Even Behind Closed Doors

the first easter

no crowds gathered

nor cameras

but one by one

or two or three

he met them

where they were

even behind closed doors

Christ alone, alive

my Hope

(rlg, 4-12-2020)

A Change of Scenery

 A change of scenery -

 whether physical, mental, spiritual or emotional -

is usually refreshing, stimulating, encouraging.

 So it was for me.  For us.

Though our time was brief and limited by our mending bodies,

we are blessed by what was

and hopeful for what is to come.

Optimism

 Optimism!

It's the word that came to my mind when I went out to hang up

a few towels on our clothesline this morning (October 29th)

and saw the lavender and roses.

 Not typically autumn flowers, there they were!

Optimistically sticking their "necks" out; boldly blooming against a backdrop of

fading and falling leaves.

Unfortunately, optimism is NOT a natural state of mind for me.
However...
"...since I have been justified through faith, I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom I have gained access by faith into this grace in which I now stand.  And I boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but I also glory in my sufferings, because I know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope.  And hope does not put me to shame, because God's love has been poured out into my heart through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to me."  (Romans 5:1-5, personalized)

I enter this new day sticking MY neck out in faith.
Persevering and bold in hope, I remind myself
 that I stand amply supported by the AMAZING grace of God.

Deep, solemn optimism, it seems to me, should spring from this firm belief in the presence of God in the individual; not a remote, unapproachable governor of the universe, but a God who is very near every one of us, who is present not only in earth, sea and sky, but also in every pure and noble impulse of our hearts.  (Helen Keller)

Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/o/optimism_quotes.html#w27gsSXaLQp0J6jp.99

Deep, solemn optimism, it seems to me, should spring from this firm belief in the presence of God in the individual; not a remote, unapproachable governor of the universe, but a God who is very near every one of us, who is present not only in earth, sea and sky, but also in every pure and noble impulse of our hearts.
Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/o/optimism_quotes.html#w27gsSXaLQp0J6jp.99

The Great Completer

If you remembered The Big Reveal  or Waiting in the Wings 

 these  photos might interest you...

 There's nothing so satisfying as projects completed.

 In the case of the refurbished fence sections,

 it seems that with their addition EVERYTHING close to them looks better!

My husband is the great (human) completer.

I admire the way he sticks with a project until it is finished.

He reminds me of my Heavenly Father, and with the Apostle Paul I can say,

I am certain that God, who began the good work within (me),

 will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

(Philippians 1:6)

I admit that I'm quite a "project"....a work in progress.
I'm a strong starter but tend to lose my enthusiasm for completing things somehow...
That's only ONE of many things The Great Completer is working on in me.
Oh, how I'm looking forward to being "finished"!

Are you a better starter or finisher?
What's the most recent project (large or small) that YOU'VE  finished? 

The Big Reveal

 Yesterday my sister called and alerted us to a pile of wood being trashed in their addition.

My husband checked it out while returning from an appointment.

He came home with the trunk of his car open - and full!

Among the "treasures"--four sections of picket fence.

After some repair, I went to work and got one section painted

 before the mosquitoes put a stop to my efforts.
(Are the mosquitoes pestering YOU?)

We propped the painted section up in front of these windows. 

 It doesn't look half bad there,

but this is only a temporary placement--

much like our place in this world (which is NOT our "home") is only a temporary placement!

As surely as I can't wait to see the end result when these reclaimed treasures are placed

in the spot I envision them in,

I can't wait for the Big Reveal waiting for me--and all who
through faith in Jesus are children of God and will one day

"be like Him"...

I John 3:2-3 reads:  "Dear friends, now we are children of God, 

and what we WILL be has not yet been made known.  

But we know that when Christ appears we shall be like him,

for we shall see him as he is.  

All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Sing Like Never Before.....

My small but mighty keyboard surprises me with its options!

