Dancing Queen

Enough serious thought for now...I need to let some of this fire and water stuff marinate...too much reasoning doth make me mad....lol

I heard Dancing Queen on the radio this morning on the way in to work.....ahh memories. Went to see Mamma Mia a couple of years ago. It is a Broadway play written solely around Abba songs...if you don't know who Abba is...well I can't get into all that...haha
anyways...back to the memories...
I got the worst sunburn of my life while listening to Dancing Queen. I was 18, a newlywed and had just moved to Pensacola Beach Florida...need I say more. I thought I was gonna die.

I remember first seeing advertisements for Mamma Mia while in Germany 5-6 yrs ago. I couldn't read the posters covering the subways and bus stops but I could recognize Abba. That was a fun trip.....we ate sausages with rolls and mustard from the huge market in Frankfurt and walked along the Rhine river. It was lovely day and there was some sort of street fair going on. Our friends took our pictures and later we went to the Rembrant exhibit at the local museum.

funny how music tranports to another time and place. guess that's why couples have "their" song and such.

Do you have memories tied to specific songs? I have about a million...but I'll spare you...

Cheryls Treehouse

Barb, at Chelsea Morning, has come up with a great idea for people to promote their blogs and meet other bloggers. She is suggesting that each blogger write a post on how we came up with the name of our blog, and then go to her blog and leave a link to it.

Cheryl's Treehouse is so named because when I first started my blog I had just purchased a new home for myself, my hubby, my mom, my daughter and granddaughter and my older daughter would be with us for a year while planning her wedding. It is a lovely place set amidst many trees, add that to the fact that everyday life was kind of crazy and you have Treehouse (rather than nut house..:))
Nowadays its not so crazy...my daughter got married and my second daughter moved back to Florida taking the baby with her. It is now a very quite house but still amidst the trees.....

Fire and Water

Jesus Christ...He shows Himself to us in the most basic elements of our existence. Food, drink, breath, shelter, fire, water, wind and land. Man's most basic needs....earth's most basic provisions....this is Who He is to us....if we can receive Him... everything we need and every meeting of that need.
There is a quote... that if you look at nature you find God in His heavens... it goes on to say something to the effect that if you look at God, you find Him inside...This is what I aim for...Even a heathen can look at the mountains or the oceans and appreciate the handiwork of God. Things in nature are lovely and incredible reminders of an awesome being and His power, like no others, but nature is a shadow of Him, a mere reflection. I want something more...I want a revelation of Him and who He really is, deep inside my spirit. A revelation that changes me and makes me more into His image. I want a knowing of Him in a more real way. I don't just want to appreciate His handiwork, I want experience it, personally, internally.
I think I could take every element indiviually and discover more of Him but lately He is talking to me about fire and water....and maybe shelter, but I'll save that for later.

Fire is such a powerful force...overcoming almost everything....reflective of passion, desire, intensity...it can be incredibly beneficial, not to mention mesmerizing and soothing, even creative and life giving...it can also be very dangerous and destructive. Either way, as Nancy said in her comments, things are never the same once fire is involved. God likens Himself to a consuming fire...that can be a good thing...or a very bad one depending on which side of Him you find yourself. :) He is also quite fond of purification using fire as a tool, so that all that remains of us is Him...flesh cannot withstand fire....it melts like toasted marshmallows...:) Ouch!
However it is Christ as water that usually speaks to me most clearly....His life is the river that flows from the throne of God written in Revelations. It is a trickle, a stream, a waterfall rushing, flowing from the heart of God right through our hearts, into our spirits and out from our spirits to the world,... to one another....and though water also has the power to change it carries hope in its wake.
....Water brings life...without water the earth dies...we die......but it can also brings death...crashing torrents of water destroy...and nothing can stop it.....man can only try to contain it for a time in dams and resevoirs but sooner or later water breaks through...the floods from Katrina destroyed New Orleans...the sunami killed thousands....yet the much needed rains save crops and rivers and oceans sustain life.
Water...so necessary...so strong...it seems to me that nothing has power over it....water can conquer fire....but I do not think fire can conquer water...it can seep through solid rock, be frozen or evaporated and still come back to its own....
The first thought that comes to my mind when you say water is life...the first thought that comes when you say fire is destruction.....
Here is a list, I'm sure incomplete, of other words that come to mind when thinking of fire and water:

Fire

heat
light
warmth
comfort
spark
life
death
mesmerizing
purifying
cleansing
creative
purging
raging
burns
destroys
melts
powerful
frightening
overwhelming
conquer
irreversible
useful

Water

flows
Runs
washes
purifies
cleanses
cool
warm
drowns
conquers
floods
contains
life
death
supplies
food
refreshment
nourishment
rain
snow
clouds
ice
river
ocean
useful
soothing
frightening
overwhelming
destroys
powerful
changable
necessary

Please add others to the list if you think of them. Thanks for rambling along with me as I think outloud....:)

Fire vs.Water

Wow! What great thoughts I got back on my water vs fire question. Hope you were stirred to deeper thought...I know I was. There were several things mentioned that I hadn't thought of and I thought I had covered it all...:) For example, I hadn't considered quantities...nor had I thought about what each leaves behind. I think I would have to say I was thinking in terms of this planet, rather than the entire universe since it more readily applies to me(and of course we all know its all about us...lol)....I was thinking in terms of power being a composite of destructive and beneficial forces....lots of good thoughts to chew on now...:)
The Lord is speaking something to me in all of this but I'm not really sure yet exactly what. There is much to be gleaned that can be applied to our spiritual walk but I don't think I've gotten to the one thing or the main thing He is speaking. This has been going on since July when we were in the mountains.....
If anything else comes to you, let me know, K?

I know 2 posts in one day!

This may not seem relevant to you but.....I'm working thru something......
Question for you....
Which is stronger, water or fire, and why?

LIF

I See Love

Third Day, Steven Curtis Chapman, Mercy Me

Some see a teacher

Standing on a hill

Speaking words of wisdom

Some see a healer

Reaching out his hand

To give sight to a blind man

Some see a dreamer

Wasting his life

On what can never be

Some see a fool

Dying for his dreams

But I see love

I see love

Light of heaven breaking through

Well I see grace

I see God's face

Shining pure and perfect love

When I see you

I see love

Some see a prisoner

Alone before his judge

With no one to defend him

Some see a victim

Beaten and abused

With all the world against him

Some see a martyr

Carrying his cross

For what he believes

Some see a hero

Who set his people free

But I see love

I see love Light of heaven breaking through

Well I see grace

I see God's face

Shining pure and perfect love

When I see you

With your last breath

I see love

Through your death

I see love

I see peace in the eyes of the king

I see hope in your suffering

I see a calm in the center of the storm

I see a Saviour

I see love

I see love

Light of heaven breaking through

I see grace

I see God's face

Shining pure and perfect love

When I see you

I see love

When I see you

I see heaven breaking through

See Gods face

Shining pure and perfect love

When I see you

When I see you

When I see you

I see love

I see love

When I see....

Some see Him walking from an empty grave

Feeling like myself....

Ever have days when you just don't feel like yourself? My SILs and I were discussing this, apparently female phenomenon, over the weekend....each of us admitted that we have alter egos who appear at the worst possible times. (perhaps they are hormone related...tee hee). One of my SILs calls hers Lesterette, after her father's impatient attitude. I shared that sisters in my house church once named ours what ever our names spelled in reverse....ie Mary would be Yram, Nicole would be Elocin, mine was Lyrehc....
This seems appropriate since we are usually acting out the worst facets of our personalities at the time...the opposite of our usually sunny selves...:)
On the days when Lyrech shows herself I feel like a completely different person, impatient, irritated...and believe it or not, somewhat....irrational...I know hard to believe isn't it. LOL I don't care for her....she isn't a very nice girl..... :)
Well yesterday wasn't one of those days, thankfully...and by the end of the day I was feeling pretty much back to normal....thanks in part to some great blogging friends!

