Sabbath Keeping

"He is like a [good] father to us,

tender and sympathetic to those who reverence Him.

For He knows we are but dust and that our days are few and brief,

like grass, like flowers, blown by the wind and gone forever.

But the loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to

everlasting to those who reverence him."

~ Psalm 103:13-18 ~

"Pray

and let God worry."

~ Martin Luther ~ 

"The antidote for covetousness is contentment. the two are in opposition. Whereas the covetous, greedy person worships himself, the contented person worships God. Contentment comes from trusting God." ~ John Macarthur ~

"The more you go with the flow of life and surrender the outcome to God, and the less you seek constant clarity, the more you will find that fabulous things start to show up in your life."  ~ Mandy Hale ~

"I had no real communication with anyone at the time, so I was totally dependent on God. And He never failed me." ~ Diet Eman ~ 

"Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step." ~ Joni Erickson Tada ~ 

"Faith is believing that God is going to take you places before you even get there."
~ Matthew Barnett ~ 

"Trust in God alone, and lean not on the needs of human help. Be not surprised when friends fail you; it is a failing world. Never reckon upon immutability in man; inconstancy you may reckon upon without fear of disappointment." ~ Charles Spurgeon ~ 

"We have very little faith in the Lord, very little trust. If we trusted the Lord as much as we trust a friend when we ask him to do something for us, neither we as individuals nor our whole country would suffer so much." ~ Thaddeus of Vitovnica ~ 

"Faith talks in the language of God.

Doubt talks in the language of man."

~ E. W. Kenyon ~ 

"I am optimistic about the future. Brethren, for our part, we must remain steadfast in hope, work with all our strength, and trust in God." ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf ~

"We are not saved by making promises to God. 

We are saved by believing God's promises to us."

~ Warren Wiersbe ~

"...it is presumptuous in me to wish to choose my path, because I cannot tell which path is best for me. I must leave it to the Lord, Who knows me, to lead me by the path which is best for me, so that in all things His will may be done." ~ Teresa of Avila ~ 

"Dedication is writing your name

 on the bottom of a blank sheet of paper

 and handing it to the Lord for Him to fill in."

~ Rick Renner ~ 

"Let your life reflect the faith you have in God. 

Fear nothing and pray about everything.

Be strong, trust God's word, and trust the process."

~ Germany Kent ~ 

"But the more you make the choice to live above your feelings, 

to trust God instead of what you may feel like doing, 

the stronger your faith becomes.

It's not about being perfect.

We will always bee on a journey of growing closer to God."

~ Tim Tebow ~ 

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

 may have power, together with all the saints, 

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may 

be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

~ Ephesians 3:17-19 ~ 

Please pray for - Rose ~ Jim ~ Katie ~ President Trump and all government leaders ~ pastors ~ 

Sabbath Keeping

"For God will bring every deed into judgement, 

including every hidden thing

whether it is good or evil."

~ Ecclesiastes 12:14 ~

"I must admit, I am so tired of people quoting Matthew 7:1 ("Judge not that ye be not judged") out of context in claiming we are not to judge. And of course, as they do, they are judging us for what we say! Now John 7:24 states, "Do not judge according to appearances but judge with righteous judgement."
~ Ken Ham ~

"God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools...and He has not been disappointed. ...If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world." ~ Judge Antonin Scalia ~

"When God wants to judge a nation,

He gives them wicked rulers."

~ John Calvin ~

"God is looking for broken men [and women] who have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men [and women] who have come to the end of themselves, whose confidence is not in themselves, but in God." ~ Henry Allen Ironside ~

"How easy it is to judge rightly 

after one sees what evil comes from judging wrongly." 

~ Elizabeth Gaskell ~ 

"I would rather stand with God and be judged by the world

than stand with the world and be judged by God."

"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think." 

~ Margaret Mead ~

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: 

God will not hold us guiltless.

Not to speak, is to speak.

Not to act, is to act."

