Grace for the Hour

What a blessed weekend we had here on Darling Hill! The weather is so Spring-like, almost 50 degrees yesterday morning and 55 degrees this morning! After church yesterday afternoon Syd and I took the dogs for a walk up to the top of the hill, meeting Mom on our way (as she was gathering sticks, "cleaning up" her woods). We all walked up for a sit on the deck. Syd pointed out the poplars just starting to show their pale greens across the expanse in our view. We all agreed that this was sure one of our favorite time of year, when things were all warming up and bursting forth.

We were blessed with a wonderful Lord's day with the church family too. Good, convicting preaching, singing, and happy fellowship.

This morning I am reading from the book of Acts. What would we do without the preserved Word of God? I am so thankful for the example left us by the faith of the early church and apostles. The account today was from Acts 4, following the healing of the impotent man. I was so blessed by Peter's response to being taken into custody and standing before the Sanhedrin, "Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them...Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." What a different response it would have been had he not been controlled by the Holy Spirit, but by his own strength!  I am so glad that God gives grace to those who are going through hard trials (and easy trials as well).

As we now live in a "post-Christian" nation, we have come full-circle. No longer do the majority of the people have a respect for God, as was most often the case in the early part of the last century. Even our United States has now come back to the place where most people are doing only "that which is right in their own eyes".

Dear Lord, only you know what trials we Christians will be privileged to endure in the coming days. Thank you that at that time, you will give Spirit-filled believers the grace to give the answer that exalts you alone!




On a side-note: Today is my 5-0 birthday. Syd pulled off a tremendous surprise birthday party for me on Saturday. Many of you who visit "the Hill" regularly were there - and I THANK YOU for coming. What a nice time. I was shocked and we had 76 people there. Many of you reading this had ALOT to do with this party and I thank you so much for all the help you were and for the food you prepared and brought.  You must see the cakes Syd made. I stay up with Mom on Thurs-Sat. nights, so as soon as I left on Thurs. and Friday nights last week, Syd was in the truck and down at the church preparing things - cakes for instance. Here are his chocolate raspberry truffle and Boston creme cakes. They were each 12X18" (the angle makes it look like the chocolate was smaller, but it wasn't) and all but 5 pieces were eaten! I think they're beautiful and delicious too.

I won't show a lot of pictures, just a few at the end. Two of the girls who came were from my home town and high school. One I had not seen since 1980 and the other not since 1986! What a surprise! I have lots of thank you notes to send. 

Thankfulness is something that God has been bringing to my attention and teaching me to get into my heart. To think, that "God thinks of me" is an amazing thing; and that others would take the time to come to an event like this is such a blessing to my heart too. Apart from all the spiritual blessings we possess, we have so much to be thankful for on this earthly plain too. 

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." Col. 3:15

Just a few more  pictures:

 my hometown girls...Doreen is not pictured (she was too busy taking pictures). She was there and is ALWAYS there for me. Wish I had her picture. Maybe someone did get one. I'm still having pictures emailed to me.

Yes, I am seated in a wheelchair!

Okay, only one more...

This afternoon I hope to go up to my brother's cabin and climb the rope. I do this every year, to be sure I still can! I had to wait until it was the "official" day, so will try it later this afternoon or tomorrow. I'll let you know!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

Heartstrings

"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

I read a quote that said, "The questions that matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by the words - "Come unto me." not-'do this, or do that'."

What are my desires? to grow in faith and be more like the Lord; be used of God; to lead others to the saving knowledge of Jesus; to have a song in my heart and on my lips -  If I come to Jesus my life will be brought into line with my true desires. Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone. He is the turning point. Will I come in childlike faith? -I have, for salvation. Now will I "come" daily?  At the most unexpected moments there is the whisper, "come unto me". I can have this "rest" that He promises: rest of spirit, not a promise of a life of ease.

"Make all my heartstrings in tune with thine own", as the song says. Are my heartstrings in tune? When He plucks a string or when circumstances arise that stirs my instrument within, does the song ring true and agree with the song of the Lord?

