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 For many, 2021 has not been a happy year, but rather an extremely difficult one. While there are no guarantees 2022 will be any happier, we who have trusted in the LORD Jesus Christ have the assurance that our life and times are in His hands, and that is the safest place for everything.  We can rest in His faithfulness and rejoice that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We can remember how He has shown us His goodness numerous times and we should always praise Him for His great mercy and grace, as without these, we would not have survived.   At the beginning of 2021, I did something  silly (I'll spare you the details so none of you are tempted to try it yourself 😉) which gave me the idea that I might not still be around in 2022. Yet we've reached the final day of 2021 and I'm still here. Yet, none of us know how soon our life may be taken. I hope that I will learn not to take anything for granted, but to be grateful to the Lord for every day He sees ...

 What a blessed privilege we have when the Lord God is our Heavenly Father and He invites us to trust in and cling to Him. 

  https://youtu.be/6exvEk4rSQY If you'd like to listen to me singing a song, feel free to click on the link. 

While you won't find this one in Scripture, I hope you will be as challenged as I was. Imagine my delight when I received some beautiful looking large mangoes. I was looking forward to enjoying the delicious fruit. Cutting into them revealed that was not going to happen. They were rotten!  As I pondered the rotten mangoes I was reminded how the Lord looks for good fruit in our lives. How disappointed He must be when He sees what outwardly to others may appear beautiful but He sees the hidden inner depths and so often they are not a pretty sight.  Lord, please don't let me fall into the trap of being such a hypocrite that people may say I have good fruit, if I have not repented of the corruption of malice or any other evil thing still lingering in my heart. Please make my fruit good and pleasing to You. Amen! 

https://youtu.be/tdDDmDFpgK8 Here is a beautiful rendition of a song/hymn I heard as a poem several years ago.

Lily was a missionary friend of my Granny.  It was my privilege to meet her a few times. I love this poem she wrote. 

 Yesterday I had a short but interesting conversation with a lady who I met several years ago. She was asking me if I wouldn't mind not being alive much longer. I replied that that was perfectly alright by me. Earlier today I came across this quote...  "But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me." Psalm 31:14-15. I thank God He has drawn me to Himself and given me the gift of eternal life... However short or long my sojourn on earth may be, I am fully convinced that Heaven will be far more glorious than anything I could ever imagine and I will enter only because of the Lord's amazing grace, mercy and lovingkindness.  "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him." 2 Corinthians 5:8-9.

https://youtu.be/Ucnf4rm75Fk If you've never seen or heard this before, you may find it a little offensive but apparently people find most things offensive these days. Truth can be hard to hear. 

I came across this poem in a devotional and quite like it so thought I would share, although I'm sure it won't be everyone's style. I'm so glad we can trust our Saviour; He's the only One who is always totally trustworthy.  Trust and rest in Christ forever, Lean thy head upon His breast; Nothing from His love can sever Those who simply trust and rest. Trust and rest in hours of sorrow; Every wrong shall be redressed, In some happy, bright tomorrow, If you only trust and rest. Trust and rest when all around thee Puts thy faith to sorest test; Let no fear nor foe confound thee, Wait for God and trust and rest. Trust and rest with heart abiding, Like a birdling in its nest, Underneath His feathers hiding; Fold thy wings and trust and rest. Trust and rest till gentle fingers Fold thy hands across thy breast, While the echo softly lingers, Everlasting trust and rest. Trust and rest, trust and rest, God is working for the best. A. B. Simpson 

I came across this and hope it will encourage you as much as it encourages me. This was written in 1932 by a pastor in Mississippi named A. M. Overton, who had a wife and three small children. His wife was pregnant with their fourth child but when it came time for delivery, there were complications and both she and the baby died. During the funeral service, the preacher officiating the service noticed my grandfather writing something on a piece of paper. After the service the minister asked him about it, and he handed him the paper with a poem he had just written which he titled, “He Maketh No Mistake” He Maketh No Mistake "My Father’s way may twist and turn, my heart may throb and ache. But in my soul I’m glad I know, He maketh no mistake. My cherished plans may go astray, my hopes may fade away, but still I’ll trust my Lord to lead, for He doth know the way. Tho’ night be dark and it may seem that day will never break; I’ll pin my faith, my all in Him, He maketh no mistake. Ther...

“Throne of Grace” It is the work of the blessed Spirit to take of the things of Christ, and to show them to the soul; to reveal to us the precious benefits of redemption, and the riches of Divine grace--and to present them to us in such a transforming, and convincing, and penetrating form, as that they shall not only become sources of abiding comfort to the heart--but active, operating, influential principles of the life! It is the work of the blessed Spirit to be the Comforter of the children of God. Yes . . . wherever a believer is afflicted; wherever he sheds a sorrowful tear; wherever he is pained by some heart-rending grief; wherever he is bowed beneath some oppressive burden-- there is the Comforter to cheer, to solace, to sustain; pointing him . . . from the wound--to its balm, from the grief--to its ultimate cure, from present suffering--to eternal rest at God's right hand! The Holy Spirit is not a traveler to sojourn for a season, but He is a Friend to abide and dwell with...

 Today is Holocaust Memorial Day 2021. Will you join me in taking a few minutes to reflect on the atrocities man perpetrated on their fellow man?  Four scenes from Auschwitz - Birkenau (just at this one camp!)  "Work makes free": the slogan at the entrance to the camp.  If we forget, we risk letting similar things occur again.  We must not let that happen!!!