Thy Will Be Done or To My Almost-Disillusionment

Isa.65:24

“It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer;

And while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Sometimes circumstances come into our lives that leave us/me

 feeling disillusioned and disappointed

 because it seems like God did not keep His Promise to hear our cry and answer...

Ps.34:17

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, 

And delivers them out of all their troubles.

Yet, how often am I guilty of ignoring His cry/command to me?

How wholly, in view of God’s mercy, do I offer my body as a living sacrifice, 

holy and pleasing to God—as my true and proper worship?' (Rom.12:1) 

How utterly am I willing to give Him my friendship in return for His;

 'You are My friend(s) if you do whatever I command you.'

 John 15:14

Do I take Peter's exhortations as seriously and devotedly as I should?

'therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers'. 1. Pet.4:7

or am I surprised at the fiery trial that tries us as if it were a strange thing? v.12

Do I truly rejoice to partake of His sufferings? v.13

Do I approach God with a sense of entitlement

 or with Christ-seeking humility?

Do I find extra excuses to spend extra time 

in precious fellowship with Him in prayer

or do I stumble through a kind of obligatory rote, 

then dash away to duties etc? check

Do I consider it pure joy?!!!  when I encounter trials of many kinds...

so I may be mature and complete, not lacking anything?

James 1:2-4

'Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, 

3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

  4Allow perseverance to finish its work, 

so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.'

Do I revere the call to pursue peace and holiness?

 Heb.12:8---

Am I yielded (oh Lord, help me) to 'Endure suffering as discipline;

(because) God is treating me as daughter?

'For what son/daughter is not disciplined by his father?

( or do I prefer 'undisciplined ease' of illegitimate children?)

*8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else,

then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

9Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them.

Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?'

Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, 

but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

  11No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace 

to those who have been trained by it...

...Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, 

without which no one will see the Lord. 

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God,

 and that no root of bitternessf springs up to cause trouble and defile many. 

See to it that no one is sexually immoral, 

or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.

  17For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing,

 he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, 

though he sought the blessing with tears...

Do I seek the blessing before repenting?

Do I dare to rail at Mount Zion?? (Heb.12:22)

or do I 'See to it that I do not refuse Him who speaks?' (v.25)

'Thy will be done'

Dear Lord, Thy hand, oh let me not despise

Thy love delights to wean me from this world

Where lust of flesh and eye, and pride of life

Lures from the path of righteousness unfurled

Lord, it seems we are easily seduced

By what sight sees rather than what/Who faith knows

How dumbly human nature is amused

By logic, that soon logic overthrows 

Faith's substance of things hoped for, still unseen

Believes, while You refine the heart's desire

Regardless of how vile the trial, or mean

Devotion steps into the line of fire 

Returning us to *Lystra once again

To Lystra?!! where foes sought our very lives

Oh Lord, to prove the power You sustain

'Only the one who walks by faith survives'

'Thy will be done' Lord, purify my plea

And let me trust though disciplines increase

Lest there be any wicked way in me (Ps.139:24)

That lures me from Thy righteousness and peace 

Janet Martin

Acts 14:19-22

*Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; 

and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul 

and dragged him out of the city, (Lystra) supposing him to be dead.

 20 However, when the disciples gathered around him,

 he rose up and went into the city. 

And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, 

they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 

22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, 

exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, 

“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

The Ink of (February) Poetry

I LOVE the shadow-art of February!

Blue sketches on white sweeps...

Ps.143:5

I meditate on all Your works;
I [b]muse on the work of Your hands.

 

The ink of poetry runs blue where February’s shadows scrawl

A minimalist’s sketch run through with whispers of a madrigal

The brunt of February days is something of an unsung gift

Its spartan hues seduce our gaze to trace each hill, rill, dell and drift

Evoking, somewhere deep within, a serenade that broods and soars

In rushing ebbs and flows akin to breakers felled on far-off shores

The ink of poetry runs wild in snowflake’s finest mustering

Biting the cheek of Summer’s Child with Old Man Winter’s blustering

While gilding nature’s crook and nook with glitter that melts to the touch

Thus, we must be content to look and worship God who authors such

Bountiful beauty for the muse, admonishing awe’s vagaries

For what is man that He should choose us to be beneficiaries

…where ink of phantom poetry runs boundless as galactic sweeps

And tickles the periphery of unplumbed, oceanic deeps

And fills thought’s quill with lyrical longings ink cannot satisfy

Where syllable on syllable treads the holy ground of reply

To four-season astonishment; each moment primed with beckoning

Because He who allots its bent is beyond mortal reckoning

The ink of poetry runs rife as February’s shadow-art

The laws of nature, love and life wreak havoc with the poet’s heart

The weight of would-be poetry presses the part that laughs and weeps

With endless possibility where poem upon poem sleeps

Till the thrill of blue shadow-scrawl on February’s afternoon

Wakens words to a madrigal that only poem-ink can tune

Janet Martin

In The Matter of Believing (a Battle Cry)

Mark 9:24

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears,

 “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Help My Unbelief (Demo Version) – Lyric Video | For the Kingdom

