Call Back!!

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back--
'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;
And if, perchance, Faith's light is dim, because the oil is low,
Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.


Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm;
Call back, and say He kept you when the forest's roots were torn;
That when the heavens thundered and the earthquake shook the hill,
He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.


O friend, call back and tell me, for I cannot see your face;
They say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race;
But there are mists between us, and my spirit eyes are dim, 
And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.


But if you'll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry,
And if you'll say He saw you through the night's sin-darkened sky--
If you have gone a little way ahead, O friend, call back--
'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track.


~Selected~

This beautiful poem is at the beginning of Rosalind Goforth's book, 'Climbing' that I have been telling you about. I think of this selection often as I 'climb' through my journey of life. I don't think I have shared this and just wanted to post it...as I haven't posted much lately. 

I write posts in my head as I go through my day...or jot down notes for ideas later...but lately, later hasn't come too often!! 

It is most important to serve the people God has given to us in our homes and lives. I find blogging is a good outlet for the need to write but not if I neglect my husbands and family. I can get wonderful ideas from the internet on being a keeper at home to better my homemaking skills (that can always use improvement, if not in outward skills, then in the inward skills of the heart...sitting at Jesus' feet instead of being such a Martha!!)

BUT...if I read and don't put some of these ideas into practice, what use is it?! In other words, if you read about cleaning your closet (or life out) and don't actually go clean your closet...what use is it!! It is like watching an exercise video and not doing the exercises!!

~Judith~

John Wesley's 22 Questions

These are the 22 questions the members of John Wesley’s Holy Club asked themselves each day in their private devotions over 200 years ago. There is no harm asking ourselves these very same questions as they are still relevant today. 

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? 
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidently pass on to another what was told to me in confidence:
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me every day?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else of my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
16. How do I spend my spare time?
17. Am I proud?
18. Do I thank God that I am other people, especially as the Pharisee who despite the publican?

IS THIS THE RIGHT WAY HOME?

Is This the Right Way Home?

Again, I have been reading Rosalind Goforth's book, 'Climbing' and have been inspired to share with you some of what I have been reading. There is much wisdom and insight in this book and it is worth reading.

"And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he 

brought me through the waters; 

the waters were to the ancles.

Again he measured a thousand, and 

brought me through the waters; 

the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; 

the waters were to the loins.

~Ezekiel 47:3,4~

Rosalind was sharing her discouragement while in China on a tour with her husband where she was speaking to many Chinese women. She was sharing the many times the Lord met her with answered prayer when she needed to speak and because of sick children and sleeplessness was unable to prepare as she would have liked or her husband was able. She shares of a time when she was so tired that she was nodding off on the platform. Her mind was so foggy and she had no idea what she would say when her turn came to speak. 

She says, "As I rose to address that great audience, I seemed to feel the Lord beside me. My mind then cleared, and for an hour the audience listened with great stillness. The Lord had heard my desperate cry and had given calmness and power. No one, I believe, knew what that meeting meant to me. He had, as often before and since, just brought me through!"

This story reminded me of many times that the Lord brought me through days of homeschooling when my children were little and I had older ones needing help and little ones needing to nurse or changed. How encouraging it would have been to have read this book then, or to have had the encouragement of an older woman to come along side me and tell me it would be alright, and to teach me what I needed to know to grow in the Lord. It is so much harder to learn by trial-and-error!! 

The house we used to live in had water problems. Over the years, there were many, many times that we had water in our finished family room. I would have to roll the sectional sofa up the stairs to rescue it from the approaching water. All sorts of school stuff would have to be taken upstairs, upsetting the order of our home, creating chaos and havoc in its wake!! But the Lord brought us through!!

We solved one source of the water issues by building a garage on the end of the house a step higher than the rest of the house and making the driveway higher also. We had springs around our property and under our house...a blessing when water is in short supply but not when it was in abundance!!

One year, the rains were upon us and we spent all night sucking up water in two water-vacs as fast as it was coming in!! As I was vacuuming all night I sang "Trusting Jesus" with the hymn book propped on the shelf holding our shoes. Jesus was faithful and brought us through!! There are many other times when He has been faithful. Even this week, He has been faithful in my life when I dipped down into a valley. He is always there waiting for us to 'cry out' for Him just like this godly missionary has shared that she did many times in her experiences in China many years ago. She shares her journey in climbing as the Lord brought her through.

