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I hope this blesses you like it did me! (Old fashioned language as it was written quite a while ago.)  " And if Christ is thus the source of satisfaction to His people , He has communicated to them ten thousand other sources of joy : — all of them connected with His Cross and with His love . None but a Christian can say , " I will go unto God my exceeding joy - the Lord God is my strength and song . " He alone can take up the language of the psalmist , " I will be glad , and rejoice in Thee ; " but he can do so , because God is reconciled to him through Christ , and has become his God. A covenant has been sealed and ratified through the blood of the Cross ; and the attributes of God, once so full of terror , are become his shield , his stronghold , and his triumph ; and he can think of all the glorious perfections of the Almighty, and then say , " I will go unto God , my exceeding joy. " His resistless power , His infinite wisdom, His unchanging fidel...

 "Christians! The Redeemer with all His glorious salvation, in all His offices, and under all the characters which He sustains--is yours! You may say with the fullest assurance, "My beloved is mine, and I am His!" You are the objects of the blessed Redeemer's particular care, given into His hands by His and your Father, to be saved by Him . . .   from the guilt and dominion of sin,   from all the powers of darkness, and   from the vengeance of eternal fire! He executes all of His offices on your behalf: As a Priest, He has made an atonement for your sin and reconciled you to God. As a Prophet, He teaches you from His Word, all that you need for life and godliness. As a King, He reigns in His Church, and rules in the heart of every believer. He is a Physician to heal the diseased. He is a Shepherd to feed and guide His flock. He is a Counselor to direct them in all the intricate paths of life. He is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother, and whose friendship is u...

 In His Hands 'Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt Our feelings come and go; Our best estate is tossed about In ceaseless ebb and flow.   No mood of feeling, form of thought Is constant for a day; But thou, 0 Lord, thou changest not: The same thou art alway. I grasp thy strength, make it mine own, My heart with peace is blest; I lose my hold, and then comes down Darkness, and cold unrest. Let me no more my comfort draw From my frail hold of Thee, In this alone rejoice with awe—- Thy mighty grasp of me. Out of that weak, unquiet drift That comes but to depart, To that pure heaven my spirit lift Where thou unchanging art. Lay hold of me with Thy strong grasp, Let Thy almighty arm In its embrace my weakness clasp, And I shall fear no harm. Thy purpose of eternal good Let me but surely know; On this I'll lean—let changing mood And feeling come or go— Glad when Thy sunshine fills my soul, Not lorn when clouds o'ercast, Since Thou within thy sure control Of love dost hold me ...

 A friend lent me a very encouraging booklet. Here's one of the many true accounts I read in it today. I hope you are also encouraged by it.  "Dr. F. B. Meyer was once crossing the Atlantic. The captain asked him to preach in the saloon on Sunday morning. He spoke on “answered prayer” and gave a number of illustrations. An agnostic was present and someone said to him, “What do you think of Meyer’s sermon?” “Oh,” he said, “I don’t believe a word of it.” Dr. Meyer was speaking that afternoon to the passengers in the steerage (second-class) end of the ship. The agnostic picked up two oranges, put them in his pocket and walked over to the meeting. As he threaded his way in and out amongst the steerage folk, he came across an old lady with silvery hair, her eyes closed in sleep, her head back and her hands open on her lap. He took the two oranges out of his pocket and placed them in her hands, and went on to the meeting. When he came back the old lady was eating one of the oranges....

 

  https://youtu.be/srE-5zum0bo?si=SI3r6smDhUeszMi9 I hope you find this encouraging. 

"There are moments on our journey following the Lord Where God illumines ev’ry step we take. There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us, As we try to understand each move He makes. When the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him. Bow the knee; Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see. Bow the knee; Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity. And when you don’t understand the purpose of His plan, In the presence of the King, bow the knee. There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall, The cold and lonely winds won’t cease to blow. And there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel; We are tempted to believe God does not know. When the storms arise, don’t forget we live by faith and not by sight. Bow the knee; Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see. Bow the knee; Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who hold...

"Lord! my soul is burdened By a weight of care, And my foot is taken in the fowler's snare; ​Darkness gathers o'er me, I shall fall or flee: Helper of the helpless, Rise and succor me! Dangers seem to threaten, Tempters' wiles assail; In Thy light I see them, Yet I weakly quail. Strange unholy terrors In my bosom rise; "What distrustful language— Heavy groans and sighs! Thoughts of sin's defilement Born of faithless mood, Hosts of unclean devils, guests of hell's dark brood, Leave me lame and mourning, Blind to seek and trace All the glorious beauty Of Immanuel's face. Look, oh, look upon me! See my wounds! and hear In my soul's veiled chambers, what dishonoring fear! Withered arms for service, And a palsied frame That hath scarce a heart-throb At Thy precious name. Touch me, cleanse me, heal me! Thou didst give me life; Speak the word, and save me From this deadly strife. Thine is full salvation, And the gift is free: Helper of the helpless, Rise ...

