Happy 4th everyone.

good morning honey.






What a heart has Christ! Do you know what it is made of? It is an ocean of goodness. It is a sea, fathomless and shoreless, of matchless love; love to poor sinners, who but look to Him or sigh for Him. One loving look from Christ will dissolve your heart into love and sweet contrition.

Oh, to have such a Friend as Jesus, who feels all our sorrows, carries all our burdens, and has promised to bring us safely through this trying world, and place us at last at His own right hand, where neither sickness nor sorrow shall ever come!

"If you love Me, keep My commandments." Not one nor two only, but all. It is not given us to choose which we shall keep, and which we shall break.

I am looking heavenward. There is my only, my best Friend, and there is my heart. Behold Him seated on His throne, and all the goodly company of the redeemed around Him. Oh, the blessedness of beholding all His unveiled beauties, and of basking in the sunshine of His countenance! Does not your heart burn within you when you think of these things, these glorious realities? Well, beloved, we shall all soon see Him eye to eye, face to face. There is much of heaven to be enjoyed while here, a foretaste of what we shall realize through eternity.

- I enjoyed that writing by Mary Winslow.

good morning, dear Britty.


I was refreshed by her words too.

as old as they are, they are new every morning.

I feel how close she is to Jesus.

there's more of her writings to share.

After I read them, I may post some more.

With carefulness.

Bless the Lord and all that is His.

How refreshing it is to discover the Lord in others that echo the same tedstimony of Jesus and the the Spirit of God.

Truly, the mind of Christ is an amazing gift for us to share in.

I pray more could be apprehended by such love so deeply planted in the heart.

To Him let us seek.

To Him let us look.

To God be our praises and to Jesus be the glory.

It's so wonderful to know such a love and find solice in how that love grows in us.

Have a fun day honey.




Independence Day is here again to remember the good that has made this nation great and a beacon of light in a dark world.

I know....

some don't buy that, but I do.

I feel fortunate to have been placed here in this country to live and learn and grow.

It is here that liberty and freedom has allowed me the peace and safety to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ and His love and endure all that affronts that love and assaults my mind and spirit in such a place as this.

Truly, the challenges we face could be much harsher in other countries, but the challennges we all face worldwide wherever we find ourselves, is the same, and no more.

Let us be mindful of liberty and freedom for all, despite the flaws and wrinkles of us in our groping humanity.

Walking With Jesus
Mary Winslow

Let it be our chief aim to glorify Jesus, to live upon Him, and live for Him. Oh, He is most precious, so tender, so full of love, so watchful over our interests, caring for us in all things, and entering into all our poor concerns!

What a constant source of temptation the world is, in some shape or other, to the believer all through his journey homeward! Its cares and its pursuits, its pleasures and its claims, lawful though they be, yet, through the weakness of the flesh, are a constant snare to the heavenly pilgrim! Its principles and its spirit are adverse to the prosperity of the soul, which struggles on through a host of foes. "Precious Jesus, strengthen Your poor dust, and enable me to cling closer and closer to You."

At times my heart is overwhelmed with a sense of His unmerited love towards one so utterly unworthy. I long to be with Him. The thought of heaven is very sweet. I long to see Him in glory who has so frequently and tenderly dealt with me.

Live much in heaven, and earth will grow less attractive.

Whatever draws or drives us to Jesus is good. The oftener we go the better. The Lord frequently places us in such peculiar circumstances as compel us to apply to Him for the help we can get nowhere else. May the Lord enable us more and more to look alone to Him, for He is a present help in every time of need. His heart overflows with tenderness, sympathy, and love.
It is good to feel that we are in the Lord's hands, and that all our trials, small and great, are designed by Him for the furthering His work in our souls. They are great blessings in disguise to a child of God. Nothing takes place, within or without, but is designed for our especial benefit and the glory of His own dear name. We shall have to thank Him for all when we see Him face to face. What a blessed time will that be! How much do we need of weaning from this poor disappointing world; a world lying in the wicked one; and yet so closely do we cling to it. He who loves us is compelled to give us many a wrench to tear us from it. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

"Jesus, You are my chief joy, my life, my all. Without You this world would be wretchedness itself. Keep, oh keep me near Yourself, nearer, nearer still; and allow no earthly love to occupy Your place in my heart."

All events are in His hands to direct, and overrule, and bless to His own redeemed people.

When a corrupted Christianity spreads, what cold, heartless formality prevails!

What communion can a formalist have with God? Communion is supposed to be an interchange of sentiment, feeling, and expression. What communion could one have with a statue? You may speak to it, question it; but there is no response, no intimation of feeling, no communion. So is it with the mere religious formalist. He regularly says his prayers, but it is to an unknown God. He repeats the same again and again, but he does not know the Being he addresses. There is no response, no interchange of feeling; above all, of love. There is no answer from the Lord, no bending down of His ear, no lifting up of His countenance, no cheering welcome. Sadly, the formalist is satisfied with this. He does what he thinks is his duty. He repeats his lifeless, heartless prayers, and thinks he has done well. And so he lives and dies with a lie in his right hand, unless God, in His sovereign mercy, awakens him from his awful delusion, and shows him his lost and undone condition.

Go with all you need to Jesus; keep nothing back. Go with all the simplicity of a babe, and tell Jesus. He will bow down His loving ear, and listen to all you have to say to Him.

Oh, let us bow our neck to the cross, for Jesus is walking with us every step of the way! When tried, rush at once into the very bosom of Christ, and feel the warm pulsations of His own loving heart, and rest your head there. All will be well. He is with you now, and will never leave nor forsake you.

Oh, the wondrous, the ocean like love of Jesus! Who can fathom it?

Oh, carry all your needs to Him, not doubting that He not only hears you, but is every moment watching over you! All is well, and though dark clouds come between, there is a bright light behind them. Go at once with your trouble, be it what it may; nothing is too trivial to carry to Him. Let us come to Jesus and bring to Him all our cares, large and small, and tell Him all that is in our hearts.

Oh, the care of the Good Shepherd! His wakeful eye is ever upon us, and His loving heart is ever towards us!

In heaven we shall have new bodies, more beauteous than the brightest angel in heaven, and standing, too, nearer to the Savior than they.

Oh, we shall see, when we arrive in heaven, how wonderful has been the wisdom that has guided us in all our journey through! You may be quite certain that all that takes place, small or great, is in that covenant that is ordered in all things and sure. Nothing is uncertain with God. A sparrow falls not to the ground without Him. You are of more value than many sparrows.

Jesus is indeed very precious to my soul. All creature love sinks into nothing before it. The more I see of the fulness, the boundless love of Christ, the more I sink in the dust of self abasement before Him.

What could we do in this world of manifold temptations, had we not a God to go to, ever ready to be a present help?

Allow no distance to arise between you and your best Friend. He has undertaken for us in all things. We need Him as our Counselor, as our Guide, as our Protector, as our Deliverer, in ten thousand ways. How needful and how sweet to be ever sitting at His feet, looking up and meeting His eye bending down upon us in love!

Confession of sin is one of the sweet, holy, and profitable exercises of the soul. It endears us to Christ, and endears Christ to us. It brings us into a brokenhearted, contrite communion with a loving, sympathizing Savior, purifies the heart, and keeps the conscience tender and watchful.

Death, to the believer, is but passing out of a world of sorrow and of sin, and entering upon a world of indescribable glory! If we lived more in anticipation of the happiness that waits us, earth would have less hold on our hearts' best affections.

All His dispensations are designed to draw you closer to Himself, and He would remove every object that comes between Him and you. You shall not have one trial too much. His loving eye is upon you; let yours be upon Him.

Dear friend, keep close to Jesus, and the throne of grace. If you feel your heart cold, go at once, and He will warm it. If you feel it hard and impenitent, go, and He will soften and awaken it to sweet contrition. Go, under all circumstances and with all frames. All your difficulties, however small or however great, you have a right to bring to Jesus, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Dear friend, we need to live more upon Him, like little helpless children. May the Lord bless and keep you very near Himself, is the prayer of your sincere friend in Christ.
It was love, infinite love that brought Jesus down to earth. It was love, infinite love that led Him to pass through the tremendous conflict, when he grappled with death, hell, and the grave. It was love, infinite love that sustained Him in it, and that brought Him out of it a royal Conqueror. It was love, infinite love that bore Him back to heaven, where He is now, and where we shall be also. And now, what have we to do here, but to glorify Him who has done such great things for us?

Oh the glorious prospect that is before the feeblest child of God! Look often at your inheritance. Take your walks in the 'garden of love' above! See Jesus there, no longer wearing a crown of thorns, but a diadem of glory!

Let us ever trust Jesus for His unchanging and unchangeable love. From everlasting to everlasting He has loved us; and all the varying dispensations of His loving providence are only to prepare us more completely for the place He is now preparing for us. Let us aim to see Him in all things, and to have Him ever present with us. How sweet to walk through this wilderness with our hand in His hand, feeling that He is leading us safely along the narrow road that leads to everlasting life. Dear friend, may Jesus be more and more precious to you and I. None but Jesus can make us happy here and hereafter.

Join me in praising God for His great and distinguishing mercy to us, in opening our eyes, and leading us to His beloved Son, that we might be saved, with a sure and everlasting salvation.