The subject of alter egos came up again this morning on a TV morning show I was watching. The news anchor revealed the fact that when shopping with a couple of her good friends, they each pretend they are "some one who could actually afford the things they are buying"....:) I got a kick out of that one...maybe I should take up that practice. She said that although she can't afford to shop at Sax or Bloomingdales, her alter ego Tigger Montague certainly can! Isn't that hysterical?
I need me one of those personalities cause I certainly can't afford those shops either....
hmmmm...I could be Tipper Delaney.....does that sound sophistocated and rich, said with an accent of course? ...:) Do you have an alter ego personality and have you named him/her? Humor me, ok? I'll do something more serious later...:)

Blah, blah

Hey guys, I'm not really with it today...though it could be argued that I rarely am...at least I think I am sometimes...lol
I'm just feeling the uphill climb of life today and getting a bit down over it all....don't really feel like blogging or surfing or even listening to the radio....just got the blahs.....
Although someone did bring dark chocolate M&Ms to work today, yummm...that's one plus..:)

Why don't you all cheer me up....

That's Entertainment!

Found myself in a large church meeting in a large building on Sunday....You know ministers are taught early on to have a joke or two intertwined in the sermon.....I suppose ministers these days feel the need to entertain, our entire culture is geared toward entertainment ...and the whole service was certainly quite entertaining to me. (so maybe I'm a teeny bit cynical...LOL)

Here's the joke from the pulpit this past Sunday...drum roll please...


"Hey guys, have you heard about that new cologne that's guaranteed to drive women wild?....

It smells just like Wal-mart!!"

Quote of the week...

"It behooves you, you who would seek a deeper walk with your Lord, to soon lay
aside clearly defined intelligibles. In short, lay aside everything and cast
yourself into the bosom of a loving God. Eventually this Lord of yours will
restore to you all you have dropped, while at the some time increasing you in
strength and power. (I speak of a power to love Him more ardently) In turn
this love will maintain you in all circumstances that may come into your life.
Be sure that the love which you pour out toward Him (which He Himself will
give you) is worth more than all the actions which you can ever perform.
There is little you can do for God; there is so very little in this lifetime
you will ever really come to understand of Him, I care not how wise you are,
nor how much you study. But oh! You can love Him a great deal."
Michael Molinos The Spiritual Guide.

JUST DO IT!

I read several different blogs this past week and a common thread kept jumping out at me.
The concept of fellowship with God...communion with Him....maintaining our spiritual relationship with Him...
We have been taught well in our Christian churches....we know the rules...we should spend time with God every day...we should pray and read our Bibles....we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, which means we should attend church, right? We should witness ....we should, we should, we should...

We have high expectations of ourselves...and we try...we try really hard but we keep falling off the wagon...our schedules get mixed up, trials come into our lives that prevent us from maintaining our relationship with Him other than to cry out for help, we are extremely busy, we have families and jobs and situations to deal with and its just so darned inconvenient. We are tired...we are stressed, we are overwhelmed, we forget, ....or perhaps we are just plain lazy.
Can I get an "Amen?" :)

STOP!!

Did He not say, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" ?
Did He not say "Draw nigh unto me and i will draw nigh unto you"?
Did He not say "Repent" which means simply turn?

This is the same Lord I serve...isn't it the same one you serve?
I think we forget that He desires our companionship more than we desire His. His love is greater...He is standing ready and willing to meet us anywhere, anytime...for an hour or a moment. This relationship with Him is, after all, about love...and lovers make time for each other...
All that is necessary is that we make a move...in His direction.

How hard is it to take 5 minutes..yes only 5 minutes as soon as you open your eyes to do nothing but be with Him. No knee bending praying, no exaulted praise and worship...just be.

How hard is it to write out a scripture...just one or two verses, in your own words and look at them a few times during the week....maybe breathe a prayer over them...

