Happenings Here!

I cannot believe it's been a couple weeks since I've posted anything from Darling Hill! We're still here. It has been a chilling 15 below zero (sometimes a bit colder) and today's 40 feels like a heatwave. The doggies were so happy to be out running around in our sticky snow today. Squirrels still hanging off Mom's feeder at lunchtime. She and Sarah said that there were four of them out there this morning. Sarah goes out with a stick and threatens them good. We watched the red polls flitting all over the feeder after the threatening beasts were gone - no, not Sarah. The red polls come in droves. I believe they must just make their rounds between all the neighbors. They'll be gone for a few hours, then return to feed. As I was getting ready to go back to work the birds returned, only to find the squirrel had come to devour more seed. The flock of birds just covered the ground. It is a yearly occurence, but one that thrills us anew each year. The white field, just speckled with little brown birdies!

Mom went through a period of having no phone. Something must have chewed it or water got into a junction (though Syd checked the breaks and dried them out) Thanks to my wonderful hubby, our GO-TO man, she's up and running again. This time we had to run her phone line above the snow though, until Spring when we can get it into place correctly. In two more weeks we will have 200+ snowshoers hiking over Darling Hill. Syd is debating unhooking the phone the night before, to avoid any accidental tripping or "clipping" of the wire. It will probably be best. Our town hosts a Snow-shoe-a-thon each year. It is a fundraiser that has become very popular. Hikers, from all over the surrounding area, travel through the woods below Darling Hill, then come out right on top (where they enjoy the beautiful view). From there they make their way through Mom's field, then the neighbors field and woods to the Mountain School. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures!

I'm sorry we've been a bit out of touch here these days. Life is flowing along. The Lord is answering prayer in so many ways, and in the area of Mom's life. Thanks, all of you who have prayed for her and have sent beautiful notes. She is doing better and just has an occasional down day (as we all do). I'm thankful that she turns to the Lord and His Word, which is a wonderful example to me, as well as to all who know her. I keep reminding her that the Lord is using her in the lives of everyone she touches. Thanks for remembering her still.

The other morning I was heading to work, camera on the seat beside me, when I saw a HUGE bird (thought it was an owl) in the tree over the dirt road. Here he is:

This turkey was way up above the road. Till he raised his head I did not know what kind of bird it was

This is what I saw at first. Doesn't he look like a huge owl?

I will say goodbye for now. I'm so glad you haven't given up on us here. Will try not to wait so long between posts next time! Thanks for visiting.

An Important Matter of Prayer

We've probably all been in a situation where a loved one is going through heartbreak and fear, yet feel helpless to be able to comfort them way down in the depths of where they're hurting.  Only the Lord can reach down into their soul and calm these kind of fears. We could use much prayer in this area at this time on the hill.

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." I Thess. 5:23

Praise God, this is the first verse He led me to this morning and it has brought much comfort to my spirit. The God of peace can and will preserve our spirit, soul and body! When someone is going through a period of bodily sickness, even grave sickness, at least we can be there with balms and warm blankets to help bring comfort. It's at these "helpless" times though, that I need to remember that the Holy Spirit's sanctification and preserving is much more powerful than any creature comforts I or anyone else could administer. I would offer this as an 'unspoken request' to any of you readers who might be willing to pray for my dear mom. Some of you know her well and know that she's always been the most devout and caring woman who walked the earth. The battles are strong right now and she needs God's people to uphold her.

"When I am afraid and upset..."

"Rejoice evermore,

pray without ceasing,

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Quench not the Spirit.

Despise not prophesyings.

Prove all things; hold fast that which his good.

Abstain from all appearance of evil.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul

and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.

Brethren pray for us."  I Thessalonians 5:16-25

This was simply an idea that came while I was reading this morning...perhaps a half sheet of paper, bookmark-style, with the title sticking out enough to be seen (of course there are many more comforting verses that could be written on this sheet. I was reading these today, that is why I put them here). It is yet another way to physically try to "help", knowing that only the Lord can use the verses contained on the sheet. When we visited her yesterday, it was nearing the end of a very emotional time. Without going into details, thankfully the Lord brought us along and we were able to talk about the Word and the faithful way the Lord had led through the years, etc. Obviously, I have a very difficult time leaving a situation so important as this without trying to fix it. I am learning that I can't fix everything. All we can really do is leave these things in the Lord's hands, but if you would add to that prayer, if there's anything we as a family and church family can do that will help her, may He show us.