How is it with your soul? Are your prospects growing brighter and brighter as you travel on? Do you find Jesus nearer and more precious day by day? What progress have you made? You have had your conflicts, your wanderings, and backslidings many; but still onwards you must go. There is no standstill in this journey. Tell me when you saw Him last, and how you feel in the prospect of soon being with the beloved One forever and ever. I am not happy here without Him, and would be miserable indeed, were I not quite sure of seeing and dwelling with Him in glory. Jesus is all in all to my soul, and life would be wearisome indeed were it not so. He makes up the sum of my happiness here, and will be my joy, my life, and my glory hereafter. Dear friend, let us speed more our journey, nor loiter in the way.

Oh that the saints of God would live more in the anticipation of the glory that awaits them! There is much of heaven to be enjoyed even on earth. Let us live, too, more in holy familiarity with Jesus. Nothing is too much beneath His notice.

Jesus is the very same Jesus now that He was when He walked the streets of Jerusalem. Though His body is glorified, He is not altered. His heart is still the same, full of sympathy and love, ready to listen to all we have to say to Him, and to do all we ask Him to do, and in the best possible way. Precious Jesus! Is He not altogether lovely? He is everything to my soul. Life would be an aching void without Him.

Oh, how few really know God! I meet with many hearsay Christians, who have heard of Jesus, as Job did, with the hearing of the ear, but who have no personal acquaintance with Him. They have never come to Christ as poor, wretched, blind, and naked; and therefore they know nothing of that peace which the application of the atoning blood alone can impart. They have never come in contact with Christ. They only believe what others say of Him, and know nothing of a blessed recognition, a oneness and a holy communion between Jesus and the poor sinner, saved by sovereign grace, and eternal, everlasting love.

Oh, the luxury of prayer! To have true communion, familiar communion with God. To talk with God! To go and shut the door, and tell God all, all that is in our heart! To feel that He is listening to hear what we have to say to Him; and then to wait and see what He will say to us! No tongue can tell the rich enjoyment of sitting in all the helplessness of an infant at His feet, and know that He is listening to all I say to Him. I rest on His loving, fatherly care!

What could we do in this poor dying world without a throne of grace, and a God of grace upon the throne, in our every time of need? Oh, let us keep close to Him who loved us with an everlasting love, and with loving kindness has drawn us to Himself.

We are journeying to the inheritance which the Lord our God has given to us, through a world crowded with temptations on either side, which would divert us from the way, if it were possible. Our worst foe, the body of sin and of death, we bear about with us. But our Jesus is for us, and we can say, "More are they who are for us, than they who are against us."

We are traveling fast, and at every step are nearing our heavenly home! We shall see Jesus soon! Oh, how soon! Jesus sits, in all the majesty of heaven, waiting to welcome His pilgrims home.

May you be led to see unceasingly that this world is not worthy of one anxious thought! It is all passing away, and we shall soon stand before the great white throne!

We are on a race course. The point from which we start is conversion; the goal to which we run is heaven; the prize for which we contend is a crown of glory, which the righteous Judge will give us at that great day. If, dear friend, you have started in this race, so run that you may obtain. Go forward. Do not rest where you are. How few lay these great things to heart! The world and its trifles so engross the thoughts, that God, and Christ, and eternity, with our vast responsibility, are shut out of sight; and Satan, the great foe of mankind, gains his point, unless sovereign grace interferes, and opens the blind eye to see the danger, and Jesus the Refuge!

Oh, it is with a holy, heart searching God that we have to do. And the soul is of more value than ten million worlds. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? These are solemn, awful truths; but only by a few are they laid to heart.

None will ever come to Jesus until they feel that they are lost and undone in themselves. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Oh, what is all the grandeur, wealth, and honor of this fleeting world, compared with the glory that awaits the believer in Jesus? Kings and queens pass away, and leave their crowns; but the Christian goes to his, and wears it through eternity, ever bright, ever pure!

How much more are our thoughts engaged with this present evil world, and our poor decaying bodies, than concerned to know what awaits us in an endless eternity. Is not this one of Satan's devices? He will endeavor to often engage our thoughts with inconsequential trifles that would shame a child, in order to hide from us the eternal realities of the glory that awaits the believer. Oh, let us beware of Satan's devices!

We cannot utter one real prayer but by the Holy Spirit. He it is who shows us our iniquity and helplessness, teaches us how to pray and what to ask for, and then responds to our prayer.

Eternity, eternity, with all its solemn realities, is before us!

Oh, the change from earth to heaven! The thought of seeing Jesus face to face! Think, the joy of that moment!

With all its hopes and glory, this is but a poor world, even if we could possess the whole of it. Take this world in its best attire, it is but a wilderness of 'bitter sweets'.

Let us set out afresh to run the heavenly race; warmed with the love of Christ in our heart, anointed with the Holy Spirit, heaven in view, a crown of glory awaiting us, and Jesus on the throne ready to bid us welcome!

There is none on earth or in heaven like Jesus! He is the chief among ten thousand, the altogether lovely one. Oh, love Him! Give your whole, your undivided heart to Him. If I had a thousand, He would have them all.

If your heart appears cold, hard, and insensible, take it to Jesus, and tell Him how it is with you. He will warm, soften, and fill it with His love. Go, under all circumstances, and tell Him all you feel, and all you do not feel. Let nothing come between you and your best Friend. In all your fears, failures, and discouragements, go to Him, and tell Him all.

How boundless is the love of God to the feeblest of His little ones!

What will heaven be!

Nothing so keeps the heart right as having constant communication with Christ.

I am nearing day by day my heavenly inheritance. It seems at times almost in view. It is but a step, and I am there! The more I see of Jesus, the more He opens to me His loving heart, the deeper is my sorrow for sin. I lie down in the dust of His feet closer than ever I did before. I can truly say I abhor myself in dust and ashes before Him.

My heart seems ready to melt into contrition in view of the ten thousand thousand sins, wilful and aggravating, that I have committed against Him, who loved me with an everlasting love, and with loving kindness drew me to Himself.

It is sweet to think how soon, how very soon, we shall be fitted for the companionship of Jesus Himself, beholding Him in all His unveiled beauties. Does not the ought often gladden our heart, and fill your eyes with tears of joy, and holy contrition for sin? I cannot conceive of holy joy unaccompanied with godly sorrow. Confession of sin should make up one half of our lives. Only acknowledge your iniquity. And when we remember that we have to do with One so willing and so able to pardon, it becomes then a mingled feeling of pleasure and pain. By confessing sin we gather strength to resist it; thereby the enemy of our souls is foiled, the conscience is kept tender, the heart is sanctified, and the blood of Jesus becomes increasingly precious. Let us constantly flee to the cleansing fountain!

Oh, what a pleasant prospect is before us, almost in full view! Jesus is at hand, and if He does not soon come to us, we shall soon go to Him, our best and dearest Friend. Oh, to see His face, once so wearied and careworn, traced with sorrow and with grief; and that because our sins were laid upon Him. But now resplendent with glory; His countenance is beaming with ineffable delight upon His redeemed, blood bought family, rescued from the power of hell, death, and the grave. Can we conceive of anything to equal such a scene? The Bridegroom rejoicing over his bride, saints singing, angels admiring. Endeavor to realize this, dear friend. Take your walks in the good land, flowing with milk and honey.

A throne of grace, with a broken heart for sin, and a pardoning Savior, is a verdant spot in this wilderness! Nothing in this fading world can equal it!

The more we have to do with Christ, the more we shall know of His excellences, His sympathy, and His exquisite, boundless love! May we not be satisfied to know Jesus in theory only, but in our soul's sweet experience.

There is no uncertainty with God. His thoughts of love towards us have been from everlasting to everlasting. He loved us when we were wandering far from Him, and far from happiness. He loved us when we knew Him not. He loved us out of Satan's kingdom into the kingdom of grace, and He will love us into the kingdom of glory. Our doubts and fears may harass us, but they can make no alteration in His eternal purposes.

Precious friend, look fully at Jesus. Look no longer to your own weak, sinful heart. We are to look for comfort only to Christ. The bitten Israelites looked at once and directly to the brazen serpent, and were healed. Oh the precious fountain for sin and uncleanness! I am obliged to come again and again to it.

I am fighting on my way, often sorrowing and rejoicing at the same time; mourning for my sins, while I can and do rejoice that Christ has made an all sufficient atonement for all my sins; past, present, and to come; which, while it humbles me in the dust of self abhorrence, makes me increasingly long to be like Him.

We have but a brief space left to show our love to Christ. Let us work for Him, live for Him, live to Him, and look forward to living with Him.

I would like to hear if all is well with you, and if you are making progress heavenward, homeward, and if Jesus is increasingly precious to your soul.

We do not know how soon we may be called to render in an account to God? One step and we are there, in the very presence of a holy, heart searching Jehovah. Is there anything upon earth of equal importance to this?

Worldly prosperity is unfavorable soil for the true Christian to grow in. It stupefies the soul.

What a grief it is to me to see those professing Christ, and yet living for the world. Oh that this evil might be subdued in me!