You'll be surprised to find how much difference just a few moments can make...
Of course if you feel the need to pray several hours daily, read chapters and chapters of scripture, listen to nothing but praise CDs or even take a weekend retreat to spend time with your Lord, I'm all for it...but really...is it truly necessary to work so hard to touch Him? To love Him?...Isn't it the small daily touches that keep us close to our families and friends? And by the way...this same principle (I hate saying that...so many people correlate principle with formula)...anyway...this applies just the same to cultivating relationship and fellowship with other believers...especially the fellowshipping together, of brothers and sisters with God Himself....
I know we love a good potluck or a night out with the gang from Sunday School and these things are good and are fellowship of a sort...on a human level...but if we want to begin to experience fellowship together with God....a totally different kind of fellowship...a spiritual one...it really isn't so hard....
Drop a sister an email encouraging her with that verse you've been looking at, share it together....meet for a quick cup of coffee and spend a moment praying together or stop by her job to say HI and offer a hug...

I have a few blogs that I read that encourage me often to simply DO SOMETHING...fellow bloggers read them in wonder and can not fathom how these bloggers continually seem to hunger after the Lord, or how they continually seem to grow in Him...they marvel at the depth and wisdom of these bloggers who seem to have found the secret...but they, the reader, don't see the secret. It is there...clearly in plain view....
What stands out about these bloggers who seem to have real relationships with their Lord is this one thing:
They DO SOMETHING about their faith. Perhaps they are ultra spiritual but I don't think so... in reality they are often driven by great personal difficulties to a place of dependence on their Lord and subsequently they have fallen in love with Him. They DO SOMETHING about their relationships with God and with His people. Practical, physical, simple exercises to touch Him and share love with Him... a walk, a drive, a break in their routine, they stay up a little later or rise a bit earlier, they forgo chores to grab a moment with Him...they meet with other believers to share their hearts and turn to Him in everyday experiences like dealing with children or spouses, nature or chores....

Could this then be part of the secret? Simply taking the time to be with the One you love?

The thing I am most convicted of right now is not that I should spend more time with God or work on my relationships in the body....
The thing I am most convicted of today is to JUST DO IT! Do something, do anything to turn to Him, either alone or with sisters/brothers in Christ, to love Him and Be with Him...to JUST DO IT! Its really very simple and can take only a moment...but I need to MOVE...I need to draw nigh...I need to DO SOMETHING....ANYTHING...to turn to Him....to make time for Him....to love Him.
...its simpler than we think...
JUST DO IT....

New Bloggers

Just wanted to introduce you all to a couple of new bloggers, Bekaboo and T Texas Red...these two are full of fun, wit and interesting stories so I know you'll enjoy. Check out their new blogs if you get a chance and tell em I sent you :).....Bekaboo is my newly wed daughter and T Texas Red is my sis...

Monday Again...

Good Monday morning!
Caught up with my kiddos over the weekend......

Son is very busy...playing music with some old buddies on weekends...they like having him around...he's something of a celebrity....he is in school, working, and... in school...yep, 2 schools...always very busy between tours....leaves again next Thurs...
Busy boy but still time to call his Momma. :)

Newly wed daughter is...well... newly wed.....waiting on the Navy to tell them which way their lives will go...a bit of a trial now with the w..a..i..t..i..n..g.... :)









Baby girl is getting over sickness, settling into a new job and looking to move to a new apartment..lotta stress for her...Out with her bestest friends from childhood over the weekend...they are a bit younger than she and my how they are all growing up!


Talked to Jadabear on the phone...she informed me that she was "bad" at school last week...a fact confirmed by her Maimaw and her Mommy....(time outs everyday I believe...lol)
I, being the Gigi was of course, sympathetic, asking what she did...."Me and Victoria turned the chalk board over on CJ" "Oh dear....were you being mean or was it an accident?" "It was a accident"...Her Mommy says, "it was not an accident, the teacher saw the whole thing!" LOL
I think cartoons were banned that evening as punishment....
Being newly 3 and in a new class with the early morning schedule of back to school does not make for a happy little girl apparently...:) ( I always hated those first couple of back to school weeks...everybody is out of sorts)....

