Perfect Preperation

‎{Lift bridge across the St Croix River}

"Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see." 

- Corrie Ten Boom

In His Right Mind

"Ruby Gillis says she wants lines of beaus on a string and make them crazy for her. I would rather have one in his right mind. There are some things in this world, that even I cannot hope to understand." 

~ Anne of Green Gables

"O Lord...

"...let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me." 

~ Psalm 40:11b

Proclaim it!

"...proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light..." 

~ 1 Peter 2:9b

True Success

"There are many kinds of success in life worth having. It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man, or railroad man, or farmer, or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer, or a President, or a ranchman, or the colonel of a fighting regiment, or to kill grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison."

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Holiness

Holiness begins in our minds and works out to our actions. That being true, what we allow to enter our minds is critically important. The television programs we watch, the movies we may attend, the books and magazines we read, the music we listen to, and the conversations we have all affect our minds. We need to evaluate the effects of these avenues honestly, using Philippians 4:8 as a standard. Are the thought stimulated by these various avenues true? Are they pure? Lovely? Admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy?

~Jerry Bridges

Fullness of Joy

 "You will show me the path of life;

 In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

~Psalm 16:11

Certain!

"I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love."

~ C.H. Spurgeon (1834 - 1892)

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit..." 
~ John 15:16a

Contentment...

"Contentment...has come to mean that we are grimly resigned to the fact that we don't have everything we need to be happy. But biblically, contentment means resting in the knowledge that what God has given you is enough - that He has given you everything you need. It does not mean determining that it's not enough but you're going to keep a stiff upper lip anyway.  Agreeing with God is not the same as agreeing to disagree with Him."

~ Anna and Elizabeth Botkin

Be Found Ready

Live as if you thought that Christ might come at any time.

Do everything, as if you did it for the last time.

Say everything, as if you said it for the last time.

Read every chapter in the Bible, as if you did not know whether you would be allowed to read it again.

Pray every prayer, as if you felt it might be your last opportunity.

Hear every sermon, as if you were hearing once and forever.

This is the way to be found ready.

This is the way to turn Christ's second appearing to good account.

This is the way to put on the armor of light.


~J. C. Ryle

Well Soaked

"Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples." 

~ Oswald Chambers




(Participating in the Encourage One Another Link-up)

Forever...

"Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. 

Your faithfulness endures to all generations;

You established the earth, and it abides. 

They continue this day according to Your ordinances,
For all are Your servants. 

Unless Your law had been my delight,

I would then have perished in my affliction.  

I will never forget Your precepts, 

For by them You have given me life."

~ Psalm 119:89-93

Early Rising

{photo from Pinterest}

"The difference between rising every morning at six and at eight, in the course of forty years, amounts to twenty thousand hours,--or eight years, one hundred and twenty days, and ten hours,--which will afford eight hours a day, for exactly ten years; so that it is the same as if ten years of life were added, in which we could command eight hours each day for the cultivation of the mind."

~ Rev. Daniel Smith (1851)

Participating in the Encourage One Another link up

Indifferent

‎"History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations that became indifferent to God, and died." 

~ Whittaker Chambers

Pray

{Photo from Pinterest}

"Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth;

help me to pray from the depths of my heart."

~ Martin Luther

Wonderfully Made

Andrea Bocelli's pro-life story:

"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 


{picture credit}

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they all were written,  the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.  


How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand..."
Psalm 139:14-18

Not to us...

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, 
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. 
~ Psalm 115:1

Quote for the day...

‎"Thank goodness I was never sent to school; 

it would have rubbed off some of the originality. ”~ Beatrix Potter

Quote for the day...

" 'Free will' I have often heard of, but I have never seen it. I have always met with 'will', & plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in the blessed bonds of grace." 

~ C. H. Spurgeon

A gift..

"Every day we live is a priceless gift of God, 

loaded with possibilities to learn something new, 

to gain fresh insights into His great truths." 

- Dale Evans