Dear Lord, I praise you that when we daily come, yoke up with and learn of you, you will fulfill your promise of bringing rest of soul! Let me do this simple, childlike thing and take hold of your hand and never let it go! 

The image of  leaves on this sandstone are the shadow of what is unseen. 

Post Script: Last night we learned about a truly "horrible" situation that has come up in my husband's family. I will not at all go into detail but will say that it could affect the actual physical lives of a couple of his family members. It is certainly affecting their spiritual lives already. We are scared for this person and would ask any of you who are 'pra-yers' to add this girl's family to your prayer list. The Lord knows all about it but it is a scary situation that only He can handle, as the authorities in that area are not doing their job (it is sad to say).  As I read the post over again, Syd's and my heartstrings need to be in tune with God while we come to Him and earnestly pray, trusting that the Lord is going to work this out for His glory.

A Berry Good Tip

Hi All, I just tried a wonderful (hopefully) tip that one of my sweet friends passed on to me last week. I emailed this to alot of people and today was blessed with two quarts of strawberries to try it on. This is the "tip":

When you buy or pick fresh berries- mix apple cider vinegar and water in a 1 to 10 part ratio (I only had a few berries today, so I used 1/4 c. vinegar to 2 1/2 c. water). Mix the vinegar and water in a large bowl. Dunk the berries in, either while in the strainer or just dump them in (easier if in a strainer). Submerse them and swish around. The vinegar in the water is supposed to kill any mold spores. I let the strainer drain for a while, then turned them all out on a paper towel to get as much water off as possible. I then wiped out the original plastic berry boxes and put a piece of napkin down in the bottom (but didn't cover the little side holes). I placed the berries back in and I hope it truly keeps these beautiful strawberries from molding. I don't know about you, but it's discouraging to get them home and within two days have mold all over the ones underneath. You don't need to rinse the berries afterwards because (this article claimed) that you do not taste the vinegar at all.

I'm going to be excited if this works, as we're big berry lovers and hate to see them go to waste! I know, too that vinegar rinses are important to get pesticides off commercial fruit. This may aid in that also.

This wasn't taken just yesterday, obviously; and these are not strawberries, but I loved this picture of our little great-niece, Beth, and her great Grammy, gathering apples for the squeezing.

Motives

We had a wonderful Lord's day together with our church family yesterday. There was a special speaker there; Preston and Abi Smith, missionaries going to Japan. Preston shared his deep burden for the people of Japan. When he preached he started in the book of Jonah. Jonah was called to go to Nineveh but he went directly the opposite way. We know the account. God had a great fish prepared to swallow up Jonah, change his mind and vomit him out on dry land. Jonah then went to preach to the people of Nineveh but with a wrong motive. When the people repented, Jonah was angry and displeased.  Mr Smith then shared the burden of Paul's heart for his people; that he would be willing to be accursed if only the people he preached to would come to know the Lord. What a different heart and motive Paul had! He also compared Paul to Moses, who also said that he would be willing to be blotted out of God's book to see his people turn to the Lord! It was a blessing and blow to my heart. What is my attitude toward the unsaved all around me? Nowhere in the New Testament has God commanded me to want to be accursed or blotted out of God's book of life, but do I care about people even half that much? The example of Paul and Moses' motives were those that I pray that I will have in my heart as I learn to love the Lord with ALL and draw closer to Him daily. Unfortunately, sometimes I have the attitude of Jonah, unwilling to even share a tract or tell someone about the wonderful Lord Jesus; out of fear or perhaps because I am too busy! At those times it is as if I do not want people to turn to the Lord. As brother Smith also shared; I know we all want others to be reconciled to God through His Son, but do our actions always show it?  It was like a sword, piercing into my heart. I would thank any of you who would pay for me toward allowing the Lord to change this in me.

"The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water." John 4:14

Mighty April Winds

A roar from far behind moves the treetops high above;
A train? a jet? the rumbling
builds and gusts against our face
as we move along this sheltered way.
Trees on either side sway clear to the foot;
a "creak" is heard from our lower woods.

We talk little; what words come out
are snatched away by the April breeze.
Though quiet below
there's no lack of sound aloft;
while these heavy billows roll on.