Why should our grace droop, and languish, and die, when we can repair to the Fountain of living water, at all times and under all circumstances? Oh, the blessing of having such an Almighty Friend in glory, waiting to be gracious to us, whose power is infinite in heaven and on earth; and whose love, like Himself, is from everlasting to everlasting!

True religion is essentially experimental in its nature. True Christianity is nothing less than the life of Jesus dwelling in the soul of the believer. But Christian experience varies; it may be more strongly developed in some individuals than in others. One believer may present a more robust type of this essential Christianity than another.

What, oh what shall I render unto You for Your wondrous goodness and patience towards me? Nothing have I to render. I am poor and needy, and dependent upon You moment by moment.

How intricate is often the believer's way! So hedged up that he cannot discern a single step before him. All is dark. He here and there goes too often to the creature for counsel, and perhaps for sympathy, but finds all broken cisterns. But Jesus is at hand; a Fountain of living waters, ever ready to impart all comfort, wisdom, and direction. But, oh, how slow to approach this Fountain! How base and ungrateful the heart, and wretched the unbelief that still lurks within, ever leading us away from Him who is a present help in every time of need. Take up your rest, O my soul, in Him who has loved you with an everlasting love, and will love you unto the end!

Surely I have seen an end of all perfection, both in myself and in others. But, oh, there is One, and only one, and He is perfect. The goodness, the patience, the loving kindness of Jesus surpasses our conceptions! Eternity only can unfold it to us, and we shall be even there learning it out forever and ever!

We must go in all our helplessness to Him who has said, "Without Me you can do nothing." We must cast ourselves at the feet of Him who is watching over us with a loving, sleepless eye!

The Lord has tried you of late, and I do feel anxious to speak a word of comfort to you in this affliction. Those whom He loves He invariably tries. The graces of the Spirit are thus brought into holy exercise. Jesus is thereby honored, and our souls ascend a higher round in that ladder that reaches from earth to heaven. We must sit at His feet, and believe that He does all things well. What we don't know now, we shall know hereafter. The Judge of all the earth must do right. Soon we pass away to our heavenly inheritance, and then we shall see all the way He led us through the wilderness was the right way, and that not one trial or cross could have been dispensed with. Oh, let us cling closer and closer to Him than ever. Let us make Him our all in all. May the constraining love of Christ, the eternal love of the Father, and the sanctifying love of the Holy Spirit, rest upon you, guide, and bless you!

I am near my eternal home. Jesus is very precious, and His presence is sensibly with me. I live now more as a little helpless infant upon Christ, than ever I did in my long life.

Dear friend, this is our season for the trial of faith, and every fresh trial, under the loving eye of Jesus, and sanctified by the indwelling Spirit, is like a fresh gale wafting us nearer and nearer to our port; to the place He has gone to prepare for us. All these things work together for our prosperity of soul. We will never think when we get heaven, that we had one trial too many. We shall see that we could not have done without one of them, for that all were so many needful lessons to instruct us in a journey through a wilderness full of temptation. Infinite wisdom has chosen them for us. I know your trials are often great, but the loving eye of Jesus is upon you, and your name is deeply engraved upon His heart. Whom He loves He loves unto death.

The eye, the all searching eye of God is upon us every moment!

It is Satan robed as "an angel of light," not Satan appearing as a fiend of darkness, that we have most to dread.

I fear we have too little contact with Christ Himself. We do not sufficiently make him our personal friend; walking with him, talking with him, confiding in him as we would with the dearest personal friend of our hearts. And yet this is our high and precious privilege. "This is my Friend," should be the language of every believer, as he points to, and leans upon, Christ.

O there is no school like God's school; for "who teaches like Him?" And God's highest school is the school of trial. All his true scholars have graduated from this school. "Who are these who are clothed in white? Where do they come from? These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white." Rev. 7:13-14. Ask each spiritually, deeply taught Christian where he attained his knowledge; and he will point you to God's great university; the school of trial.

The Lord has laid His heavy hand upon you. All is in love. May He open your eyes to see it. He loves us too well to afflict us with out a 'needs be'. When we get above, we shall see how needful the chastening of Him who loves us, for our preparation for the full enjoyment of that place He has gone to prepare for us. Oh, what a change! from earth to heaven! From a suffering bed to a mansion of glory! You are the sufferer; but dry your tears, for home will come at last, and may we receive from His own loving lips a Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord. I feel for you, and pray you may be sustained and comforted by God. Jesus is very near. He is ordering all things for you. He does not willingly afflict us. It is to wean us from a dying world and from ourselves. We too much grovel here. The Lord sees the encroachment of earthly ties, which leave but half for Him. Let us, then, gird up the loins of our mind, and make a fresh start for heaven. A crown of glory awaits us! Jesus, the very same Jesus, is on the throne, as full of love, compassion, and sympathy as when a man of sorrows here upon earth. Oh, the glory that awaits the Christian! By all these painful dispensations He is preparing us for the full enjoyment of that glory; glory begun here; glory increasing through out eternity. This world is not worth a thought; and we should ever bear in mind it is but a passage to a better world. Let this fresh trial, like a stormy gale, drive you nearer and still nearer to Jesus. Make Him your all in all.

We must all pass through much tribulation before we enter the kingdom He has gone to prepare for us. Let us, then, take up the cross, and follow hard after Him. A little while, and we shall be there. Sweet thought! Oh, let us try and realize it. Heaven is not so far off as we imagine. But as I draw nearer and nearer, heaven seems to open with increasing attraction; and the prospect of seeing Jesus, that same Jesus that bore all my sins on the accursed tree, fills me with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

There is nothing too small to carry to Jesus. Abroad, at home, in company, or in the street, lift up your heart, and tell Him all you feel and all you desire. Aim to have constant communion with Him. Let Him not be long out of your sight. Oh! to have to do with Jesus and with Jesus only! Do not make up your mind to do anything before you ask counsel from Him. The heart is deceitful, and will lead us astray. Let us be very jealous over this inward foe, and only consult our dearest and best Friend. Oh, He is an ocean of love! Nothing but love is in His dear heart towards His precious children.

We live at too great a distance from Christ. He wants us to experience more of His sympathy, His boundless love, His nearness to, and His oneness with, us.

One of the delightful employments of heaven will be to trace back the way the Lord led us safely, in spite of ourselves, through the wilderness world. And then shall we see how needful was every cross, and trial, and pain, and dispensation, with which our precious Jesus saw fit to exercise us.

Be of good cheer, God has sent your trial. It is a messenger of love; nothing but eternal, boundless, never ending love. God is love, an ocean of love, nothing but love. His tender, loving eye is upon you, and His loving heart is towards you at this moment. See what a God and Father He is. Soon we shall all pass away, and be done with sorrow and sin forever. A thousand times have I thanked the Lord for all my trials and afflictions. I would not have been without them for worlds. They have been messengers of boundless love and mercy to me. I do trust this will be your rich experience. Your friend and sister in tribulation.

The Lord has taken His suffering child out of all her troubles, to her happy, happy home! Long had she been refining in the furnace, and preparing for that place Jesus had gone to take possession of for her. Not one pain did she suffer, or sorrow did she feel, but had in it the tenderest love of Jesus. All was needful. He was preparing her for the full enjoyment of His presence. Shall not the Judge all the earth do right? She has made her escape from a world of sin and trouble, and from a body, not only of sin and death, but of suffering, and long a clog to her soul. She has broken loose from her cage, and is with Jesus! Oh, the happiness to look upon Him; to behold Him in all His unveiled beauties; to see Him face to face! I rejoice that she is at last released! I covet her joy.

There is nothing that can take place towards a child of God but what our heavenly Father designs, in infinite love, for our spiritual advancement, and His own glory. We are to submit to His holy will, and believe that there was a 'needs be' for it. The Lord loves His children too well to lay upon them the weight of a feather, without an absolute necessity, and without some wise and loving purpose. God deals wisely and graciously with us in all His varying dispensations. If tears could be shed in heaven, we would weep that we ever mistrusted His goodness in His dealings towards us. Let us, in this world of trial, cling close to Him, and lean more upon Him as little helpless children. Keep a constant communion with Him. Tell Him all you feel, or wish, or need.

I would not have been without my sad trials for ten thousand worlds. What would I have known of the wondrous, tender, and unchanging love of Jesus, but for my deep trials?
This poor world is but a wilderness, and, like the children of Israel, we must pass through it to reach our heavenly home. Live much in holy contemplation of the glory that awaits you. This will enable you to bear the bitter trials that daily cross your path. Carry all your difficulties, small and great, at once to Jesus. His ear is open to your requests, and he will make every crooked path straight, and rough path smooth. We are on a journey, and how soon it terminates!

Oh, how awfully blind are many who call themselves Christians! Religions formalism is the bane of thousands! They say prayers, but never pray. They know nothing of the great change from nature to grace; nothing of the new birth. They have no personal, spiritual acquaintance with Christ; nothing of real conversion. Is it not melancholy to see so many, whom we love, yet living in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity, while we know that, dying in that state, they are lost forever?

We are so prone to look to 'the creature'; and then He takes our prop away, that we may lean upon Him and upon Him only. Oh, let it be our aim, our chief business, and the desire of our souls, to walk humbly and closely with God! In a little while and we pass away; and oh, how we shall wonder at ourselves that we could have allowed any one thing to divert our minds, even for a moment, from the great, the overwhelming concerns of eternity!

