At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic
At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung
You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping
Your caffeine addiction level: high
This is the last hymn we sang for special music with my sister and her husband- it's a powerful one (not the singing, but the words!) and it was a blessing to sing, I pray it will be a blessing to be heard. Click the title to listen, if you right-click and open in new window, then you can leave the words up to follow along- unless you have this one committed to memory! It's a good one to 'know by heart'.
I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small!
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all." Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain-
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy pow'r, and Thine alone,
Can change the leper's spots And melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain-
He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I Whereby Thy grace to claim-
I'll wash my garments white In the blood of Calv'ry's Lamb. Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain-
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
"Jesus died my soul to save," My lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain-
He washed it white as snow.
Elvina M. Hall, 1820-1889
Truly, He has paid it ALL! Truly, ALL to Him I owe!
ali
Brethren, We Have Met to Worship... (my husband and I are the couple on the right...)
This is the song we sang on the first night of the Revival meetings we had at church a couple weeks ago. Sylvia thought it would be so fitting to open the meetings- we have met to worship... slightly cheesy, but totally true! We had an adorable 12 year old piano player- I hope my little ones can play like that some day- thanks, K****, we appreciate your accompanying us! You can listen here, enjoy, and I hope it is a blessing to you! (if you right-click on the link, you can open it in another window, minimize that window and listen while following the words in this window... just a suggestion... enjoy)
Brethren, We Have Met to Worship Brethren, we have met to worship And adore the Lord our God; Will you pray with all your power, While we try to preach the Word? All is vain unless the Spirit Of the Holy One comes down; Brethren, pray and holy manna Will be showered all around.
Brethren, see poor sinners round you Slumb'ring on the brink of woe; Death is coming, hell is moving Can you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers And our children sinking down; Brethren, pray and holy manna Will be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses' sister aided him; Will you help the trmbling mourners Who are struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about the Savior- Tell them that He will be found; Sisters, pray and holy manna Will be showered all around.
Let us love our God supremely, Let us love each other too; Let us love and pray for sinners Till our God makes all things new. Then He'll call us home to heaven, At His table we'll sit down; Christ will gird Himself and serve us With sweet manna all around.
words by George Atkins, 19th century; music by William Moore in 1825.
More Love to Thee More love to Thee, O Christ, More love to Thee! Hear Thou the prayer I make On bended knee; This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ to Thee, More love to Thee, More love to Thee!
Once earthly joy I craved, Sought peace and rest; Now Thee alone I seek- Give what is best; This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee,
More love to Thee, More love to Thee!
Let sorrow do its work,
Send grief and pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers,
Sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me,
More love, O Christ to Thee,
More love to Thee, More love to Thee!
Then shall my latest breath
Whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry
My heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ to Thee,
More love to Thee, More love to Thee!
Elizabeth Prentiss, 1818-1878
More love to Thee, my Jesus, that is my plea- I want to love You more,
I need to know You more! Lord, help me to seek Thee alone, and
yes, please give what is best- not what I want, but what I need, what
You know is best, and may I be not only content but happy with
that. And Lord, while I don't wish for any more sorrow, grief, or
pain, than is necessary and is Your will, I do wish to learn all that I
can from what I go through- my circumstances are used by You to shape
and mold me, may my shaping and molding ever be more like the image
that You want me to be and less of what I want myself. And
lastly, Lord, while I hope for many more years of breath to live for
You and be used by You (especially in the training up of the children
You have blessed us with to be useful in Your service) whenever that
last breath comes, may it be full of Your praise- may I endeavor to
live in such a way so that my last moments aren't filled with regrets,
but rather with praise and thanks to You. I do
love You, Lord. And I am comforted daily, resting in the
knowledge that You love me too. Thank You, ali
I really appreciate this hymn- One of my favorite places to visit while growing up was the Split Rock Lighthouse,
along the North Shore of Lake Superior (one of Minnesota's most
beautiful areas, in my opinion). I love the symbolism in this
hymn- the lights of the lighthouse give us direction and warn of us the
rocks- lest we crash in the night... the light of the Father's love and
mercy is our one true lighthouse, but we are also lights for others- at
least we should be...
