Category Archives: Holiness

Again the Lord of Light and Life ~ Hymn

Again the Lord of Light and Life

Again the Lord of light and life
Awakes the kindling ray,
Unseals the eyelids of the morn,
And pours increasing day.

O what a night was that which wrapped
The heathen world in gloom!
O what a Sun which rose this day
Triumphant from the tomb!

This day be grateful homage paid,
And loud hosannas sung;
Let gladness dwell in every heart,
And praise on every tongue.

Ten thousand different lips shall join
To hail this welcome morn,
Which scatters blessings from its wings
To nations yet unborn.

Jesus, the friend of human kind,
With strong compassion moved,
Descended like a pitying God,
To save the souls He loved.

The powers of darkness leagued in vain
To bind His soul in death;
He shook their kingdom when He fell,
With His expiring breath.

Not long the toils of hell could keep
The Hope of Judah’s line;
Corruption never could take hold
On aught so much divine.

And now His conquering chariot wheels
Ascend the lofty skies;
While broke beneath his powerful cross,
Death’s iron scepter lies.

Exalted high at God’s right hand,
And Lord of all below;
Thro’ Him is pardoning love dispensed,
And boundless blessings flow.

And still for erring, guilty man
A brother’s pity flows;
And still His bleeding heart is touched
With memory of our woes.

To Thee, my Savior and my king,
Glad homage let me give;
And stand prepared, like Thee, to die,
With Thee that I might live.

Words: Anna L. Barbauld, (1743-1825).

There are so many beautiful hymns for Easter that I’m starting early and will probably go later in posting them. Thank you Jesus for all your sacrifices for us!

Truth for Today #91

Thursday March 7th

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s dig deep in God’s Truth again this year!

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you! 

Isaiah 66:1-2 (NIV)

This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

From Dianna:

For You light my lamp;

Yawheh my God illumines my darkness.

Psalm 18:28

From Leonard:

Ephesians 4:29

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

From Karen:

Revelation 3:20 KJV

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Truth for Today #89

Thursday February 22nd

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s dig deep in God’s Truth again this year!

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you! 

2 Chronicles 16:9:

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

Proverbs 15:3:

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

1 Kings 8:61

Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.

From Leonard:

Ecclesiastes 11:7

“Light is sweet; how pleased to see a new day dawning”

His mercies are new every morning…

From Vera:

”Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.“
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭28‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

From Diana:

Colossians 3:23

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”

From Maristella:

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8.

From Nikkipolani:

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,
But righteousness delivers from death.

Proverbs 10:2 (NKJV)

From Cheryl:

John 6: 34-35

“Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always,’

“And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’”

Truth for Today #86

Thursday February 1st

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s dig deep in God’s Truth again this year!

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you! 

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24:

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

From Vera:

”Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.“
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭28‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

From Karen:

Proverbs 1:10

My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

The First Leon ~ A Children’s Christmas Musical

Here are the parents, who had their part of getting Addy to play practices on Sunday evenings starting well before Thanksgiving. JJ was part of the younger crew and their practices started after Thanksgiving. Hats off to them for being faithful to this responsibility and helping Addy learn all the songs for the performance. Since they had to have Addy and JJ at church early on performance day they were able to save us all some good seats and have some down time before the show began.

An exciting start to the Christmas musical which was so well done.

After the first choir number Addy and her duet partner got ready for their song. ‘If you want to be a Star.’

Addy sang her heart out on her duet. She never missed a beat throughout the many songs that the Children’s choir performed during the play. She was diligent and engaged and learned all her parts early.

An addition to the duet, JJ and several other younger ones came on stage dressed as stars. They had to walk and bob in these cute costumes. They entered at the beginning of the duet and exited just before the duet was over.

 

 

 

This was a hilarious part of the musical when the choir turned their backs on us and then turned around again with their shades on and sang an upbeat version of While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night.

The stars became manger animals backstage and re-entered right on cue, nonchalantly.