Another experience which Rosalind shares in her book, "Climbing" is again better given directly from her. So I will give it to you as a quote:

"As I recall the days spent in that room, it all seems one of the darkest, hardest physical experiences of my life. I had again caught a severe chill and was feverish and in pain. I forced myself to attend the first few meetings but finally had to give in. I tried to get war with a hot water bottle and everything my husband could pile on me on the brick bed (sleeping on a brick bed?! none of us have ANYTHING to complain about!!) But it was no use. I simply got colder and colder. As my husband left for the meeting, I rose and began to pace the rough, earthen floor, crying aloud in agony, "O Lord, have You no pity? Oh, help me! Why should I suffer so?"

"Just then the two-leaf door was flung open and a coolie entered. On his shoulder was balanced a bamboo pole with a fully laden basket on each end. He handed me a letter. It was from some American missionaries living quite a distance from where we were. These missionaries had spent a few hours with us the day before to see something of my husband's methods of work. They had stayed for dinner and had left us with practically an empty larder. They must have sensed this, as the two laden baskets indicated. These contained all sorts of good things -- jam, pickles, bread, cake, butter, and other things. But the most timely and precious evidence of God's love and care came, when tearing paper off a bottle of grape juice, I noticed a portion of the torn paper lying on the floor on which, in large print, were the words,

"IS THIS THE RIGHT ROAD HOME?"

Picking up the bit of paper, I read the following lines:

Is THIS the right road home, O Lord?

The clouds are dark and still,

The stony path is sharp and hard,

Each step brings some fresh hill!

I thought the way would brighter grow

And that the sun with warmth would glow

And joyous songs from free hearts flow.

Is THIS the right road home?

Yes, child! this very path I trod,

The clouds were dark for Me,

The stony path was hard to tread,

Not sight but faith can see

That at the end the sun shines bright,

Forever where there is no night,

And glad hearts rest from earth's fierce fight,

It IS the right road home!

"On carefully examining the scrap of paper, I found it to be a portion of an English paper, "The Life of Faith," printed four years before in 1914 at the time of the Great WAR. How strange! How wonderful! God surely, in this case, moved in a mysterious way. An English newspaper four years old, coming through American missionaries and reaching me, as it did, just when I needed the message desperately!"

"Again and again I read those lines, which seemed to speak to me a message from the Lord direct to my soul. At last I cried out, "O Lord, if this I am now going through is the right road home, then I will NOT murmur!" 

" The effects of what I had gone through . . . remained with me for years. But He brought me through! And so will do for you, dear fellow-climber." ~Rosalind Goforth in "Climbing"

I know that each of you reading this has probably had needs met through reading what Rosalind shared with us from so many years ago. I have!! He brought me through each moment this past week and the concerns that were on my heart then and now are concerns that the Lord is interested in. He will meet your physical and emotional needs. He will meet needs that your family has: your finances, homeschooling needs, needs of your children, and of course those of your dear husband. God is most of all concerned about your deepest needs of your heart...those things that weigh us down as mothers. Cry out to God like Rosalind did. She beautifully shows her vulnerability and through this shows how the Lord will bring you through!!


"The Christian on his knees sees more than the philosopher on tiptoe." ~D.L. Moody~


"How often do we attempt work for God to the limit of our incompetency rather than to the limit of God's omnipotency." ~Hudson Taylor~


"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed."


"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me" (Jeremiah 32:27)


~Judith~

He Leadeth Me

"He Leadeth Me"

He leadeth me, O blessed thought!

O words with heav'nly comfort fraught!

Whate'er I do, where'er I be

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Refrain:

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,

By His own hand He leadeth me;

His faithful follower I would be,

For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,

Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom,

By waters still, over troubled sea,

Still 'tis His hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,

Nor ever murmur nor repine;

Content, whatever lot I see,

Since 'tis my God that leadeth me.

Refrain

And when my task on earth is done,

When by Thy grace the vict'ry's won,

E'en death's cold wave I will not flee,

Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

This song has been on my heart for several days this week as I have seen how much God cares for me though I don't deserve it!! We need God's mercy because we deserve every bit and much more than ever happens to us!! Many times, God is so merciful that we do not even 'reap what we have sown." This week I have seen how much God cares for me...maybe simply because I want with all my heart to please Him in all that I do. Not because of anything I've done!! His mercy and goodness are beyond anything that I can possibly comprehend or imagine. 