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer ~ 

"God judged it better to bring good out of evil

than to suffer no evil to exist."

~ Augustine of Hippo ~

"God sees us as we are,

loves us as we are,

and accepts us as we are.

But by His grace

He does not leave us as we are."

~ Timothy Keller ~

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. 

Trust in God;

trust also in me."

~ Jesus, John 14:1 ~

Please pray for ~ the family of a 10 year old girl who was taken from church and whose body was found in a well ~ Jon Schmidt family, whose daughter, Annie, disappeared on a hiking trip ~ prayerfully consider Tuesday's election...this election is about more than the next four years (President), it's about the next four decades (Supreme Court Justices) ~ 

Sabbath Keeping

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,

all whose thoughts are fixed on you."

~ Isaiah 26:3 ~

"Faith don't come in a bushel basket, Missy. It come one step at a time. Decide to trust Him for one little thing today, and before you know it, you find out He's so trustworthy you be putting your whole life in His hands." ~ Lynn Austin ~

"We have very little faith in the Lord, very little trust. If we trusted the Lord as much as we trust a friend when we ask him to do something for us. neither we as individuals nor our whole country would suffer so much."
~ Thaddeus of Vitovnica ~

"Fear is the glue that keeps you stuck.

Faith is the solvent that sets you free."

~ Shannon L. Alder ~ 

"Trust God or worry. Those are the two choices you have in every situation. Trust God and be at peace. Worry and experience stress. Your choices are that simple and you will make you life as peaceful or stressful as you choose to make it. Trust God and be at peace. This is all that is asked of you."
~ James Blanchard ~

"The hardest part of letting go is the "uncertainty"--when you are afriad that the moment you let of of someone you will hate yourself when you find out how close you were to winning their affection. Every time you give yourself hope you steal away a part of your time, happiness and future. However, once in a while you wake up to this realization and you have to hold on tightly to this truth because your heart will tear away the foundation of your logic, by making excuses for why this person doesn't try as much as you. The truth is this: Real love is simple. We are the ones that make it complicated. A part of disconnecting is recognizing the difference between being desires and being valued. When someone loves you they will never keep you waiting, give their attention and affection away to others, allow you to continue hurting, or ignore what you have gone through for them. On the other hand, a person that desires you can't see your pain, only what they can get from you with minimal effort in return. They let you risk everything, while they guard their heart and reap the benefits of your feelings. We make so many excuses for the people we fall in love with and they make up even more to remain one foot in the door. However, the truth is God didn't create you to be treated as an option or to be disrespected repeatedly. He wants you to close the door. If someone loves you and wants to be in your life no obstacle will keep them from you. Remember, you are royalty, not a beggar." ~ Shannon L. Alder ~

"One may have an abundance of faith in God,

but do we trust Him when we don't understand?

What good is faith without trust?"

~ Danny L. Deaube ~ 

"The reason some of us are such poor specimens of Christianity
is because we have no Almighty Christ.
We have Christian attributes and experiences,
but there is no abandonment to Jesus Christ."
~ Oswald Chambers ~

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. 

I do not give to you as the world gives. 

Do not let your hearts be troubled,

trust in God and also in me."

~ John 14: 27 ~

Please pray for ~ Nancy ~ Anita ~ Alicia ~ Vicki ~ Joe and Mandy ~ Sandra ~ 

Sabbath Keeping

"And in every work that he began 

in the service of the house of God...he did it 

with all his heart, and prospered."

~ II Chronicles 31:21 ~

A new minister was walking with an older, more seasoned minister in the garden one day. 
Feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was asking the older preacher for some advice.


The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to  open it without tearing off any of the petals.



The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the will of God for his life and ministry.

 But, because of his great respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact. It wasn't long before he realized how impossible this was to do.



Noticing the younger preacher's inability to unfold the rosebud, without tearing it, the older preacher  began to recite the following poem...