There is not a single truth in God's word which will be of any avail to us, but as it is wrought out in the experience of the soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the varying dispensations of Divine Providence. Thus the Israelites were led through many trials and difficulties in the wilderness, to show them what was in their hearts. We are such dull scholars; and I often wonder and wonder again at the patience of a good, gracious, and unchanging God towards us. He varies His dealings, that He might teach us our nothingness, weakness, and total helplessness.

The kingdom of God does not come with observation. The world knows nothing of what is passing within the soul of the believer; the mighty work which the Spirit is carrying silently on. The hidden evil is revealed; his soul, in sorrow, flees to Jesus; the Comforter applies the blood to the accusing and disturbed conscience; the throne is erected; the King reigns supreme; the soul rejoices; all this transpires in the believer without any outward sign, and the world knows it not. And so the kingdom of God's grace in the soul works secretly and silently, and without observation.

I thank Him for the throne of grace, where I can relieve my burdened heart, and tell Him all, keeping nothing back, good or bad. Oh, is not this a mighty privilege? The God of heaven, the Creator of all worlds, stooping in love to 'simple dust'!

It is a perilous and an awful thing to be satisfied with a form of godliness, without the vital, saving power. May the Lord lead you into an 'experimental knowledge' of Jesus. No other is worth having.

How tender and gentle are the dealings of our good and gracious Father to His child! Oh, how wisely He acts in all His various dealings with His children! He gives no account of any of His matters, but acts as a sovereign on His throne.

How often does covetousness transform itself into the shape of prudence, and thereby we are likely to be deceived. Oh for stronger faith to live above the policy and precepts of this poor dying world!

Every doctrine, as well as every word of God, is only effectually profitable as it is worked out by the trying providence of God in the soul's deep experience. Head knowledge will not do. Hearing with the outward ear does but little for the soul, enables it to make no progress towards heaven, or unfolds to us the tenderness of Christ, or the real character of God. The truth as it is in Jesus is more known in one deep trial than a year of smooth sailing. Worldly prosperity is but indifferent soil for the Christian to grow in. It rather stunts the soul.

Jesus is the very same; as full of compassion, sympathy, gentle, tender love, as when He walked the streets of Jerusalem. Is there not enough in a precious Jesus to engage all our thoughts and all our hearts? Let Him be our chief joy now. Let us keep very near to Him, and let no idol come between our soul and our best, nearest, and dearest Friend. The only way which a good and gracious God has pointed out to us in the Scriptures, in which we may be enabled to go on our heavenly journey, is by looking unto Jesus, not only when we first commence, but all our journey through.

I think, if there is a verdant spot in this wilderness world, it is where a poor believing sinner, with a contrite, broken heart, sits at the feet of Jesus. The sinner confessing, Jesus pardoning; the blood applied, and the conscience cleansed; all guilt removed, and the redeemed of the Lord rising from his knees, rejoicing in the Lord his God. Such have I often experienced, and therefore I commend it to all who are followers of the Lamb.

How many have passed into the eternal world fatally deceived by the error of baptismal regeneration! Baptized in infancy, they, were taught to view themselves as spiritually regenerated, as made the children of God; and they died, it is to be feared, with no more light and no more grace, believing they were safe. Terrible delusion!

Eternity and an immortal soul, surely, are solemn realities, and not to be sported with.

God is training us for our happy inheritance. Oh, let us try and live to it. What are the various sorrows of the way, compare with the glory that shall be revealed in us?

Jesus is everything to us! Without Him we are wretched, and with Him we have all that can be desired.

Heaven seems very near to me. It seems but a step and I am there, where there is no more sin, nor death, and where all tears are forever wiped away. This poor world is a valley of tears. I have been a child of sorrow, and yet not one trial too many have I had.

Aim to bring up your children for eternity.

Go to Jesus for all you need. Take Him as your true, your best, your only Friend. There is not another like Him. Take Him as your brother born for adversity. The oftener you go to Him, the more welcome you will be, and the better acquainted. Do not first go to an arm of flesh, and then to Christ. But go to Christ first, before you make up your mind as to the course you should take.

This poor dying, disappointing world, at best is but a cheat, promising much, but performing little! Oh, what a world is this! What a mercy that we have a Friend who rules over all, and who has said, "I am the Lord, and I do not change."

I have often thought of the goodness, kindness, and tender sympathy of God, that though man had sinned and was at enmity with his Creator, Benefactor, and Friend, so that the ground was cursed for his sake; there should yet be so much in this world to comfort, to alleviate, and delight; so much still lingering of its pristine beauty to regale and please. And if this world is still so attractive, so lovely to the eye and pleasing to the senses; what must that world be which infinite love has gone to prepare for the redeemed and pure spirits designed to inhabit it!

I need to learn to live day by day, trusting God for the daily supplies of His grace, and for the leadings of His providence; leaving the morrow in His own blessed hand, who knows how to give and when to withhold.

Walk in the fear of God, and you need fear nothing else.
Never undertake a cause without kneeling down and asking the Lord for wisdom and grace. If Solomon felt it needful to do this, well may you. Christ says, "Without Me you can do nothing."

Did you but more know the depth of that love that is in the heart of Jesus you would never be reluctant to go to Him for all you needed.

Every new trial, and every fresh cross, drives me into the very bosom of Jesus; and it seems as if I could lie there, and feel the very throbbings of His loving heart. I am His, and in His own loving hands, and can fully trust Him for all. In the cup of trial we are called to drink, there is no wrath, all is love; though faith may be tried, and we may for a season weep. Whatever draws or drives us to Christ is a mighty blessing. How needful are these high winds and storms to cause us to cling to our heavenly Pilot, and to speed our way to our blessed harbor of eternal rest.

I am enjoying a very pleasant day honey.


Time for a tea break and a little reading.

"Jesus is the very same Jesus now that He was when He walked the streets of Jerusalem. Though His body is glorified, He is not altered. His heart is still the same, full of sympathy and love, ready to listen to all we have to say to Him, and to do all we ask Him to do, and in the best possible way. Precious Jesus! Is He not altogether lovely? He is everything to my soul. Life would be an aching void without Him."



"Religions formalism is the bane of thousands! They say prayers, but never pray. They know nothing of the great change from nature to grace; nothing of the new birth. They have no personal, spiritual acquaintance with Christ; nothing of real conversion. Is it not melancholy to see so many, whom we love, yet living in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity,"


Mary Winslow was quite a writer, dear.

Loved it Wouldee.....and she is an incredible writer...

I was going over all the so many posts of smiles.......I kept thinking two things.....Lord they know not what they speak. and the following.





The Army Of The Lord


The army of God
Is arising this hour
Rising in God’s holy might
To do battle in His power

For this is the season
We need to begin to rise
To show the world God’s holy truth
And the hope of our risen Christ

We need to fight our enemy
Every step that we take
Because he is there to pull us down
And sow doubt within our faith

For if we listen to his lies
And fall beneath his attack
The power of God we had before
We find we soon will lack

It’s not worth the agony
To give in to his ways
But keep your faith in Jesus Christ
Strong as your spirit prays

For this is what empowers us
And builds us up much more
So we can arise more boldly
Against the enemy of the Lord

hi honey.

Hi Deb.


I am glad you like it, ladies.

I do too.

Here is the second half of Part 2.

There is yet a Part 3 and 4


Perhaps I am lazy, but I rather like copy andd pastes like this.

Form a few generations ago, yet it is still the same, as is the Lord ; yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

I am so comforted by words like these that reflect the same experience as i know.

Truly, we are a family of one, yet many.

The Lord's table is a season of melting love. The heart is softened; Christ crucified for my sins is placed before the eye; deep repentance and holy affection fill the soul.

This world, and all that you have loved, are insufficient to impart one grain of real happiness. You may find in Jesus all, and more than tongue can express, of what your soul needs; an everflowing, overflowing fountain of indescribable happiness and holy enjoyment.

How graciously God is dealing with my soul. I cannot describe, for language fails me, His exceeding gentleness, and His tender love to my soul. I go to Him often in perplexity, not knowing where to look; and as a babe is hushed to quietness, soothed and comforted on its mother's bosom, so the Lord calms and quiets me.

Never, never could it enter into the heart of man to conceive the rich gifts there are in the heart of Christ for His saints!

Heaven would be no heaven to me if I did not see Jesus, my best, my dearest, my constant Friend, who with unceasing patience, tenderness, and mercy, has followed me through all my wanderings in this wilderness world; and has never, no, never, left nor forsaken me for one single moment. To know Him aright is a little heaven begun below.

Oh, heaven is worth living for! A life of trial and of tribulation is as nothing when compared with the mighty blessings that await the believer in Jesus, when he drops the body of sin and of death. I have been, and still am, looking to the things that are not seen, and that are eternal.

Precious Bible! Precious revelation of God's most gracious doings of eternal mercy to such sinners as we are!

Heaven seems always before me, and in imagination I am constantly there. I long to be gone. I much enjoy, in anticipation, the blessedness of that place where Jesus is, where He unveils His beauteous face, and we shall behold Him without a cloud between. My sweetest meditation, lying down and rising up, or waking in the night, is Heaven. Oh, to enjoy unutterable bliss of perfect freedom from sin, in the presence of Jesus, my dearest, my best Friend.

