One of the hardest things to do

(harder than anything you could go through yourself)

...trusting God with someone you love

especially (although the best), when that is the only thing left for you to do for them.

___________

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

-C.S. Lewis

“Sobbing with tears,

sobbing without tears,

tears without sobbing,

smiles with tears.

Numb.

Welcome to the ministry of love.” 
-John Piper 

“I have held many things in my hands,
and I have lost them all;
but whatever I have placed in God's hands,
that I still possess.” 
-Martin Luther 

"Bear not a single care thyself,

One is too much for thee.

The work is mine, and mine alone,

And thine is...

Trust in Me.” 

-Unknown

"A battered reed He will not break off,

and a smoldering wick He will not put out" 
-Matthew 12:20

♫

in·car·nate, adj. a) Invested with flesh {What an investment.}

 "Jesus Christ became Incarnate for one purpose, to make a way back to God

that man might stand before Him as He was created to do,

the friend and lover of God Himself."

~ Oswald Chambers

A Christmas Poem

"In this smelly place he lay,
Smelly like the swine,
Smelly like the rotting hay,
Like your sin, and mine.
Do you see how low he lay?
Do you see how low?
There is lower yet to go.
Lower yet to go.

He is lying where they eat,
Lying where the swine—
Lying like a piece of meat
Where the hungry dine.
Do you see the flow complete
Do you see the flow?
There is greater love to show
Greater love to show.

Such a happy toddler there,
Happy like the birds,
Happy like the morning air
Filled with happy words.
Does he see or know or care?
Does he see or know:
O, how deep will be his woe
Deep will be his woe?

Knowing God was born like this
Knowing this is he,
Knowing somehow this is bliss
For the swine and me,
Is this love's full glow and kiss?
Is this love’s full glow?
There are deeper things to know,
Deeper things to know.

Mary musing every year,
Musing on her son,
Musing with a rising fear
Who will be the one:
Who will strike the blow and spear?
Who will strike the blow?
Does she know that blood must flow?
Know that blood must flow?

Jesus hanging on the tree,
Hanging like the meat,
Hanging there for swine like me,
Gives his flesh to eat.
Here is Life brought low and free.
Here is Life brought low.
O, how vast the debt I owe
Vast the debt I owe."  

~  John Piper

DesiringGod

The Mocking of The Christmas Bells

1860 - Henry was at the peak of his success as a poet. Abraham Lincoln had just been elected President, giving hope to many.

1861 - But things soon turned dark for America and for him personally. The Civil War began, and Henry’s wife died in a tragic accident in their home. He suffered severe burns on his hands and face while trying to save his wife. He was so badly burned that he could not even attend her funeral. In his diary for Christmas Day 1861, he wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays."

1862 - A year after her death, he wrote, "I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace." Christmas day - the toll of war began to mount, and in his diary for that year Henry wrote, "'A merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me."

1863 -  Henry received word that his oldest son Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, had been severely wounded with a bullet passing under his shoulder blades and taking off one of the spinal processes. There is no entry in Henry's diary for that Christmas.

1864 - Christmas day. He wrote the words of the poem ‘Christmas Bells'.

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

'There is no peace on earth,' I said;

'For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!'

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

'God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!'"

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sources:   1    2    3

{righteousness} Not learned by favor.

"My soul yearns for You in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks You.

For when Your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

If favor is shown to the [one guilty of sin],

he does not learn righteousness...

he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

O Lord, in distress they sought You;

they poured out a whispered prayer

when Your discipline was upon them."

Isaiah 26:9-10,16

The Promise > The Circumstance

"Here's a principle to keep in mind: The promises of God are as real as the circumstances you are in. Your circumstances say 'God has forgotten you.' Your circumstances say, 'I look for God, and just when I need God to come through for me, God doesn't seem to be any place.' That's what your circumstances say. The promise of God says, 'I will not leave you. I will never forsake you.' And that promise is just as real as the circumstances you are in. And so by faith, we look beyond our circumstances and we look to the promises of God."

 ~Jerry Bridges

It's easy to miss the DASH on your tombstone

“LIFE  IS  WHAT  HAPPENS

WHILE  YOU'RE  WAITING  FOR  LIFE  TO  START."

"And so we say, 'As soon as I get through this thing,

then I can really get down to living my life.

As soon as I get through school;

as soon as I get my kids raised;

as soon as I get through with this thing,

then there will be nothing but good coming down the pike.'

I want to tell you something, it never works that way.

Good and bad grow together,

they are intertwined inseparably together.

Good and bad travel on parallel tracks

and they usually arrive at about the same time.

And there is a judgment beyond our judgment.

Faith isn’t the power to change things to the way you want them.

Faith is the courage to face things as they are."

