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2 Corinthians 4:16-18
..."Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."...
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Dunnottar Castle
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"The greenest grass is found wherever the most rain falls. So I suppose it is the fog and mist of Ireland that makes it "the Emerald Isle."
And wherever you find the widespread "fog of trouble and the mist of sorrow", you always find emerald green hearts that are full of the beautiful foliage of the comfort and love of God.
Dear Christian, do not say,
"Where are all the swallows? They are all gone---they are dead."
No, they simply skimmed across the deep, blue sea, flying to a faraway land; but they will be back again soon.
Child of God, do not say,
"All the flowers are dead---the winter has killed them, so they are gone."
No! Although the winter has covered them with a white coat of snow, they will push up their heads again and will be alive very soon.
O believer, do not say the sun has burned out, just because a cloud has hidden it.
No. it is still there, planning a summer for you; for when it shines again, it will have caused those clouds to have dropped their April showers, each of them a mother to a sweet mayflower.
Above all, remember---when God hides His face from you, do not say that He has forgotten you. He is simply waiting for a little while to make you love Him more. And once He comes, you will rejoice with inexpressible "joy of the LORD".
Waiting on Him exercises your gift of grace and tests your faith.
Therefore continue to wait in hope, for although the promise may linger, it will never come too late."
---Charles H. Spurgeon
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Nehemiah 8:7b-12
[they all]..."explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place.
They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people,
“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.”
For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.
Then he said to them,
“Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord.
Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
So the Levites calmed all the people, saying,
“Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.”
All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them."
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"The summer of 1944 left Normandy in ashes — villages ruined, families gone, hope fading. Amid the wreckage, an American soldier found a little girl sitting silently beside her parents’ bodies.
She didn’t move when he knelt beside her. Only when he reached into his pocket and offered a small chocolate bar did she look up. Then, through trembling sobs, she whispered, “Don’t leave me.”
He didn’t. He carried her to safety — and when the war ended, he found a way to make her his daughter.
Years later, she said, “My life began with a hug on a battlefield.”
In a world torn apart by hate, it wasn’t war that saved her — it was compassion.
The story of the soldier and the little girl is a powerful reminder that, in a divided world, it is love and care that can heal the deepest wounds..."
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"...This act of kindness was not just a momentary gesture; it was the beginning of a new chapter in both their lives. The soldier became a protector, a father figure, and the little girl, though devastated and broken, became a daughter to him.
The bond that formed between them that day transcended the boundaries of war. It was a bond of humanity, of compassion, and of love that would grow over time...."
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O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field,
The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth!
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Ephesians 5:1-16
"Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
Therefore do not be partners with them.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
11. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."...
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Now remember...spiders of all kinds were created by the Lord...so respect them as you "remove" them from your house.
:o)
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When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every strong and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
*-Edward Mote: My Hope is Built on Nothing Else
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.
For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."...
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Come with Me by yourselves and rest awhile,
I know you're weary of the stress and throng,
Wipe from your brow the sweat and dust of toil,
And in My quiet strength again be strong.
Come now aside from all the world holds dear,
For fellowship the world has never known,
Alone with Me, and with My Father here,
With Me and with My Father, not alone.
Come, tell Me all that you have said and done.
Your victories and failures, hopes, and fears.
I know how hardened hearts are wooed and won;
My choicest wreaths are always wet with tears.
Come now and rest; the journey is too great,
And you will faint beside the way and sink;
The Bread of Life is here for you to eat,
And here for you the wine of love to drink.
Then from fellowship with your Lord return,
And work till daylight softens into even:
Those brief hours are not lost in which you learn
More of your Master and His rest in Heaven.
-unknown
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The seasons change- seemingly too often. Autumn has taken over the Summer we loved.
Now the corn is being harvested with the soybeans waiting to be next. Soon the fields will be empty with room for the winds to gather more speed.
Precious friends have died- leaving loving families to grieve them. Memories of the joys and loves which they shared. Photos are brought out with their love for each other shone throughout. Tears continue until they meet again in Glory.
It feels like a story which is coming to an end. We have nearly four months to the end of this year, but time seems to "rush" by somehow.
I'm thankful for kindnesses people have shown and the words of love which are shared together. The LORD has been gracious to love us so and then we can love others.
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"My Home is God Himself"; Christ brought me there.
I placed myself within His mighty arms;
He took me up, and safe from all alarms
He bore me "where no foot but His has trod,"
Within the holiest at Home with God,
And had me dwell in Him, rejoicing there.
O Holy Place! O Home divinely fair!
And we, God's little ones, abiding there.
"My Home is God Himself" it was not so!
A long, long road I traveled night and day,
And sought to find within myself some way.
Nothing I did or felt could bring me near.
Self-effort failed, and I was filled with fear,
And then I found Christ was the only way,
That I must come to Him, and in Him stay,
And God had told me so.
And now "my Home is God," and sheltered there,
God meets the trials of my earthly life,
God compasses me round from storm and strife,
God takes the burden of my daily care.
O Wondrous Place! O Home divinely fair!
And I, God's little one, safe hidden there.
Lord, as I dwell in You and You in me,
So make me dead to everything but Thee;
That as I rest within my Home most fair,
My soul may evermore and only see
My God in everything and everywhere;
My Home is God.
-unknown
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I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne'er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me.
-unknown
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Jesus says: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."...
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"Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be, For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak.
May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things;
Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?”
“Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will set him in the safety for which he longs.”
The words of the Lord are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.
You, O Lord, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever.
The wicked strut about on every side When vileness is exalted among the sons of men."
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