I wish, I wish, I wish....

-Meme

*

Psalm 3:3-5

..." You, O Lord, are a shield about me,

My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

I was crying to the Lord with my voice,

And He answered me from His holy mountain. 

I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me."...

*

The LORD Builds us Up!

-meme

*
 Joshua 1:9   

..."Be strong and courageous! 

Do not tremble or be dismayed, 

for the Lord your God is with you 

wherever you go.”

*

Wake Up and Smell the Cocoa!

-internet meme

*
 

Psalm 61

"Hear my cry, O God;

Give heed to my prayer.

From the end of the earth 

I call to You when my heart is faint;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a refuge for me,

A tower of strength against the enemy.

Let me dwell in Your tent forever;

Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.

For You have heard my vows, O God;

You have given me the inheritance 

of those who fear Your name.

You will prolong the king’s life;

His years will be as many generations.

He will abide before God forever;

Appoint lovingkindness and truth 

that they may preserve him.

So I will sing praise to Your name forever,

That I may pay my vows day by day."

*

Tale of Two Artists

 -P-47D,1/48 scale, by Glenn; tole painted stool, by Jill; ~50 yrs ago

*

"Marriage isn’t just about falling in love.

It’s about staying in love when life gets heavy.

It’s choosing the same person after long workdays, 

unpaid bill, misunderstandings, and moments 

when both of you are exhausted.

Real marriage is built in the ordinary days, 

not the perfect ones."

-Almost Said

*

When our prayers seem unanswered...

"Someday 

we will understand 

that God has a reason

 

behind every

"no" 

He gives us

 

through the course

 

of our lives. "

-unknown

*

If God says no to our prayer, dear heart,

And the clouds hang heavy and dull and gray;

If the rough rocks hinder and block the way,

While the sharp winds pierce us and sting with cold;

Yet, dear, there is home at the journey's end,

And these are the trials the Father does send,

To draw us as sheep to His Heavenly fold,

If God says no to our prayer, dear heart.

-unknown

*

Blessed are you if you trust the LORD

-on the northern Mississippi

*

When the frosts are in the valley,

   And the mountaintops are gray,

And the choicest blooms are blighted,

   And the blossoms die away,

A loving Father whispers,

   "This all comes from my hand";

Blessed are you if you trust

   When you cannot understand.

If, after years of toiling,

   Your wealth should fly away

And leave your hands all empty,

   And your hair is turning gray,

Remember then your Father

   Owns all the sea and land;

Blessed are you if you trust

   When you cannot understand.

-Unknown

*

Wisdom in Waiting and Trusting

-Alistair Begg, December 29, 2024

-Devotionals

*
 Seasons of Waiting

"[God] brought [Abraham] outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:5–6

If our faith is to remain steadfast in seasons of prolonged waiting, then we must be confident of these truths: first, that God has the power to do what He promised to do; and second, that God Himself is sufficient to meet all of our needs, in every season.

Abraham’s faith was tested in the waiting room of life. For years he lived in a foreign land, waiting for his “very own son” to come into the world as God had promised (Genesis 15:4). And it was his trust in God’s promises while he waited that God “counted … to him as righteousness.”

Paul, when he writes of Abraham’s faith during this time, says, “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20-21). In other words, Abraham believed that nothing and no one could stand in the way of God fulfilling His spoken word—even when he could not begin to see how God would keep His promises. His faith wasn’t a blind leap in the dark. Rather, it was a belief based on God’s character.

Fast-forward to today, and one of the great promises to which we cling is that the Lord Jesus has promised to prepare a place for us and that He will come to take us to Himself (John 14:3). Therefore, when we take Him at His word, we are filled with the hope of heaven. We can be certain beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus is coming back personally, He is coming back visibly, and He is coming back for His own. These promises to us are as sure as the promise God made to Abraham, for which he waited 25 years before it was fulfilled.

