Separation of Heart and Reserve of Soul

“I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse.”  - Song of Solomon 5:1
The heart of the believer is Christ’s garden. He bought it with his precious blood, and he enters it and claims it as his own. A garden implies separation. It is not the open common; it is not a wilderness; it is walled around, or hedged in. Would that we could see the wall of separation between the church and the world made broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear Christians saying, “Well, there is no harm in this; there is no harm in that,” thus getting as near to the world as possible. Grace is at a low ebb in that soul which can even raise the question of how far it may go in worldly conformity. A garden is a place of beauty, it far surpasses the wild uncultivated lands. The genuine Christian must seek to be more excellent in his life than the best moralist, because Christ’s garden ought to produce the best flowers in all the world. Even the best is poor compared with Christ’s deservings; let us not put him off with withering and dwarf plants. The rarest, richest, choicest lilies and roses ought to bloom in the place which Jesus calls his own. The garden is a place of growth. The saints are not to remain undeveloped, always mere buds and blossoms. We should grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Growth should be rapid where Jesus is the Husbandman, and the Holy Spirit the dew from above. A garden is a place of retirement. So the Lord Jesus Christ would have us reserve our souls as a place in which he can manifest himself, as he doth not unto the world. O that Christians were more retired, that they kept their hearts more closely shut up for Christ! We often worry and trouble ourselves, like Martha, with much serving, so that we have not the room for Christ that Mary had, and do not sit at his feet as we should. The Lord grant the sweet showers of his grace to water his garden this day.
- Charles Spurgeon's Evening Meditation for June 18th
~Brittany

Trip to Georgia

Georgia!! Sweet Georgia!!  How excited we all were to be visiting this past weekend, what will, Lord willing, soon be our new home state.  They look like a good making for Southern Bells, don't you think? :-)

 

 

 

 

 

First order of business was to drop off our sweet traveling companion Ms Chloe Cramer to the Crawford's at their Marco pizza place.  Chloe you were such a delight to have with us!  We so enjoyed your sweet fellowship!

 

Austin demonstrated how to professional make a Marco's pizza.  When your friends own pizza and ice cream restaurants you sure do get spoiled!  Thanks Crawford's for the pizza and ice cream!  You all are so precious and good to us!

Oh - Joe and his hat.  Funny story behind this pic from our visit last month.  You are too funny Mr. Crawford!

Catching up a tiny bit before taking off to our destination.  What sweet fellowship! 

I am so sad that we did not get pictures of our first night at the Morton's!  
The Morton family gives the meaning to southern hospitality!  TRULY!!!
We were greeted by nine smiling cheerful faces that had prepared the most fabulous meal for us.  It was fine dining.  The elegance of the table and the way their young men are such gentlemen, I have never seen anything like it!  Even though we did not arrive until nine, the evening was such a blessing!

Saturday was filled with excitement and joy as our family spent some time driving around the area, looking at a house,  a cookout and lots of precious fellowship with the whole Morton clan. 

What a blessing Mr. Morton is to Seth!  This was taken right before we loaded up to go look at the house with him. 

The children had such fun playing with all of the Morton children!  What a blessing to see so many children being raised for the glory of the Lord!  They are all sooooo precious!!!

The love that we experienced this past weekend truly is beyond words.  Here Mrs. Morton and Adeline are serving up coffee after the meal.  What precious ladies.  They served so joyfully and endlessly.  Truly the hands and feet of Jesus. 

Brittany talking with Ms.Katie.  She is one of the sweetie ladies you could ever meet.  

 

After the cookout we went over to Wesley and Rachel's for a time of singing and more fellowship.  We were truly so blessed the whole weekend!  

After another late night of fantastic fellowship, sleep is way over rated you know . . .

I think it was 2 before we got to bed that night but we did get to have tea and more fellowship.  :-)

Sheer delight was the consensus of everyone!

The Lord's Day 

We were so blessed to be apart of worshiping and remembering of our Lord's death and resurrection with our brothers and sisters.  

The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
(Psa 28:8)

Oh the richness of the fellowship of that day was beyond expressing in word or pictures! 

                                      These are some of the most awesome guys around!                                                                           Mr. Morton, Alan Smith, my sweet husband, Thomas Smith and my dear son.

This picture just represents so much. 

They just do not come any sweeter.  Martha, Chloe and Danae enjoying some sweet fellowship.

Pure Delight!!

I am not sure who was more delighted, Elizabeth or Brittany.  The joy in both of their eyes was just so precious!

And after waiting so long. . .  we finally got to meet and present sweet Emily Smith with something that we had made for her. 

We just loved this picture of Emily and Adeline!  You are both such beautiful godly women. 

 

We were so excited to finally get to meet the Smith family!  What a blessing!  Isn't that tummy just so precious! Emily had no idea that Breanna was taking that picture but it was just too sweet. 

The Smith boys, Esther and Sarah playing with blocks. 

Emily Crawford talking with Sarah.  What a special young lady. 

After a long wonderful day we were all winding down.  Well it was about 1 in the morning before we departed to head to bed.  Except that then back at the house the girls and I got to talking to Adeline and Martha and it was about 3:30 before we actually did go to bed.  Oh dear. . . no wonder we are still tired!  It was such a blessed time of fellowship.  Imagine the five of us at 3 in the morning praying and singing.  It just does not get any better!

 All good things must come to an end  . . . I suppose.

Monday morning we headed out after another delicious meal and final farewells for this time. 

Delighted and Excited about the future!

After picking Chloe up in Jackson we had our first experience at . . . 

We had to laugh as we notice that all four of the vehicles in this picture are white. 

It was a great trip home.  These pictures only represent really a small fraction of our visit as everyone was enjoying the fellowship too much to go grab the camera and take pictures.  But it is at least a little glimpse and remembrance of the opening of what lies ahead for us.  Tayte just asked today if it was too soon to plan our next trip. Hopefully, it will be with a load of our belonging heading to our new home.:-)

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
(Psa 27:14)