Thou Art My Hope in the Day of Evil

I'm letting Spurgeon do my speaking for me today.

I am beginning to get emails and phone calls from very hurting, frightened people.

Jobs are being terminated. Illness is haunting. The world at large is simply in a turmoil.

You've heard me say it in prior posts, but I'll say it again, and again, an once again....


BUT GOD

"Thou art my hope in the day of evil."
-- Jeremiah 17:17

The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has
his seasons of darkness and of storm.

True, it is written in God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be "As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," yet sometimes that light is eclipsed.

At certain periods clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in
darkness and sees no light.

There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, "Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen." Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness.

The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of his children must bear the cross.

No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows.

Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and
unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind
to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life,
you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's
full-grown children.

We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith,
to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more
firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our
glorious hope.

God has not changed. He never will.

Blessings,
Robin

From Seeds to Harvest

I am taking part in a challenge! Those of you who know me very well will also know that I love trying something new! Experimenting!

My oldest son (whom I'm afraid takes after me, poor thing) would often get in trouble and say,

"I just wanted to see what would happen!"

My dear friends have often been seen cringing in fear when they hear these words come out of my mouth:

"You know what we could do?"

Well, our entire family has taken to gardening. Of course, it is now cool to garden because of our present economy, but I must say that this is not our first garden.

I must also confess, that I hope at the end of the season to be able to say that this was our first successful garden! :)

I have decided to take a challenge with a few other adventuresome folks to share what we are doing (successes and failures) in our garden this year. I will post about it from time to time.

I may even wax poetic occasionally. Isn't that supposed to happen to people who spend time with nature!

If you, too would like to 'take the challenge' just click on the images of Seeds to Harvest at the top of this post to find out how you can join with others on this season's GREAT ADVENTURE.

Here are some pictures of my humble beginnings. The garden has been trying to survive since March 20. Two weeks later we had a freeze :( and lost our first cucumbers. The other plants survived, but because of the continued cold began to turn a sickly shade of yellow. We continued to put worm castings on them in hopes that they would rally.



Note: Do not plant cucumbers until the ground has warmed to at least 65-70 degrees. They cannot bear the cold. (Of course, we did not know this until after the freeze and I then checked my gardening books. Hmmmm. Is there a lesson in this?)

We decided not to try cucumber plants, but started them the second time from seed. Aren't they the cutest things?


We have planted tomatoes, cucumbers, squash (crooked neck and zucchini), bell peppers, chili peppers, onion sets, beans, and several kinds of herbs.

Note: Here in Texas, we have been informed that our onion sets should have been out the first of January! I don't know how they will do. The farmers who let us know showed us their onions that are almost ready to harvest. Huge! Beautiful! I wish that we had known. sigh....


Pear, plum, and fig trees have also come to reside here at the farm. (I'll post pictures of these at another time.) We had a tiny black insect that tried to devour the plum trees, but I believe that we have overwhelmed him with organic pepper sprays. I know that I could not have lived through the onslaught of torture through which we put those bugs! :)

Compost tea is also another great way to feed your plants. Here is a link to making your own!

I Can't Believe It!

I can't believe it! We are actually getting eggs! We've had 30 total so far. Every hen has justified her existence!

These in the picture are our first two and yes, they were delicious!

Psalm 45:10

"Listen, O daughter,"

Am I listening?

When the still, small voice of my Lord is speaking, am I listening?

When He speaks through my husband, my children, you, my dear friend, am I listening?

"Consider and incline your ear"

Am I leaning forward, eagerly hoping to hear something that will turn me away from my present path?

Am I thankful, grateful, happy to hear the words that sometimes grate, jar, sting?

It has always been the duty and privilege of the church to be listening and attentive to the Lord.

Eagerly leaning forward, as we do sometimes when we go to hear a famous speaker or when we attend a wonderful production and we don't want to miss a word.

Today I want to listen.


Are you listening, O daughter?

Thank You Friend

"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort, of feeling safe with a person
—having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right
out, just as they are—chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take
and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and then with the breath of kindness
blow the rest away."

Isn't that just beautiful.

That is how I feel when I have been with my true friend.

Thank you, friend.