"The Lord raises those who are bowed down." Psalm 146:8. How little do we think of whose care we are under, and whose loving eye is ever guiding our way through the wilderness, causing all things we meet with, to work together for our good! Thus has He led me. He has brought me into the wilderness to teach me; to lead me to cling closer to Himself; to brighten every grace of the Spirit; to wean me from a dying world; and to show me this is not my rest, because it is polluted. Here He gave me precious faith, and then tried the faith He gave. When bowed down, He lifted me up. He shut me out of the vain things of a poor empty world, and shut me into Himself.

Growth in grace is to know more of Christ, His excellence, preciousness, and fulness, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Growth in grace is to know more of our wretched, lost condition, our helplessness and unworthiness.

Surely the wise virgins are slumbering! Oh that the church would awaken and rejoice at the glorious prospect that is before her! The Lord Jesus is on His way!

When you enlisted under the banner of King Jesus, you commenced the life of a soldier, and are therefore called, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, to fight manfully. Your enemies are the world, Satan, and the flesh; this last is the greatest of all; it lies down and rises up with you, and wherever you are, this enemy is always at hand.

A corpse floats down with the stream; but where there is living faith in the soul, it stems the tide, buffets with the wave, and makes its way through all that opposes it. Be of good courage, keep close to Jesus, and you have nothing to fear from within or without.

This world is nothing more than a wretched, dying vanity! But the bright world to which we are traveling has substantial blessing and unutterable happiness to bestow. Oh, then, what folly to grieve here, and allow our affections to wander from God!

Oh, for more weanedness from the world! Oh, to love Jesus more, and to have Him more in our thoughts! How soon we may behold Him in all His glory, coming in the clouds of heaven, with all His saints and holy angels!

Time is short! You have much to do for God in a little space. Eternity will be quite long enough to rest.

Oh that you may trace His dear hand in all His tender, gentle dealings. Walk doubly close to Him in the day of prosperity, and watch over your heart with a jealous eye, lest it prove a temptation and a snare.

Christianity ennobles, sanctifies, and immortalizes all the endeared relationships of life.

Ought I not to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of God my Savior? But oh, how slowly I advance to what I ought! One thing I do know: I feel increasingly my own vileness, and see increasing beauty in the gospel, and its suitableness to the needs of a poor sinner. God shows me more of my own sinful self, and more of that perfect righteousness in Christ Jesus, which is unto all and upon all those who believe.

Oh, to call the Creator, the Upholder of all worlds, mine; yes, mine, for I am His, and He is mine, and that through all eternity; is a privilege so sweet that angels might envy!

This world, with the dearest earthly creatures, could not satisfy my soul.

How delightful to live to please Him, and Him only, who died for you!

Watch against the treacherous foe we carry within!

I would be holy, even as He is holy. I am wearied with sin; my soul loathes it, and I abhor myself in dust and in ashes. Truly, I would not live aways thus. Heaven would be greatly to be desired, were it only to be done with sin forever. But oh! the presence of Jesus in all His glories, unveiled to our wondering eye, will make our happiness complete. "O earth, earth! let my heart's best affections go, and trouble me no more. I want this heart only for Christ! It is His by the purchase of His blood; it is His by the conquest of His grace; and I covet it all for Him. Oh! May every throb beat with love, gratitude, and adoration to Him who has saved my soul, and redeemed me from the power of the enemy! Amen, and amen."

I look back, and sigh, and grieve, and think how many evils I could have avoided.

I feel more and more the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and my own weakness and inability to stand one moment, without the all upholding arm of Jehovah Jesus!

The way to God is so delightful, so exactly suited to a poor lost sinner; so suited to me. A way sprinkled with atoning blood; justice and mercy as a wall of defense on either side; and this way leading to such a rich treasure house, filled with all blessing for time and for eternity. All is in Jesus the way to God, the way of holiness, the way to glory.

I have to recount the goodness and unfailing mercy of my good and gracious God, who has brought me thus far on my weary pilgrimage. I have to lament my unfaithfulness and backslidings of heart from Him.

Let us often look back upon all the way our God has led us, and trace His gracious dealings at every step; and we shall not only acknowledge that He is good, but we shall aim more and more to do everything that is right and pleasing in His sight. Oh for more grace, more uprightness of heart, anymore singleness of eye! It is with God we have to do, and not with man.

Keep your eye upon the cross of Christ, and you need not fear to see yourself as you are.

I have felt today much blessedness in viewing the Lord as my own and only Friend on earth and in heaven; and making a renewed surrender of my whole heart to Him, desiring above all earthly good that it should be molded according to His will, and made conformable to His likeness. There is a store of incalculable riches in Christ! He is everything to me! I could not live without Him! I could not die without Him! Heaven would be no heaven to me if my Beloved were not there!

Every place where Jesus is, and which He blesses with His presence, is sweet. He can transform a dungeon into a palace, and His presence can turn darkness into light.

Who can tell the glory that surrounds the saints on their entrance into that abode of bliss? How strange that we do not more often long to be there, freed from a body of sin and death, and a life of pain and suffering! Oh that I may be helped to keep my garments unspotted by the world; and to be ready when the summons comes!

Oh, if we did but fully believe that God will condemn the impenitent sinner to eternal perdition, we would act very differently!
If the religion of Christ is not the main business of our whole life, it is nothing, and we are nothing, and shall be found as nothing, or worse than nothing, when He comes to judge the world.

Unbelief, unbelief, oh, this is our great crime before God! We will not take Him at His word, fully believing all that He has promised. If we really believe that sinners will be cast into hell, would we not be more earnest both with them and with God? Oh yes, we would!

When I have a glimpse of God as He is in Himself, as well as what He is to my soul, I sink in all my nothingness, melted into love, at His feet. What would I do but for Jesus? "Precious Jesus! I do love You. You are the chief among ten thousand. I am wearied with 'the creature', for disappointment is written upon the dearest object here below. But in You there is no disappointment, You blessed, dearest One! Oh that I could love You as I wish to do, and serve You with all the powers of my mind and body! Let not my heart wander from You! Keep me under the shadow of Your wing until the storm of life be past."

I cannot trace a single thing I ever did in my whole life that affords me any real pleasure to look back upon.

With what a delusion Satan continually aims to blind the minds of men as to the brevity and uncertainty of human life. How often does he prevail, even with the real Christian! On looking back upon the past sixty years of my life, and forward to the little point that remains, what a dream! How like a vision does it appear! Oh, how little of it, if any at all, has been spent to the real glory of Him who gave it.

None but God Himself could bear with such sinners as we are.

I seldom rise from my knees without weeping; my whole heart melted with contrition in view of the wonderful love of God to one so poor and vile as I. Oh, how near does He sometimes draw me to Himself! And when I look around, and see so many mercies, so many blessings, such tender care in providing for all my needs, no good thing withheld; although my base heart has distrusted Him in the very mist of countless proofs of His love; I abhor myself in dust and in ashes. God has forgiven, and does forgive me, but I cannot forgive myself.

God's ear is ever open to the cry of His children!

I have never wept so much for sin as I have done lately. Often have I put up the prayer, 'Search me, O God'. The Lord has heard and answered it; and oh, if it had not been that the fountain was still open, I would have sunk into unutterable despair. He has ploughed up the fallow ground afresh of my poor heart, and the view presented has prostrated me in the dust. If ever I felt what a broken heart and a contrite spirit was, I have of late. Oh, the evil that is there covered over by the rank weeds of 'self love', self complacency, or self in some hideous form or other, that is not discernible until the Holy Spirit makes it known. He is pleased to show us enough to make us cling closer to the cross, to make Jesus more precious, and sin more hateful. But while I have thus been led of late to mourn so much for sin, I have never felt pardon so abundantly manifested. Oh, keep close to the cross!

I see myself more and more, every hour, a poor sinner, unworthy of the least crumb that falls from the Master's table. But I see, at the same time, Jesus a great Savior, divinely able, and most lovingly willing, to save the chief of sinners, even me. No one can tell how this thought fills my heart with contrition, and my eyes with tears.

Oh that we might always endeavor in all things, in thought, word, and deed, to please God; setting aside everything which is not connected with His glory, and contemplating all things and all events more in the light of eternity!

How jealous ought we to be over our hearts. When we find a traitor there, how earnest should we be to bring him directly to the Savior, that He might enable us to place our foot upon his neck, while He himself subdues the evil that He hates.

Had God not tried me in the furnace of affliction my loss would have been immense. I thank Him for my deep, deep cup of sorrow. Whatever draws or drives us to Christ is a blessing. We then breathe a holy, heavenly atmosphere, and see the poverty of all other things to make us happy here or hereafter.

We shall soon meet where we shall be all of one mind, in a brighter, happier world, surrounding the throne of Him we love. Blessed be God for this prospect! It often causes the dark cloud to withdraw, and the weary soul to take fresh courage, and press onward, and look upward. Blessed is the hope of the Christian!

Oh, what a mercy to have a throne of grace, and a tender, compassionate, loving Christ to go to at all times, and under all circumstances! A genuine welcome; no frown to fear; no distant look. Oh that we all might live upon Him, moment by moment! For this reason He takes away our props, that we might lean fully upon Himself.