- Pastor Ron Dunn 

www.RonDunn.com

"you do not know

   

what your life will be like tomorrow.

You are just a vapor

  

that appears for a little while

  

and then vanishes away."

- James 4:14

Reality vs. Appearance

"When circumstances seem impossible,

when all signs of grace in you seem at their lowest ebb,

when temptation is fiercest,

when love and joy and hope seem well-nigh extinguished in your heart,

then rest,

without feeling and without emotion,

in the Father's faithfulness."

-D. Tryon 

"Our circumstances are not an accurate reflection of God's goodness.

Whether life is good or bad,

God's goodness,

rooted in His character,

is the same."

-H. Lescheid

"The Ache" {re-shared}

by Ruthann P.

"I feel the ache

when I think it's all up to me

when this life is all I can see

when the failures haunt

when the lies listened to feel

when I want to see what isn't yet

The ache is the edge of choice...

... read the rest HERE

Miserere Mei Deus

"Have Mercy On Me O God"

~ Psalm 51 ~

"Miserere Mei Deus"

by Gregorio Allegri

"I Just Can't Do It"

 
"...I guess I need to try harder" 

Read:  His Strength Your Victory

"It is great comfort to know that God loved us when there was nothing to attract His love, because He will not be surprised by anything He discovers in us and will not turn form us at those manifestations of evil that sometimes make us lose heart. He knew the worst from the first. He did not love us because we were pure and untarnished, but to make us so. We cannot understand it, but since He began, He will not fail or become discouraged until He has finished His work.” -F.B. Meyer

"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."
Jeremiah 31:3 (ESV)

To the Bleeding Heart

"There is no pit so deep

that God’s love is not deeper still"

- Corrie ten Boom

(learned in Ravensbruck concentration camp)

Through the pain...

"The vine-dresser is never nearer the branches
than when he is pruning them."
 

~ David Jeremiah

To Helpe Ye Understande

"It shall greatly helpe ye to understande Scripture,
If thou mark 

Not only what is spoken or wrytten,

• But of whom

• And to whom

• With what words

• At what time

• Where

• To what intent

• With what circumstances

• Considering what goeth before

• And what followeth."

- John Wycliffe, Bible Translator

{ e t e r n i t y }

"Five minutes after you die you'll know how you should have lived."

-Leonard Ravenhill

 

"In the light of eternity we shall see that what we desired would have been fatal to us, and that what we would have avoided was essential to our well-being."

-Francois Fenelon

(On the meaning of self-denial) "To refuse what we know to be deadly poison, though agreeable to the taste"                                                       -John Wesley

"Live near to God, and so all things will appear to you little in comparison with eternal realities."

-Robert Murray McCheyne

"I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity."

-John Wesley

"If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead."

-William Law

They Say There Is A Young Lady

"They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of that Great Being who made and rules the world.  They say that He fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything except to meditate on Him.  If you present all the world to her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it.  She is unmindful of any pain or affliction.  She has a singular purity in her affections.  You could not persuade her to compromise her true Love even if you would give her all the world.  She possesses a wonderful sweetness, calmness, and kindness to those around her.  She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly.  She seems to be always full of joy and pleasure, and no one knows exactly why.  She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have Someone invisible always conversing with her.

 -Written of Sara Edwards by Jonathan Edwards, her future husband

 For More... 

Set Apart Girl Magazine, Sept/Oct 2010

You Do Not Have Time...

“Suppose someone should offer me a plateful of crumbs

after I had eaten a T-bone steak.

I would say, ‘No, thank you. I am already satisfied.’

Christian, that is the secret -

you can be so filled with the things of Christ,

so enamored with the things of God

that you do not have time

for the sinful pleasures of the world.”

~Billy Graham

Almost all...

"Life is not long enough to live a half-hearted surrender." 
~Megan (journal entry before meeting her Maker)

"Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee."

 ~Frances Havergal

The Choice

"[The natural life] knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that."

"We are half-hearted creatures like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

~C.S. Lewis

An Incomprehensible Kind of Love

"Don't measure God's mind by your own. It would be a poor love that depended not on itself, but on the feelings of the person loved. A crying baby turns away from its mother...but she does not put it away till it stops crying. She holds it closer. For my part, in the worst mood I am ever in, when I don't feel I love God at all, I just look up to His love. I say to Him, 'Look at me. See what state I am in. Help me!' Ah! you would wonder how that makes peace. And the love comes of itself; sometimes so strong, it nearly breaks my heart."  ~George Macdonald

"You did not choose Me but I chose you" ~John 15:16

"A battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out"  ~Matthew 12:20

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." ~Romans 5:8

Our Lord is...

“He is too wise to be mistaken, too good to be unkind.”

