A Mighty Fortress is Our God ~ Hymn

Broadway Day 7 031

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Words and Music: Martin Luther, 1529.

This song has been called the great­est hymn of the great­est man of the great­est per­i­od of Ger­man his­to­ry, and the Bat­tle Hymn of the Re­for­ma­tion. It was sung at the fun­er­al of Am­er­i­can pre­si­dent Dwight Ei­sen­how­er at the Na­tion­al Ca­thed­ral in Wash­ing­ton, DC, March 1969.

Summertime Bible Verse Challenge

Good day everyone. If you have a verse/verses to share today add them to the comments and I’ll post them below. Thank you in advance to all who come by to read and to share.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (ESV)

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

From Vera:

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭22:12-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

From Maristella:

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

‭‭From Willow:

Isaiah 33:6

And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; The fear of the Lord is his treasure.

All in the Family Hodgepodge

Jo From This Side of the Pond posted some questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge this week even though she has a busy houseful. She picked the appropriate theme. Thank you Jo!
1. What’s something you would say ‘runs in your family’?
Our firm foundation in Christ runs in our family.
~
2. A book, song, tv show, or movie you love that is centered around family. 
Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle all 5 hours and 23 minutes of it.
~
3. Family matters, family ties, family tree, family man, family fortune, black sheep of the family, family values, one big happy family…choose a ‘family phrase’ that applies to your life currently and explain. 
One big happy family. With half of us on the west side of the Cascades and half of us on the east side visits usually have us all together and we do have happy times. Our next big happy family time will be in the fall when we all gather for a family wedding in North Carolina. The 10 of us will be staying in a home we rented on Lake Hickory for 4 nights.
~
4. Last thing you fixed for a big family dinner? If you’re not the cook, last thing you were served at a big family dinner? 
The last thing we served for 6 of us here in Colville was flat iron steak, baked potatoes, roasted cauliflower, corn muffins and a blueberry buckle for dessert.
Some of our family do not appreciate fish so when Josh was here a couple weeks ago we took advantage and served the 7 of us a yummy Cioppino as an appetizer full of mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari, in a flavorful broth (we bought that at Costco and just warmed it up). Then we had Tilapia, jasmine rice, salad, maybe broccoli, and good crusty bread. We had something for dessert but I can’t remember what. Whatever it was I won’t make it again since it was so unmemorable. Oye.
~
5. What are three words you would use to describe your family. 
Team
Supportive
Fun
We work well together as a team to get things done and we are supportive of each other and we like to make things fun.
After all the good times we have together we also enjoy being back home alone in our own space.
~
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Addy has two new experiences she’s enjoying this month. This week every evening from 6-8:30 she is attending Vacation Bible School at our church. The halls and gym are thundering with boys and girls from 3 years old to 6th grade enjoying a good time learning about the God that created them. Next year JJ will be able to join in.
The whole church is decorated in the Island theme. Very colorful!
~
Addy’s also learning soccer skills on a team a couple days a week. That’s bringing back some good memories of all the soccer we enjoyed when our kids were little.
Our dear mom and pop left us with an encouragement before they died to love each other and stay together, I’ll leave that with you, too.

Refreshing

In the last week we have had a couple of refreshing rainfalls that our yard soaked up. There was lightning and thunder which always brings the threat of starting more fires so everyone is on edge with these events.

The cool down of the weather made it so enjoyable to walk about and to take these photos. Taking advantage of the under 90 degree day we tackled some weeds.

The bunny trio are unaffected by changes in the weather.

We’ve enjoyed cooler temps the last 4 days with Sunday being the coolest into the 70’s! Woohoo. Today we are heading up again to the 90’s and later this week we will be over 100 degrees. Time for me to start watering again.

This past week we’ve had a doe and fawn visit. That’s always a treat. I’ll be sharing some photos soon.

Our Pastor has been preaching out of the Psalms this summer. Sunday was Psalm 46. God is our refuge, river, and ruler. He covered the whole Psalm and here are just the two beginning verses.

Psalm 46:1,2

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Enjoy the 10th day of August friends!

A Silver Lining…

I am happy to report that there was a silver lining in our clouds of discomfort from Sunday because we woke up to the fact that we could not get internet service.

Today we were able to take the modem and the power source to our local technician in town instead of waiting for a service appointment. He determined the problem was the power source which was caput not the modem. Dear came home with the same modem and a new power source and everything is back up and running. We are thrilled it only took a day instead of a week and that it did not cost us anything.

A very good start to our week.  How is the start to your week?

Our Modem Died…

Hopefully there will be a silver lining in the fact that our modem went caput and being in the country it will be at least a week we are told before we can get a technician out to make sure we aren’t mistaken about the death of our modem. We can’t call the technician until Monday.

So all that to say. You will not hear anything from me until this is resolved. I’ll miss visiting this week. Hope you all have a good one!

I Think When I Read That Sweet Story of Old ~ Hymn

I Think When I Read That Sweet Story of Old

I think, when I read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How He called little children as lambs to His fold,
I should like to have been with them then.

I wish that His hands had been placed on my head,
That His arms had been thrown around me;
And that I might have seen His kind look when He said,
“Let the little ones come unto Me.”

Yet still to His foot stool in prayer I may go;
And ask for a share in His love;
And if I thus earnestly seek Him below,
I shall see Him and hear Him above.

But thousands and thousands who wander and fall,
Never heard of that heavenly home;
I wish they could know there is room for them all,
And that Jesus has bid them to come.

In that beautiful place He has gone to prepare
For all who are washed and forgiven;
And many dear children shall be with Him there,
For of such is the kingdom of heaven.

I long for the joy of that glorious time,
The sweetest and brightest and best,
When the dear little children of every clime
Shall crowd to His arms and be blest.

Words: Jemima Thompson Luke

Thursday Summertime Bible Verse Challenge

Hello to August 5th and our last 4 weeks of our Summertime Bible Verse Challenge. Share any verse/verses from the Bible with us in the comments and I’ll add them below. Enjoy digging into God’s Word!

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

From Kathy:

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs to not be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of God.

2 Timothy 2:15

From Maristella:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

2 Timothy 4:7-8