Furthermore, through Abraham’s experience we see that it is God alone who is sufficient to bring us through seasons of waiting. In Genesis 17, God appears once more to Abraham in order to strengthen his faith. How? By revealing who He is: “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty [El-Shaddai]; walk before me’” (17:1). This Hebrew term, El-Shaddai, can mean “God who is sufficient.” God, in other words, affirmed His promises to Abraham on the strength of His character.

The Christian life is a life of waiting. And all of God’s “hold ons” and “not yets” are part and parcel of His purpose. Every season of waiting is an opportunity for you to take God at His word. And while you wait, you can surely trust Him to meet your every need. Rest in this: the God in whom you believe is able to do all that He has promised.

*

All emphases are mine: Piper's Wife

*

The Christian Buddy System: Honor and Loyalty

Hebrews 10:19-25

..."Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near."...

*

1 Corinthians 12:25 

(please read all of 1 Cor. 12!  :o)

..."if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it."...

*

Romans 12:9-21

..."Let love be without hypocrisy. 

Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. 

Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. 

Respect what is right in the sight of all men.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

*

Galatians 6:1-5

"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.

For each one will bear his own load."...

*

Standing on Level Ground

-Scotland FB

*

Psalms 26

Vindicate me, Lord, for I have walked in my integrity,


And I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.


Examine me, Lord, and put me to the test;


Refine my mind and my heart.


For Your goodness is before my eyes,


And I have walked in Your truth.


I do not sit with deceitful people,


Nor will I go with pretenders.


I hate the assembly of evildoers,


And I will not sit with the wicked.


I will wash my hands in innocence,


And I will go around Your altar, Lord,


That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving


And declare all Your wonders.

Lord, I love the dwelling of Your house,


And the place where Your glory remains.


Do not take my soul away along with sinners,


Nor my life with men of bloodshed,


In whose hands is a wicked scheme,


And whose right hand is full of bribes.


But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;

Redeem me, and be gracious to me.


My foot stands on level ground;


In the congregations I will bless the Lord."

*

See the Goodness of the LORD!

 -Scotland FB

*

Psalm 27

"The Lord is my light and my salvation;


Whom shall I fear?


The Lord is the defense of my life;


Whom shall I dread?


When evildoers came upon me 

to devour my flesh,


My adversaries and my enemies, 

they stumbled and fell.

Though a host encamp against me,


My heart will not fear;


Though war arise against me,


In spite of this I shall be confident.

One thing I have asked from the Lord, 

that I shall seek:


That I may dwell in the house of the Lord 

all the days of my life,


To behold the beauty of the Lord


And to meditate in His temple.


For in the day of trouble 

He will conceal me in His tabernacle;


In the secret place of His tent 

He will hide me;


He will lift me up on a rock.


And now my head will be lifted up 

above my enemies around me,


And I will offer in His tent sacrifices 

with shouts of joy;


I will sing, yes, 

I will sing praises to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice,


And be gracious to me and answer me.


When You said, “Seek My face,” 

my heart said to You,


“Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”


Do not hide Your face from me,


Do not turn Your servant away in anger;


You have been my help;


Do not abandon me nor forsake me,


O God of my salvation!

For my father and my mother 

have forsaken me,


But the Lord will take me up.

Teach me Your way, O Lord,


And lead me in a level path


Because of my foes.


Do not deliver me over 

to the desire of my adversaries,


For false witnesses have risen against me,


And such as breathe out violence.


I would have despaired unless I had 

believed that I would 

see the goodness of the Lord


In the land of the living.


Wait for the Lord;


Be strong and let 

your heart take courage;


Yes, wait for the Lord."

*

Gentle ladies...never give up! 

Instead give all of you unto the LORD!

Live for Him and in Him, cry out to Him!

He hears your cries, knows your sorrows,

and He will carry you through all of your sadnesses until glory!

