I needed to read this tonight~
Thank You.

I am so glad StormMessages. I hope those words
were a comfort to you.

Many people long for greater peace: peace in heart and mind and also more peace in the world.

Mark 1:1-8

I believe these verses in Mark are a prelude and preparation for us to get ready to experience the Lord in a deeper and more intimate way.

Mark's Gospel reads: "Behold, I send my messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You." This is also seen in Malachi 3:1

The internal spiritual aspect of our being loves God and what is good and true. In our minds we may strongly resist the heavenly side. And so
our prelude to deep, ongoing inner peace is to recognize that the wilderness of the natural mind starts out in charge for most of us.

Materialism is a goal that serves the natural body and self-alone interests as ends in themselves. In the words of St. Augustine, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee."

The prelude to profound inner peace in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to recognize our own internal wilderness and let God come to us in it, so
that our purpose for living is serving God's will, in order to be of use to our neighbor and embrace someone else's joy as our own.

Conquering Our Fears
Author Unknown

Read: 1 Corinthians 2

1 - When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
2 - For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 - I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.
4 - My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
5 - so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
6 - We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 - No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
8 - None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 - However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"
10 - but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
11 - For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 - We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13 - This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
14 - The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 - The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
16 - "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. --Psalm 56:3

The apostle Paul was candid with his readers in Corinth, admitting his fear and weakness, even to the point of trembling (1 Cor. 2:3). But he faced up to it, expressed his need for the Lord, and then relied on Him. He said that his speech and preaching were a "demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (v.4).

We may safely assume that Paul spent much time praying and depending on God while he was in this wicked city. Admitting that we are sometimes fearful isn't a sign of being out of fellowship with God or that something is wrong in our lives. To acknowledge that we become anxious about dying, about getting cancer, about losing our mind, or about our children getting in trouble is being honest about our feelings.

To overcome our fears, we must first acknowledge them. Then we must bring them to God and go forward in obedience.

That's the only way to conquer fear. --DJD

Press forward and fear not, though trials be near; The Lord is our refuge, whom then shall we fear? His staff is our comfort, our safeguard His rod; Then let us be steadfast and trust in our God. --Anon.

"A heart in every thought renewed and full of love divine, perfect and right and pure and good, a copy, Lord, of thine.

Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Jesus answered them and said,

My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

he that speaks of himself seeks his own glory :
but he that seeks his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

how true dear.

Madonna of the Evening Flowers
a poem by Amy Lowell



All day long I have been working,
Now I am tired.
I call:“Where are you?”
But there is only the oak tree rustling in the wind.
The house is very quiet,
The sun shines in on your books,
On your scissors and thimble just put down,
But you are not there.
Suddenly I am lonely:
Where are you?
I go about searching.

Then I see you,
Standing under a spire of pale blue larkspur,
With a basket of roses on your arm.
You are cool, like silver,
And you smile.
I think the Canterbury bells are playing little tunes.

You tell me that the peonies need spraying,
That the columbines have overrun all bounds,
That the pyrus japonica should be cut back and rounded.
You tell me these things.
But I look at you, heart of silver,
White heart-flame of polished silver,
Burning beneath the blue steeples of the larkspur,
And I long to kneel instantly at your feet,
While all about us peal the loud,
sweet Te Deums of the Canterbury bells.

Herbert J.C. Grierson, ed. (1886–1960). Metaphysical Lyrics & Poems of the 17th C. 1921.

Ignoto

81. A Dialogue betwixt GOD and the Soul


Soul. WHILST my Souls eye beheld no light
But what stream'd from thy gracious sight; To me the worlds greatest King
Seem'd but some little vulgar thing.

God. Whilest thou prov'dst pure; and that in thee I could glass al my Deity:
How glad did I from Heaven depart,
To find a Lodging in thy heart!

S. Now Fame and Greatness bear the sway,
('Tis they that hold my prisons Key:)
For whom my soul would dy, might shee
Leave them her Immortality.

G. I, and some few pure Souls conspire,
And burne both in a mutuall fire,
For whom I'ld dy once more, ere they
Should miss of Heavens eternal day.

S. But Lord! what if I turn againe,
And with an adamantine chain,
Lock me to thee? What if I chase
The world away to give thee place?

G. Then though these souls in whom I joy
Are Seraphins, Thou but a Toy,
A foolish Toy, yet once more I
Would with Thee live, and for thee die.

One of the most meaningful ways to shape a home and make it uniquely yours is to establish and
uphold family rituals. These are effective ways of building a shared history and nurturing family
relationships.

Thomas Kinkade

"You are the salt of the earth." Matthew 5:13 (NIV)



"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16 (NIV)

Do you know that salt is used in greater quantities and for more applications than any other mineral? It has more than 14,000 known uses! Every living creature requires salt for life and health.

Salt can soften hard water, remove impurities; preserve and cure foods; tan hides and it's even been used to seed clouds to produce rain.

and it makes a great high speed racing surface, aka the bonneville salt flats

Good evening dear.




It has been a lovely cool day here today.

"O Lord that lends me life,
lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!"

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

"To thine own self be true."

William Shakespeare

Good morning Rainbow and all who stop by today.

"How shall we rest in God? By giving ourselves wholly to him."

Jean Nicolas Grou
(1731-1803)

Friends

Their marriage was good.
Their dreams focused.
Their best friends lived barely
a wave away.
I can see them now, Dad in trousers,
tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a
housedress, lawn mower in one hand
and dish-towel in the other.
It was the time for fixing things. A curtain
rod, the kitchen radio, screen door,
the oven door, the hem in a dress.
Things we keep.

It was a way of life, and sometimes
it made me crazy. All that re-fixing,
eating, renewing. I wanted just once
to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence.
Throwing things away meant you
knew there'd always be more.
But then my mother died, and on
that clear summer's night, in the warmth
of the hospital room, I was struck with the
pain of learning that sometimes
there isn't any more.

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return.
So...
While we have it. ..
it's best we love it...
And care for it....
And fix it when it's broken.....
And heal it when it's sick.

This is true for
Marriage....
And old cars....
And children with bad report cards...
Dogs and cats with bad hips....
And aging parents....
And grandparents.
We keep them because they are worth it,

Because we are worth it.
Some things we keep.
Like a best friend that moved away
or a classmate we grew up with.
There are just some things that make
life important, like people we know
who are special....

And so, we keep them close!

Good Morning all of the coffeehouse.



A memorial page for this sad anniversary please take a moment.


http://mingle2.com/topic/show/164505




Also big loves to Britty & Wouldee



And don't forget to vote for Feralcatlady for President

gigglesnort

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/163928

Good afternoon, friends.

"In an insane world a sane man would be considered insane."

Spock