I'm so glad you stopped by Darling Hill today and thanks for praying for these serious matters.

I could post wonderful photos of Mom all day long. She's the most faithful, happiest, most well rounded person I have ever known. Here are a few (only a few) of the hundreds of facets of Mom:

Mom and granddaughter, Bobbi Jo

Always ready for some fun!

...a wonderful artist

She and Danny on her prayer rock

with the great grand kids, Tristan and Beth

While building our house, Mom helped keep the fire going every day

She and Velora

A quiet afternoon with Ruger

The Simple Walk

I have just realized that I have not sent out a post since the new year began - Happy New Year, all! Our January 1st dawned (12:05 a.m.) with a phone call that a dear friend and saint of God, Eddy Grant, was called home to be with his Lord at 11:15 p.m.  What a way to start the new year for Eddy -to be present with the Lord! We will miss him, but we'll be together again someday. He and my dad, along with so many other of their friends, are together with the Lord right now. It is a joy to think about.

This morning I read the account of Martha approaching the Lord Jesus as He neared Bethany. The statement, "Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died," was followed up with, "But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee." That faith that Martha was showing really spoke to my heart.

What is it about living in America today that has taken our faith away? Where is the simplicity of walking step by step with Jesus and expecting Him to answer prayer, sustain us in trials and take away the sin in our lives as we yield it up to Him? Don't get me wrong, I know MANY, many Christians who live this way. Why not all believers? When the Bible says that we can hide God's Word in our heart, that I might not sin against Him, why don't we? Bible memorization used to be the first thing I would work on when I opened the Word in the morning. I try not to make 'resolutions' in the new year, but if there is one RESOLVE I have this year, it is to spend time daily in memorizing God's Word and asking Him to use it throughout the day, to remind me and sustain the morning 'renewal of mind' that took place that day.

One other thing that led up to these thoughts was a statement my Mom made the other day. I can't quote her, but she was relaying the fact that she had been grumbling and complaining to the Lord about some situation in her life. At the lunch table she said something like, "the Lord does not want me to grumble and complain". He truly does NOT want us to do this. Why can't we just take, "do all things without murmuring and disputing..." as God's Word on that subject. I am thankful for a mother who does!

As I mused on these things, I am again thankful for living in a little cabin in the woods, somewhat away from the hustle and bustle of 'life'. Right now the water and our kitchen drain are both frozen, but no matter (and I do mean, really, "no matter". Here is where taking God's Word literally meets "life"), because the Lord is right here with us in our warm little house and His Spirit sustains our hearts.

Praise the Lord (and only by His grace) that we can truly say:

"Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife." Prov. 17:1

I love the Lord so much and pray that I will love Him more, hiding His Word in my heart more in 2013 "...that I might not sin against God."

I am so glad that you ventured up our snowy road to Darling Hill this morning!!

Never Grumbling or Turning Back

Being a 'New Testament Christian', I absolutely love the teachings of Paul and the other New Testament writers, through the epistles, etc. The Lord keeps bringing me back to the life of Jesus Christ though, in my daily time with Him. Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of living His life ONLY to please His Father. I hear people daily, weekly, who speak of Paul the Apostle. He was used greatly by God to teach the NT truths for our growth. There was no person who walked on earth, however, who could teach them as well as our Lord Jesus Christ.  In today's text from John 6 He told his disciples (many more than the 12) that a person must 'eat of His flesh and drink of his blood' before he could dwell in Jesus, or Jesus dwell in him. Verse 60 says that many of the disciples "murmured (v. 61)" and said that "this is a hard saying, who can hear it?" Jesus knew of their grumbling and asked if His words offended them. He never apologized for offenses, simply went on to give the truth. He knew that many of them did not believe (v. 64). At that time many of the "disciples" went away and walked no more with Him. Of the twelve, He asked, "Will ye also go away?" Simon Peter answered for them all, "to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life". Jesus (and now, we) knew that there was one who would still betray Him though.

I say all of this while I ask myself, "what truths am I grumbling about?" I read a quote which said, 

'In every setting which we are put, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered, but we have to 'put on the new man'. God holds us responsible every time we refuse to convert ourselves (turn ourselves about), our reason for refusing is willful obstinacy." 