*

The LORD is with you: part two

 -Just in Case You Ever Feel Alone by Max Lucado

Illustrated by Eve Tharlet

*

"And you know what?

Even though I'm by your side,

sitting right next to you,

can you guess what's even better?

God is right here too!

He never sleeps or goes away.

So if you feel alone,

just remember, night or day,

you're never on your own.

He's with you when you're happy,

and He's with you when you're not.

He'll know what to do.

He'll know what to say.

In case you ever feel alone,

He's just a prayer away."...

*

Hebrews 13:5b-8

..."He Himself has said, 

“I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” 

so that we confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?”

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."...

Ephesians 3:14-19

..."For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."

*

Part One: June 20,2024

*

Finding Gladness and Joy!

 Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Isaiah 35:10

"And the ransomed of the Lord will return

And come with joyful shouting to Zion,

With everlasting joy upon their heads.

They will find gladness and joy,

And sorrow and sighing will flee away."

*

May we continue to live for Him, and may it be so because we trust in Him so much!

*

The Deadly Desert of Life

~internet photo

 *We must be very careful with whom we follow*

Secret Sorrows that only the LORD can soften

~Yellowstone FB

*

"Every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold when he’s only sad."

~Cited on the opening of the movie, I Heard the Bells.

* 

Psalm 3:3-5

..."But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,

My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

I was crying to the Lord with my voice,

And He answered me from His holy mountain. 

I lay down and slept;

I awoke, for the Lord sustains me."...

*

"Be Still, and Wait; and See"

~Mountain Blue Bird, Yellowstone FB

*

She waited for the call that never came;

searched every mail for a letter, 

or a note, 

or card, 

that bore his name;

and on her knees at night, 

and on her feet all day,

she stormed Heaven’s gate in his behalf;

she pled for him in Heaven’s high court.

“Be still, and wait; and see”—

the word God gave; 

then she knew that He would do 

in and 

for and 

with him,

that which she never could.

So doubts ignored

she went about her chores with joy—

knowing, 

though spurned,

His word was true.

The prodigal had not returned, 

but God was God,

and there was work to do. 

-Prodigals and Those Who Love Them, by Ruth Bell Graham.

*

Our Job as a Saint: Do what is in front of you!

Do it for the LORD and Glorify His Name

2 Timothy 3

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come....."

* 

We can't wait for the perfect time to do "this or that" for the LORD.  

Live your life TODAY for Him. 

In all you do, do it for Him. 

Change your thinking. 

You don't have to be in a foreign country - your country is already "foreign"!!

Peeling potatoes? do it to glorify God. 

Changing diapers? do it for the LORD.

Any other "ordinary" things? do it for the LORD!

Your life is important in whatever you are doing so get busy and live for the LORD!

*********************

Marcel Marceau Saved Hundreds of Jewish Children From Nazis

The Frenchman who would become known as the world's greatest pantomime artist helped smuggle Jewish children to safety in Switzerland during World War II.

The world-famous mime artist Marcel Marceau worked with the French underground as a teenager and help save many Jewish children from death at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed annually on 27 January (the date the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in 1945), is an occasion not only for commemorating the millions who died during the Holocaust (1933-1945), but also for acknowledging the heroic efforts of those who helped European Jews escape the clutches of the Third Reich.

One of those acknowledged heroes was the internationally acclaimed pantomime artist Marcel Marceau (1923-2007), whose work as a young man with the French underground was celebrated in a Facebook video posted on 26 January 2018:

The same story is told in this excerpt from an unattributed article widely shared on social media since 2015:

Marcel Marceau’s extraordinary talent for pantomime entertained audiences around the world for over sixty years. It also saved hundreds of Jewish children during the Holocaust.

Born to a Jewish family in Strasbourg, France in 1923, young Marcel Mangel discovered Charlie Chaplin at age five and became an avid fan. He entertained his friends with Chaplin imitations, and dreamed of starring in silent movies.

