Exhortation to Prayer ~William Cowper

What various hindrances we meet
In coming to a mercy-seat!
Yet who that knows the worth of pray’r,
But wishes to be often there?

Pray’r makes the dark’ned cloud withdraw,
Pray’r climbs the ladder Jacob saw;
Gives exercise to faith and love,
Brings ev’ry blessing from above.

Restraining pray’r, we cease to fight;
Pray’r makes the Christian’s armour bright;
And Satan trembles, when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.

While Moses stood with arms spread wide,
Success was found on Israel’s side;
But when thro’ weariness they fail’d,
That moment Amalek prevail’d.

Have you no words! Ah, think again,
Words flow apace when you complain;
And fill your fellow-creature’s ear
With the sad tale of all your care.

Were half the breath thus vainly spent,
To heav’n in supplication sent;
Your cheerful song would oft’ner be,
“Hear what the LORD has done for me!”

Each Tuesday and Friday in April, Rebecca from Rebecca Writes is posting Petitionary Prayers and invites us to join her in posting our prayer concerns and supporting each other in prayer. I think that’s not only a fine idea, but the gives us the privilege of bearing another’s burden.

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Eph. 6:2

These guys are senior members of the Buck family that we’re seeing a lot of these days around our home. It looks like one is whispering to the other, something like “There they go again with the camera. Just look right at ‘em and don’t even smile…I wish they’d just leave us alone…” Deer can be a nuisance, but I love watching them. We have a herd of 15-20 that keeps moving around our property, eating anything available. This picture was taken one morning as I was leaving our house. They stayed put and stared at me as I drove away. I hope we can find their amazing antlers when they drop them, and add them to our collection.

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing, nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always His blood and righteousness alone that we can rest. ~B.B. Warfield

God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.

And this:

The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be much worse, but in the end it’s going to be a lot better and a lot bigger. –Elisabeth Elliot

Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find
A sweeter sound than Thy blest Name,
O Savior of mankind!

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.

Jesus, our only joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize will be;
Jesus be Thou our glory now,
And through eternity.

~Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th century
~translated from Latin to English by Edward Caswall, 1849

I glean so much from the Desiring God blog that I have to hold back from linking to it almost on a daily basis. Today John Piper’s topic was “Christ is the Staff of Old Age.” I particularly loved this part of his quote from Samuel Rutherford:

Therefore I commend Christ to you as the staff of your old age: let him have now the rest of your days; and think not much of a storm upon the ship that Christ saileth in; there shall no passenger fall overboard; but the crazed ship and the sea-sick passenger shall come to land safe.

Those of us who are in what I affectionately call our “declining years” are not meant to sit in Adirondack chairs on the shore waiting for the surf to come in, or as in my case, in a rocking chair on my front porch watching the pine trees sway in the breeze. Tempting as it may be at times to tell ourselves that we’ve just about put in our time and deserve a rest, God calls us to do otherwise. Children used to sing, “With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm as we go sailing Home.” Out of the mouths of babes and Samuel Rutherford, we hear the same truth. In our sea-sick, crazed-ship voyage, He does not forsake us, but is the strong, sure staff that we can lean upon as we declare His truth to the next generation.

Did you know it’s easy to keep tabs on the calories, carbs, protein, and fat content in any recipe you have? I found a great online tool that analyzes any recipe; you just type in the amount of each ingredient and number of servings, and voila! You’ll find the free analyzer here. I used it on this recipe and tried to copy and paste the results onto this post, but couldn’t get it to work well. It’s easy to use though, so give it a try. Here’s the recipe anyway:

Easy Wheat Bread

3 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 pkgs. yeast
2 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
3 to 4 cups unbleached flour

Combine 2 cups whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in mixer bowl. Heat milk and oil until 120-130 degrees. Pour over flour mixture and add 1 egg. Beat 1/2 minute on low speed, then 3 minutes on medium speed. By hand, gradually add 1 cup whole wheat flour and 3-4 cups unbleached flour to form soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 1 minute. Place in oiled bowl. Cover with towel and let rise 45-60 minutes. Shape into 2 loaves; place in 9×5 inch loaf pans. Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake @ 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cool on rack.

**Update: Kim came to my rescue and told me how to post the analyzed recipe! Thanks, Kim. Results are based on 12 servings per loaf of bread.

Dorothy from Field Stone Cottage tagged me for this meme. If you haven’t visited her blog yet, head on over and have a read. Before I begin the meme, I have to give you the rules first…

So here are the rules of the game:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, each player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Here we go:

What was I doing ten years ago?
We had just built a home and as I was not employed, I had the joy of puttering, sewing, decorating and taking care of my family. That lasted for about a year and a half, then the Lord unexpectedly brought us to our present location and ministry.

Five things on my “to do” list today:
1. Office work
2. Treadmill time
3. Finish cleaning a large storage room
4. Laundry
5. Reacquaint myself with a rocking chair on the porch if it’s still warm enough when I get to it–it’s a gorgeous day

Snacks I enjoy (and allow myself to have):
Fruit, popcorn

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
My mind can scarcely deal with such an absurdity, but this is the first thing I’d do: Create an excellent home for mentally disabled adults who have an ability to function fairly well, but are unable to find employment or live without close guidance and supervision, and who don’t “fit in” anywhere. When their parents are gone, where do they go? The home would provide a sense of community for them, yet they would each have a private apartment that would be their home for the rest of their lives. There would be caring, patient people who live alongside them and help them through their days. There would be some sort of meaningful work for them to do; even apprenticeships for those who are able. There would be biblical teaching on a level that they could understand, and loving people to help them grow into the fullest knowledge of God that their comprehension allows. There would be music and animals and art classes. Their families could visit and meet their friends and share wonderful food that they could help prepare. There would be a church community where they would truly be welcomed and embraced and made a part of things. Shall I go on? I can’t; I’m in tears. Do you really think a billion dollars could buy that?

Three of my bad habits: I don’t know why anyone would want to know that, but since you asked,
1. Worry
2. Jumping to conclusions
3. That’s enough, don’t you think?

Five places I’ve lived:
1. Murfreesboro, TN
2. Milwaukee, WI
3. Kathmandu, Nepal
4. New York City
5. The Netherlands

Five jobs I’ve had:
1. Mail room - first job
2. Secretary at investment company
3. Telephone business sales
4. Cook, cleaning lady, laundry wench, all-manner-of-hospitality person at our counseling lodge (Whew!)
5. Admin. assistant to Harry

It seems like I’ve seen this meme circle around, so if you haven’t done it, consider yourself tagged and let me come read what you’ve written!

We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes. But we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem. We receive His poured-out life, and being allowed the high privilege of suffering with Him, may then pour ourselves out for others. ~Elisabeth Elliot in Gateway to Joy