Reading the Hard Ones

This past week I've been dealing with a head cold, laying low, resting and trying to get through the normal irritations of a cold. It gave me plenty of time to think. 

I think we all find it hard reading through many of the books of the Old Testament. When I'm looking for the next book in the Bible to read and study, I rarely choose the hard ones, relying on the easier books like Psalms and Proverbs, and the ones we hear most often in sermons like: Genesis, Job, Daniel and Ruth.

Isaiah kept coming to my mind though. I've read some things recently, and Isaiah must have been mentioned. I thought about how I could tackle this long and difficult book and came up with a game plan.

I will read one chapter a week. A week, I'll read it several times. In sections. With a commentary. When I feel confident in what I'm reading and understand that chapter I'll move forward. Isaiah is filled with readings about our Lord and the future Kingdom. I decided I didn't want to miss that!

I have read through the Bible twice, from beginning to end, so I have gone through the book of Isaiah before. But I'm thinking this new approach will leave a better and deeper understanding of what this great prophet was inspired to write.

With 66 chapters in Isaiah, I have my work cut out for me this year. I'm looking forward to it. Even excited about it. Being in God's family now some 44 years, the desire of learning about God's Word never ends. The opportunities are boundless.  

Now, if only this cold will go away. I've turned a corner, so I think I'm coming to the end of it now. After all, I have a book to read!

By His Grace . . .

Quotes: Inspiring Words

"Writers love quotations. They love quoting someone else's work

almost as much as they love quoting their own."

Unknown

Where are you snow? I'm waiting for you!

Yes, I love quotations and have several journals where I write down words of others. Quotes have the ability to make you stop and think. They touched your heart, prompt you to think and inspire you.

The other day I read the following quotes from one of my journals and decided to share them with you.

"If, like the lake that has the boon of cradling the little moon above the hill, I want the Infinite to be reflected undisturbed in me, I must be still."  Edna Becker

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."  Berthold Auerbach, 1812-1882

"The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those who sang best."  Unknown

"It rained so hard that all the pigs got clean, and all the people dirty."  Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, 1742-1799

"The heart has eyes that the brain knows nothing of."  Charles Henry Parkhurst, 1842-1933

"The insight that relates us to God arises from purity of heart, not from clearness of intellect."  Oswald Chambers, 1874-1917

"Little strokes fell great oaks."  Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790

"The Word of God hidden in the heart is a stubborn voice to suppress."  Billy Graham

"On your knees you are taller than trees."  Jan Beck

"As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common, everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness."  Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Wrong, wrong, wrong will never be right, right, right."  Ann Platz

"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."  Mark Twain, 1835-1899

"All work done for God is spiritual work and therefore not merely a duty but a holy privilige."  Elisabeth Elliot

"A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed."  Henrik Ibsen, 1828-1906

"God is looking for people to use, and if you can get usable, He will wear you out."  Rick Warren

"The person with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it."  Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a fire."  C. S. Lewis

"A home with a little dust and a lot of laughter will win the heart of God every time!  Karla Dornacher

" . . .  and if you write to others sharing the good news of salvation, your letters just might mingle souls for eternity."  Lyn Morrissey

These were taken from my 2008 - 2009 journal. Still relevant today. Be someone who reads for the purpose of learning, being encouraged, being inspired, being convicted and being blessed.

By His Grace . . .

A Chocolate What?

This Valentine's Day I'm reposting an article I wrote in 2013 for Valentine's Day. It always makes me smile. Hope you smile too!

I enjoy reading blogs other have created. I gravitate towards those who enjoy photography, and artists whose pictures and writings I enjoy. Susan Branch and Karla Dornacher are two artists who inspire me and encourage my heart. 

Last week I stopped at Susan's blog and found a simple recipe for chocolate eclairs, and since the recipe was simple, I decided to give it a try. That Saturday morning, I prepared to make them.

I'll take them to my Sunday School class in honor of Valentine's Day," I decided.

Suffice to say my first attempt was not successful. The little puffs of dough didn't rise, the cream filling turned out ok (much to my astonishment), and the chocolate didn't come out smooth for dripping over the dough. I couldn't help but laugh at my attempt. They certainly would not be going to my Sunday School class. 

Jerry tasted one and said they were good. Mom even liked them. I finally ate one and must confess it did taste good. Jerry said he'd take them to his Sunday School class. "Only if you tell them it's my first attempt and they don't look so good." I said.

Sunday morning came. I walked in my Sunday School class and there were sweet donuts in the shape of hearts for us to enjoy. I began telling my friends about my ill-fated eclairs when in walked Jerry, Floyd, Steve, Talmadge, Dan, Tom and Barry, each holding one of my misshaped eclairs.

"Jerry said we had to tell you that he told us this is your first attempt in making chocolate eclairs," one of them said. "Please bring us all other rejects! They are delicious!"

It was so funny. They had me bending over with laughter. And my dear Sunday School class was disappointed they weren't eating them!

My friend, Janet told me, "There is no such thing as a badchocolate eclair if there's something you can lick off your finger!" I like that!

Yes, I will try again. With a few pointers from my friends, I will attempt a second time to make chocolate eclairs. This time, though, I know I can still enjoy the delicious taste, even if they don't pass the look' test!

By His Grace . . .

Round as a Stone

Gladys Taber, author of The Best of Stillmeadow: A Treasury of Country Living, gives a good analogy of storms in our lives:

"The beach itself is a lesson in time. I pick up a tiny shell which has been polished and shaped by the waves but still keeps it original shape. As time goes on, it will become part of the sand. Here and there a shiny pink pebble is left when the tide ebbs, and this too is on a course. It will roll and sweep forward with the tide and retreat with the tide. And always it will be shaped, smoothed, rounded and lessened until it too is a grain of sand.

"As I pick up a cool pebble and hold it in my palm, it seems to me that the tide of life shapes me in much the same way. An edge is polished off in a great storm of grief, a jagged point is smoothed away by disappointments, disillusionments which have been faced. Gradually life polishes the stone. The surface of a small pebble is satiny. It feels cool to the palm.

"So it is with people, I think. If the core of the stone is sound, the wearing away by the tide results in a smooth oval. If the core is soft, there is no pebble left after a few nor'easters. I have known people buffeted by life mercilessly who still give me a sense of serenity. The integral core was sound. And I have known people who disintegrated at the first blow as a bit of clay exposed on the great beach dissolves in the first turn of the tide."

Taber wrote over 50 books, including fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, children's books, plays, poetry and more. Her best loved books are her series about her life at Stillmeadow, her farm in the then rural country of Connecticut, as well as at Still Cove, her smaller home on Cape Cod. She also wrote on general topics for Ladies Home Journal and Family Circle.

Her book on Stillmeadow is enjoyable as you find yourself in her world and God's nature.

Yes, storms sure do buffet us and throw us around, trying to knock us down. That's why it's so important to have a deep settled confidence of our faith in our very being so we don't let the storms of life carry us away.

"Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Hebrews 4:16

I want to be round as a stone, smooth and sound because I know my God, and I live my faith. Don't you?

By His Grace . . .