God Moves In A Mysterious Way

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan His work in vain:

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

- Poem by William Cowper, 1731-1800

~Brittany

Showers of blessing

“I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.”
- Eze_34:26
Here is sovereign mercy-”I will give them the shower in its season.” Is it not sovereign, divine mercy?-for who can say, “I will give them showers,” except God? There is only one voice which can speak to the clouds, and bid them beget the rain. Who sendeth down the rain upon the earth? Who scattereth the showers upon the green herb? Do not I, the Lord? So grace is the gift of God, and is not to be created by man. It is also needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain? As absolutely needful is the divine blessing. In vain you labour, until God the plenteous shower bestows, and sends salvation down. Then, it is plenteous grace. “I will send them showers.” It does not say, “I will send them drops,” but “showers.” So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, he usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! Ah! we want plenteous grace to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating showers of grace. Again, it is seasonable grace. “I will cause the shower to come down in his season.” What is thy season this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. “As thy days so shall thy strength be.” And here is a varied blessing. “I will give thee showers of blessing.” The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God’s blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If he gives converting grace, he will also give comforting grace. He will send “showers of blessing.” Look up to-day, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering.
Charles Spurgeon Morning and Evening Devotional (Feb. 24 Morning)

Giants, God's Sustaining Hand, Fighting in Prayer

"It is when we are in the way of duty that we find giants.

It was when Israel was going forward that the giants appeared.

When they turned back into the wilderness they found none."

- Selected, Streams in the Desert, Vol. 2 -

"It is most needful for all servants of Christ to remember that whenever the Lord places a man in a position of responsibility, He will both fit him for it and maintain him in it.

It is, of course, another thing altogether if a man will rush unsent into any field of work, or any post of difficulty or danger.  In such a case we may assuredly look for a thorough breakdown, sooner or later.  But when God calls a man to a certain position, He will endow him with the needed grace to occupy it.

This holds good in every case.  We can never fail if we only cling to the living God.  We can never run dry if we are drawing from the fountain.  Our tiny springs will soon dry up; but our Lord Jesus Christ declares, 'He that believeth in me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.'"  - C.H.M.

"We plant our feet, and we fight in prayer."
- Paul Washer -
sermon, Importunity in Prayer, part 1

~Brittany

A beautiful quote!
May we each show true love and grace to our brothers and sisters in Christ, realizing that in different ways at different times we need them to show us the same!

"Let us never set down men in a low place,

as being graceless and godless,

simply because their faith is feeble and their love is at times cold.

Let us remember the case of Thomas,

and be very kind and of tender mercy.

Our Lord has many weak children in His family,

many dull pupils in His school,

many raw soldiers in His army,

and many lame sheep in His flock.

Yet He bears with them all and casts none away.

Happy is that Christian who has learned to deal likewise with his brethren.

There are many in Christ's church, who,

like Thomas, are dull and slow,

but are yet real and true believers."
-- J. C. Ryle --

~Brittany

Perfection in Forgiveness & Grace ~ Thank You Mom & Dad

I love this. :-)  My parents are not perfect, and they would tell anyone that themselves.  But they always work through and resolve things.  I always know, without a shadow of a doubt, that they love and are fully committed to the Lord and to each other.  Thank you Mom and Dad for your commitment and godly example!  And I thank the Lord for His amazing grace that saved and gave me such wonderful parents!
~Brittany

"I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize the Lord is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest positions He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult, His grace is sufficient."

~ Hudson Taylor ~

~Brittany

Confessions of a Yelling Mom (now reformed)

What an encouragement and challenge this post by Lisa Jacobson from Club31Women blog was to me! Very convicting, but also encouraging.  I hope you will be blessed by reading it.

 

Nobody would have pegged me for a yeller.

Actually, I wouldn’t have guessed it either. Maybe my memory is faulty, but I don’t remember ever having shouted before – except maybe at a college football game or catching a friend’s attention across the parking lot.

Other than that, I’d say I’m a fairly soft-spoken person.

But something seemed to have happened once I had small children. Yeah, it’s like something snapped!