Let the Lower Lights Be Burning Brightly beams our Father's mercy From His lightouse evermore, But to us He gives the keeping Of the lights along the shore.
chorus Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.
Dark the night of sin has settled, Loud the angry billows roar; Eager eyes are watching, longing, For the lights along the shore.
chorus Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.
Trim your feeble lamp, my brother! Some poor sailor tempest tossed, Trying now to reach the harbor, In the darkness may be lost.
chorus Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.
Philip P. Bliss, 1838-1876
Oh Father, may my life be one of those lower lights, burning brightly
along the shore- may my light help some other 'sailor' along the way
move closer to the harbor, ali
Our second son (6 years olds, almost 7...) was baptized this past Sunday!
It was so sweet, I'm one happy Momma! He got saved two
summers ago, just before turning 5. And while I know that he may
not understand everything there is to understand about the christian
life and the christian walk (who does? Not me, I'm still learning every
week!), I know he understands what salvation is, why he needed to be
saved, and what it is he needed to be saved from. He had spent a
few weeks asking some very probing questions for a 4 year old and I
could tell he was really grasping things and under as much convictions
as a 4 four old can be under... but every time I would talk with him
and explain the gospel to him in straight simple terms for a child to
understand and then ask him if he wanted to be saved, he would give a
mmmmm.... not yet... and run off and play. Then one morning he
came downstairs and announced that he got saved the night before!
Apparently, he couldn't get to sleep and got to talking to his big
brother... who led him to the Lord! His dad and I were ever so
slightly disappointed that we couldn't be the ones to lead his little
heart home, but so pleased to know that our older son was/is equipped
to do such a thing! I'd like to think we must be doing something
right, but I feel so inadequate and just have to say 'it's the Lord!'
Well, Jaron has been growing in his faith and turning out to be
quite a spiritually minded young man, a child who is convicted when
he's done wrong- to the point of coming and confessing without ever
being caught... that's convicting to me!
My husband and I once again joined forces and voices with my
sister and her soon-to-be husband to sing one of my favorite hymns in
honor of his baptism. It's called A Christian Home and the words
are absolutely the cry of this wife and mother's heart.
A Christian Home O give us homes built firm upon the Savior, Where Christ is Head and Counselor and Guide; Where every child is taught His love and favor And gives his heart to Christ, the crucified: How sweet to know that tho his footsteps waver His faithful Lord is walking by his side!
O give us homes with godly fathers, mothers, Who always place their hope and trust in Him; Whose tender patience turmoil never bothers, Whose calm and courage trouble cannot dim; A home where each finds joy in serving others, And love still shines, tho days be dark and grim.
O give us homes where Christ is Lord and Master, The Bible read, the precious hymns still sung; Where prayer comes first in peace or in disaster, And praise is natural speech to every tongue; Where mountains move before a faith that's vaster, And Christ sufficient is for old and young.
O Lord, our God, our homes are Thine forever! We trust to Thee their problems, toil, and care; Their bonds of love no enemy can sever If Thou art always Lord and Master there: Be Thou the center of our least endeavor- Be Thou our Guest, our hearts and homes to share.
My husband and I sang
this hymn with my sister and her fiance during the recent revival
meetings at our church. I meant to post it last week, but it was
just too crazy around here to post anything! (My sister is the soprano, I'm singing alto, her fiance is on tenor, and my husband sang bass... listen)
(Oh yeah, I don't have a picture of this one, because, well, it
would've looked rather silly to hold up a backwards camera in the
middle of the song and snap a picture of us while we were singing... I
guess we should've handed the camera to somebody... oh well...)
How Can it Be? O Savior, as my eyes behold The wonders of Thy might untold, The heav'ns in glorious light arrayed, The vast creation Thou hast made- And yet to think, Thou lovest me- My heart cries out, "How can it be?"
Chorus- How can it be? How can it be? That God shoudl love a soul like me, O how can it be?