After having this song on my mind for the past few days, I finally found the time to look it up...but I was too lazy to look for it in a hymn book, so stumbled upon the story behind this precious song. Joseph Gilmore wrote this hymn when he was a fairly young man after graduating from university and theological school. He had been preaching on the Twenty-Third Psalm but he did not get further than the words, "He Leadeth Me." After the meeting, a few people were discussing what  he had shared. As he talked, he also wrote the words down for this hymn. YES, he was talking AND writing the words down simultaneously. Amazing!!

He handed the words to his wife, who sent it to a paper published in Boston, where it was printed for the first time. This was in 1862, during the Civil War. Later, in 1865 the words were set to music by William Bradbury. Then, Joseph Gilmore was to preach in Rochester, NY. As he walked into the church, he picked up a hymn book to see what they were singing only to find they were singing his own song, "He Leadeth Me!!"

As a wife and mom who has been homeschooling for the past 25 years, how can God lead me?? Is this song important for me as a married woman?? Oh yes!! It is those little things, the words, deeds, and actions (which come out of my thoughts, by the way) that God will lead if we are willing to let Him. 

The Holy Spirit has been showing me over the past months how much my thoughts if not brought into His control will affect my actions, emotions, and words...maybe at this point just my tone...hopefully not anything more. Tone...oh how much tone tells on us!! 

2 Corinthians 10:5 

"Casting down imaginations,

and every high thing

 that 

exalteth itself against 

the knowledge of God, 

and 

bringing into captivity 

every thought 

to the obedience of Christ."

My thoughts can become heavy with concerns (worries??) as I go through my day if I am not careful. How much a song, like "He Leadeth Me" can keep my thoughts on Jesus and lift my eyes heavenward. Writing down the words to a song or a verse or two that spoke to my heart early in the morning, helps to keep my focus on the Lord through the day instead of on my circumstances. If my thoughts spiral downward, those verses and songs can bring my thoughts upward to the Throne of Grace. Grace we don't deserve, yet, is all ours for the asking in God's infinite mercy!!

"He leadeth me 

in the paths of righteousness 

for his name's sake."

Psalm 23: 3b

~Judith~

How Sweet The Name Of Jesus Sounds

He's the Lily of the Valley

What was the substance and strength that made up the pioneer missionaries of the late 1800s and early 1900s?? Of course, you would say the Lord as would many people say the same thing today. But there was a deep commitment and an element of character that is missing in many of us these days. Reading books from the missionaries of the past can draw you and I into a deeper walk with Jesus. 


In reading Rosalind Goforth's book, Climbing, there are so many things that I would love to share with you. Gather up a warm wrap with a mug of your favorite coffee (you don't know what it takes for me to say that) or tea and snuggle in a comfy chair while I get my hot chocolate. Here is a quote from Rosalind's book and the song she mentioned. I am only slightly familiar with this hymn but I have made it my hymn for 2012. 


"Early in February I was taken ill with inflammatory rheumatism. This was the third serious attack. For days my life hung in the balance. I was only half conscious and unable to move or be moved. Every joint in my body seemed on fire. Some weeks before, I had memorized the hymn, the first verse of which is: "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds, In a believer's ear; It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear."


Words fail me to describe what that hymn meant to me through those days of agony. The words, fresh in mind, came without effort. While at times the whole six verses would come as soothing balm, it was the message of the first two lines of the last verse that brought to me the irresistible call to service. The words, "I would Thy boundless love proclaim, With every fleeting breath," seemed burned into my soul. I came out of that valley of suffering determined to pray myself loose from the things that were forcing me to follow other ways than the path of Christian service.


It was then I began to pray that one wholly yielded up to the Lord and His service might be led to me." ~Rosalind Goforth~


Doesn't what Rosalind share just come down through the years as if she were sitting right in your room talking with you, telling you this story?? She has become so real to me even though she passed on into God's presence many, many years ago. How challenging her words are to me to reach my small community for Christ. 


We have always had quite a number of old missionary biographies available in our home to read. Our children have grown up with them and I am sure that it has given them the opportunity to form their thinking.


Here is the hymn in its entirety. Don't you hate how most hymn books leave out half the verses?! The last verse, which Rosalind mentions, is not even in the hymn book we own. The hymn is there, but it only has verse one, two, three, and five. Just an interesting point. Enjoy this song!!

(John Newton/Alexander R.Reinagle)


How sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fears.


