Whiter Than Snow!

Beautiful snow is blanketing the ground today, laying lightly on each tiny branch of the trees.

I am ashamed to say that I have not posted on this blog for many days, weeks previous. The shame comes because I sometimes feel like a "freak" due to wanting to share the things that the Lord has opened up to me through His Word. This freaky 'feeling' has even caused me to keep my mouth shut. That is shameful. The Spirit of God opens my eyes and heart to my own sinfulness, as He has for you, no doubt, and will for any Christian who is seeking for Him to do so. He promises these things. He does not lie. His Word is TRUTH.

We have been blessed by our Pastor's teaching in past weeks also. On Sunday he shared that the Church certainly needs revival in these days. It has been a matter of prayer on his part for some time, I am sure. It is something that Syd and I have been in prayer for much in this past year. God saturates the Christian with His Word and deeper eye-opening as to our own sinfulness, this for any Christian who will seek Him with all their heart.

When I got saved God cleansed my heart; made me whiter than snow! He has not taken my sin nature away though. As He opens my eyes to behold wondrous things from His Word, it is so that I will more clearly see my own sinfulness and CHANGE; 

As one of our pastor-friends shares in almost every message, "What is my next step?" 

We were listening to a message by Dr. Jim Berg this week. A quote he shared went something like this...

"A Christian who will not be 'broken' is a worthless Christian." 

This was shared along with a story about young George Washington (the cherry tree story is not the only one out there). Young George had taken a future prize-horse of his mother's and was determined to break it. The horse had much spirit and did not wish to be broken. In her last huge effort to resist the young rider on her back, the horse reared up with all her might and fell down, dead. George had to confess to his mother what he had attempted to do. She was sorry to hear that the horse was dead but stated that even the most promising horse would have been of NO USE to them if her WILL could not be broken by the owner.

Dear Lord, break me; may my will continually, moment-by-moment, be in tune with yours. Send a revival, and let it begin in me.

II Cor. 3:18

"But we all, with open face beholding in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Precious

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

Psalm 116:15

Mom went to be with the Lord at 10:00 p.m. November 10. We praise the Lord that she is now in the presence of God. 

Thank you, all who have been praying for her these many years, months and days. She was very special. Her death is precious in God's sight.

Fall Contemplations

Oak leaves...They are lovely enough to bring indoors. My Sister-in-law had some on the table the other night, which prompted me to clip some from the little tree across the road! 

“That I may  know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.”

Philippians 3:10

What a blessing that God knows me and wants me to KNOW HIM! ...really KNOW Him. The rest my life must be lived in pursuit of God. What a journey!

A good book which we just ordered and it came today: The Knowledge of the Holy" - A.W. Tozer

Many years ago I read, "The Kneeling Christian". It was by an unknown author.

No casual reading of either of these can bring about this knowledge, but digging into God's Word, in response to them will. Oh, to learn the lessons! He is faithful!

This was our pumpkin soup tureen this Fall. I'd seen these white pumpkins. They're kind of ugly, actually, but when you paint them it gives a pretty effect.

Back to work. Thanks for stopping by.

An update on Mom:
She is getting physical therapy at least once per day. The speech therapist was there yesterday when I visited. They're very creative in the ways of therapy. We are so thankful that Mom is in a place that is doing everything they can to help her toward recovery.
One great prayer request that I have is, that she will perceive how God is reminding her moment by moment that He is there, giving her peace, ready to respond to her every prayer and meet her every need. Mom has always said, "you can pray to God at any time, in any place." I am thankful that she never forgot that. I trust that it is what she does all the time.

Overwhelmed!

Overwhelmed by this beautiful day, by God's love and by the teachings from His Word! It was hard to decide between taking a longer walk, sitting outside in the sunshine, doing dishes, listening to Scripture and making applesauce...so I was able to do quite a bit of all of them, praise the Lord!

A blessing today was listening to two messages by Jim Berg; Work the Farm and Let The Word of Christ Dwell in you Richly. The Word of God is a book that must be dug into!

“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

A good reminder today: If we say that we "cannot memorize the Bible", we might ask ourselves, "do you know your name and address, your phone number, your best friend's phone number?" We almost always get those right!

I leave you with a silly picture, two silly ones, actually:

See, things don't change all that much in 35 years!

Take care, and thank you for stopping by Darling Hill

Prayers of Thanks

"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:19

Mom's infection is gone. This is what we understand according to her "numbers". There have been some discouraging days but she has gone into a different Nursing facility, where she will again receive some rehabilitation. The other day while I was there, the speech therapist was doing some massage and moistening in the back of Mom's throat. She then tried her on some straws of water. Mom was swallowing just fine! These are tiny steps, but when Holly (the therapist) asked her if she wanted more water, she whispered, "yes".

I cried while Mom sipped! 

Thank you for praying, those of you who are.

I do not have much more of an update than this, but knew that some of you had been asking about the condition of things.

Plenty going on up on the Hill these days, mostly leaves falling.  Fall is my favorite time of year.

Thanks for checking Darling Hill.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back this Saturday night!

More Prayers Needed

Acts 1:8
"But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." 

We want to thank all of you who have prayed for Mom. We would appreciate prayer for her and for those in the family who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. There have been some setbacks in Mom's health and there have been opportunities to witness for Jesus Christ.

Some recent pictures:

Listening to the Bible readings on-line

Ruger was so happy to see her

"Grammy, wake up! I'm here!"

At this time Mom is experiencing a serious infection, for which she is hospitalized. Please continue to pray for health, for her comfort, peace and for the Lord's leading. The family needs guidance as to what the next step is when and if she is able to leave the hospital. We appreciate all the calls and surely the prayers! 

Some beautiful pictures from this lovely Fall:

A picture I took on my way to work one morning

This is a photo Syd took while on his mail route

The apples on the Hill were BOUNTIFUL this year!

The A's came to pick apples with us this year. Here they are on Grammy's prayer rock

 ...and we celebrated our 35th anniversary that day! Praise the Lord!

Happy Birthday, Honey!

“For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this 

cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his 

wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 

This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

Ephesians 5:30-32

Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to YOUUUUU, Happy Birthday to SYDney! 

Happy Birthday to YOUUUUU!

It's not a cake, but it's his favorite - GRITS!

I had bought Syd some hot salsa made with tomatillos. He had it in his favorite breakfast this morning - his Grits! Much healthier than cake too.

I am thankful for the wonderful man that God sent into my life 35 years ago. 

Happy 57th birthday, to my Honey!

An update on Mom:

Yesterday I was pleased to see the physical therapists at the hospital and they were doing some therapy! Please pray that Mom can focus and that she'll have the "umph" to endure therapy and eventually lend much strength to it. This has taken a whole lot out of her, of course. She is still not able to use her right side and still not speaking. We are thankful for those of you who have expressed that you are praying and will continue to. We are waiting on the Lord to show us the next step.