We, hubby and I, spent yesterday lazing around, took a walk, a Sunday drive and read a book.... does it get any better???
Hope your weekend was fun....what'd you do? ....Blogger won't let me upload any more pics!

Calling things that are not as though.....they are.

I'm still hearing Man of Lamancha songs in my head today...and this may be a stretch for some of you to understand but I'm going to take a shot at explaining it anyways...:)

In the story the hero, who is actually a local squire, believes himself to be Don Quixote a brave knight and a nobleman. He has set off across the country to prove himself in gallantry, bravery and heroism. He meets Aldonza, a scullery maid of ill repute, a woman who has been battered and worn by all the terrible things in life....but in his eyes...she is beautiful, she is pure and to him she is a lady, his lady...the lady of a gallant nobleman. She has a hard time buying that since she knows all the horrible things she has done and had done to her but he will not hear her denials and christens her with the name of Dulcinea which means Dream...She IS his dream girl.

It may be weird to you but when I hear this story I see the Lord....does He not call His Church, His Bride pure and holy? While we, as members of Her see the ugliness...the unsightliness...the dirt if you will...She is not pure, She is not spotless and of course He can never return until She is...so we keep working and hoping and praying that She/we can do better, get cleaner, be gooder....all useless...She/we will never become pure and spotless in our efforts...He alone can look upon His Bride and make Her as lovely as She is described in scripture....and He does...by His own faith, His own vision, His own actions..His own speaking of Her to BE as He sees Her. In so doing, He makes Her into the woman He needs and wants for His own.
On occasion...if we are very fortunate...we too can see with His eyes...we can see Her as He sees Her...beautiful, radiant, spotless, perfect....and when that occurs...the words of this scene seem so appropriate...

DON QUIXOTE: (enters the inn)

Sweet lady... fair virgin...

(Don Quixote averts his eyes worshipfully)

I dare not gaze full upon thy countenance Lest I be blinded by beauty.

But I implore Thee - speak once thy name.

ALDONZA: Aldonza.

DON QUIXOTE: My lady jests.

ALDONZA: Aldonza!

DON QUIXOTE: The name of a kitchen-scullion... or perhaps my lady's serving-maid?

ALDONZA: I told you my name! Now get out of the way. (She clears past him to the table.)

DON QUIXOTE: (Smiling, sill keeping his eyes averted) Did my lady think to put me to a test?

Ah, sweet sovereign of my captive heart.

I shall not fail thee, for I know...

I have dreamed thee too long, Never seen thee or touched thee.

But known thee with all of my heart.

Half a prayer, half a song, Thou hast always been with me,

Though we have been always apart.

Dulcinea... Dulcinea...

I see heaven when I see thee, Dulcinea,

And thy name is like a prayer An angel whispers...

Dulcinea... Dulcinea!

If I reach out to thee, Do not tremble and shrink

From the touch of my hand on thy hair.

Let my fingers but see Thou art warm and alive,

And no phantom to fade in the air.

Dulcinea... Dulcinea...

I have sought thee, sung thee, Dreamed thee, Dulcinea!

Now I've found thee, And the world shall know thy glory,

Dulcinea... Dulcinea!

Isn't it amazing when we as mere mortals can see with the eyes of God and see His Bride as pure and holy as He says She is and can actually reach out and touch Her? She is real, she is pure, She is spotless...not because She tries to be...but because He says She is.

In the story of Man of LaMancha, Aldonza finds that she desperately wants to be Dulcinea...and because Her Lord and Master sees her as a pure and beautiful woman, deserving of his love and devotion...she can eventually, with his help, see herself as such and somehow...miraculously...become that woman.