After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to SING to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying, "Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever."  As they began to SING and PRAISE, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mout Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.  2 Cnronicles 20:21-22

I was SO encouraged by the devotional thought my husband and I read together 

this morning from More Precious than Silver by Joni EarecksonTada!

Our faithful piano (definitely deserves a tuning)

She concluded, "If you're fighting darkness or engaged in a spiritual conflict, if the Enemy is  poised and ready to attack, the best defense is to sing.  It's a way of resisting the Devil.  Singing is also the best offense.  Songs of praise will confuse the Enemy and send the Devil's hoards hightailing.  So pick a hymn, any hymn.  Choose a Scripture chorus.  Or make up your own melody to a favorite portion of Scripture.  Victory over the Enemy can be yours for a song."

This past week, all my siblings and mother and father were privileged to be together. 

A good part of the evening was spent around the piano...singing songs of faith.  

My heart is full.  My hope is strong.
Though concerned ("horrified" is a better word)
by the political climate and state of my beloved country,
I WILL sing like never before--whatever may pass and whatever lies before me!

"The sun comes up
It's a new day dawning
It's time to sing your song again
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
Bless the lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship his holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I worship your holy name"

(From 10,000 Reasons)

Stopping at Intersections

How would HE "come to me"?

That is the question I woke up with this morning.

It would have been travel day to my Quiet Retreat

had I not cancelled my reservation due to circumstances.

I started with a cup of coffee and a check of facebook and blog responses.

There it was.  Tamara's comment on my prior post:

 Love the picture with the rainbow. 

It appears to be intersecting with the cross... ok, ok... it's a telephone pole, but...

I scrolled up to the picture to see what she was referring to.

How had I missed it?!

Looking closer, I noticed the stop sign right at the "foot" of the "cross".

 

Oh, He CAME to me all right.

And on the cross, God demonstrated His love 

and consummated His promise!

The cross and the promise INTERSECTED!

While my friends travel without me to Gethsemane today, 

I'll be stopping right here to contemplate and celebrate

the cross and the promises,

and to celebrate the friend - Tamara - whose observation 

"brought" Him to me so uniquely.

Maybe, just maybe, He'll use me to shed a ray of light

into someone else's life today...

  "We don't need to retire to the desert to meet with God. 

He can come to us at our ordinary duties."

 (A. Bonar)

Where "Impromptu" Took Us

 The largest "Taste Of" in the United States was our first (and unexpected) pleasure.

To learn more about it, go to my thrifty style blog here.

 While at the "Taste of Buffalo" we stumbled on the tour of the historic

City/County Building.  From its observation deck, 

we could view 360 degrees of Buffalo!

 

After several blocks of walking and viewing

beautifully landscaped front yards,

we treated ourselves to ice cream!

I'll be loading some of my pictures of the gardens in my garden blog. 

Probably not tonight though...

Maybe the Quote of the Day was from the guide at the City/County Building.

When a young man asked why they built 

such a large building in 1929, she answered,

"They had great hopes."

I'll remember that for a long time!

I, too, have great hopes.  I need to BUILD BIGGER!

 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. 

For we know how dearly God loves us,

because he has given us the Holy Spirit 

to fill our hearts with his love.  (Romans 5:5)

My New Favorite Phrase

When I saw this picture, I immediately checked with Melissa to get permission to copy it.  

She graciously consented. 

"Earthly Home" is my new favorite phrase.

It helps me put THIS life into perspective.

It gives me GREAT hope.

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down

(that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), 

we will have a house in heaven, 

an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.

2 Corinthians 5:1

(I sure would like to meet the Homorodeans!)

A "Pilgrim of the Day"

Lettie Cowman (Mrs. Charles)

In the year that I graduated from high school (1966) Streams in the Desert, Volume Two was published.  Earlier, Mrs. Charles Cowman had compiled and published the first volume.  During the years of her final illness, she entrusted her personal papers, writings, and books to an associate who arranged and edited the material to produce this second volume of inspiration.  This morning, the words in the next couple of paragraphs jumped off the pages at me!

