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I hope these quotes from Elizabeth Prentiss, (1818 – 1878), challenge, bless and encourage you, as they do for me.   The longer I live, the more conscious I am of my human frailty—and of the constant, overwhelming need I have of God's grace. Dying grace is not usually given until it is needed. Death, to the disciple of Jesus, is only stepping from one room to another and far better room of our Father's house. And how little all the sorrows of the way will seem to us, when we get to our home above. You never will be really happy—until Christ becomes your dearest and most intimate friend. Seek God—not joy. God delights to try our faith by the conditions in which He places us. What are trials, but angels to beckon us nearer to Him. What does it matter, after all, from what point of time or space, that we go to our eternal home. O how we shall smile after we get there—that we ever gave it one moment's thought. In proportion to your devotion to the Savior—will be the blessedness...

 I think this seems an appropriate piece to share. I hope you find it an encouraging blessing.  "PROVIDENCE AND GRACE "This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose"— "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." "The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord." Psalm 37:23, 39 Here are two fronds of God's palm-grove bending over His true people. Comforting, as we have seen, is the great fundamental truth of theology—"The Lord reigns"—that all events are ordered and controlled by a supreme superintending Providence. But there is a special comfort to believers—the spiritual Israel of every age—that their 'steps,'—their plans and purposes in life (in a better and nobler than the heathen sense—their "destinies")—are overruled by a gracious covenant-Jehovah. That is a beautiful picture given in Hosea (11:1-5) of God, as a Father, watching and guiding the steps of His own children. I...

Romans 8:28 just keeps popping up for me sooo many times this past few weeks. Even when our circumstances don't appear to us to be at all good and favourable, it's a promise and God always keeps His promises!   I hope you also find it of encouragement!  “In one thousand trials, it is not five hundred of them that work for the believer’s good, but nine hundred ninety-nine of them, and one beside.” ~ George Mueller ~

"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...

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! 

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.   

  The world's politics, pleasures, and pursuits! The world and the Church are essentially and eternally  distinct  — and they ought to be  distinguishable . The Church ought not to  mix  with the world — but to bear a practical testimony against it, that its  works  and  ways  are evil. All through our Lord's prayer, He keeps up the distinction, and twice over He asserts of His disciples,  "They are not of the world — even as I am not of the world!" Believers are not of the world. They are born from above, and possess a  nature  far superior to that of the world — which  unfits  them for its pleasures and pursuits, and  qualifies  them for the enjoyments and employments of the Heavenly world. They are delivered from the  thraldom  of the world — and are raised above its pursuits and its joys. They will not be  conquered  by the world — but overcome it by faith. They will not be ...

  “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God, and are called according to His purpose!” Romans 8:28 If you are a sincere believer in Jesus, whatever may be your present difficult circumstances, however trying, however perplexing, “It will all end in mercy!” You may not think so now. You may be writing bitter things against yourself. You may be misinterpreting the designs of God’s providence. You may be doubting the precious promises of God’s holy Word. But, notwithstanding your mistakes, your doubts, your fears, your false conclusions – “It will all end in mercy!” You do not think so- nor did Jacob once, nor did Joseph once, nor did Job once, nor did thousands once – who are now in glory! They were mistaken – and so are you! They judged by appearances – and so do you! They changed their minds- and so will you! All your troubles are appointed in infinite love! They are all weighed out by sovereign goodness! They are all limited by perfect...

I'd heard the name often enough but I had only read one or two of his quotes.  Here are a few that I thought are particularly worth sharing.  "For eighteen centuries every engine of destruction that human science, philosophy, wit, reasoning or brutality could bring to bear against a book has been brought to bear against that book to stamp it out of the world, but it has a mightier hold on the world today than ever before. If that were man’s book it would have been annihilated and forgotten hundreds of years ago…  It stands absolutely unshaken today. At times almost all of the wise and great of the earth have been pitted against the Bible, and only an obscure few for it. Yet it has stood." "The great need to-day in individuals, in churches and in preachers is that the Wind of God blow upon us."  "God has not changed; and His ear is just as quick to hear the voice of real prayer, and His hand is just as strong to save, as it ever was."  "There must ...

I searched some sites and found all these quotes from Alan Redpath. I know very little about him but nearly all of these greatly encouraged me in some way.  I hope you are also blessed, challenged and encouraged.  (This first one is abridged to make it more personal.)  "God expects nothing from (insert your name here) but failure. We are no different today from the day before we were converted. We would be capable of committing any sin imaginable but for the grace of God. We are no different as people from what we were as youngsters. And the sins that beset us then beset us now, were it not for a constant, continual dependence upon the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God, and the power of the Holy Ghost to keep us.  As long as I seek by His grace to maintain the attitude of committal and surrender to Him, then every demand, however unexpected or grim, hard, tough; every decision, however difficult; every temptation, every fierce dart of the Enemy of my soul is an at...

 A Curious Meditation As I was walking out for exercise in the fields one morning, having been pleading with God to give me some profitable subject for meditation — I suddenly fell into this train of thought, which I afterwards wrote down; and, as it may interest and profit some, it is here inserted. There are three things which I especially desire: more communion with God, more likeness to the Lord Jesus, and more usefulness to his Church. There are three things which I deprecate: the withering of my gifts, the decay of my graces, and to become useless in the Lord's vineyard. There are three things which I dread: that I should become a proud professor, that I should become a lukewarm Christian, and that I should fall into the hands of man. There are three things which I sometimes wish for (but which God will never grant me on earth): to be totally free from sin, to be delivered from a daily cross, and to be always happy. There are three things which I feel sure of: hatred by the w...