~Dying testimony of Rev. Basil Woodd, 1831

A More Daring Faith

"His thoughts said, 'I wish that the sea might be made into dry land and the waters divide - then all would understand that Thou art leading me.'

His Father said, 'That crossing of the sea was the first and the easier obedience.  The crossing of the river later on asked for a more daring faith.  The way did not open in Jordan till the feet of the priests were dipped in the water.  But it did open then.  Rivers turn to roads, mountains become valleys, when He who is named the Remover of Hindrances goeth before.  Then no one can forbid.  No power can bar the way.'

But the son still wondered what he should do if he did not hear the Voice directing him, till he came to understand that, as he waited, his Father would work and would so shape the events of common life that they would become indications of His will.  He was also shown that they would be in accord with some word of Scripture which would be laid upon his heart.  This Scripture in the light of these events, and these events in the light of that Scripture, would work together under the hand of his Father, and point in the same direction.  And as he followed step by step the way would open before him.  Only he was warned to be careful that his eye be single.  He must be like David's soldiers, who were not of double heart.'"

Joshua 3:15-16, Isaiah 40:4, Matthew 6:22, 1 Chronicles 12:33

~ Amy Carmichael (from "His Thoughts Said...His Father Said...")

Spend Your Time In...

"Spend your time in nothing which you know must be repented of.  In nothing on which you might not pray for the blessing of God.  In nothing which you could not review with a quiet conscience on your dying bed.  In nothing which you might not safely and properly be found doing if death should surprise you in the act."

~Anonymous

On the 'Praise or Blame' and 'Stars or Dots' of Men

OR 

"He has great tranquility and peace of heart who does not regard praise or blame, and he will soon be at peace and content who has a good conscience.  You are not the better because you are praised, or the worse because you are blamed, for as you are, you are, and whatever is said of you, you are no better than Almighty God, the Searcher of men's hearts, will testify that you are.  If you behold well what you are inwardly, you will not care much what the world says of you outwardly.  Man sees the face, but God beholds the heart; man beholds the deeds, but God beholds the intention of the deeds.  It is a great sign of a humble heart that a man will do well, yet think that he has done but little; and it is a great sign of purity of life and of an inward trust in God when a man takes his comfort from no creature.  When a man seeks no outward witness for himself, it appears that he has wholly committed himself to God.  Also, as St. Paul says: He who commends himself is not justified, but he whom God commends.  He who has his mind lifted up constantly to God and is not held by any inordinate affection is in the degree and in the state of a holy and blessed man."

"The glory of a good man is God's testimony that he has a good conscience.  Therefore, have a good conscience, and you will always have joy.  A good conscience can bear many wrongs and is constantly merry and glad in adversities, but an evil conscience is always fearful and unquiet.  You will rest sweetly and blessedly if your own heart does not reprove you."

~from "The Imitation of Christ", by Thomas a Kempis

"what I think is more important than what they think. The stickers only stick if you let them...The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about their stickers." -Your Maker

~from "You Are Special" by Max Lucado

He "turns toward" the prayer of whom?

"He has regarded the prayer of:

the DESTITUTE (Hebrew 6199= "utterly stripped, laid bare")

and has not despised their prayer."  Psalm 102:17

Am I?

Because...I Love Him

"I want passionate feelings to characterize my relationship with the Lord Jesus. Of course, I want to be perfectly obedient to the Lord, but I want the obedience to spring out of a passionate love for him. I want to obey Jesus not simply out of discipline of duty, or because of some reward or fear of punishment. I want to serve Him simply for the joy of being able to please the one I love so much. If discipline is what ultimately drives us in our pursuit of Jesus, eventually we will give up that pursuit. But a man in love, or a woman in love will never quit.... I want my life to be characterized by an unrestrained affection for the Son of God" ~J. Deere

Answers To Prayer

"There are four ways God answers prayer: 1) No, not yet; 2) No, I love you too much; 3) Yes, I thought you'd never ask; 4) Yes, and here's more."  ~Anne Lewis

Response To Your Thorn

"I sat not in the assembly of those who make merry, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because Your [powerful] hand was upon me, for You had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail and are uncertain?

Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: 'If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. ...And I will make you to this people a fortified, bronze wall; they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save and deliver you, says the Lord.'" Jeremiah 15:17-20 Amplified

"Jeremiah sank.  He sank in despair and bitterness in his difficulties and troubles, but Paul, in the same difficulties, wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 12:19 'We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed' 'And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'" ~ Keith Daniel

Listen:

The Thorn In The Flesh - Keith Daniel

A "Set Apart Thot"

www.setapartgirl.com/set-apart-thots.html

Do I Love My Shepherd Like This?

 

From The Amplified Bible Translation of Song of Solomon

• Does my spirit crave the Divine Shepherd, even in the presence of the best that the world can offer me?  

