Category Archives: Jesus

Shout Aloud, All Ye Lands ~ Hymn

Shout Aloud, All Ye Lands

Across the blue wa­ters
The mes­sage of grace
O’er king­dom and em­pire
Is fly­ing apace;
The day-beam is break­ing,
Majestic and bright,
And mill­ions are turn­ing
From dark­ness to light.

Refrain

Shout aloud, all ye lands,
And be glad while ye sing;
Shout aloud, all ye lands,
For the Sav­ior is king!
And the sound that went forth
On the night of His birth
Shall be heard to the ut­ter­most
Bounds of the earth.

All crea­tures ador­ing
Shall bow at His word,
All tongues shall con­fess Him
Their Sav­ior and Lord;
His truth and its glo­ry
Extended shall be,
And cover the earth
As the wa­ters the sea.

Refrain

How gent­ly and kind­ly
There comes from above
His scep­ter of mer­cy,
His stand­ard of love!
He rul­eth in wis­dom,
The mon­arch of peace;
His reign shall be glo­ri­ous
And nev­er shall cease.

Refrain

The day is ap­proach­ing,
The time draw­eth nigh,
When na­tion to na­tion
Hosanna shall cry;
The id­ols they wor­ship
In dust shall be laid,
And Je­sus be hon­ored,
Exalted, ob­eyed.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1875.

Spring is in the Air Hodgepodge

Our families very first celebration in Spring is Addy’s birthday. She was born on the first day of Spring!

Springing in to Wednesday Hodgepodge where Joyce asks the questions and we all respond.

1. It’s officially spring in the northern hemisphere.

Does it feel like spring in your part of the world?

Spring is definitely in the fickle stages. We had temps up to almost 60 and now have below freezing morning temps!

If you’re in the southern hemisphere it’s officially autumn where you live. Does the weather say autumn? Which do you prefer-spring or autumn? Why? 

I enjoy Spring and Autumn. Spring might get an edge over Autumn because of Easter and our Grands birthday celebrations.

2. What’s your favorite thing about spring?  

The births of our grandchildren is a favorite. Seeing the flowers push up and brighten gardens is another favorite. Celebrating Easter has always been the ultimate celebration of Spring, the Resurrection and New Birth in Christ! It truly is the best event in the history of the world!

3. Spring into action, spring in your step, spring to life, spring to one’s feet…which spring idiom currently applies to your life in some way? Explain.  

I’ll go with spring to life because it feels like we were brain dead trying to recover from jet lag. We are slowly coming to life!

4. Which spring food from this list is your favorite?

From this list I’ll go with Strawberries and Artichokes

What’s a dish you like that includes your favorite spring ingredient? 

Strawberry shortcake or Strawberry Trifle.

asparagus, strawberries, salad greens like mesclun, artichokes, spinach, eggs, peas, spring onions

5. What’s one task on your spring cleaning list? Do you actually have a list? 

I do not have a list but we do have to hire a couple of teens to do a yard clean-up. After a major wind storm while we were abroad, small branches and lots of pinecones need to be raked up and gathered to our burn pile. Our kids and grands gathered the large branches that fell while we were gone.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We celebrated Addy in great survivor fashion and my belated birthday this past Saturday. You can see the epic Survivor birthday party if you click here where we had shelter building challenges and fire starting challenges, too.

Happy #9 and Happy #75!

A Debtor to Mercy Alone ~ Hymn

A Debtor to Mercy Alone

A debtor to mercy alone,
Of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear, with Thy righteousness on,
My person and offering to bring.
The terrors of law and of God
With me can have nothing to do;
My Savior’s obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view.

The work which His goodness began,
The arm of His strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen,
And never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now,
Nor all things below or above,
Can make Him His purpose forgo,
Or sever my soul from His love.

My name from the palms of His hands
Eternity will not erase;
Impressed on His heart it remains,
In marks of indelible grace.
Yes, I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is giv’n;
More happy, but not more secure,
The glorified spirits in Heav’n.

Words: Augustus M. Toplady, 1771.