 I wonder if you've ever felt like this? I think it's probably that way for all believers at some point... I find it encouraging anyway. I hope you do too.   by James Smith  "I am cast down!" And why are you cast down? "My heart is burdened with a sense of my short-comings! Every duty I perform is so imperfect. Every purpose I form is so soon frustrated. Every hope of seeing better days is so soon beclouded. My heart is so fearfully depraved. My life is so unlike the life of Jesus. My temper is so unholy. My prayers are so brief and heartless. My praises are so feeble and fitful. I do so little good. I live to so little purpose. My evidences are so dim. My prospects are so overcast. I am harassed sometimes with the fear of death. I cannot realize the glories of Heaven. I am dissatisfied with the world — and yet glued to it! I hate sin — and yet fall into it! I am a riddle, a mystery, a mass of inconsistency! Is it, then, any wonder that I am cast down?" No, ...

A dear Sister friend of mine sent me some words she'd been inspired to write and encouraged me to try setting it to music. With a few small adjustments / additions, here's my attempt.  https://youtu.be/x38OLYGfG70

"A Little Way" --Anonymous "A little way! I know it is not far To that dear home where my beloved are; And still my heart sits, like a bird, upon The empty nest, and mourns its treasures gone, Plumed for their flight, And vanished quite. Ah me! Where is the comfort? Though I say They have but journeyed on a little way. "A little way! At times they seem so near, Their voices even murmur in my ear, To all my duties loving presence lend, And with sweet ministry my steps attend. 'Twas here we met and parted company; Why should their gain be such a grief to me? This sense of loss! This heavy cross! Dear Savior, take the burden off, I pray, And show me heaven is but--a little way. "A little way? The sentence I repeat, Hoping and longing to extract some sweet To mingle with the bitter; from Thy hand I take the cup I cannot understand, And in my weakness give myself to Thee. Although it seems so very, very far To that dear home where my beloved are, I know, I know,...

"and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son." Revelation 21:4-7. 3 people recently challenged me to read the whole book of Revelation in one go. I had never thought to do that before... The verses above have long been a favourite of mine. When things are seeming difficult to handle, I turn and read the last 3 chapters. It gives me much encouragement to press on; the end will be so wonderful!! For my friends who are struggling with awful pain, I pr...

 I trust you will also find this very encouraging.

Before Ira Sankey became D.L. Moody's mission partner, he had been a soldier in the American Civil War. One night he was out on guard duty; he lifted his eyes to heaven and began singing praise to the LORD.  Years after the war ended, Sankey was sailing somewhere and a crowd of people recognised him and asked him to sing. He again looked Heavenward and sang a hymn.   A man from the crowd asked him if, on a certain night during the war, he had performed night duty for a certain infantry unit. "Yes, I did." was his reply.  The man continued, "I was on the opposite side of the war, hiding by a bush near your camp. My gun was aimed at your head when you looked upward and began to sing. As I liked music I thought I'd let you finish the song before shooting you. Then I realised what you were singing. It was the same hymn my mother sang to me many times when I was a child; the one you sang tonight. I tried, but I was powerless to pull the trigger. I recognised that yo...

I found this poem an encouragement.  Hope you do too!  Are you eagerly awaiting His return? I can't grasp how wonderful it will be to see the Saviour face to face, but I know it will be far more glorious than anything and everything else this life brings! 

  I hope you are as encouraged by these as I have been! 

Samuel Rutherford was born in Scotland in 1600 and he died in 1661. I recently started reading his "Garden of Spices" and wanted to share a couple of the poems found therein. Some may find the very old fashioned language harder to understand but I think they're worth reading.  I hope you also find them encouraging. 

Here are a couple of things I want to remember as we head into 2024. No matter what the coming year has in store for us, we can rejoice in the fact that our Saviour is completely faithful and He holds us securely. We can rejoice knowing we are extremely blessed to be part of His family.  We belong to Him so we should serve and worship Him joyfully and gratefully.  He is our Help, our Refuge, our Strong Tower. When we fully trust Him and desire to please Him He will be honoured and glorified.  He invites us to pour out our hearts to Him. Scripture promises there will be difficult times ahead but while we walk humbly with Him, He will always be with us, so we need not fear.    I hope you are encouraged by the above quote by J. C. Ryle.   

 https://youtu.be/bkjhP9hfFCU?si=BjaniSAxJNwfJHhk I found this piece by James Smith encouraging. I hope you would also be blessed by pondering on these truths.  "This is God's representation of the gospel. It brings tidings from Heaven, tidings for sinners, tidings of good things for them; yes, tidings of the very best things — for the very worst of men! Not for them exclusively, but for men as sinners, including the very worst of them. It is the glorious glad tidings of the blessed God, giving correct views of his nature, revealing his loving heart, publishing his gracious thoughts, and making known his mercy to sinful men. These tidings calculated to gladden the saddest heart, cheer the desponding mind, and fill the despairing soul with joy and peace. Never were there such Glad Tidings! No one but an infinite God could have devised them. No one, but the All-merciful God would have sent them to rebellious sinners! O that Heaven and earth would unite to praise, bless, magnify,...

  https://youtu.be/krA83x6jGng Here's the latest song I wrote and recorded, stemming from a few conversations and sermon snippets... As the days are getting darker, we need to be reminded to look up for our Redeemer is coming quickly!  Thank You Heavenly Father for the blessed hope!! I hope you are blessed and encouraged.