The Church of Jesus Christ is much the same, don't you think? As we hear in our spirits more and more how He sees Her...we can believe more and more...and sometimes, if we are very fortunate...even see Her with our own eyes and touch Her with our own hands...That pure and spotless Bride worthy of the Lamb.

Tomorrow is Aug. 11th...does 11 have some special meaning?

I was at work at my desk on Sept. 11th when we heard the news of a small plane flying into the World Trade Center. My first thougths, "oh dear, those poor people, what a terrible thing to happen"...then shortly afterward, the report of a second plane hitting the second World Trade Center building and the the slow dawning that something here was not right...this was not concidental....then the frightening realization that it was intentional. I was one of the first people on my floor to realize that something so big was happening that work should wait....I hurried down to our conference room to the one TV I knew of, to find one other employee busy trying to get a channel on a televison usually used for Powerpoint presentaions and training videos. We found a channel as the room began to fill with shocked and disbelieving co-workers and together, we watched both towers collapse.
This morning, I did not feel that same sense of disbelief...I am now, unfortunately, a seasoned victim of terriorism...but I was once again gripped with the overwhelming realization of just how real and how close this war on terriorism is and how big this one incident could have been. Can you even begin to imagine the horror of up to 10 planes falling out of the sky while enroute to the US?!?! September 11th multiplied and spread over the world...chaos in every corner!

I have travelled in and out of Heathrow Airport many times...my husband flies internationally often and we both know how very strict they are at Heathrow and now we know how on guard the British government has been as well...Thank God!
All I can say is THANK GOD! people are continuing to fight this horrible thing called terrorism, daily following leads, never taking their charge lightly, doing their jobs. THANK GOD for conscientious citizens who notice strange things going on and report them to the authorities. THANK GOD for HIS protection thus far in this war we have been dragged into, that we have had no repeats of that dreadful September 11th day though we may never know how close we have come. We are innocent no more but when things like this happen we are again made accutely aware to stand guard, to pay attention and never to take the life we know in this country for granted, there are those who would like it to all come to an end.

Broadway

Ahhhh, I'm missing my Broadway....
I'm a huge fan of musical theater...
From Fame and Tommy, to Guys and Dolls, Annie, Hello Dolly, Man of LaMancha, Ragtime, Miss Saigon, Chicago, and Mamma Mia,... to Rent, the incomparable Phantom and my most favorite, the amazing Les Miz....perhaps the best Broadway play ever.
Many of these hold special memories for me....I guess they all do...

My daughther acted in several of these in high school, Fame, Tommy, Guys and Dolls (she won the lead)
My sister and I took my mom to see Hello Dolly with Carole Channing starring for her 60th birthday.
I went to see Mamma Mia with my mother and my daughters for Mother's Day one year, and yes, there was dancing in the aisles...it is ABBA music after all. :)
I saw Annie, my very first on stage professional performance, in London, 27+ years ago.
Watched Rent long after memorizing the score and long after meeting the likes of Mimi, Angel, and Roger live and in person in a real life AIDS clinic. (La Vie Boheme ain't all its cracked up to be, people)
Saw Les Miserables and Phantom in NY on Broadway...incredible!....
Les Miz had such an effect that I have repeated the experience and even co-written a short play based on Les Miz, songs and all. What an experience that was!

I love them all...each for different reasons, some for the high energy and dancing...some for the shear power of the music or the harmony, some for the depth of the words...some for the incredible moving story line, or the heartwrending message....some for the pure joy of life. Nothing quite enwraps you in the story and makes you a living part of it for 2 hours like musical theater. Its miraculous really. Movies cannot compare.

The ones I really love are the ones that speak to me of something deeper. Today I dug out my Man of LaMancha CD...and drove to work singing at the top of my lungs....I like remembering that calling things that are not as though they were is something God encourages me to do just as Don Quixote called Aldonza, the scullery tramp, his Dulcinea, his dream.... impossible dreams are worth dreaming and stars are within our reach...