A Celtic Hodgepodge

“May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.”
Luckily, Joyce from This Side of the Pond, has a fresh set of questions for us to answer for Wednesday Hodgepodge!
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1. St. Patrick’s Day lands on March 17th. Do you believe in luck? Are there things you do thinking they’ll  bring good luck or  things you avoid because they’re considered bad luck? 
Nyet, nyet, nyet. 🙂
I believe in the sovereignty and providence of God. This is a deep subject.
———
Here is a quote (Daily Doctrine pg. 97, Providence, DeYoung) that sheds some light on this belief;
“If sovereignty is God’s power to do whatever he pleases, providence is the wonderful good news that this power is pro-us. “Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty–all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from the fatherly hand.” Therefore, we can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and have confidence for the future that nothing will separate us from God’s love (Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 27,28).
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2. Forest-lime-sage-mint-olive-emerald…what’s your favorite shade of green? 
Of these shades sage is my favorites. I really enjoy the combination of pink and green.
Purple/lavender and green is a lovely combo, too.
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3. In Ireland the meal on this day is often a hearty beef or lamb stew served with colcannon (mashed potato mixed with cabbage and leeks). In the US corned beef and cabbage is the more typical St. Patty’s Day meal. Will you/did you mark the day with one of these dishes? Baked-fried-roasted-mashed…what’s your favorite way to eat a potato?

We have enjoyed corned beef and cabbage on this day and other days, too.

 

On Monday, because my creative energy levels are at minus something,  I bought a package deal for a slow cooker corned beef and cabbage meal. I just have to open the package and put all the ingredients in the slow cooker. Everything is washed and ready to go, corned beef, carrots, potatoes and cabbage with a spice packet, too. On Tuesday morning I put all the ingredients in the slow cooker and let it prepare itself. The aroma was wonderful during the day. We enjoyed the meal when it was ready to eat.

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4. What color of the rainbow best represents your personality/mood today? Tell us why. 

I’m going with a lighter answer here after my deep one in question one!

Sisters wknd 076

Yellow is the color I’ll go with, as in daffodils and sunshine. I like to smile and share the light.  Daffodils and sunshine make me smile and tell me Spring is on the way. The photo is of  my sisters in a sea of daffodils, in the glorious sunshine from 2016 in Mount Vernon, Washington State!

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5. Which ‘lucky’ quote resonates with you. Elaborate. 

 ‘Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.’ E.B. White 

‘Diligence is the mother of good luck.” Benjamin Franklin 

‘Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.’ Seneca 

‘Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson 
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I’ll go with ‘Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.‘
We are just back from 16 days abroad and many good things culminated in the research that we made before we landed in all the places we visited. The preparation made the opportunities more meaningful and enjoyable.
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6. Insert your own random thought here. 

An Old Celtic Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you –
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

IMGP7563

I Believe in God the Father ~ Hymn

 

I Believe in God the Father

I believe in God the Fa­ther,
Who cre­at­ed Heav’n and earth;
Made the stars to shine so bright­ly,
Gave each liv­ing thing its birth.
I be­lieve in God the Fa­ther,
And in Je­sus Christ His Son,
Who was cru­ci­fied on Cal­v’ry
For the sins that all have done.

I be­lieve He died, was bur­ied,
Rose again, no more to die;
And as­cend­ing to His Fa­ther,
Took His seat with Him on high.
I be­lieve in God the Spir­it,
Sent to us from Heav’n above,
And the Church our bless­èd Sav­ior
Hath re­deemed by His great love.

I be­lieve in His for­give­ness,
And His won­drous pow­er to save;
In a glo­ri­ous re­sur­rect­ion,
And a life be­yond the grave.
I be­lieve in God the Fa­ther,
I be­lieve in God the Son,
And in God the Ho­ly Spir­it,
Everlasting Three in One.

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1892.

The Promised Land ~ Hymn

The Promised Land

Far from these narrow scenes of night
Unbounded glories rise,
And realms of infinite delight
Unknown to mortal eyes.

Far distant land—could mortal eyes
But half its joys explore,
How would our spirits long to rise,
And dwell on earth no more!

There pain and sickness never come,
And grief no more complains!
Health triumphs in immortal bloom,
And endless pleasure reigns!

From discord free and war’s alarms,
And want and pining care,
Plenty and peace unite their charms,
And smile unchanging there.

There rich varieties of joy,
Continual feast the mind;
Pleasures which fill, but never cloy,
Immortal and refined!

No factious strife, no envy there,
The sons of peace molest,
But harmony and love sincere,
Fill every happy breast.

No cloud those blissful regions know,
For ever bright and fair!
For sin, the source of mortal woe,
Can never enter there.

