Tending the Garden

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I thought this was kinda funny.   :)

Loneliness by Elisabeth Elliot

Be still and know that He is God.  When you are lonely, too much stillness is exactly the thing that seems to be laying waste your soul.  Use that stillness to quiet your heart before God.  Get to know Him.  If He is God, He is still in charge.

Remember that you are not alone.  "The Lord, He it is that doth go with thee.  He will not fail thee neither forsake thee.  Be strong and of good courage." (Deut. 31:8)  Jesus promised His disciples, "Lo, I am with you always." (Matt. 28:20)  Never mind if you cannot feel His presence.  He is there, never for one moment forgetting you.

Give thanks.  In times of my greatest loneliness I have been lifted up by the promise of 2 Corinthians 4:17, 18, "For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen." This is something to thank God for.  This loneliness itself, which seems a weight, will be far outweighed by glory.

Refuse self-pity.  Refuse it absolutely.  It is a deadly thing with power to destroy you.  Turn your thoughts to Christ who has already carried your griefs and sorrows.

 Accept your loneliness.  It is one stage, and only one stage, on a journey that brings you to God.  It will not always last.

Offer up your loneliness to God, as the little boy offered to Jesus his five loaves and two fishes.  God can transform it for the good of others.

Do something for somebody else.  No matter who or where you are, there is something you can do, somebody who needs you.   Pray that you may be an instrument of God's peace, that where there is loneliness you may bring joy.

rebellion-- if this is the will of God for me now, He doesn't love me.

rejection-- if this is what God is giving me, I won't have any part of it.

faith-- God knows exactly what He's doing

acceptance-- He loves me; He plans good things for me; I'll take it.

Peter Marshall's Challenge

The Modern challenge to motherhood is the eternal challenge-that of being godly women.  The very phrase sounds strange in our ears.  We never hear it now.

We hear about every other kind of women-- beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated  women, career women, talented women, divorced women.

But so seldom do we hear of a godly woman-- or of a godly man either, for that matter.

I believe women come nearer fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else.

It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America.

It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel, filled with filth.

It is far, far better thing in the realms of morals to be old fashioned than to be ultra-modern.

The world has enough women who know how to hold their cocktails, who have lost all their illusions and their faith.

The world has enough women who know how to be smart.

It needs women who are willing to be simple.

The world has enough women who know how to be brilliant.

It needs some who will be brave.

The world has enough women who are popular.

It needs more who are pure.

We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right, than socially correct.

Let us not fool ourselves--without Christianity, without Christan education, without the principles of Christ inculcated into young life, we are simply rearing pagans.

Physically, they will be perfect.  Intellectually, they will be brilliant.   But spiritually, they will be pagan.  Let us not fool ourselves.

The twentieth century challenge to motherhood--when it is all boiled down-- is that mothers will have an experience of God...a reality which they can pass on to their children.

Peter Marshall, Mr. Jones, Meet the Master

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

***

Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

 ***

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

***

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Helen L Lemmel 1922

The Commission

I asked the Lord to help my neighbor,

And carry the gospel to distant lands,

And to comfort the sick, but he said to me,

If you love me, be my hands.

I asked the Lord to go to the dying, 

And the orphan in the street,

And visit the prisoner, but he said to me,

If you love me, be my feet.

I asked the Lord to look to the poor,

And watch over each babe that cries.

And see each man's need, but he said to me.

If you love me, be my eyes.

I asked the Lord, I want to serve you,

But I don't know where to start.

To love is the answer, he said to me.

If you love me, be my heart.

---G. Shirie Westfall---

::~::

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