When Marcel was 16, the Nazis marched into France, and the Jews of Strasbourg — near the German border — had to flee for their lives. Marcel changed his last name to Marceau to avoid being identified as Jewish, and joined the French resistance movement.

Masquerading as a boy scout, Marcel evacuated a Jewish orphanage in eastern France. He told the children he was taking them on a vacation in the Alps, and led them to safety in Switzerland. Marcel made the perilous journey three times, saving hundreds of Jewish orphans.

He was able to avoid detection by entertaining the children with silent pantomime.

Documentary filmmaker Phillipe Mora, whose father fought alongside Marcel in the French resistance, said, ”Marceau started miming to keep children quiet as they were escaping. It had nothing to do with show business. He was miming for his life.’’

Marcel’s father perished at Auschwitz. Marcel later said, “The people who came back from the camps were never able to talk about it. My name is Mangel. I am Jewish. Perhaps that, unconsciously, contributed towards my choice of silence.”

While fighting with the French resistance, Marcel ran into a unit of German soldiers. Thinking fast, he mimicked the advance of a large French force, and the German soldiers retreated.

Much of the above was confirmed by Marceau himself in his acceptance speech when he was awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Medal for humanitarianism in 2001. 

“I don’t like to speak about myself,” he said, “because what I did humbly during the war was only a small part of what happened to heroes who died through their deeds in times of danger.” He continued:
I will speak only briefly about my own deeds. It is true that I saved children, bringing them to the border in Switzerland. I forged identity cards with my brother when it was very dangerous because you could be arrested if you were in the underground. I also forged papers, not to save only Jews, and children, but to save Gentiles and Jews, especially Gentiles because there was a law in Vichy-occupied France — to send the young French men, who were eighteen, nineteen years old, to factories in Germany to work for the German Army. And then I had an idea to bribe the officials, and make people look much younger in their photos. I was born in Strasbourg on the Rhine and when the war was declared in September 1939 all Strasbourg had to be emptied by the French government to save the people because we were on the border between Germany and France. Then we were sent to Perigord in the south of France. I was sixteen years old.

As the speech went on, Marceau also paid homage to his father Charles, a kosher butcher in Strasbourg who was deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz (never to return), and his cousin Georges Loinger, a Resistance fighter who would later confirm some of Marceau’s wartime exploits. When Marceau died in 2007, Loinger’s remembrances were quoted in an obituary published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

When the French Jewish Resistance decided in 1944 to evacuate Jewish children hidden in an orphanage west of Paris, Resistance commander George Loinger called on Marcel Mangel.

Mangel, Loinger’s younger cousin, helped sneak the kids out of the Parisian suburb of Sevres to Annemasse, on the Swiss border.

The episode represented one of Mangel’s finest hours, but it was not what would make him world famous. After the war, Mangel changed his name to Marcel Marceau — after a general in Napolean’s army who hailed from the Alsace region — and became a world-renowned mime artist.

Marceau died in Paris on Saturday at the age of 84.

“The kids loved Marcel and felt safe with him,” said Loinger, now 97. “He had already begun doing performances in the orphanage, where he had met a mime instructor earlier on. The kids had to appear like they were simply going on vacation to a home near the Swiss border, and Marcel really put them at ease.”

The anecdote about Marceau persuading a unit of German soldiers to surrender by “miming” the imminent arrival of French forces appears to have been mythologized a bit in the telling. For instance, Loinger didn’t mention Marceau’s using pantomime to subdue the Germans in his 2007 account of the incident:

“He and several other French soldiers were in the field in Germany, though I don’t remember  where,” when a group of 30 German soldiers led by an officer surrendered to him,” Loinger recalls. “He brought them all back to his base as prisoners. Marcel always said that was his greatest exploit as a soldier.”