It is only a tiny rosebud

A flower of God's design;

But I cannot unfold the petals

With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I.

God opens this flower so easily,

But in my hands they die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,

This flower of God's design,

Then how can I have the wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

So, I'll trust in God for leading

Each moment of my day.

I will look to God for guidance

In each step along the way.

The path that lies before me,

Only my Lord and Savior knows.

I'll trust God to unfold the moments,

Just as He unfolds the rose."

~ author unknown ~

"The process of being made broken bread and poured out wine means that you have to be nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God. ... Be careful that you get your supply, or before long you will be utterly exhausted. ... Be exhausted for God, but remember your supply comes from Him. "All my fresh springs shall be in Thee." 

~ Oswald Chambers ~

"But none of these things move me, 

nor do I count my life dear to myself, 

so that I may finish my race with joy, 

and the ministry 

which I received from the 

Lord Jesus, to 

testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

~ Acts 20:24 ~

Prayer Keeping ~ Stephanie ~ Mildred ~ Donna ~ Gretchen ~  Jim ~ Gladys ~ Tara ~ Stephanie ~ Andie, whose Dad passed away yesterday ~ Sandra ~ 

Sabbath Keeping

~ Randy Forbes ~

"As for God, His way is perfect;

The Word of the Lord is tried:

He is a buckler to all them who trust in Him."

~ 2 Samuel 22:1 ~ 

"The most important lesson that I have learned is to trust God in every circumstance. Lots of times we go through different trials and following God's plan seems like it doesn't make any sense at all. God is always in control and He will never leave us."  
~ Allyson Felix ~

"Calmness is how we show we're trusting God." ~ SKB ~

"Disappointment is inevitable. But to become discouraged, there's a choice I make. God would never discourage me. He would always point me to Himself to trust Him. Therefore, my discouragement is from Satan. As you go through the emotions that we have, hostility is not from God, bitterness, unforgiveness, all of these are attacks from Satan." ~ Charles Stanley ~
"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." ~ Mother Teresa ~

"I trust God with my life.

After all, He gave it to me."

~ unknown ~

"It's not about me telling Him what I want. It's about trusting Him to do things the way He wants me to do them." ~ Shawneda ~
"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." ~ Corrie ten Boom ~
"Love people but put your trust in God. Love people but put your full trust only in God."
 ~ Lawrence Welk ~
"Trust in God and keep your powder dry." ~ Oliver Cromwell ~
"Trust is not a passive state of mind. It is a vigorous act of the soul by which we choose to lay hold on the promises of God and cling to them despite the adversity that at times seeks to overwhelm us." ~ Jerry Bridges ~ 
"I trust in God, especially in silence." ~ SKB ~
"It's not can you trust God, it's whether you can trust Him in His timing. "
~ Liz Curtis Higgs ~

"Trust God. Father knows best." ~ SKB ~

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God; trust also in me."

~ Jesus, John 14:1-4 ~

If you have a name for the prayer list, please let me know. Around the world, people are praying.

Prayer Keeping ~ Jim ~ Sue ~ Donna ~ Jim ~ Petal ~ Maas ~ Sandra ~

Sabbath Keeping

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass." 

~ Psalms 37:3-5 ~

"Relationships of trust depend upon our willingness to look not only to our own interests, but also the interest of others." ~ Peter Farquharson ~ 
"No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence." ~ Mary Ann Evans ~
"Trust everybody, but cut the cards." ~ Finley Peter Dunne ~ 

"It is an equal failing to trust everybody,

and to trust nobody."

~ English Proverb ~

"You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don't trust enough." ~ Frank H. Crane ~ 

"Mistrust makes life difficult.

Trust makes it risky."

~ Mason Cooley ~

"Trust and honesty are an investment you put in people."
~ Rachel Joy Scott ~

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." 