It makes the wounded Spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest.


Dear Name, the Rock on which I build,
My Shield and Hiding Place,
My never failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace!


By Thee my prayers acceptance gain,
Although with sin defiled;
Satan accuses me in vain,
And I am owned a child.


Jesus! my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
O Prophet, Priest, and King,
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the praise I bring.


Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art,
I'll praise Thee as I ought.


Till then I would Thy love proclaim,
With every fleeting breath,
And may the music of Thy Name,
Refresh my soul in death! 


~Judith~




Hearts For Home Thursdays

"A Balanced Diet is a Chocolate Cookie in Each Hand" AFTER Cleaning my Haven!!

And whatsoever ye do, 

do it heartily,

as to the Lord, 

and not unto men;

knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance:

for ye serve the Lord Christ.

(Colossians 3:23-24)

"A balanced diet is a CHOCOLATE COOKIE in each hand!!"

(Picture Credit on Laptop: Time -Warp Wife)

Sit down with me with your hot chocolate or cappaccino, coffee (yuck!!), tea, or water and lets have a little chat about being a good steward of our time and home.

I absolutely LOVE to clean and organize our home!! Yes, I am CRAZY!! It has been the vehicle that has taught me many lessons over the years as I have been known to stress over the process. I still get overwhelmed at the piles of laundry or clutter that appears out of nowhere, but I am sure I have made progress in this thing in life that is called progressive sanctification. 

Boxing Day is a day observed in British Government Schools in the Crown Colony of Hong Kong (before it was given back to China). Children were encouraged to go through their belongings and give those items away to the poor. I found out about this quite a few years ago and I haven't forgotten. I like doing this too!! I still find the need to sort through and purge, purge, purge, after Christmas. After all, if you bring things in you have to bring things out. We can't take them 'em with us, so we'd better not store too many treasures!!

Just a little time a day, keeps chaos from encroaching on me (or you!!) for that matter. Since December 26, I have done a little each day to put something away, put a few things back, but mostly for that week I sat and read, played mini-foosball with my children, and just enjoyed having everybody off their normal routines. Since this past Monday, I have cleaned in earnest and have worked on some major problem areas. My house is lived-in-clean...how does the mess and dirt accumulate?!

I have a friend whose name is Martha Mary. I could have been given the same name!! I can sure be a Martha although I also love the Lord dearly and desire with all my heart to have a Mary heart. We ladies can be out-of-balance either on the Martha side or the Mary side. So the Martha's shouldn't be too hard on the Mary's or vice-versa!! Jesus wanted Martha to serve with a Mary-heart. 

But Martha was cumbered about much serving, 

and came to him,

and said,

Lord, 

dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?

bid her therefore that she help me.

And Jesus answered and said unto her,

Martha, Martha,

thou art careful and troubled about many things:

But one thing is needful:

and Mary hath chosen that good part,

which shall not be taken away from her.

(Luke 10:40-42)

Balance!! Oh, so often I get out of balance!! How about you?? Especially during those years while the children were little and I was homeschooling it was too easy to end up with too much on my plate!! Knowing what needed to be done while leaving some things undone. It is excellent to have a clean and well-organized home so that people stay happy and content, but never ever should these things (or our hobbies) become so important that they replace the need our family has for mom and wife!! Balance!!

I also LOVE reading about cleaning ideas and routines. I don't have a clue what is a matter with me...probably too much Martha!! I bought two e-books recently: 21 Days to Clean and Encouraging Challenges and I read the first one and started the second. I would have really found encouragement, ideas, and balance if I these two books had been available to me when I was a younger wife and mother. I knew absolutely NOTHING about cleaning or cooking (for that matter) when I first left home for college and I didn't know much more by the time I got married!! My poor dear husband!! Needless to say, that is why I try so hard to learn and still want to learn all I can. I want to learn how to become the woman I ought to be by the time I am ninety!! What a process!!

On Monday, I cleaned under our living room furniture and going from one side-tracked area to another ... I couldn't believe the junk that hides under the sofas and chairs!! Where does it all come from?? The garbage is always full!! Today, I stuck to the kitchen....without being side-tracked!! I washed the hutch shelves and cleaned the fridge. Oh my!! I hadn't realized that it had been so long!! 