Marceau’s own version of the story (as related to American historian Timothy Ryback in 1997) confirms that role-playing was integral to the event, but it does not imply that Marceau played a non-speaking part in that instance:

He claimed he had learned the power of illusion on a sun drenched afternoon toward the end of World War II while fighting with the French Resistance. He and a companion had entered a clearing and suddenly found themselves face-to-face with a unit of German soldiers. Startled, Marceau acted as if he was the advance guard of a larger French force and demanded the German surrender.

As Marcel related the incident, he suddenly sprang to his feet and struck a predatory pose. The night air filled with menace and, an instant later, triumph. Though it was well past midnight, I still see the helmets of the surrendering Germans glinting in that sunlight meadow.

Marceau confirmed that his first public performance as a mime was on a stage in front of 3,000 U.S. troops in Frankfurt, Germany after the war’s end. “I played for the G.I.s and two days later I had my first review in the Stars and Stripes,” he said in his Wallenberg Medal acceptance speech.

Observers sometimes remarked that part of the great mime’s allure was a deep sadness that lurked at the heart of his performances. “You see the pain and the sadness in his mime skits,” Georges Loinger said after his cousin’s passing. “The origin of that pain was his father’s deportation.”

Fittingly, Marceau is honored as both a victim and a hero of the Holocaust, the event that more than any other shaped the course of his life.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/marcel-marceau-saved-children-nazis/

*

No matter who you are, where you are, each of us can choose to live for the LORD in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

Romans 12:1-2

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."...

1 Peter 1:13-16

..."Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Isaiah 41:10

" ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; 

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ "

*

The LORD's Holy Name

-Martyn Lloyd-Jones 

Luke 21:29-36 NAS

..."Then He told them a parable: 

“Behold the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near.

So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

“Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.

But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”...

*

Martyn Lloyd Jones ~ Those who know their BIBLE should not be surprised at the state of the world as it is.

Luke 21:33 - 36 KJV

..."Heaven and earth shall pass away: but MY WORDS shall not pass away. 

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 

For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the SON of MAN."...

For HIS GLORY and His Holy Name!

*

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

~Yellowstone FB

*

A mighty fortress is our God,

a bulwark never failing;

our helper he, amid the flood

of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe

does seek to work us woe;

his craft and power are great,

and armed with cruel hate,

on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,

our striving would be losing,

were not the right Man on our side,

the Man of God's own choosing.

You ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus, it is he;

Lord Sabaoth his name,

from age to age the same;

and he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,

should threaten to undo us,

we will not fear, for God has willed

his truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim,

we tremble not for him;

his rage we can endure,

for lo! his doom is sure;

one little word shall fell him.

That Word above all earthly powers

no thanks to them abideth;

the Spirit and the gifts are ours

through him who with us sideth.

Let goods and kindred go,

this mortal life also;

the body they may kill:

God's truth abideth still;

his kingdom is forever!

~Martin Luther

*

Parhelia: God's Creation on Display

 -internet photo

What is it!?

*

And so...how can you become a new creation?

Ephesians 4:17-24

..."So this I say, 

and affirm together with the Lord, 

that you walk no longer 

just as the Gentiles also walk, 

in the futility of their mind, 

being darkened 

in their understanding, 

excluded from the life of God 

because of the ignorance 

that is in them, 

because of the hardness 

of their heart; 

and they, 

having become callous,

have given themselves 

over to sensuality 

for the practice of every kind 

of impurity with greediness.

But you did not learn Christ in this way, 

if indeed you have heard Him and 

have been taught in Him, 

just as truth is in Jesus, 

that, in reference 

to your former manner of life, 

you lay aside the old self, 

which is being corrupted 

in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 

and that you be renewed 

in the spirit of your mind, 

and put on the new self, 

which in the likeness of God 

has been created in righteousness 

and holiness of the truth."...

*

Romans 6  

John 3 

Acts 2

..." ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence;

For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.

‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted;

Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;

Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades,

Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

‘You have made known to me the ways of life;

You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ "...

*