 

Time for the animals to exit stage left…

 

One of my favorite songs during the musical was, ‘You can have my room, Jesus.’ It was so tender and touched my heart and I shed a few tears.

You can have my room, Jesus.
You’re always welcome here, Jesus.
I won’t turn you away to a cattle stall.
You can have my room, Jesus.
You can have it all.
Come in, Come in,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
You can have it all.

 

And just like that, after months of hard work, the Children’s Christmas Musical was over for another year. It was a program that shed good light on the Christmas Story and honored our Lord Jesus Christ. We are thankful for the directors of the play and all their helpers that put in so much time and energy for the musical.

Our Pastor closed out the play with a short gospel message explaining Hebrews 2:9.

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

A fitting conclusion to the Christ honoring musical.

On Monday our grands spent a few hours here and we baked cookies and enjoyed time together.

Only 6 more days until Christmas!

Once In Royal David’s City

Once In Royal David’s City

Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little Child.

He came down to earth from Heav­en,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Savior holy.

And, through all His wondrous childhood,
He would honor and obey,
Love and watch the lowly maiden,
In whose gentle arms He lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He.

For He is our childhood’s pattern;
Day by day, like us He grew;
He was little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us He knew;
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love,
For that Child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in Heav’n above,
And He leads His children on
To the place where He is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him; but in Heav­en,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
Where like stars His children crowned
All in white shall wait around.

Words: Cecil F. Alexander, 1848.

Ah, Dearest Jesus ~ Hymn

 

Ah, Dearest Jesus

Ah, dear­est Jesus, ho­ly Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, un­de­filed
Within my heart, that it may be
A qui­et cham­ber kept for Thee.

My heart for ve­ry joy doth leap,
My lips no more can si­lence keep;
I, too, must sing with joy­ful tongue
That sweet­est an­cient cra­dle song.

Glory to God in high­est Heav­en,
Who un­to man His Son hath giv­en;
While an­gels sing with ten­der mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.

Words: Martin Luther, 1535.

Truth for Today #78

Thursday November 16th

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s dig deep in God’s Truth again this year!

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you! 

Psalm 96:2-6

Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

From Lauren:

Psalm 94:19

When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

From Diana:

Psalm 30:11-12

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
That my glory may sing praise to you and not be silent.
O Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

From Vera:

‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3‬:‭22‬-‭26‬

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

From Maristella:

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Romans 12: 17-18.

From Karen:

Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Not For Granted Hodgepodge

Speaking of gratitude, thank you Jo From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. Are you too hard on yourself or not hard enough? Elaborate. 

It really depends on where I failed. If I hurt someone else I’ll be harder on myself. I can really give myself a lot of slack in other areas.

2. What’s the role of gratitude in your life? 

Gratitude plays a central role in my life. Everything I have comes from the goodness of God and the more I’m conscious of that, the more grateful and content I am. God is holy, I am not. Peace with God comes from belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sin. Turning from that sin and believing in Jesus leads to the forgiveness I need and a lot of peace and generosity in my life. I am grateful for Jesus Christ who is my greatest treasure.

3. Where do you get your news these days? How much attention are you giving it currently? 

We’ve gravitated away from watching daily news. We’ll get some news on the internet. We don’t listen to the major networks. We might tune into Newsmax or Fox News when something major happens but not day to day. Generally it seems we get a little news with lots and lots of opinions. We get family news via texts unless it is something major and deserves a phone call. I have a What’s App group that I get daily friendship news from, too. Keeping up with bloggers and what is going on in their lives through their posts is another kind of news gathering I appreciate.

4. Do you like potatoes? Last time you prepared potatoes in some way? Which of the following is your favorite…baked potato, mashed potato, french fried potato, sweet potato, hash brown potatoes, roasted potatoes, or potato salad? 

I like potatoes in all these ways. The last potatoes we had were diced new potatoes in homemade chicken pot pie.

5. Are you a veteran? Are there any veterans in your family? Will you do anything special to honor them on Veteran’s Day/Remembrance Day this year? 

