Oh, Death, where is your victory?

 

"Death leaves a Heartache

No one can heal.

Love leaves a memory 

no one can steal."

--From an Irish Headstone

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1 Corinthians 15:55-58

...“Death is swallowed up in victory. 

O death, where is your victory? 

O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin,

 and the power of sin is the law; 

but thanks be to God,

 who gives us the victory

 through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, 

be steadfast, immovable, 

always abounding in the work of the Lord, 

knowing that your toil 

is not in vain in the Lord."

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Love Lifts!

Psalm 127:3-4

..."Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth"...

Proverbs 1:8-9

..."Hear, my son, your father’s instruction

And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;

Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head

And ornaments about your neck"...

Proverb 5:18b

..."rejoice in the wife of your youth"...

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Thankful for God's Creation

                                                                              

-Charles Schulz

The True Comforter

1 Thessalonians 2:7

..."we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children"...

John 14:26-27

..."the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful"...

Romans 8:26-27

..."In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God"...

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What a Friend We have in Jesus!

What a friend we have in Jesus,


All our sins and griefs to bear!


What a privilege to carry


Everything to God in prayer!


Oh, what peace we often forfeit,


Oh, what needless pain we bear,


All because we do not carry


Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?


Is there trouble anywhere?


We should never be discouraged—


Take it to the Lord in prayer.


Can we find a friend so faithful,


Who will all our sorrows share?


Jesus knows our every weakness;


Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,


Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge—


Take it to the Lord in prayer.


Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?


Take it to the Lord in prayer!


In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,


Thou wilt find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised


Thou wilt all our burdens bear;


May we ever, Lord, be bringing


All to Thee in earnest prayer.


Soon in glory bright, unclouded,


There will be no need for prayer—

Rapture, praise, and endless worship


Will be our sweet portion there.

-Scriven

Mark 8:35-36

..."For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?"... 

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In her own hand

 One of my favorite recipes from my mother:

Can you tell this recipe has been used for 45 years?

About ten years ago I covered it with contact paper to preserve it.

Another recipe from my Grandmother in my mother's hand:

This one I photo copied from a piece of paper I just found in my mother's hand writing, and so I replaced my greasy hand written one from 45 years ago. A treasure from two precious women in my life!

2 Timothy 3:14

"...But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it..."

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Come let us reason together...

LOOK FOR THE TRUTH

 Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, and let us reason together,”

Says the Lord,

“Though your sins are as scarlet,

They will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They will be like wool.

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There is a redeemer

Jesus, God's own Son

Precious Lamb of God, Messiah

Holy One

Jesus my redeemer

Name above all names

Precious Lamb of God, Messiah

Oh, for sinners slain

Thank you, oh my father

For giving us Your Son

And leaving Your Spirit

'Til the work on Earth is done

When I stand in Glory

I will see His face

And there I'll serve my King forever

In that Holy Place

Thank you, oh my father

For giving us Your Son

And leaving Your Spirit

'Til the work on Earth is done

There is a redeemer

Jesus, God's own Son

Precious Lamb of God, Messiah

Holy One

Thank you, oh my father

For giving us Your Son

And leaving Your Spirit

'Til the work on Earth is done

And leaving Your Spirit

'Til the work on Earth is done

--Greene

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Tell your mother you love her

I recently spoke with two different ladies in their nineties who shared with me that they had been thinking a lot about their dear mothers. They longed to be able to talk with them again. Both said they so wished that had told her how much they appreciated her and loved her before she had died.

"But I can't do it now," they lamented.

I often think of my own precious mother. I loved her, I told her, I shared with her how I felt, just as these women probably did, but now I lament with them. I wish I could talk with her and love on her more.

Instead, we praised the LORD for our mothers, and look forward to seeing them again!

Both of these precious ladies love Jesus as their Savior so we spoke of seeing all of our mothers in glory!

Proverbs 1:7-9

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;


Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction


And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;

Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head


And ornaments about your neck."

 I had a mother who read to me

Ephesians 6:2-3

"Honor your father and mother 

(which is the first commandment with a promise), 

so that it may be well with you, 

and that you may live long on the earth."

Proverbs 31:25-29"

"Strength and dignity are her clothing,

And she smiles at the future.

She opens her mouth in wisdom,

And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

She looks well to the ways of her household,

And does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and bless her;

Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:

“Many daughters have done nobly,

But you excel them all.”

Mother 'O Mine

by Rudyard Kipling

Light of Home

My son, thou wilt dream the world is fair, 

and thou spirit will sigh to roam,

'And thou must go; but never, when there,

Forget the light of home!

by Sarah Josepha Hale

Mother O' Mine

by Mary Engelbreit

There is a whole lot of love out there...

Someday...

Revelations 21

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, 

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

And He who sits on the throne said, 

“Behold, I am making all things new.” 

And He *said, 

“Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

Then He said to me, 

“It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son."...

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Divisions/Cults/Manipulations/Control

The Border of US and Canada 

What a spectacular photo. When you notice the delineated line it really gives you reasons to ponder divisions.

Divisions: We live in a fallen world. A world which is full of divisions.

Of all the various divisions there is a main division which cuts families apart all through time.

The Divider is sin and exclusive groups like cults and cult-like people are the great dividers. 

These people desire more followers to justify their own made-up rules of how life should be lived or just to control and manipulate others. Thus, they will do any thing devious to get their way with people. 

To achieve their goals they do not care who they destroy, and in fact, relish their power to destroy and control others.

Colossians 2

"For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.

For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 

“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 

(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?

These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

Colossians 3:1-4

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory..."

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