I became a yeller.

A yeller? Me??

At first I blamed it on all kinds of things. Hormones. Stress. Sleep-deprivation. But after a while, I had to face up to the facts. No matter what the cause, I’d turned into a yelling mom.

And I hated it and wanted to change.

I cried out to God to miraculously overcome this awful struggle, secretly hoping for some kind of instantaneous healing. But it turned out to be more of a journey – by His grace, in His strength, and with a lot of determined effort on my part.

One of the first steps of my journey was to start an anger journal. I wrote down each time I lost my cool. I recorded the time of the day, the setting, the person, and the circumstance – much like you would in a food journal. Then I looked for patterns. When did I most often lose it? Under what conditions?

I tried to identify the specific situations I could do something about. For instance, I often unraveled in the late morning and much of it was due to being HUNGRY. A mid-morning snack went a long way toward that trouble. Also, I found that taking a short nap after lunch helped me better handle our afternoons. Setting up a basic routine with our young ones reduced the general chaos which made it a bit easier on my nerves too.

Now those were some problems I could address. But what about those things that I couldn’t control or anticipate? Spilled cereal bowls. Poopy diapers. Arguing children. Seemingly incessant demands on my time and body all day long. Yes, what about those?

Next step….

Unknowingly, I’d always orchestrated my life around what I wanted out of the day. As a single woman, I’d set out goals for myself and then I accomplished them. But my life changed dramatically when I had children. It was no longer all about me and what I thought a day should look like.
So a change was needed – a change in my perspective. It wasn’t merely about what I wanted anymore. My goals. My purposes. My life.

My question needed to be, “Lord, what do You have for us today?”

What if He wanted me to learn “serving” by cleaning up one spill after another that morning? Then I could view the disaster as more of “an opportunity” than a “trial”.

What if our children ruined our trip to the library because of all their bickering? Hmm…looks like The Lord wants us to learn more about loving each other than about reptiles and kangaroos.

When I began looking at our day in this light, that “snappish” feeling wasn’t nearly so strong. And, even if it was one of those terribly trying times, I could ask, “Please, Lord, help me to see what You want for us here?”

While this was a slow, and sometimes painful, process, I eventually got better. Quieter and calmer. Peaceful.

And if you happen to be on just such a journey? Here’s what I’d say:

• Don’t listen to the Enemy that you can’t change. Because you can.

• Don’t be overly hard on yourself if you mess up. Simply start anew the next day. Or  even the very next moment. (On occasion, I’d stop mid-yell…then say aloud, “Nope. I want to try that again.”)

• Don’t attempt to overcome this in your own strength. Rather in Christ (Phil. 4:13).

• Do ask for support and prayer from people who love you. While rather humbling, I’m thankful for a couple of close friends and a husband who stood with me on this one.

So, yes, by God’s grace I’m no longer a yeller.

Well, unless my kids do something really wonderful, that is. Then you’ll hear me shouting as loudly as the next mom.

Yelling and cheering.

And I’ll be cheering for you too.

In His Grace,
Lisa Jacobson

~Posted By Breanna

"Oh, for grace to love the rough paths, because we see his footprints upon them!"

- C.H. Spurgeon -

Salvation is of the Lord

May this be true and truly recognized in each of our hearts!

"Salvation is of the Lord."—Jonah 2:9.

Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul "dead in trespasses and sins," and it is He also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both "Alpha and Omega." "Salvation is of the Lord." If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God's gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord's strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God's chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. "He only is my rock and my salvation." Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heaven's hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: "Salvation is of the Lord."

-Charles Spurgeon's Morning Meditation, February 26th

Posted by: Brittany

Excellent Paul Washer Quotes

"Even our failures can bring forth good if they crush our independence, drive us closer to Christ, and make us more aware of our need of grace. The greatest need of true saints is a greater revelation of the love of God in Christ."  -Paul Washer

"Since you and I are pitiful, we should not find it difficult to show pity. Our shared weaknesses should unite us in tender fellowship." - Paul Washer

~B.A.A.

