Carolina friends laugh at that, as their gardens are yielding already! I remember those days. Thursday and Friday mornings there was plenty of frost on the ground down in the low-lying areas though...thankfully not up at our altitude.

Today the plants are getting gently watered. Thank you, Lord. The rain makes these leaves look even greener.

Now it is time to go out into our little town. At our small Post Office I am called upon to sow seeds, water them, and maybe one day (perhaps today) to reap! My sweet hubby does this in one Post office, I in another. Christians do this continually. God is the one Who does the work in hearts. The battle is the Lord's. May we put on the whole armor of God and go in the Spirit's power. Believers are on the mission field. May we be walking, walking, walking; step by step in obedience to the Holy Spirit through this whole day; then start again tomorrow until God takes us home.

"Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." I Cor. 3:5-7

May the Lord Jesus Christ, be magnified.

Heart Work

"Heart work is hard work. It so hard that most have let it alone...Heart work is secret work... Many have employed themselves in the more open work of 'religion'. Few have taken pains with their hearts in secret." 

Thomas Vincent, 'God's Terrible Voice In The City'

I was blessed this morning by verses from Ephesians 5. In verse 4, "giving of thanks" is given as the opposite of the disgusting, sordid sins listed there. True contentment and thankfulness girds me up and battles against discontent that leads to a mind and heart of wickedness and filthiness.

God is so good to us. I am thankful for our Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Who teaches me from the Word!

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Proverbs 4:23

Walking Along, Through Our Mission Field

In the little moments of life are opportunities to meet people who desperately need the Lord Jesus Christ. I was called to minister to one this morning.

If you care to, I would ask you to pray for a young woman, "D", today. 

I am praying for you, other Christians, as your life touches the lives of others. Each believer is on the mission field.

Scripture memorization from James and Ephesians in these past months has shown me how lofty my "theology" sometimes is, but that it does not always 'play out' in the day-to-day steps of my life. By being a "hearer" and not a "doer", I have deceived myself into thinking that I am something that I am not. These convictions stemmed namely from how I use my tongue and what kind of "respecter of persons" I am. The Lord has used the first two chapters of James to chasten me.

Growing and changing...what is my next step? ...after getting up from reading and memorizing precious, living and powerful Scripture...Lord, how do you want me to use it today?

Aren't you thankful that God does not leave it up to US to change ourselves. He only calls us to be obedient to the Spirit of God moment by moment. No small task, but the high calling of God in Christ Jesus!

It has been a long time since I've written on this page! The written blog is a way of PRAISING the Lord for things that He has been doing, but often I don't get around to writing them down, I sadly say.
I hope that your days and weeks have been blessed. It is finally Spring! Soon we'll all be digging into the ground and planting gardens.

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of 

the vocation wherewith ye are

called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one 

another in love; Endeavoring to 

keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Ephesians 4:1-3