But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets. (Dan. 2:28)

Whenever your adversary pours in upon you like a flood, suggesting all kinds of impossibilities and improbabilities, what are you to do and how are you to go forward? Take down the old Book; sit far into the night; read the promises and the prophecies.  Read again the heart-warming words of Daniel:  "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets."  Your night will unveil new stars never seen by day.  On the black thunder-cloud a rainbow will appear--God's everlasting covenant--and you will find a sunrise at midnight...

What shall you do?  Act as people who have no faith, no light, no discernment?  You cannot be like the unbelievers caught in the whirlpool and sink beneath the swirling waters of doubt and despair. You are a pilgrim of the day; a pilgrim of the luminous.  Thank God for the assurance of Divine guidance, and pray that you will stand in the right relationship to all the impossibilities and improbabilities.

"Trust in the dark brings Triumph at dawn." --Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

This message was reinforced by the second devotional my husband and I read together each morning (From Faith to Faith:  A Daily Guide to Victory).  God's timing is SO amazing!

"Many Christians are walking around without hope--just like the rest of the world.  Why?  Because the only hope that any man has is faith in Jesus Christ.  And the majority of Christians don't know how to live by faith.  Instead of being filled with the Word and with faith, they've been stuffed full of religious traditions and superstition...The Bible says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...  (Hosea 4:6)"

I am a pilgrim of the day.  I am a pilgrim of the day.  I am a pilgrim of the day.  I am a pilgrim of the day.     
I am a pilgrim of the day......

Blue Christmas

By lamplight 

in the early morning...

no lights...just blue bulbs and ornaments on this small "wall tree"
hanging between windows in our dining area

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December;
A magnificent thing
And sweet to remember:
"We are nearer to spring

Than we were in September."

I heard a bird sing 

In the dark of December.

(Oliver Herford)

Rescue the Perishing

I don't know if YOU were one of the "billion" who tuned in at one time or another as the Chilean miners were rescued yesterday...but I was. And I am tuckered out!  I have cried; I have SOBBED! I have prayed; I have praised. And I have been making spiritual analogies all the while as I have considered the darkness--the destiny of people who have not secured their eternal salvation by personal faith in Jesus Christ.  I have longed for the joy of seeing people come to Jesus.  The words of an old Fanny Crosby gospel song kept going through my mind. Maybe YOU know it...

1. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
   Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
   Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
   Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
   • Refrain:
     Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
     Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
2. Though they are slighting Him, still He is waiting,
   Waiting the penitent child to receive;
   Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently;
   He will forgive if they only believe.
3. Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
   Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
   Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
   Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.
4. Rescue the perishing, duty demands it;
   Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
   Back to the narrow way patiently win them;
   Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.

I want to "wear" Jesus on MY "sleeve" today!  He is truly the HOPE of the world! 

God has given a billion people a witness.

We are without excuse!

 "From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made.  They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature.  So they have NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER for not knowing God."

Romans 1:20

EASTER!

The tomb is empty....

My heart is full!

Jesus IS alive!

He lives "within my heart"!

And because He lives, I wlll ALSO live.  

John 14:19
I serve a RISEN Savior!
Oh!  Hallelujah!  Jesus is alive!

Continually and Increasingly--Come, Hope, Praise!

Psalm 71 appears to be David's "old age prayer" (see verses 9 and 18). It was MY Psalm this morning--I generally read one a day. I am impressed with the word "continually" that appears in my version in verse 3 (God is a rock of refuge to which I may continually come) , verse 6 (My praise is continually of you), and verse 14 (I will hope continually).

"I will hope continually and I will praise you yet more and more," he wrote.
"Continually and increasingly," I noted in my journal..."come, hope, praise!"

The Psalm ends with David detailing his Praise Plan: harp, lyre, lips and tongue. My piano probably feels a little neglected this summer, but my plan is to incorporate it in the singing of my praise this morning.

"My lip will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long" (vs. 23-24).

One of several miniature pianos in my collection....