God Makes Evil and Sin the Slaves of His Mercy

 

By Jon Bloom

The old hymn says it beautifully: “Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that is greater than all my sin.”

But the grace of God is not only great enough to “pardon and cleanse within.” It is so powerful, as Joseph’s older brothers learned in Genesis 45, that it can turn the most horrible sin you have ever committed against another, or has ever been committed against you, and make it the slave of his mercy.

What Joseph’s ten older brothers did to him was heinous. They made him the merchandise of international human trafficking. They subjected him to slavery and sexual abuse. With no rights or defense, he was thrown into prison to rot. These likely left Joseph with life-long scars.

But note Joseph’s words: “it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8). Neither treacherous siblings nor a woman’s lust nor the shame of prison nor a cupbearer’s neglect could thwart the purpose of God (Job 42:2) in preserving God’s people (Genesis 45:7) and fulfilling a prophecy given to Abraham (Genesis 15:13). God made evil the slave of his grace.

And he’s doing the same for you. God is doing more good than you can imagine through the most painful experiences of your life.

If you’ve sinned against someone else, do everything in your power to make things right. But know this: your sin is no match for God’s grace.

And if you find yourself in a place you do not want to be as a result of someone else’s sin, take heart. God knows, and he knows what he’s doing. Stay faithful. In time he will show you that he sent you for redemptive reasons you would have never guessed.

To read the entire article, click here

Posted by Breanna

Have Faith in God's Future Grace

 

Sometimes faithfulness to God and his word sets us on a course where circumstances get worse, not better. 

It is then that knowing God’s promises and his ways are crucial. Faith in God’s future grace for us is what sustains us in those desperate moments.

-Jon Bloom

To read the entire article, click here 
Posted by Breanna

Accepting the Grace and Forgiveness of Christ

By: Brittany Ann Alexander

Accepting the grace and forgiveness of Christ is a hard thing for some of us to grasp.  I for one have greatly struggled with this over the years.  After recently seeking to encourage a dear friend in this way, Mom asked me today to share how the Lord brought me to the point of being able to see more clearly why I was not willing to accept this precious gift and how He worked in me to finally be able to.  I pray it will be a blessing to those of you who read it.

The Lord brought me to the gracious point of salvation after many years of deep spiritual struggle.  But after that, I somewhat lapsed back into a few years of serious warfare.  God was definitely at work in my heart, but there was so much sin and self to be purged out, and I had some tough lessons to learn.

I was very discouraged by my continual falling back into old sinful habits.  I so did not want to be that person.  My tendency is to give in to the defeat of my failure.  Once, I had been extremely irresponsible and had fallen back into something yet again.  As a result of this sin, I was not going to have what we were suppose to have for dinner ready on time.  Mom had just recently given birth to one of my younger siblings, so some neighbors of ours had dropped in to see us and also brought a meal.  I refused to serve that for dinner, insisting on making something from scratch.  Why?  Because I felt that I had messed up so badly, I had to punish myself.  I knew I did not deserve the ‘night off’ from cooking that was provided.  No, that would have helped cover up my mistake, and I wouldn’t take any help.  This is something I had been characterized by my whole life.

The Lord used that particular circumstance to open my eyes to the truth.  I do fail.  I always will.  But I do not need to punish myself for it.  As a child of God, I have been forgiven and cleansed from my sin through Jesus Christ.  He has wiped my slate clean.  He took the punishment and guilt for me.  To deny His gift of grace and forgiveness is to deny the very cross work of Christ in my life.

I never deserved His grace in the first place.  As a now redeemed child of His, I still don’t deserve it.  But that’s not the point.  He gives it.  It is a gift intended to be paid for by Him.  But it takes humility to accept that grace, and the undeserved reconciliation and gifts that go along with it.  It is all there for us, if we will only accept.

Though I still struggle at times, the Lord has brought me to the point of being able to accept His wonderful gift through Jesus Christ.  I am beloved by God in Christ.  He has freely given me all things in Jesus.  There is indescribable joy and peace to be found here.  Praise the Lord for His wonderful mercy and grace.