Thursday Pearls...

"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future."

~ Corrie Ten Boom

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...Praising the Lord for you all today, dear readers...may each of you have a truly blessed Thursday, dwelling on Jesus and His precious, forgiving love!

Thursday Pearls

 

 “Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”

~ Corrie Ten Boom 

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Thursday blessings, dearest friends!

~ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  Philippians 4:11 ~

Thursday Pearls

"Our wants and our real needs are not always the same.  We want pleasure, plenty, and prosperity - but perhaps we need pain, self-denial, the giving up of things that we greatly prize.  We shrink from suffering, from sacrifice, from struggle - perhaps these are the very experiences which will do the most for us, which will bring out in us the best possibilities of our natures, which will fit us for the largest service to God and man."

~ JR Miller

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“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

~ Romans 5:3-5

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May you have a blessed Thursday, dearest friends!

 

 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

~  2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Thoughtful Thursday

"A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God;

of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom;

and that it is by God's power that he is upheld and provided for,

and that he needs God's wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might

to do what he ought to do for Him."

~ Jonathan Edwards 

" Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might."  - Ephesians 6:10, KJV

Praying each you sweet readers have a beautifully blessed Thursday!

~ With joy in Jesus ~

 

 This picture was taken on Mother's Day, 2015 at a beautiful beach near us...

Thoughtful Thursday

"If we had no Winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; If we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

~Anne Bradstreet

May you have a pleasant Thursday, sweet friends!

 

 "The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties.  I am convinced that nothing can ever seperate us from God's love..."

~ Romans 8:37-38

Thoughtful Thursday

 

"Remember He is the artist and you are only the picture.

You can't see it.  So quietly submit to be painted - i.e., keep 

fufilling all the obvious duties of your station (you really know quite well enough what they are!), asking forgiveness for each failure and then leaving it alone.

You are in the right way.

Walk - don't keep looking at it."

- C.S. Lewis

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I pray your heart was encouraged

May each of you have a very blessed Thursday!

~ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  James 4:8 ~

Thoughtful Thursday

"I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content."  - Phillipians 4:11.

THESE words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man."Ill weeds grow apace."

Covetousness, discontent, and mumuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil.  

We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth:  and so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education.  But the precious things of earth must be cultivated.

If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener's care.

Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us by nature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we must be specially careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us.  Paul says "I have learned...to be content;" as much as to say, he did not know how at one time.

It cost him some pains to attain the mystery of that great truth.

No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down again.  

And at last he had attained unto it, and could say, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content," he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave - a poor prisoner shut up in Nero's dungeon at Rome.  We might well be willing to endure Paul's infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him, if we too might by any means attain unto his good degree.  

Do not undulge the notion that you can be contented with learning, or learn without discipline.  

It is not a power that may be exercised naturally, but a science to be acquired gradually.  

We know this from experience.  Brother, hush that murmur, natural though it be, and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Content.

- Charles H Spurgeon

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."  

- Isaiah 40:31

Many blessings in the Lord!

Painting by Clark James

Finding Joy in a Season of Loneliness

At various points in my journey through beautiful girlhood, I have

experienced loneliness and I can testify to how difficult it can be to find hope…

 I would like to write and encourage other young ladies who may

be in a similar season, to assure them that there is indeed hope

and also rich blessing for them, even though they feel

so alone just now.  A season never lasts forever…

From what I have observed in my life, and also in the lives of other

daughters at home, being lonely is very common.

I am fortunate in that I have sisters and even though we are not very close in age,

I am thankful for their sweet companionship and

I count myself blessed to have them in my life.

My mother is also a rich blessing and I appreciate her

sweet friendship, Godly wisdom and advice.

I love this quote by Mabel Hale, the author of Beautiful Girlhood:

“The safest girl is the one who makes her mother her most confidential friend.”

“And be not conformed to this world:  but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,

that ye may prove what is that, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  Romans 12:2

Loneliness often leads to discontentment, and discontentment

only steals our joy and causes bitterness and resentment to take root. 

Loneliness is real, but we constantly need to seek the Lord on how to

overcome our feelings and find joy in the life He has blessed us with.

 

 Dear sisters, we are incredibly blessed to be daughters at home! 

We have so much to be thankful for!

This path we have decided to walk is not for the faint hearted,

nor is this journey all pleasant.

But if we choose to cling to our Saviour and embrace the season He has placed us in,

we will find a joy that is uncontainable and truly beautiful.

I believe Jesus knows and understands our loneliness. 

Cry out to Him each day and tell Him of the pain you are experiencing

in your heart and ask Him to comfort and uphold you…

Pray that He will send a special friend along your path who will be a

Godly mentor, and encourage you in your journey to Biblical womanhood.

Our alternative beliefs often separate us from young people of our own age and

while we know that the Bible is clear about us being different to the world,

it is not always easy when you feel like you are the only one pursuing His calling!

Having many friends of your own age is not always good,

especially if they don’t share common interests or beliefs.

They might cause you to become more discontented with your life.

Or you may become jealous of them and the exciting things that they’re able to do…

Perhaps you may even be tempted to join them…?

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own:  but because ye are not of the world,

but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”  John 15:19

Rather surround yourself with like-minded women who will be a

good influence and who will impart wisdom and Truth into your life.

These women may be much older than you, but never doubt

the rich level of friendship they can offer…

I have a handful of dear older ladies who have been a wonderful blessing in

my life at many different times and I am so grateful for them!

I do not have many friends of my own age, but the two or three I do have are

young ladies who share similar beliefs and are committed to serving the Lord…

Although we seldom see each other, we enjoy encouraging one another in the faith

through letters or messages…

During quiet times in our lives, it is very easy to become lonely. 

But wait upon the Lord, dear friends!  You are not alone and there is hope!

May I encouraged you to take those destructive thoughts captive

and to choose joy in the midst of this season?

My prayer is that you will you will draw closer to the

Lord during this season that you are in, as I found myself doing…

…As I began to embrace the quietness about me, I found hope and rest

in my Saviour’s amazing and perfect plan for me and a wonderful joy followed.

He has a special plan for your life and He loves and cares for you…

I pray that you will find joy in the right places – in serving God through serving others.

Loneliness is something you constantly have to surrender to the Lord,

and joy is something you consciously have to choose each day, but it is oh, so worth it!

“This hard place in which you perhaps find yourself is the very place

in which God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him,

to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering,

gentleness, meekness, - in short, to learn the depths of the

love that Christ Himself has poured out on all of us.”

~ Elisabeth Elliot

Paintings by Jessie Wilcox Smith 

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  This Post May be Shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up and Modest Monday ~