"Man of La Mancha is the story of one man's hope for a life of love, valor and compassion. It is at a time when we desperately need mad men like Don Miguel Cervantes' sixteenth century nobleman to keep us believing that there's sanity in dreaming impossible dreams and reaching for unreachable stars. "

"to dream the impossible dream. . .to reach the unreachable stars. . .to fight for what's right without question or pause. That is my quest" ---from the show's anthem song.

Its still hot here, folks...

Its only 93 today......yay! its cooling off! LOL
and it rains every afternoon around 3-4pm...I thought I moved out of Florida!

Actually its humid too...yesterday my front windows all fogged up...after that daily storm of course....

LIF

One morn­ing it came into my mind as I went to la­bour, to write an hymn on the ‘Gra­cious Ex­per­i­ence of a Christ­ian.’ As I went up Hol­born I had the chor­us,
‘On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.’
In the day I had four first vers­es com­plete, and wrote them off. On the Sab­bath fol­low­ing I met bro­ther King as I came out of Lisle Street Meet­ing…who in­formed me that his wife was ve­ry ill, and asked me to call and see her. I had an ear­ly tea, and called af­ter­wards. He said that it was his usu­al custom to sing a hymn, read a por­tion, and en­gage in pray­er, be­fore he went to meet­ing. He looked for his hymn-book but could find it no­where. I said, ‘I have some vers­es in my pock­et; if he liked, we would sing them.’ We did, and his wife en­joyed them so much, that af­ter ser­vice he asked me, as a fa­vour, to leave a co­py of them for his wife. I went home, and by the fire­side com­posed the last two vers­es, wrote the whole off, and took them to sis­ter King…As these vers­es so met the dy­ing wo­man’s case, my at­ten­tion to them was the more ar­rest­ed, and I had a thou­sand print­ed for dis­tr­ibu­tion. I sent one to the Spir­it­u­al Mag­a­zine, with­out my ini­tials, which ap­peared some time af­ter this. Bro­ther Rees, of Crown Street, So­ho, brought out an edi­tion of hymns [1836], and this hymn was in it.

Edward Mote
Let­ter to the Gos­pel Her­ald


MY HOPE IS BUILT

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Been singing this for the last couple of days...Do songs ever just come to you?...they do to me...I haven't been in a church meeting where this was being sung...I certainly haven't heard it on the radio.....my hubby did mention a line of this hymn to me a few weeks ago in reference to a loved one standing in a storm....maybe that's where it came from...or more likely, the Holy Spirit within resounds with what I need to hear at this moment in time.....I can't say...but there it is...surfacing into my consciousness at random moments...I find myself thinking on the chorus...humming the tune under my breath at work...praying the verses...reminding myself, encouraging myself....

My Hope is in Christ alone...
Whatever may come, He is the Rock on which I stand,.... and when I can't stand, His Life supports me....
He never changes and His love and grace never change....His view of me never changes
I stand faultless and blameless before His throne....

These are things I need to be reminded of often...don't you?

Jada's 3!

I can't believe it!! This can't be happening!!

3 years ago this very day, my daughter brought forth her firstborn child...my firstborn grand child...

She was almost a whole month early and still weighed in at 6+ lbs. With a head of silky dark hair and skin a bright pink tone...I mean hot pink...she took our breath away.....
and she is still taking it today...

Happy Happy Birthday my "most beautiful", my Jada!

Not My Way, Please!

"There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.'"~ C.S. Lewis ~

This quote reminds me of the scripture below...one that I have unfortunately had to learn the hard way...

Luk 20:18 "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. "

I thought I wanted to comment on this quote when I linked to it but let it suffice to say that this is the scripture that comes to mind upon reading it....and I type it with a wry smile on my face...

I do know...

It is truly a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God....

Lord let me turn quickly to you....yield swiftly to your desires, laying down my own in exchange for yours...let me never forget that You alone are Sovereign...You know exactly what You are doing and You will accomplish your Purpose. Help me to fall readily on You.