As we change course the
force now presses against our backs;
Leaves flee before our feet;
flowers and reeds bend as we pass;
bowing to the Creator of
this rushing, mighty April wind.


These were our thoughts and some of the sounds we heard as we took our walk along Darling Hill Road today.  March came in like a lamb and went out like a lion this year and now April is proving quite "lionlike" as well. The tiny coltsfoot are still the only flowers we see in bloom along the lane. Their sunny, yellow faces smiling through winds and even occasional snowdrops. As always, Spring will be a fresh start and new life will return to the Hill soon.

Let us not rush it along but enjoy each new swelling of the bud and all the different grasses and flowers that appear.  God gives us these things to enjoy, "...the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." ITim. 6:17

We have one single patch of this red columbine near Mom's house on the hill

Thanks for stopping by on our April walk.

We passed the"cousin trees"today; the yellow and white birches that are growing up together

Our nephew piled these rocks at least four years ago and even the snows of several winters have not taken them down

God Leads Us Along

May 1980, Cyndy's high school Senior prom. Isn't Syd dashing?

Our wedding day, Oct. 11, 1980

I love setting things down in a blog, as it is a journal of such memorable life-events. In His wisdom the Lord has led us along through these 31 years. During the early years of marriage He gave blessing upon blessing. We had only been saved 1 (Syd) and 2 (me) years when we were wed. The Lord knew how much we needed to grow and learn to trust and serve Him. During those first 8 years we served God at a small church in Ascutney. For the last six of the years we were there God opened up a ministry to the youth group. It was during that time, too, that Bradley came to live with us as an infant. He was there for everything. We took almost five years of evening Bible classes, two sessions per year, several weeks per session. Our pastor was the teacher and they were all held at the basement of our church. For at least one of those years I attended the class from inside the nursery (which had a dutch door, so open at the top). Later Bradley would play alone quietly while I sat nearest to the open door. During the break I'd put him to bed in the crib and he would awake in his own bed at our home. Bradley went along to Nursing homes to minister to elderly folks on Thurs. nights and Sunday afternoons. He was the little tag-along at every youth meeting and the older kids loved him. These were precious years of learning and service. Blessing upon blessing the Lord would give. It seemed our car almost never broke down (looking back, we didn't really have anything go wrong with that Toyota! perhaps because it was a Toyota!). A devastating blow to us, but one that caused us to grow, was a "split" in our church. It was a sorrowful time but something that we evidently needed to draw us closer to the Lord.

God very definately led us on to serve him at Dublin Christian Academy in 1988. Leaving our church was hard, but knowing that God was leading made it an adventure with Him. For the next three years we enjoyed the fellowship of a good church, school ministry and summer camp ministries. Many wonderful, lasting friendships were started. The Lord only had us there for three years, and while contemplating returning to our church in Ascutney to help the new pastor in the ministry, it became evident that we were to, instead, launch into the great unknown and go to Bible School at BJU in Greenville, SC. I think of these as the middle-years, where God brought blessings in the unknown. Up until the night before we actually were to leave, we still did not know where we were going to live. Nothing had opened up (to our knowledge). On the day that the "moving bus" was being packed we learned that we WOULD have a place to lay our heads and we would have a small job waiting for us. For the following six years we lived, rent-free, in a mobile home on one thousand acres of land! with a pond! It was wonderful. The hardest part of this move was leaving everything that I'd ever known "behind". I had the Lord and my husband - and it was enough!

Sometime in the mid-eighties

When our Lord was bringing school to a close we began praying about just where He wanted us to go. Syd was already considering moving us to Vershire to help in our present church (unbeknownst to me, but this was my desire too). While on the phone to the pastor (who is also my brother) one day, he shared with Syd that they had been praying that we might come up and help. That was the Lord's answer and we both knew it was His will. These 14 years have been a wonderful mixture of blessings and trials. He has brought us to a more settled-trust in Him so that when trials come we know without a doubt that our "proven" God will supply all our needs and bring us through on the other side. Does this mean we never worry? no! Now we know though that we don't need to worry and can make a conscious choice not to!

married 18 years

Most everyone who knows us knows what's up with us these days, so I won't bore you with it.  As I think along these lines, a hymn which has become precious to me comes to mind, My Goal is God Himself. 
It says: 'My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, nor even blessing, but Himself my God'. 