Did you but see your children standing on the edge of an awful precipice, and know that none but God could prevent their destruction, would you not cry day and night to Him? What can be compared to the eternal death that awaits them, if they die unconverted? Will you not pray, that your dear children may escape from the wrath to come? In proportion as you feel the infinite value of their immortal souls, you shall feel anxious for their salvation.

Our heavenly Father knows better how to control and direct our concerns than we know ourselves. Oh, to be among the number who wholly trust in the Lord!

Nothing but the power of the Holy Spirit can convert the soul. The Word, and the preaching of the Word, pass for nothing, unless accompanied by the Holy Spirit. If God has begun His work in the soul, God will complete it, and all sin cannot destroy it. Salvation from first to last is of God. God begins it, God carries it on, and God will finish it forever. Blessed be His holy name!

May the little trials we have may be so sanctified, as to draw us near to Christ, and make Him more precious than ever!

I weep that I am such a sinner, while I stand in wonder and astonishment that God can love and does love, such a one as I, and having loved me in time, will love me through eternity.

Our happiness does not depend upon a favorable change of circumstances or of place, but upon a submission of our wills to the will of God; a complete surrender of every desire and wish to Him who is acquainted with what is best for us.

What a chamber of iniquity is the heart, all hidden and unknown, until God in mercy shows it to us, as we are able to bear the disclosure!

Let us not be faint and weary because of the hardness of the way. It is the Lord's way. Thorny and steep though may be the ascent, when we reach the summit we shall be well repaid for all our labor.

Great things often spring out of little things. Let me entreat you to look to Him continually, for counsel to direct in little as well as in great matters. Oh that we might both be led to sit more constantly at the feet of Jesus, looking up, like little children, into His face to catch His smile and watch His eye; to see what He would have us to do, seeking nowhere else for comfort and guidance but in Him!

Be very cautious to whom you open your heart. Make no one your confidant but Jesus. Oh, commune with Him of all that is in your heart. If you are wounded, go and tell Christ. If you are in need, go and tell Christ; the silver and the gold are His. If you are in trouble, go and tell Christ; and He will deliver you out of it, and you shall glorify Him. Live upon Him as little children would live upon a dear, kind, and tender father. Oh, how happily will you then pass on your way! If at any time you are in perplexity or difficulty, through your own imprudence or otherwise, do not go to an arm of flesh, nor sit down to consider how you are to obtain deliverance; but go directly to Jesus, and tell Him all, all; and He will appear for you, and bring you out of all.

I have been thinking of the worldling's happiness; it never satisfies; it affords no real enjoyment; it does not reach the soul. Ten thousand worlds could not satisfy me, now that I have tasted the unspeakably precious love of Christ!

It is not change of place or circumstances, but Christ alone, that can make ns truly happy here and hereafter. God would have us cease from these things, and live upon Him alone for our enjoyments!

I often think how mysterious are the ways of God. It is our mercy, however, to know at all times that He is directing our steps, and that not a circumstance in our lives but is included in the everlasting covenant that is ordered in all things and sure. It is a great thing to be helped to be satisfied with God's dealings and ways, and not to dictate to Him, even in our minds, what we conceive would be better for us.

Remember, the more your sermons are filled with Christ, from first to last, the more will Christ honor your ministry. There is no preaching like it. Never be afraid of not finding something new to say of Him. The Holy Spirit will supply you with matter as you go on. Never doubt it, never fear. The whole Bible points to Christ, and you must make it all bear upon the subject. Christ is the sum and substance of the whole!

I never knew a man who seemed to find his way to one's heart as Mr. Evans does in his preaching. He arrests your attention, instructs your mind, and captivates your heart. Oh, what a precious gospel we hear; doctrinal, practical, and experimental religion beautifully blended!

How deep are the riches of the love of Christ!

Oh, what a God do you serve! How infinitely condescending in all His steps towards you, and how deeply indebted are you to give yourself entirely to Him!
What should we do were it not for a throne of grace to go to? In all my troubles and difficulties I flee to Christ, for none can help me but Him. You do the same. You need not carry your own burdens, when Christ has commanded you to cast them on Him. Learn in the early stages of your Christian pilgrimage to go constantly to Jesus. Live upon Him for all you need for both soul and body, for He has redeemed and will take care of both.

Oh, how precious is Jesus to a poor seeking sinner! What a mercy that when we sin we have in Him an Advocate, and a fountain still open to wash away our sin, and always welcome to come; never so welcome to Christ as when we feel our misery and poverty, our nothingness and unworthiness. He it is who gives the broken and contrite heart that He delights to look upon. The enemy would sincerely keep us from Christ when we feel our vileness; but it was for sinners Jesus died.

Oh, it is sweet to live a life of holy dependence upon the Savior! I find it more and more so every day. May He save you from trusting your own heart, or leaning to your own understanding in anything.
Let us think a little of our home, our pleasant home. A precious Jesus waiting to welcome His weary pilgrims there. A sweet home indeed! Our Father's home! And a happy meeting with all who are dear to us and to Christ. No more separation; no more sickness, no more sin, nor more labor, but one endless scene of love and happiness!

How often has an unkind look or word proved a blessing to my soul! It has made me flee to Christ; and there I have found no unkindness. He has appeared, at such times, more than enough to make up for the lack of all 'creature love' and created good.

How wretchedly poor are my best conceptions of this most glorious work of salvation! Dear Lord, enlighten my understanding, that I may more and more see the infinite value of this wondrous work of everlasting love; and may my base ingratitude and unbelief never be thorns to wound You afresh.

What a mercy, of more value than a thousand worlds, to walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long; to be enabled to live above the smiles or frowns of this world, and to find the love of Christ all satisfying to our souls; to feel all 'creature love' swallowed up in Christ, and to know that He loves us better than we love ourselves.

As soon as I take my eye from Jesus, and look for anything like comfort from this world, or look within for something to rest upon, I begin to be in trouble, and have again to run into the name of the Lord, which is a strong tower to my soul at all times! Oh, why look to 'creature love' when the love of Christ is always the same?

Still traveling on, I humbly trust, through this waste howling wilderness, to my heavenly home. I need to look more to Jesus, that I may be strengthened for this continual warfare, for so it is with me. But am too often looking to some broken cistern still; but afterwards can say, when enabled to turn and take a fresh view of Christ, I do prefer Him, with all my trials and cares, to all that the world calls good.

By constantly poring over anticipated troubles, we lose the sweet enjoyment of present mercies in the expectation of future evil. I pray to be enabled to praise Him for the present, and trust His love for all that is to come.

There is an inexpressible sweetness in the thought, that salvation is not of works; and that our full and complete acceptance is not in our wretched selves. It is all, all of grace.

Oh, the hidden evil of the heart, unknown and unfelt, until the Spirit of Christ sees fit to reveal the depths of iniquity that are there. It is a sickening view; and were it not that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, I would lie down in utter despair. Nothing but the precious blood of Christ can wash my guilt away.

O Lord, help me more and more to cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and to expect nothing but evil from an evil world!

It is good to walk by faith; to feel dependent for all, and to come to Him as little children for all we need.

Oh, the sad levity and trifling of some, even of the ministers of Christ! I am aware of the same evil in myself, and by these things lay up material for bitter repentance.

Oh how lovely, how good, exceedingly good, is Jesus Christ to unworthy me! He is enough to satisfy my soul. When disappointed in the creature, and I turn with a sickening feeling from the world to Christ, I find here no disappointment. Here is fulness of joy, an ocean of love, a heart to feel and sympathize, an eye to pity, and a power, an infinite power to supply all my needs, to comfort my drooping spirits, to refresh my fainting heart, and lift me with joy and peace in believing. Jesus is an all satisfying portion, and He is my portion, O my soul.
Some new lesson in the school of Christ is daily, no, hourly, to be learned; some hidden evil to be felt; some new enemy to be encountered; some fresh, precious views of Jesus to be obtained.

I increasingly feel that this poor world is not my rest; it is polluted! Go where he may, rest where he will, trials and crosses await the Christian.

When trials press upon my mind I must arise and carry them to Jesus. To whom else can I go? I would not often tell the dearest friend in the world what passes in my mind; but I can disclose it all to Jesus! I can and do unbosom myself to Him whose compassions fail not, and who remembers I am but dust; yet pities and loves me better than I love myself!

I never fail to find that trials drive me closer to Christ, and quicken me in the exercise of prayer.

The essence of real religion is intimacy with God.

Remember that God has to do with the heart. 'To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit.' Humility is one of the sweetest graces of God's Spirit. Earnestly seek to know as much of your own hearts as will keep you sitting at the foot of the cross; and at the same time to know as much of Christ's heart as will enable you to rejoice in the fulness and sufficiency there is in Him.

My beloved children, never, never omit secret prayer! Remember, the first departures from Christ begin at the closet, or rather in the heart; and then private prayer is either hurried over, becomes a mere form, or is entirely neglected.