The words "willful obstinacy" are 'hard saying(s)' and fully show the very real teachings of Jesus Christ, as He NEVER failed to give His will over to the Father! Humans will fail, Jesus never does! The life of the Lord Jesus Christ portrays the perfect picture of what a born again believer's life should look like.

The most important thing that the Lord is reminding me about is that of my WILL. Am I being willfully obstinate in even one area of life? Putting on the new man is something we decide to do every day, often many times per day. If there is one New Testament teaching that God reveals to me and I refused to 'come up to it' (by prayer and obedience, relying on God's power), that is the beginning of backsliding. Calling it what it is, backsliding, is the first step. By seeing Jesus' complete resolve to do only His Father's will, it has helped me to stop 'glossing over' sin. He never made excuses for it.

One last quote, this from Oswald Chambers: 

"There are whole tracts of our lives which have not yet been brought into subjection...Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God." 

What a blessing if each step is taken, moving forward, never willfully sliding back! It is a privilege to be called by God to such a life as this; a life that can be conformed to the image of His Son! So much to meditate upon this Lord's Day. I'm looking forward to seeing what our Pastor preaches on and what Truths God opens up to my heart today.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Pure, Undefiled and True

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

I do not question my salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, but I often question how it is being "worked out" in my life. I am to work out my own salvation, but the Word also says..."for it is Christ who worketh in you..." He is the one who gives the grace and who does the actual 'work', to make me like Jesus Christ.

A few days ago I mentioned that I wonder sometimes whether I just ask God for things and then sit like a lump before Him, waiting for His answers and blessings. The passage in James certainly teaches just the opposite of this. "Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." (1:22)

As a new believer I remember being more conscious not to let anything into my life that would influence me back into worldliness or defile the new life of Christ in me. Reading this passage afresh today, I am reminded that if I drift through this Christian life - gaining head knowledge ('knowledge puffeth up') without DOing and obeying, by God's grace, everything that God directs my heart to through the precious Word, will lead to a life of deception. To be a deceived Christian is probably worse than not being a Christian at all, except that we will be saved, 'yet as by fire', in the end.

I remember our pastor in South Carolina saying, "how long should you dig into a particular passage, praying for victory over a particular sin? until you're DOING it on a regular basis!" What wonderful advice.

"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." James 1:25

These meditations brought this to mind: Those of us who are Christians know that if we simply 'talk the talk' we will deceive ourselves into thinking that we're walking the walk, when we may actually appear to the world as 'glorified unbeliever'. It does matter what the world sees, but it matters most what the Lord thinks of us. 

His Word ministered to me this morning and has given me much to meditate upon today. I thank you for stopping by the Hill and hope your day is a blessing.

Have you been in my Garden?

 It is 4:15 in the morning and I just got my hubby off to work. He called yesterday and left a message on our answering machine, "Guess what, I don't have to start work at 6:00 tomorrow morning...I start at 5:00!" We're just praising the Lord for a good job that has plenty of business!! He came home a bit early from prayer meeting and got right into bed by 8:00 and we're 'no worse for the wear'. Since I don't start work for another four hours, I thought I'd take this quiet time and write to you.

Eddy has been a dear friend of our family, church member and good neighbor to us for many years. Due to health issues, at 97, he is now living with his daughters in a nearby state.

The following account came to me because of a recent card Syd made and sent to Eddy. We've told the story a few times, but I'd never written it down, so will try to relay it here.

Eddy was an avid gardener. He raised and shared many vegetables throughout his lifetime. His favorite squash being the 'crook neck' variety. He also had a large potato patch located up the road on an old piece of his property that borders ours on Darling Hill. Syd often joked with Eddy that he was going to sneak over there one night and plant one corn kernel, so Eddy would have one stalk of corn among his potatoes!

When Syd was working at one particular job, sales at a furniture store, they were changing over some of their accessories. Among the fake plants that they were throwing away was a very large, silk banana plant in a large basket/pot. Syd just couldn't pass it up. He put it in the back of his truck and that evening, 'planted' it in Eddy's garden. Eddy came to church on Sunday, walked right up to Syd and said, "Have you been in my garden?" They got a good chuckle out of it!