Our son-in-law Andrew is a Veteran and the only one in our little family. Greg’s father served in WWII but he was called up to heaven in 1985. We will give Andrew a shout out and thank him on Veteran’s day but we won’t be seeing him in person until Thanksgiving. Thank you for your service in the Marines, Andrew. We love and appreciate you and are grateful for all you have done for our country. We are sorry for all the aches and pains you continue to endure because of that service.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I’m always impressed with how the United Kingdom honors their veterans and all they do for Remembrance Day. We’ve seen tributes in many if not all of the towns and villages we’ve visited in the United Kingdom.

Speaking of remembering, November 5th marked the one year anniversary of Greg’s stroke. We are so grateful to God that Greg is alive and well and that we could celebrate the anniversary with him on this earth. Grateful for all the days God gives us.

Heroes Past and Present Hodgepodge

Wednesday Hodgepodge is back this week and Joyce has a new round of questions for us. Thank you, Joyce!

1. What’s something small you tend to sweat even though you know you shouldn’t? 

Right after I read our questions on Tuesday I opened my daily reading from Spurgeon and I have to share a portion of it here as the answer to this question.

…He should have argued from what God had done for him that God would be his defender still.

But is it not in the same way that we doubt God’s help? Is it not mistrust without a cause? Have we ever had the shadow of a reason to doubt our Father’s goodness? Hasn’t His loving-kindness been marvelous? Has He ever once failed to justify our trust? Our God has never left us at any time. We have had dark nights, but the star of love has shone out amid the blackness; we have been in tough battles, but over our head He has held high the shield of our defense. We have gone through many trials but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is that He who has been with us in six troubles will not forsake us in the seventh.

2. October 17th is National Pasta Day…do you like pasta? What’s your favorite? Cooked at home or eaten in your favorite Italian restaurant? How often do you make/eat pasta? 

I do enjoy pasta. I’m a fan of the wide egg noodles (which might or might not be considered pasta) in my Sirloin Stroganoff with Buttered noodles. I don’t have a favorite Italian restaurant and we mostly have ‘settle for’ restaurants where we live now. We settle for them when we both aren’t ready to cook. Lately we probably only have pasta once in a couple weeks or once a month.

3. Do you consider yourself a spontaneous person? Explain. 

I can be spontaneous. I don’t mind dropping everything and heading out on an adventure. I can shift my course if I need to.

4. Who are some of your heroes? Tell us why. 

My number one hero is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who left his exalted place in heaven to come to earth as a man, who lived a perfect life which qualified him to be the perfect and acceptable sacrifice for our sins. I believe on Him as my Savior. He is the only One who stands in the Gap between us and the One and Only Holy God. Jesus’ sacrifice satisfied God’s wrath on me a sinner. He is why I have peace with God here on earth and I cherish my relationship with Him that is growing until I meet Him face to face in heaven.

I mentioned another one already in question #1, Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. Another one is John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Southern California, a faithful expositor of God’s word and he was Greg and my first pastor after we were married in 1974. He’s in his 80’s now and still filling the pulpit at the same church. They have both proven to be faithful to the Word of God and men you can trust to preach the Truth and not themselves or passing fads.

First Responders are also on my hero list. When I see what they have to deal with in our current depraved society I appreciate them more and more.

Our Daughter-in-law who is homeschooling our Grands. That’s a huge sacrifice but so worthwhile.

Our Daughters-in-law and our Son-in-law who love and support our sons and daughter so well. I thank God for them.

My faithful husband who has provided and cared for me all these years!

5. Let’s wrap it up with something light…Taylor Swift…are you a fan? On a scale of 1-10 how much so? (1=who’s Taylor?, 10=a true Swiftie, seen her in concert more than once). If you’re a fan what’s your favorite T. Swift song? 

I’ll go with 1, who’s Taylor?, I have heard her name but I could not tell you what she sings.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Slowly my posts from our travels in Ireland and England are coming together. I’m up to day 4! It’s good to recall the days before they slip away in my mind. 🙂 My next post will be on the City Walls of York. Laura created this collage below on some of the highlights of that walk.