I read an excerpt today by Chambers which said, "Are we prepared to let God do as He likes with us - prepared to be separated from conscious blessings? ...When once we get there, no matter where God places us or what the inner desolations are, we can praise God that all is well."  This made me think of all the ways God has lead us along through the years. By His Sovreignty He has lead in wisdom, knowing what we needed and when, and every day He is bringing us to a better understanding of His heart and mind.


Oh, Lord, I pray that you'll teach me to be content with only YOU and not to look for feelings and outside blessings to bring happiness. Teach me to wait on you as you lead me along.

Last winter. God has blessed us with 31 years of marriage.

The Vital Connection

No steam coming from it in this picture, as I took this in the dead of winter, but there was today when I drove by!

It was exciting to see steam coming from our neighbor, Mike's, sugar house this noon when I went home for lunchbreak. The maple buds were swelling but it turned off very cold again, even only in the low 30s during the day, but today is 42 degrees and those who still have taps in are evidently getting some sap. The lifeline is still open from those large maple branches to the feet, planted in the wet earth. What a blessing that the leaves (that later become beautiful and showy, especially in Autumn) have not yet come out to steal the 'food' that makes our delicious maple syrup!

I was reading from a devotional by Oswald Chambers this morning. The passage was John 3:29-30. The entire text (vs. 22-36) concerned John Baptist's ministry and relationship to his Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing God has been giving me through these months in the gospels. The life of Jesus on earth was the "express image" of our Father in Heaven. His ministry was so perfect and His relationship to people and circumstances was always secondary to the maintenance of the vital and constant relationship with his Father. In studying the epistles; the life of Paul, Peter and many other apostles and early church leaders are enduring testimonies of faithfulness but none could match that of the Spotless Lamb of God. In daily study, the epistles have always been my "books of choice" but now I pray that the Lord will lead me through the gospels at least once every year. As the 'friend of the bridegroom", John the Baptist fulfilled his ministry of preparing the way for Christ's message. As John's disciples approached him about Jesus' baptizing, John replied that, "a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." He reminded them that he was not that Christ but was sent on before Him. He let them know that he rejoiced greatly at the bridegroom's voice and, upon hearing it, his joy was fulfilled. John had taken his ministry exactly as given him by God. He did not exalt himself but sought to only bring glory to the Christ whom he was sent to declare! "He must increase, but I must decrease". John's ministry had nothing to do with him, but pointed only to Jesus Christ's glory.

On the Lord's day our pastor reminded us that when we have a particular job to do, we needn't ask HOW we are to fulfill it, but we are just supposed to DO it. Day by day we walk by faith. Will we make mistakes? yes! The important part is that we simply maintain our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ above all else. In the short devotional piece this morning it was brought to my mind afresh when it said, "In order to maintain this friendship and loyalty to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful of our vital and moral relationship to Him than of any other thing, even of obedience." I had to chew on that for a bit, but I think he may be referring to how God felt when he said, "away with your sacrifices..." (without maintaining our oneness with Him). I concluded that perhaps Chambers meant that He does not want sacrifice over relationship...just a little more of Chamber's quote: "the greater part of the life is not conscious obedience but the maintenance of this relationship" (we all know that obedience will naturally spring from this)"- the friend of the Bridegroom. Christian work may be a means of evading the soul's concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may become amateur providences, and may work against Him whilst we use His weapons".

As our pastor said this Lord's day, we ought to be "boasting up the Lord Jesus Christ" on every hand. My life and ministry has NOTHING to do with me, and everything to do with Him! There is a vital connection, a life-cord that feeds us, straight from God the Father. How important that it is always open and free-flowing. I pray that my "showy leaves" do not come out and take away from the rivers of living water that could be flowing out from my belly, by God's grace.