A year or so later, as was Eddy's habit, he planted his favorite squashes, and like a good farmer, waited for the precious fruit. When the fruit came, he approached Syd at church one Sunday morning, "Hey, have you been in my garden?" Syd responded with, "No, Eddy, why would you think I'd been in your garden?" Eddy's reply was, "I planted my squash, and got these", showing Syd a handful of zucchini. Eddy does not like zucchini. They both laughed, while Syd assured him that he had not made the switch! The following day or so Eddy said that the packaging  and seeds had been switched before he even got them. They've joked about that story for some years now. The church ladies took Eddy's zucchini and made him lots of bread and cakes from it. He likes it that way!

My brother, Dennis, usually a very  mild-mannered man -not known for practical jokes, came over to us on the hill one day. He was carrying a handful of rocks, all of which looked very much like potatoes. Dennis is a stone wall builder and has many opportunities to look over rocks. He said, "I thought of planting these over in Eddy's garden (he'd heard the stories), what do you think?" Syd, of course thought this a wonderful idea. Dennis left them with him. A couple of them were just too gray in color, so Syd rubbed brown shoe polish on them. When it was nearly time for Eddy to dig potatoes, Syd "planted" them together near the end of one of the rows. We fully expected to see all of those either at the bottom or at the top of our yearly bucket of potatoes that he always gave us. Nope, they weren't in there! Finally, Syd's curiosity could hold out  no longer, "Eddy, didn't you find anything strange in one of the rows of potatoes?" he asked him. "Yup" was the answer. "What did you think of them? and were did they go?" "I just threw them in my little rock pile there", Eddy said.

THAT one backfired!!

I had shared in a post many months ago that we had a volunteer pumpkin plant in our compost, at the top of our driveway this year. You'll remember, it produced a lovely pumpkin. Originally thinking it was a squash plant, we were looking for squashes. Syd parted the leaves one day and, behold, a large round pumpkin. We were happy and Syd thought immediately of Eddy! We sent a box of things up to him last week. Syd printed off the following picture onto card stock and made a card which did read, "Have you been in my garden?"

There are many stories to tell of Eddy, I'm sure. On the day we started clearing our land, at least nine years ago, Ed was in his late eighties. He was the first to show up, chainsaw in hand. He stopped only for lunch then went right back to cutting trees until suppertime. Here is a photo of him on that day. Five men from our church cleared ALOT of land that day! Thank you!!

When we started building the house, some months later, Eddy would show up almost on a daily basis, to lend a hand in any way he could. He is a blessed servant of God. We love him very much. I don't know if he had a garden this year, but maybe he will next year and we can sneak up there with a little something to add to it!

Eddy, with us (and Coco) on his summer 2012 visit home

Eddy and the Zorns, helping Syd with flooring

Brad, Dad, Eddy, Dallas and Syd, putting up the walls. I think our friend Denny, is there in the corner too

often Eddy just came up to hang out and have some coffee

Wrestling? or Lazy?

I was so blessed in listening to a message, via WMUU.com, this morning. It was written by C.H.Spurgeon in 1858, entitled A New Heart. What an age we live in, when we can go to a website and retrieve these blessed messages from writings of old! One thing I have taken from the Word this morning is the amazing fact that God gave fallen man a 'second chance'; man, made in God's image...while the fallen angels were left to eventually be sent to the lake of fire. The message was so full that I couldn't begin to share all that was contained therein. One thing is for sure, when God gives us a new heart, He does not build up the old flesh. He gives us new life, as we were so completely in ruin from sin that we had to be totally made anew! We serve such a perfect, all-knowing God, don't we?

The Scripture that God was leading me through earlier on, this morning was from Ephesians 6:13-18. "Take unto you the whole armor of God...praying always...watching thereunto..."  We wrestle against principalities and powers all around us! Am I wrestling, or just sitting back and taking in truths, lazily floating through my days? Am I wrestling; discovering within my heart what God is telling me to do, and obediently doing it? "Work(ing) out (my) own salvation with fear and trembling"? I was reminded this day not to just sit lazily before the Lord, bringing my petitions to Him, and waiting for Him to drop blessings in my lap.

These little reminders make for huge meditations throughout the day. I hope that you have much to meditate upon from God's Word today. Thanks so much for stopping by the hill. I'm sorry that I have not been more vigilant in posting lately. I wish for days to be home more often, but that is not what the Lord has for us at this time.  Take care, friends.