~ morning breaks in the valley ~
"Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind..."
~ Psalms 26:2 ~
"A retrospect of my whole life, from the earliest period of my recollection down to the present hour, leaves me with this impression; that I have been, and am being, guided by a gracious and a mighty Hand, which has made, and is making, that possible to me which otherwise to me had been impossible. Oh that I had at all times unhesitatingly trusted and yielded myself to its guidance!" ~ Richard Rothe ~
"Not a broken, brief obedience
Does the Lord of heaven demand,
He requires our whole allegiance,
Words and deeds, and heart and hand:
God will hold divided sway With no diety of clay."
~ anonymous ~
"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakable beyond my largest notions of what He is up to." ~ Elisabeth Elliott ~
"The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver. In a very real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command.
...I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, "Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me." And the artist either says, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," and willing becomes the bearer of the work, or refuses; but the obedient response is not necessarily a conscious one, and not everyone has the humble, courageous obedience of Mary.
As for Mary, she was little more than a child when the angel came to her; she had no lost her child's creative acceptance of the realities moving on the other side of the everyday world. We lose our ability to see angels as we grow older, and that is a tragic loss."
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose."
~ Jim Elliott ~
"I know the power obedience has
of making things easy
which seem impossible."
" God's abilities for our disabilities."
~ anonymous ~
"And why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?"
~ Luke 6:46 ~
If you'd like a name added to the prayer list, please let me know. Unless told otherwise, names stay on the list for a month; around the world, people are praying.
Prayer Keeping ~ Maxine ~ Raeann ~ Geoffrey and Terry ~ Timi and family ~ Kim ~ Renee ~ Stephanie and family ~ Steve and Gwen ~ Misha and J ~ Jill ~ Debbie ~ Yvonne ~ Sandy ~ me ~
I very much like this topic - obedience - now that is what God requires of us - this foolishness of doing what we want and claiming "God wants us to be happy" - happy isn't a commandment - cheerful, grateful, helpful, --oops beginning to sound more like the spiritual seven dwarfs isn't it? you know what I mean - I am happy - as in content with what God brings me into since I have found He always brings me THROUGH it also.
ReplyDeleteI am far from perfect, but I am trying. Maybe not as hard as I should, but progress is being made all the same. God is a very patient, loving God. And I'm so thankful.
ReplyDelete" God's abilities for our disabilities."
ReplyDeleteI needed to read this, Sandra.
Thank you for keeping us on the prayer list..
xo, misha
Thank you for all these wonderful spiritual sentences, exspecially for the sentence about the artist, who has a kind of obedience like Mary. Really very very good for my sometimes irritated, but sometimes exact in this feeling being artist-soul!
ReplyDeletelove your posting.
ReplyDeleteplease add me and my family,
thank you!
Beautiful quotes Sandra. Thank you and have a blessed week.
ReplyDelete