Encouragements for the day . . .

Often when I pray, I have this visual in my mind of the Lord's hands cupped and our family in the mist of His hands.  A most beautiful and comforting picture to me.  I was so blessed when I read this devotional this morning and also by the picture and verses that a dear sister sent earlier this week.  I hope they will be an encouragement to you as well.  :-)

“On mine arm shall they trust.”
- Isa_51:5
In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
(Psa 91:4)

All of Psalm 91 is well worth reading and meditating on in light of this picture.  Isn't that just a beautiful picture to remind us of the truths of who God is and His faithfulness to us!

Thank you Pam for sharing this with me!!! You are a precious sister and friend to me!

Five years ago . . .

God brought this little blessing into our lives.

This picture just so captures Esther!!!

 Brittany and Breanna made a very special dinner for a very special 5 year old.

Brittany had fun trying out a new recipe for Chick-Fil-A nuggets complete with their special recipe sauce.  They were extremely good!!!  Green beans and homemade sweet potato fries accompanied this fine meal.  :-) 

 Esther sweetly smiling as we all sang Happy Birthday to her.  Grandma was even on the phone singing with us.  She had her cake and ice cream virtually. :-)  We so missed not having her with us today.  How thankful we were that we could still be together via the phone.  :-)

 Another picture from her photo shoot trying to get her year picture.  She just makes me smile.  

 Breanna and Elizabeth made her a special dress.  :-)  A yummy one too!!!

 This was the other shot that I was trying to decide between.  I so love her smile and sparkle in her eyes.  

This one just fully captured her.  I cropped it, which is what the first picture in this post is and that will be her year picture.  

 A very happy birthday indeed!  We love you so much Esther!  

She was so excited for her fifth birthday because she now can finally chew gum.  :-)  We got her a big tub that had 360 pieces in it as one of her gifts.  She loved it and feels like a big girl now.  :-)  

Five is such a turning point in some ways in our home as this is the year that she will learn to read and tell time so will receive her first Bible and watch.  Children seem to grow up so quickly.  Oh that they will all grow and live their lives for the Lord, glorifying Him in all that they do.  This is our earnest prayer for Esther and for all of our children.  

~Brittany

~Brittany

"Another deep truth I have learnt, and one we can all cling to, is that God is personally interested in us as individuals and that He will engineer our circumstances and daily lives so that He can thereby make us like Jesus.  This takes the sting out of much that could otherwise hurt.  He allows various accidents and happenings to occur, which will affect us deeply, perhaps, only so that, through them, we may be drawn closer to Himself." ~ Helen Roseveare

~Brittany

"Quit you like men, be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13).
Do not pray for easy lives! Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. --Phillips Brooks.

~Brittany

"When you are doubtful as to your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, and ask Him to shut against you every door but the right one. . . . Meanwhile keep on as you are, and consider the absence of indication to be the indication of God's will that you are on His track. . . . As you go down the long corridor, you will find that He has preceded you, and locked many doors which you would fain have entered; but be sure that beyond these there is one which He has left unlocked.  Open it and enter, and you will find yourself face-to-face with a bend of the river of opportunity, broader and deeper than anything you had dared to imagine in your sunniest dreams.  Launch forth upon it; it conducts to the open sea.
God guides us, often by circumstances.  At one moment the way may seem utterly blocked; and then shortly afterward some trivial incident occurs, which might not seem much to others, but which to the keen eye of faith speaks volumes.  Sometimes these things are repeated in various ways, in answer to prayer.  They are not haphazard results of chance, but the opening up of circumstances in the direction in which we would walk.  And they begin to multiply as we advance toward our goal, just as the lights do as we near a populous town, when darting through the land by night express."  ~ F.B. Meyer

~Brittany

Meditation by Spurgeon

This devotional was a real blessing and challenge to me the other day.

“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.”  - Romans 8:28

Upon some points a believer is absolutely sure. He knows, for instance, that God sits in the stern-sheets of the vessel when it rocks most. He believes that an invisible hand is always on the world’s tiller, and that wherever providence may drift, Jehovah steers it. That re-assuring knowledge prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging waters and sees the spirit of Jesus treading the billows, and he hears a voice saying, “It is I, be not afraid.” He knows too that God is always wise, and, knowing this, he is confident that there can be no accidents, no mistakes; that nothing can occur which ought not to arise. He can say, “If I should lose all I have, it is better that I should lose than have, if God so wills: the worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall to me if God ordains it.” “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” The Christian does not merely hold this as a theory, but he knows it as a matter of fact. Everything has worked for good as yet; the poisonous drugs mixed in fit proportions have worked the cure; the sharp cuts of the lancet have cleansed out the proud flesh and facilitated the healing. Every event as yet has worked out the most divinely blessed results; and so, believing that God rules all, that he governs wisely, that he brings good out of evil, the believer’s heart is assured, and he is enabled calmly to meet each trial as it comes. The believer can in the spirit of true resignation pray, “Send me what thou wilt, my God, so long as it comes from thee; never came there an ill portion from thy table to any of thy children.”

“Say not my soul, ‘From whence can God relieve my care?’

Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere.

His method is sublime, his heart profoundly kind,

God never is before his time, and never is behind.”

-Charles Spurgeon's Morning Meditation for August 5th

~Brittany