1:7 "[Addressing her shepherd, she said] Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon. For why should I as I think of you] be as a veiled one straying beside the flocks of your companions?"

•  Do I have a constant sense of my Shepherd's presence, regardless of my surroundings? 

2:6 "[I can feel] his left hand under my head"

• Do I take time to meet my Good Shepherd each day, letting Him tell me of His love, and cheering His heart with my interest in Him? 

2:13 "Arise...my fair one, and come away"

• Do I realize that my voice lifted in praise and song is sweet to Him, or do I withhold it? 

2:14 "[So I went with him, and when we were climbing the rocky steps up the hillside, my beloved shepherd said to me]...[while you are here] in the seclusion of the clefts in the solid rock, in the sheltered and secret place of the cliff,...let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet"

• What is my greatest concern, the thing about which most of all I want Christ's help? When He asks to hear my voice, what do I tell Him? 

2:15 "[My heart was touched and I...sang to him my desire] Take for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards"

• Do I heed Christ when He bids me to come away from the lions' den of temptation and dwell with Him? 

4:8 "Come away with me from Lebanon, my [promised] bride, come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the top of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards."

• Am I willing to have the north wind of adversity blow upon me, if it will better fit me for Christ's presence and companionship? 

4:16 "[You have called me a garden, she said] Oh, I pray that the [cold] north wind and the [soft] south wind may blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out [in abundance for you in whom my soul delights]. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits."

• In my weariness from earthly cares, do I hesitate to answer when the Divine Shepherd knocks at my door, and so turn Him from me? 

5:3 "[But weary from a day in the vineyards, I had already sought my rest] I had put off my garment--how could I [again] put it on? I had washed my feet--how could I [again] soil them?"

• Is my Savior unquestionably the One altogether lovely, the One above all others most precious to me? Can I tell how and why Christ is more to me than any human being or than all earthly possessions? 

5:16 "His voice and speech are exceedingly sweet; yes, he is altogether lovely [the whole of him delights and is precious]. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!"

Where Lieth Peace?

 He said, "I will forget the dying faces;

The empty places—

They shall be filled again;

O voices mourning deep within me, cease."

Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:

Not in forgetting lieth peace.

He said, "I will crowd action upon action,

The strife of faction

Shall stir my spirit to flame;

O tears that drown the fire of manhood, cease."

Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:

Not in endeavour lieth peace.

He said, "I will withdraw me and be quiet,

Why meddle in life's riot?

Shut be my door to pain.

Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease."

Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:

Not in aloofness lieth peace.

He said, "I will submit; I am defeated;

God hath depleted

My life of its rich gain.

O futile murmurings; why will ye not cease?"

Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:

Not in submission lieth peace.

He said, "I will accept the breaking sorrow

Which God to-morrow

Will to His son explain."

Then did the turmoil deep within him cease.

Not vain the word, not vain;

For in acceptance lieth peace.

by Amy Carmichael

The Seeds

An old legend tells how a man once stumbled upon a great red barn after wandering for days in a dark overgrown forest, seeking refuge from the howling winds of a storm that seemed to rage perpetually in the forest, he let his eyes grow accustomed to the dark and then, to his astonishment, he discovered that this was the barn where Satan kept his storehouse of seeds to be sown into human hearts. More curious than fearful, he lit a match and began to explore the piles and bins of seeds around him. He couldn't help but notice that the containers labeled "seeds of discouragement" far outnumbered any other type of seed.

Just as the man had drawn this conclusion, Satan arrived to pick up a fresh supply of seed. The man ask him why the great abundance of discouragement seeds. He laughed, "Because they are so effective and they take root so quickly!" The man then asked, "Do they grow everywhere?" No, Satan admitted, there was one place in which he could never get the seeds of discouragement to thrive. “And where is that?” asked the man. Satan replied sadly, “They never seem to thrive in the heart of a grateful person." ~Unknown

"Out of the Wreck I Rise"

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Romans 8:35

God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says - "I will be with him in trouble." It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man's life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are "more than conquerors in all these things." Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

"Shall tribulation . . . ?" Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may - exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you.

"Shall anguish . . . ?" - can God's love hold when everything says that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice? 

"Shall famine . . . ?" - can we not only believe in the love of God but be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it - the love of God in Christ Jesus. "Out of the wreck I rise" every time.

~ Oswald Chambers

"When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.”

“He who planted the ear, does He not hear?

He who formed the eye, does He not see?…

The Lord knows the thoughts of man,

That they are a mere breath.

Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,

And whom You teach out of Your law;…

For the Lord will not abandon His people,

Nor will He forsake His inheritance…

If the Lord had not been my help,

My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.

If I should say, "My foot has slipped,"

Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,

Your consolations delight my soul.”

~ Psalm 56:3, Psalm 94:9-19 ~