There no alternate night is known,
Nor sun’s faint sickly ray;
But glory from the sacred throne
Spreads everlasting day.

That glorious Monarch there displays
His beams of wondrous grace;
His happy subjects sing His praise,
And bow before His face.

O may the heavenly prospect fire
Our hearts with ardent love,
Till wings of faith and strong desire
Bear every thought above.

Prepare us, Lord, by grace divine,
For Thy bright courts on high;
Then bid our spirits rise and join
The chorus of the sky.

Words: Anne Steele, 1760.

Before Thy Mercy Seat, O Lord ~ Hymn

Before Thy Mercy Seat, O Lord

Before Thy mer­cy seat, O Lord,
Behold, Thy serv­ants stand,
To ask the know­ledge of Thy Word,
The guid­ance of Thy hand.

Let Thy eter­nal truths, we pray,
Dwell rich­ly in each heart;
That from the safe and nar­row way
We nev­er may de­part.

Lord, from Thy Word re­move the seal,
Unfold its hid­den store,
And as we read, teach us to feel
Its val­ue more and more.

Help us to see a Sav­ior’s love
Shine forth from ev­ery page,
And let the thoughts of joys ab­ove
Our in­most souls en­gage.

Thus, while Thy Word our foot­steps guides,
Shall we be tru­ly blest,
And soon ar­rive where love pro­vides
An ev­er­last­ing rest.

Words: William H. Bathurst, 1841.

Thank you, LORD.

Some of the women at our church are going through a Bible Study book on Heaven. This was one of the exercises in Session two that I wanted to be able to access on my blog. We looked at the following Scriptures to identify the path to the Father. We rephrased each verse using first-person pronouns. It was a good exercise for me.

The Scripture references in order are; Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8, John 3:18, John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Acts 4:12 and Romans 10:9-10.

I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The wages for my sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus my Lord. By grace I have been saved through faith that is not my own-it is a gift of God. If I believe in Him I am not condemned but if I do not believe in the name of the only Son of God I am condemned already. For God so loved me that He gave his only Son that if I believe in Him I will not perish but have eternal life. God showed his love for me in that while I was still a sinner Christ died for me. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to me by which I must be saved. If I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead, I will be saved. With my heart I believe and am justified and with my mouth I confess and am saved.

Thank you, LORD!

 

Jesus, Thy Church With Longing Eyes ~ Hymn

Jesus, Thy Church With Longing Eyes

Jesus, Thy church with long­ing eyes
For Thine ex­pect­ed com­ing waits:
When will the pro­mised Light arise,
And glo­ry beam from Zi­on’s gates?

E’en now, when tem­pests round us fall,
And win­try clouds o’er­cast the sky,
Thy words with plea­sure we recall,
And deem that our re­demp­tion’s nigh.

Come, gra­cious Lord, our hearts re­new,
Our foes re­pel, our wrongs re­dress,
Man’s root­ed en­mi­ty sub­due,
And crown Thy Gos­pel with suc­cess.

O come, and reign o’er ev­ery land;
Let Sa­tan from his throne be hurled;
Let na­tions bow to Thy com­mand,
And grace re­vive a dy­ing world.

Yes, Thou wilt speed­ily ap­pear;
The smit­ten earth al­rea­dy reels;
And not far off we seem to hear
The thun­der of Thy cha­ri­ot wheels.

Teach us, in watch­ful­ness and pray­er,
To wait for the ap­point­ed hour,
And fit us for Thy grace to share
The tri­umph of Thy con­quer­ing pow­er.

Words: William H. Bathurst, 1831.

Truth for Today #181

Friday February 20th

On Fridays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the 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 continue to dig deep into God’s truth.

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

Announcement: Please be aware that Truth for Today posts will be on a break until sometime at the end of March. 

2 Chronicles 14:11

And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against 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.

From Vera:

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” ‭‭

Psalm‬ ‭56‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬

From Maristella:

Do not lose hope in times of trouble, for God is working in the unseen. His hand is steady, and His timing is perfect in bringing good out of difficulty.

Isaiah 43:19.

From Dianna:

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
In the city of our God, His holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion in the far north,
The city of the great King.
3 God, in her palaces,
Has made Himself known as a stronghold.””

Psalm 48:1-3

From Cheryl:

. . . how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him . . . ”

Hebrews 2:3