As at the cross, I humbly bow And gaze upon Thy thorn-crowned brow, And view the precious bleeding form By cruel nails so bruised and torn, Knowing Thy suff'ring was for me, In grief I cry, "How can it be?"
How can it be? How can it be? Was ever grace so full and free! From heights of bliss to depths of woe In loving kindness Thou didst go, From sin and shame to resue me- O Love Divine, How can it be?
How
can it be, Lord? That you should love a soul like me is so
humbling, I don't deserve it and I know it. What you did
for my family and I, and for the whole world is more than any of us
could ever deserve, not with a lifetime of good works. Thank You
ever so much, help me as I strive to never take your grace for granted,
ali
This is the hymn
my oldest son sang with a young lady from church during the revival
meetings we had during my knitting marathon. What a blessing to
see him up there singing his heart out for the glory of the Lord!
What a kid! It humbles me sometimes (most times) to see how well
he's turning out so far (he's only 12, we have the dreaded teen years
yet to come...) as I know and freely admit, it is by the grace of God
that he is what he is, not by my doing for I seem to fail daily, but
God is so good to us! His Sunday School class has done a special or
two over the years, but this was the first time he's sung a duet in
front of the entire church. He has sung with this same young lady
at one of the nursing homes we visit, but not at church. He's
played his violin at church before, with his father and I in a family
string trio, but he'd never done a vocal special like that, and it
really was special, in my humble motherly opinion!
I wish I
could figure out how to link to the sound file... can anyone help in
that area? (Well, I think I got it working... but it will take you to a
window with our family site, you can just use your browser's back
button to get back here after listening...) listen Near to the Heart of God There is a place of quiet rest, Near to the heart of God, A place where sin cannot molest, Near to the heart of God.
Chorus- O Jesus, blest Redeemer, Sent from the heart of God, Hold us who wait before Thee, Near to the heart of God.
There is a place of comfort sweet, Near to the heart of God, A place where we our Savior meet, Near to the heart of God.
There is a place of full release, Near to the heart of God, A place where all is joy and peace, Near to the heart of God.
This hymn has been one of my favorites ever since the first time I heard it. I just love the words. I love gardens. I love the idea of being alone in the garden with the Lord, listening to His voice, a voice so sweet the birds hush their singing- now that's sweet!
Lord, I know You walk with me. I know You talk with me. And yes, I know I am truly one of Your own. Help me to yearn to hear Your voice more each day. And when my day starts to seem too much for one mother to handle, draw me back to the 'garden' for some sweet fellowship with you- that's just the refreshing I need each day.
Life's sea is tempestuous at times, and like the disciples in the little boat being tossed about in the wild sea, we are so easily filled with fear and doubt rather than faith. It is encouraging to think about our Savior calming saying "Peace, be still" and the wind and the waves obeyed! He has that same power over the tempests in our lives, in our hearts. If only we would quickly yield to Him and obey like the wind and the waves!
Lord, I confess my lack of faith- so often I try to be the 'captain of my ship' and complain and fret and worry as I am tossed about life's seas. Please Jesus, Savior, pilot me! I yield command of this vessel, and as I try to take it back time and again, I pray that You would gently remind me how much more peace there is with You in control.
This past week has been hard. I often wonder how unsaved people can make it day to day, bearing all of their burdens alone. I couldn't do it, I would've snapped long ago if it wasn't for giving my life to the Lord. Without Him holding me up day by day, I would just fall flat on my face. And the times when I still manage to fall flat on my face are the times when I am not seeking the Lord first, the times when I try to get through a day in my own strength, which obviously, I have none of!
The Lord doesn't spoil us rotten, though somedays I wish He would! He lets us experience real trials, real burdens, real pain. "He all my cares and sorrows will share" taking those trials, burdens, and pains to Him really does make them easier to bear somehow.
Lord, my prayer life has been inadequate and once again I have been trying to live in my own strength, but I can't. You know my trials, You know my pains, and I know Your character- I know that You love me more than I can even understand and I just want to rest in that! Thank You so much for being with me and giving me strength to get though yesterday, and today, I know I can face tomorrow because of You.