Things (unidentified 'things') were dripping down between the shelves, not to mention crumbs, 'things' uncovered, and two gooey cookies fallen behind the shelves would have been there for months...except that I rescued them. I have to call them 'things' because some of those 'things' no longer were identifiable. The dog ate some of the 'things' that I emptied out of the fridge. Some went in the garbage as unidentifiable science experiments as I washed and cleaned it until it sparkled. When it was clean...I put the stack of Sam's Club eggs back into the fridge and as I did, the top flat of eggs FELL down onto the shelf, dripping down the back right through to the drawers to the bottom below the drawers. I sighed a BIG Ooooooooooohhhhh!! 

Part of the delemma of cleaning is that when you are done...you only think you are done!! More dishes appear, more crumbs on the counter, more laundry, more mud tracks in and then YOU know whether YOU are doing this with a Martha or Mary-heart!! Are you doing these things with all your might as unto the Lord or for your UGLY SELF rising up within?? Live life on purpose this year and clean your house, cook for your family and care for these precious souls on purpose for Christ, because He lives in you. Christ, the hope of glory. Your glory is NOT in you but IN Christ living in you.

My cappuccino is gone now, so I must run and switch the load of laundry. Nice sharing with you!!

~Judith~

And whatsoever ye do, 

do it heartily,

as to the Lord, 

and not unto men;

knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance:

for ye serve the Lord Christ.

(Colossians 3:23-24)

Homemaking Link Up Wednesdays

Living Well Wednesdays

CLIMBING in 2012

I will go before thee,

and make the crooked places straight:

I will break in pieces the gates of brass,

and cut in sunder the bars of iron.

~God's Promise Through Isaiah~

Every year, often on New Year's Eve, I take a look back over my life during the past year

and set out some goals for the coming year. 

After all, if we don't reach higher we will not make any progress in our life.

My salvation is being lived out starting now and my time (1440 minutes a day) is either being redeemed for eternity or being lost eternally. I usually look back at my goals for past years and it doesn't seem like I met them or made any progress. Maybe I am just inching forward but it is sure better than a landslide because I allowed satan to undermine the foundation of my life in Jesus Christ.

Each year I start a new journal. Sometimes it has been a three-ring binder but the last few years I have enjoyed using a spiral notebook. Either way, it is a record of my spiritual journey and a place to write down things that brought meaning to my life.

Recently, there was time to lay down the normal routine and just read (well, and eat tooo much). I have working through some books by Rosalind Goforth, the wife of Jonathan Goforth, missionaries to China, years and years ago. I have been reading her book, "Climbing" which gives her personal story, behind the scenes, of their years of service in China. This book has influenced what I have chosen to write in the first few pages of my journal. My goals this year are not a list of character to build, but of some verses, quotes, and a hymn, for the year to come.

"And as the path of duty is made plain

May grace be given that I may walk therein

Not like the hireling for his selfish gain

Making a merit of his coward dread

With backward glances and reluctant tread

But cheerful in the light around me thrown

Walking as if to pleasant pastures led

Doing God's will as if it were my own

Yet trusting not in mine, 

but in His strength alone."

~Rosalind Goforth~

I shall pass through this world but once.

Any good, therefore,

That I can do,

Or any kindness I can show to any human being,

Let me do it

NOW

For I shall not pass this way again.

~Rosalind Goforth~

He taught me to yield up the love of life

For the sake of a 

LIFE OF LOVE.

~Mrs. Krumm...Quoted by Rosalind Goforth~

I love the LORD,

because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

Because he hath inclined his ear unto me,

therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

~Psalm 116:1-2~

"Finally, as you love God with all your heart, soul and might,

trust Him, too. Really trust Him. Trust God with all your heart, your soul and might. You and I can not solve every problem. What we can do is be kind, forgiving, and patient before the Lord. We can not "fix" everything that is broken. Only God can do that. In His time and His way, the Lord can not only bring peace, but He can give you the very desires of your heart as you seek Him with integrity. He can redeem the years the locusts have eaten, and He delights in blessing His faithful children. "The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth not sorrow with it. 

(Proverbs 10:22)." 

~"Repost from Doug Phillips"~

This is my prayer for this coming year. These are the goals of my heart. If I love God with all my heart and with all my might, and trust Him, and if YOU do these things too, do you realize that everything will come out right?? Right, in light of God's plan for your year?!

What are YOU doing to start off this year with Jesus??

Tomorrow, I will share the hymn I chose for this year.

~Judith~