A few more years, and we shall be done with all things here below, and eternity, with all its glorious realities, will burst upon your view! Oh, then, live for eternity! Think much of your blessed inheritance there, and let the glory of God be dearer to you than your own lives.
Beloved, in all your many difficulties and trials, do not first go to an arm of flesh, nor sit and ponder what you shall do. But go directly to your dear Savior, and ask earnestly for wisdom and grace to guide you through them. Watch the leadings and openings of His gracious providence, and follow on as He leads the way, and He will make even these things to work for your good. Cast your cares, as they rise, upon Him who cares for you!

Avoid trifling, lukewarm professors. They are the bane of the church of Christ! If you can do them no good, they will do you much harm.

Beloved, go to Jesus for all you need. Lean upon Him. There is a fulness in Christ, treasured up for you, that the highest angel in heaven cannot fathom! Tell Him all that is in your heart. Lay your case before Him as if he did not already know it. This is the sweet simplicity of faith that Christ loves. You cannot come too often. Bring to Him your little cares as well as your great ones. If anything is a trouble to you, however small it may be, you are warranted, no, commanded, to take it to Him, and thereby you glorify His name.

Oh what a mercy is a throne of grace! Wherever you are, at home or by the wayside, lift up your heart to that precious Savior who has manifested so much love to your souls.

Oh, it is good to look back and trace His dealings and His wondrous works to us! Taking thus a review of these gracious things, under the teaching of the Eternal Spirit, so far from being puffed up, they will lay us low in the dust under a sense of our base ingratitude towards Him, and the wretched returns we have made for such distinguishing mercies.

Nothing tests or strengthens faith so much as the trying dispensations of God toward His people. The furnace destroys everything but the pure gold! Nothing but real faith can endure the heat of the fiery crucible, and, what is strange, it grows in the fire!
In Christ, I discover such a fulness, such a sufficiency, such goodness, and boundless, matchless love, that at times I can but kneel and weep! My mind is led from earthly things to longing desires after conformity to His holy likeness. Oh, to be holy! How beautiful does holiness appear to me! To be holy is to be happy. May the Lord sanctify us! A little while and we shall be done with those things that but too often encumber us, and then, Oh what glory awaits the believing soul!

I feel my vileness, my unprofitableness, my woeful shortcomings, and am thankful if I can but only creep to the foot of the Cross, and there repose my weary soul, refreshed by one look at Jesus, who died for my sins. But oh, I want to be more conformable to His lovely image, to be sanctified, body, soul, and spirit, and to have every power of my mind under the constant influence of the Holy Spirit.

Mysterious are the ways of God! This bereaving providence has done more to wean me from the world, and show me the importance of eternal things, than you can imagine. Blessed be God for all His dispensations, the evil as well as the good. My severe trials have awakened a general sympathy among the dear people of God, who have visited and endeavored to comfort me. But vain is the help of man. God alone can comfort. I see love and mercy directing this stroke, and I trust it will be abundantly sanctified to my soul. I know it is for my good that I have been afflicted.

Tribulation must be felt, or it would not be tribulation; and it is needful. I think I have learned more of my dreadfully wicked heart, and the preciousness of Jesus, during this trial, than I ever learned before. It has been a bitter discipline, but I hope, with God's blessing, it will bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness; tending to wean me from the world and from self, and causing me to know where my great strength lies. I failed not to thank my God, and to implore His aid to strengthen me, and enable me to bear up under this and every other disappointment and trial, through what His infinite wisdom should see fit I should pass while on my pilgrimage through this wilderness.

I feel my poverty and my need of Christ more and more. My choicest seat is at the foot of the Cross! When I can but view His bleeding wounds, and obtain one glance by faith of His gracious countenance, it is worth a thousand worlds to me. Nothing else can give me joy and comfort. I find it is the safest to keep close to Jesus; and as I came at first, so I come again and again. In this way the foe is defeated, and my soul is melted with love, while He lifts upon me His heavenly countenance.

I rather decline much communication with worldly people; for if one can do them no good, they are sure to do you some harm.

Oh, the sweets of true religion! To know the Lord Jesus is our Friend surpasses every earthly good, and is better than the possession of a thousand worlds. To have Him to go to; to lay before Him all our needs, to express our fears, to plead His promises, and to expect that because He has promised He will fulfil; is worth more than all the world can give. His ear is ever open to the prayer of His people, and, though hell and death obstruct the way, the weakest saint shall win the day.

I am strong, and in good spirits! for my Friend above reigns, and He has enabled me to cast every weight of care upon Him.

May the Lord would fill your hearts with peace and joy in believing, and lift you above this poor, fleeting, perishing world.

Oh, how far, how very far do I fall short of what a true Christian ought to be! I grieve and lament my shortcomings, and long to manifest myself, by practice as well as by profession, a lowly follower of Jesus Christ.

All we have to do in this valley of tears is to press forward to the glorious prize He has placed in our view, looking continually to Jesus, trusting not to our own strength, but waiting in humble dependence upon Him for all our sufficiency to carry us on, and to enable us to hold out unto the end. This world is not our home; we look for a better. His people are pilgrims here on earth, and generally are a poor and afflicted people. They have not their portion here as thousands have; their portion is to come. Their names are written in the book of life, and were written before the foundation of the world. They are as dear to Him as the apple of His eye. Then what have we to fear? nothing; but everything to hope.

Blessed be God, who sent His only Son to pay our debt, to rescue us from the power of Satan, to cleanse us from all our guilt, to clothe our souls with His righteousness, and thereby give us a rightful claim to a crown of glory.

Beware of the form of godliness without its vital, its blessed power!

Remember that you have not to do with man but with God, and that God has to do with you. He scrutinizes the motive, searches the hidden spring, regards the principle, and by Him actions are weighed.

Live and think and act with eternity fully in view!

There is not a circumstance in my whole past life, but what I have reason to mourn and weep over in the dust before God. It has been evil, and that continually. Never, never publish my worthless life. I am ashamed of it, and abhor myself in dust and ashes. God knows I do. I see nothing but sin in myself from the moment I knew anything to the present instant. Lost as I was, vile and polluted, Jesus made the atonement required, paid my debt, bore the penalty, washed me in His precious blood, and the Holy Spirit in due time unveiled my blind eyes to see my lost condition, wretchedness, and misery; and then led me to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. There He cleansed, clothed, and saved me! But what returns have I made for all this rich display of mercy? I must put my hand upon my mouth, and my mouth in the dust before Him.

How few follow hard after their glorious Leader, the Captain of our salvation! There are few who seem to be in right down earnest in this holy, heavenly warfare.

There is a divine reality in the religion of the Bible, but it must be experienced in the soul to learn its mighty value and infinite blessedness. I meet with but few who have this divine echo in the heart; the soul's experience harmonizing with the revealed word of truth.

Why do you stand outside when there is room in the heart of Christ for His every needy child?
Oh, this precious Jesus! how can we love Him enough? We shall love Him as we desire to, when this poor body of flesh is thrown off and we see Him as He is.

How many ways the Lord takes to teach His children, and to wean them from the creature and from themselves!

God does nothing in vain towards His own people. He loves us too dearly to afflict us arbitrarily or for nothing.

We are so prone to look to the creature, and thus God removes our created prop that we may lean more simply and entirely upon Him, and upon Him only. He is teaching some hard yet precious and, perhaps, needed lessons; but the issue will be your deeper holiness and His loftier praise and richer glory.

Cast your present burden upon Him from whom comes all help. Is He not a very present help in every time of trouble? Why should you carry a heavy burden, when Jesus has undertaken and is better able to bear it for you, and stands ready to transfer it from you to Himself? "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you."

Everything around us, viewed in relation to eternity, is alarming! The unconverted are passing into the world of woe, the Church is slumbering, error is prevailing, worldliness abounding, and the love of many for the Lord and His truth is waxing cold.

Do we really believe that there is a hell and that there is a heaven?

Temptation is a test, tribulation is a discipline, and trial is a school. All are essential to our perfect education for eternity.

Try and realize the nearness of heaven to you. It will enable you to walk more above the world, and incline your heart to seek a closer acquaintance with God as your reconciled Father in Christ Jesus.

Dear friend, make God your Confidant. Carry to Him all your needs, disclose to Him all your sorrows, confide to Him all your secrets, confess to Him all your sins. He will do all, soothe all, supply all, and pardon all, for who is a God like Him? He cares for you, His loving heart is towards you, His unslumbering eye is upon you. Oh, how condescendingly kind and gentle is Jesus to poor sinners who feel their need of Him, and are conscious that they can do nothing without Him! You will always meet with a welcome from Jesus, come when you may, and how you will.

Prayer, precious prayer, how can we live without it? What could I do had I not God to go to? Oh, it is my chief joy and comfort to throw open every avenue and chamber of my heart, and disclose to Him all.

Oh the comfort, that while crossing this sandy desert we are privileged to hold converse with Jesus, telling Him as our dearest Friend, all we need and all we desire.

Oh, what would we do in a world of sin and sorrow without Jesus! Heaven itself would be no heaven were He not its attraction, its glory, and its joy. His name is Love, and an ocean of love is His heart.
Is it not strange that we cling to this shadowy, fleeting life as we do?

Jesus came to my help, raised my eyes to Himself, drew me closer to His heart, hushed my mourning, and enabled me to repose my sorrow upon His bosom.