~ George MacDonald ~

"Without trust, words become the hollow sound of a wooden gong. With trust, words become life itself." ~ John Harold ~ 
"Hurt me with the truth but never comfort me with a lie." ~ unknown ~
"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." ~ William Shakespeare ~
"Learning to trust is one of life's most difficult tasks." ~ Isaac Watts ~ 

"All I have seen teaches me to 

trust the creator for all I have not seen." 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." ~ Charles Spurgeon ~

"Trust is like virginity. 

You lose it once and you never get it back." 

~ unknown~

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." 
~ Corrie ten Boom ~

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.

trust in God,

trust also in me."

~ John 14:1 ~

If you'd like a name added to the prayer list, please let me know. Names will be kept for one week and then we begin again. Around the world, people are praying.

Prayer Keeping ~ Maxine ~ Kurt ~ Timi and family ~ Quesenberry family ~ Sandra ~ Beth ~ Marie ~ Susan ~ revival ~ persecuted Christians ~

Struggles and Trust

~ who loves ya, baby? ~

Jen, over at Finding Heaven is talking about choices, hope and despair; about measuring herself against her stats, about forgetting we're not on our own. Her T.R.U.S.T. question is: What are the traps that lure you away from believing God's Truth about you? Here's my response...

The days I'm too "busy" to start with God, His Word, His preachers on XM and my devotions is the day that falls apart for me. Maybe it's an age thing or a season thing but I'm not struggling with traps so much as I'm struggling to do the work He's set before me. Struggling to make good...no, excellent...use of my time, to make it count for eternity. Time is the beginning of eternity and it is NOW. The time I spend wasting here, now, is time I can never re-capture for Him. Since Dave died, my biggest fear is...fear. Am I being a good steward, am I giving enough, am I doing His will. Suppose I screw up and lose it all. 

Daily, God reveals, a little more and a little more, who I am as His child. ouch. Daily, I pray anew to do His will and not my own. It's a daily battle; not a tomorrow battle or a yesterday battle. All I have to tend to is today; yesterday is gone and tomorrow never arrives.

I don't mean to sound like practicing a Christian life is not difficult. It is extremely difficult., at least, it's difficult for me. I struggle with less of me and more of Him. I struggle with my big mouth. I struggle with being impatient, with trying to "help" God. I struggle with my big mouth. oops, said that one didn't I? There's some t.v. show called 'fear factor'; at least, there was at one time. I've never see the show but want to tell them, if you want to see fear, be here at 3 a.m. when I can't sleep and worry has replaced sanity and prayer. I struggle with forgiving those people who have so cruelly wronged me. Instead of forgiving them, I remember what they did, over and over and over...and then I waste more time on playing the revenge game. Sheesh! What a complete and total waste and it only serves to upset me more; it keeps the hurt alive and robs me of happiness and the here and now. 

"So Sandra," says Abba, "how's that working out for you?"

One of the other bloggers visiting Jen has written a post about Jack Nicholson and, in one of his movies he says, "Is this as good as it gets?" Well, yeah, it is if you're not a Christian. If you're not a Christian, this is the only Heaven you'll ever know. By the way, how's that working for you, this heaven? On the other hand, if you're a saved by His grace Christian, not simply a person who attends a Christian based church, this is the only Hell you'll ever know. How's that working out for you? 'Cause I'm liking it, I'm liking it a lot!

I live a quiet life and stay, for the vast majority of time, here on the farm. I have to; it's where the work is and any time I spend away, is time I spend not working. Even so, when I leave the farm, I see so much hurt, bitterness, anger, distrust...and that's generally in church on Sunday morning! I think going to an office everyday would simply overwhelm me and bring me to an early end. So, I focus on what's important and that is...

Abba loves me with an everlasting love. 

And that's quite enough.

Blessings ~ Finding Heaven Today ~ participating bloggers ~ Jen ~ God and His Amazing LOVE ~

A Hiding Place

~ my daily view ~

Vicki's Grow Your Blog Party here; there are giveaways!

