Est.

 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 ...

  Thank You Heavenly Father for Your amazing Love for Your people. 

 A retelling in poem form of Matthew 25 "TEN virgins, clothed in white, The Bridegroom went to meet; Their lamps were burning bright To guide His welcome feet. Five of the band were wise  Their lamps with oil filled high; The rest this care despise, And take their vessels dry. Long time the Lord abode - Down came the shades of night - The weary virgins nod, And then they sleep outright. At midnight came the cry Upon their startled ear - Behold the Bridegroom nigh, To light His steps appear. They trim their lamps; in vain The foolish virgins toil - Our lamps are out, O deign To give us of your oil! Not so - the wise ones cry - No oil have we to spare; But swiftly run and buy, That you the joy may share. They went to buy, when lo! The Bridegroom comes in state; Within those ready go, And shut the golden gate. The foolish virgins now Before the gateway crowd; With terror on their brow They knock and cry aloud:- "Lord open to our call - Hast Thou our names forgot?" Sadly the...

 

 I was looking through Grandad's poems yesterday and wanted to share these 2 excerpts. Thank You Heavenly Father for a goodly heritage. 

"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 came across this in a book by Isaac Watts and thought it quite good. Apparently the Pythagoreans recommended this practice.  "Nor let soft slumber close your eyes,  Before you’ve recollected thrice  The train of action through the day:  Where have my feet chose out their way’  What have I learn’d, where’er I’ve been,  From all I’ve heard, from all I’ve seen?  What know I more that’s worth the knowing?  What have I done that’s worth the doing?  What have I sought that I should shun?  What duty have I left undone?  Or into what new follies run?  These self-inquiries are the road  That leads to virtue, and to God. "

"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 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! 

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/Qyx-7pk3tlY Having Googled some sections of the poem, (to make sure I wasn't plagiarising), I remembered reading this quote from George Muller. I think it's lovely.  " The precious Lord Jesus Christ is our friend. Oh, let us seek to realize this! It is not merely a religious phrase or statement, but truly He is our friend. He is the Brother ” born for adversity,” the one who “sticks closer than a brother.” Who will never leave and never forsake us. How precious even on earth to have a heavenly friend, for this brings the joys of heaven in a little degree into our hearts now. This is just what our heavenly Father desires regarding His children, that they might be as happy as they are capable of being while here in the body. Have we entered into this, that the One who is “altogether lovely” is ready hour by hour, to be our Friend? When we cannot sleep at night, say to Christ, ” My precious heavenly Friend, wilt Thou give me a little sleep?” When in pain, sa...

 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 ...

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. 

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...

 Sorry, I can't work out how to embed this video so you'll have to click the link if you want to listen. It's the Collingsworth family singing "Ever Faithful". I really like it.  https://youtu.be/u2-cVpltVwA Resharing this poem found in Great Grandma's remembrance book as I find it so encouraging.  Today I'm feeling thankful for many reminders of God's faithfulness.  Years ago we used to sing an old chorus that seems particularly apt for this time: "How good is the God we adore!  Our Faithful, Unchangeable Friend!  Whose love is as great as His power,  And neither knows measure nor end.  Tis Jesus, the First and the Last Whose Spirit will lead us safe home.  We'll praise Him for all that is past,  And trust Him for all that's to come. " None of us know what lies ahead in 2021, but we do know that even when circumstances seem very bad, God is still very good.  We also know that His return is nearer now than it has ever been before. A...