Oh, for stronger faith and more filial submission to all His blessed, loving, holy will!

May the presence of the Lord be with you, may His love comfort you, and may His arms encircle you, to preserve you from all evil!

Who can portray the joy of the soul the moment it is freed from the flesh, and finds itself in the immediate presence of God, encircled by all the holy angels, and the goodly company of glorified saints, who stand round about the throne?

May we be enabled to follow on to know the Lord more fully, and be more engaged in the contemplation of heavenly realities, so that we might live more above the poor things of a dying world. This poor world is not our rest; and God will not have His people rest in anything short of Himself.

It is our loss, when we permit ourselves to be so absorbed with present passing trifles as to lose sight, even for a moment, of the glories and attractions of that upper world into which we shall to a certainty soon enter. I think I could sometimes sit all day long looking up into heaven; heaven seems so opened to my view, so near, so real, so blessed and holy. I seem to stand upon its verge, and beneath its very portal.

It is through Satan's devices that God's Word is cast aside, and human wisdom and tradition is set up in the place of God's revealed truth.

In a little while, and we all must stand at the bar of God. Short and uncertain is our time here. Eternity, with solemn realities, is before us. God has, in His rich mercy, left us a divine direction to show us plainly the way we should take, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. The path is there prescribed to those who desire to do God's holy will and to walk in the same.

Alone with God. Sweet moments these, to a saint of God; rich the privilege to be closeted with Jesus. To get closer to Him, to hear His voice, the gentle whisper of His unchanging love, to be enabled to unbosom our whole hearts to Him, confiding to Him all their secrets, is not this a mighty privilege?

How mysterious are often our Father's dealings with us; and yet all is infinite love. Not a cross, not a pain, not a trial but is given in the tenderest love to our souls, dear to Him as His own beloved Son.

Do you not love to think of heaven? Not only as a place of rest- rest from all care, and conflict, and toil- but above all, a perfect rest from sin. But more even than this, as the place where we shall see and be with Jesus, and be perfectly like Him. To behold the once despised Man of sorrow, seated upon His throne, encircled by the host of heaven, will be a glorious spectacle. And shall you and I be there? Shall we not together shout our song of praise to Him who bled for us, died for us, who paid our mighty debt, and who so patiently bore our ingratitude and coldness, our wanderings and lack of love, throughout our wilderness journey? How unwearied has been His changeless love towards us.

One precious view of Jesus will more than repay us for all our sufferings and afflictions and crosses here, were they ten thousand times more than they have been. To look upon that countenance which so often illumined with its smile our dreary path, filling our souls with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and which, when our hearts were so broken for sin, because it was sin against One who so loved us, and whom we loved, that we were ashamed to look up and knew not what to say, even then has He beamed upon us His look of forgiveness- oh, will not this be heaven! Long we not, dear friend, to see Him, that we might thank Him again and again for all His mighty love and great goodness, marvellous loving-kindness towards us poor sinners, eternally lost but for Him? There are seasons when language quite fails me to express what I feel towards Him, and then how do I long to depart that I might tell Him all I cannot tell Him now.

God is in small events! How unspeakably precious and sweet it is when we can believe that God our Father in heaven is absolutely directing the most minute circumstance of our short sojourn in this wilderness world! That nothing, however trivial, takes place, whether it relates to the body or the soul, but is under His control; in fact, is ordered by Himself! But how hard to believe this, particularly when things look dark, and we cannot discern the way we should take. It is, then, the province of faith to wait upon the Lord, keeping a steadfast eye upon Him only; looking for light, help, and deliverance, not from the creature, but from Jehovah Himself. Well may it be called precious faith! How happy do those travel on, whose faith can discern God's hand in everything. But I fear the number is very small who so live. I cannot imagine how those who deny God's particular providence can get comfortably on, for they must perpetually be confronted with minute events in their history as mysterious and baffling to them as greater ones.

It is a consolation to know that Jesus reigns, and that all things, all creatures, and all events are in His hands and beneath His control.

How is it that the Lord places His people so frequently, and keeps them so long, in the furnace? When one trial is over another comes, scarcely, sometimes, allowing breathing time between! Wave resounding to wave! Oh, it is because He loves us, and will have us know it. And when trouble comes, small or great, we then shelter beneath His wings, or nestle within His bosom, and feel the very throbbings of His heart. Who can sound the depth or measure the dimensions of the love of God towards His people- its depth, its height? Eternity alone can unfold it. It passes knowledge. Oh, it is sweet to repose in His bosom, and shelter there until the storm be past.

It is only by constantly looking to Christ that we can get joy and comfort. Thus, looking to Jesus and going to Jesus, we travel through this intricate wilderness comfortably and safely to our home in heaven.

May we be led daily, hourly, to look more simply to Jesus; leaning upon Him for all we need for body and soul, for time and eternity. I find that the more I am enabled to live upon Him, the happier I am; and it is the only comfortable way of getting through a host of trials and difficulties, and of renouncing the world, the flesh, and the devil. May God give us all more of the sweet simplicity of faith.

The more we feel the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and are led into a just view of our own most wretched helplessness, the more we shall value the great and all-glorious atonement made for sin; and in proportion also will Jesus be precious to our souls.

Oh, what a privilege for such worms of the earth to have fellowship with the great and mighty God of the universe, and such nearness of access to the very heart of a precious Jesus!
What poor creatures we are, and what a wonder a holy God should love us so!

How is it that we are not always rejoicing? Because of our unbelief! What a conflict have I had lately with that monster!

Our friends who sleep in Jesus only cross the threshold a little before us, and if we are real followers of Christ, we shall soon meet them, and that to part no more. Your heavenly Father has taken one that was dear to you, because he was dearer to Himself, and He wished to have him in the full enjoyment of Himself a little sooner than you would be willing to part with him. Blessed are the dead that die in Jesus!
All we have to do is to keep a steadfast eye upon Christ, and live upon Him moment by moment, coming to Him for all our supplies; as children feeling their dependence on a parent's love, come to a loving father, nothing doubting His power and willingness to grant them all that they need.

That concludes Part 2.

"Oh, the sad levity and trifling of some, even of the ministers of Christ! I am aware of the same evil in myself, and by these things lay up material for bitter repentance."

Thanks for sharing all that Wouldee.

Much appreciated.

Spiritual food.

A Banguet .

Keep it coming.


Ahhh... the misty rain has ceased....firecracker time....

Later Everybody...

((((((Britty and Wouldee)))))))))

Good morning my dear.

I shall go and get some tea and pop back for a read.

mmm my dear, I am enjoying reading those writings from Mary Winslow. This little paragraph really stood out to me.



"How graciously God is dealing with my soul. I cannot describe, for language fails me, His exceeding gentleness, and His tender love to my soul. I go to Him often in perplexity, not knowing where to look; and as a babe is hushed to quietness, soothed and comforted on its mother's bosom, so the Lord calms and quiets me.

Never, never could it enter into the heart of man to conceive the rich gifts there are in the heart of Christ for His saints! "

Hello MorningSong. I hope you had a lovely 4th.

Hi Debs, Tiffa, Kleisto and all who stop in today.

This morning I was hit by three verses right in a row.

Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord.

Be angry but sinneth not.

Return good for evil.

It happened so fast I was almost blindsided by them. We have rules where I am work and they apply to everyone. A boss asked me to do something which her boss said wasn't our job. At first I was angry and according to the scriptures getting angry is not a sin. I went ahead and did what she told me to do because she was the nurse and according to my job description I am a nurse's aide. But the people she told me to get up who can be a hassle to get up I feel that the Lord went before me and made them have a sweet diposition. Instead of having to stay angry it made me happy. The Lord sure works in mysterious ways especially where I work.

Ah, I am glad the Lord showed you that.
Thank you for sharing.

Blessings,

There's alot of food for thought in these writings. The good the bad & the ugly.

Jesus said something like, How long do I have to suffer with you? He knew we were frail in our humanity. He knew we needed the spirit to experience exactly the things written in these writings.

Hidden in Christ is a blessed place to be.

I think we are so bombarded with fleshly living & the corruption of life is so thrown in our face, not to mention that our society has been conditioned to think we are deserving of something we shouldn't have to work for etc etc; that we became like a bunch of crybabies.

Even Christians have a hard time with things. We have become desensitized to wrong ways of thinking & don't really know that our thoughtlife is wrong.

It's only at Jesus' feet where we find the peace that surpasses all understanding that protects our very hearts & minds from these things.

We need to be sponges.. to hear God's word & cry out of it & to recieve it & decree it over our lives, & give Him lordship over everything. That's if we want the peace of God.

I know for myself that too much exposure to evil affects me. I'm sure it affects others too. We need daily washing from God to stay in His presence.

Just sayin'...

That is why I thank God for the coffeehouse......I come and get filled with the word of the Lord. I also want to again that Rich for always knowing when I need a word...Once again last night I was at my end....and here come rich with words that just made the tears poor...It renewed my spirit and just plain made me happy....thank you my friend....


And thank you to all my wonderful brothers and sisters of the coffeehouse.....I appreciate and love each and every one of you.


Thanks for all the wonderful reads Britty and Wouldee.......they are a true blessing.....

It certainly is a blessed place to be.




Good morning Debs,


((( )))