Moses had his desert. Abraham had the pagan city of Ur. Joseph had his prison. Esther had her harem. Mary had her pregnancy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer had 
his prison.
Dave and I had Thistle Cove Farm.

Where is your hiding place? 

Does God have you standing behind a sink of dirty dishes or pails of dirty diapers? Does God have you in a dead end job, working for a boss who is conniving, manipulative or coarse? Are you sitting at the sickbed of your beloved? Where is God hiding you? Are we, daily, ready to do His will, the job He has for you that only you can accomplish? How is He preparing you? 

These are questions I ask myself every day. I've a good idea of what God wants me to be doing now but haven't a clue about the future. I know my past has brought me to this place, this time, this farm and God uses it all to prepare me for doing the job He has set before me. 

~ Sandra and Dave, Azores Island ~

Some of you know, Dave, my husband, died, very suddenly and unexpectedly, in November 2011. He had cancer and we knew his time was short, p'raps six months but were hoping for another year. Our plans were to sit down on a Monday and he'd tell me everything I needed to know to live life without him. We didn't get a week, God called Dave Home on Saturday. 

Thistle Cove Farm was, for both of us, A Hiding Place and for me, over the last year plus, also about the grief. Throughout the years, Dave has been woven in my blog posts to the point it's difficult to tell which is the man and which is the myth. smile We'd found each other in Richmond, lived next to each other and, after six years, decided to marry each other. His first wife, Cathy, had died of cancer and Dave was a basket case. He was smoking too much and drinking too much but only enough to make him miserable yet not kill himself. 

~ Dave, headed to London ~

I know God sent Dave and I to each other and then, to this farm. Thistle Cove Farm was our hiding place, where we learned to trust and love, where we grew in our marriage and in our walk with God. Dave didn't accept Christ until the last few days of his life but he was always searching, seeking and finding Him on this farm. In the morning, Dave's favorite thing to say was, "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." It was always a beautiful start to our day and, whatever happened,we knew God was already there.

Dave and I brought baggage into this marriage and, those first years, it weighed us both down. We struggled to make "us" stronger than "me" even while we had other people living with us. Those first 18 months, two contractors lived with us and, every day, I cleaned for and fed four people. It was exhausting and exhilarating. Even with all our baggage, I knew Dave was a man worth the wait. A man who would grieve so heavily and so long for his first wife, was worthy of his namesake, David. Very soon after meeting him, I knew I'd have gone to hell to fetch him; as it was, I only had to go to the gates and wait. I feel his presence and his absence each and every day. Never am I unaware he's gone. Never does the black hole readjust to allow his space to be overtaken. Never is a long time.

It is within your power to change your marriage because it is within your power to change yourself. Only you are able to decide if you want God to change you and thus change your marriage and your life. Once, someone complimented me on something I'd written and asked if it'd been hard to write so honestly. My response, "No, not really. All I had to do was cut open my heart."

And, so it is with marriage. It took Dave and I a long while to trust each other, fully and completely. While I was the first to say, "If you want to leave, then leave now but if not, never bring it up again." Almost always, Dave was the first to say, "I'm sorry, let's not argue, life is too short." It took time for my fear to subside and for me to trust with my heart. Too much with too many had paved my heart path with shattered glass.

I had to learn trust before I could accept cherish.

In order for me to stand in the light of Dave's love, the shadows had to be dispersed. In my case, there didn't need be shadows to prove the light. I had to, willing and freely, cut  open my heart to allow trust and love to grow. That's what I did with Dave; that's what I'm doing with God. It was within my power to change my marriage because it was within my power to change myself; to allow God to change me I, freely and willingly, cut open my heart again.

I want "us" more than I want "me".

Linking with Jen at Finding Heaven Today and the Soli Deo Gloria Party.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle." ~ Albert Einstein ~

Today's Miracles - memories, good and bad ~ free will ~ Dave ~ hiding places ~ God's love, grace, mercy and kindness ~ Jen ~ change ~ Thistle Cove Farm ~