It is not hard to believe in things we see with our eyes

and understand with our thoughts,

but oh, when we cannot begin to fathom the 'why'

of a certain trial/tragedy, oh how then we must choose faith

and echo that age-old plea 

 “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Lord, in the matter of believing, help me battle unbelief

Pray, let faith’s lifetime-in-achieving cheer love’s groans of bitter grief

And in the matter of perfecting that which Sight cannot defend

Lord, bid me covet Thy directing to be faithful to the end

Lord, in the matter of surrender, when love is a Wrecking Ball

Crashing through hope-and-dreamland’s splendour for the sake of Higher Call

O, pray as You bear tender vigil over Thy flock day and night

That you behold a humbler people walking by faith and not sight

Lord, in the matter of protection, let faith’s shield be free of chinks

Gleaming with the holy reflection of Your truth; not what man thinks

For, in the matter of Arrival to, nay through the earthly grave

Pray we prepare for Soul survival by Thy grace, mighty to save

Lord, in the matter of Forever, impress on me Time’s brief sway

For soon death’s sleight of hand will sever the silver cord of Today

And the soul’s world-weary achieving to fight faith’s good fight will end

Thus, in the matter of believing, help mine unbelief. Amen.

Janet Martin

Here's My Heart by David Crowder with lyrics

Love's Favour or Sunrise Symphony

Watching the morning break was like having a front row seat at a

Second-to-none free-for-all Symphony 

This was a performance like never before

and never will be again, as is each daybreak!

Ps.139:17-18

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;

When I awake, I am still with You.

Blush-brushed beauty, ushers duty to Time's kindly-kindled Wick

Heaven trembles with ensembles, soon cut to progression's Quick

Mercy quivers, love delivers That which only God supplies

Age-old token crowns the broken with glimpses of paradise

Crowns the rubble of Time’s trouble with covenantal embrace

Seals the treasure of His pleasure with His signature of grace

Like a chorus, gold and glorious from a welkin wellspring borne

While the Teacher cheers the creature with love’s favour of fresh morn

The Creator awes spectators like no other god can do

Peals of wonder humbly thunder in the likes of me and you

Janet Martin

Holy, Holy, Holy

February; A Five-star Feast

Happy, happy February!

Crisp and cold? Yes!!

Gorgeous?? speechless!!

February; a five-star feast of beauty to behold

A crystal, coral-colored eastward morning mercy-mold...

A sheet of silver starlight flung in seamless opulence...

A strand-on-strand of diamonds, strung on every limb and fence...

A gilded berry-brooch, gorgeous, on Mother Nature’s shawl

And pendants, exquisitely forged, and free for one and all...

February; a five-star feast of beauty to behold

A crystal, coral-colored eastward morning mercy-mold

A sheet of silver starlight flung in seamless opulence

A strand-on-strand of diamonds, strung on every limb and fence

A gilded berry-brooch, gorgeous, on Mother Nature’s shawl

And pendants, exquisitely forged, and free for one and all

February; an everywhere-we-look-a-masterpiece

A beckoning to stop and stare till awestruck, we release 

A grinning, giddy gratitude as praise and pleasure swell

In the unbroken solitude of frost-filigreed dell

A holy, humble hunger paired with happiness complete

Because the bread of wonder is always so fresh and sweet

February; a hat and mitten blessing in disguise

Where hope purrs like a kitten as Day lengthens ere it dies

And Something bids us linger in Time’s brusque, blue-shadow sting

Of Shortest-month Harbinger to the month that brings us spring

A kind of unsung hero then, this chill-us-to-the-bone

Yet thrills us with hale, hardy yen, somehow second to none

While we count down the hours to hues certain to suggest

A garden full of flowers ensuing long winter’s rest

And brook-song, gaily gushing between banks, pungent and green

And sunshine’s subtle shushing of ranks spring is bound to wean

So, though it is still very freezing, we begin to sing

Because February is easing us closer to spring

Janet Martin

February; an everywhere-we-look-a-masterpiece

A beckoning to stop and stare till awestruck, we release 

A grinning, giddy gratitude as praise and pleasure swell

In the unbroken solitude of frost-filigreed dell...

And Something bids us linger in Time’s brusque, blue-shadow sting...

Love Is Not All Sugar Donuts...

Today's post touches on children young and old,

on sweet treats, on two-part promises

and includes a sweet-treat recipe!

Children!

Beautiful, busy, eager, teachable, impressionable

most precious of all children!! 

On Friday, because it was the last official childcare day

for my 'Friday boys' we made 'tim-bits'/tea-balls.

(a recipe from my childhood)

see end of post for recipe

(for the sake of privacy I cropped the best part

of the cuteness, but hopefully you get the idea 💓

There are very few complaints from any of us, when our mouths are filled

 with warm sugary loving...

However, love isn't always warm and sugary, is it?!!

And when Miss Janet said , 'no more donut balls for now'

 there were tears of disappointment.

A child has not yet gained the insight or experience to know what is best for them, 

and sometimes listening/accepting/obeying daddy and mommy's decisions, 

rather than childish demands induces tantrums.

Eventually as the child grows/matures they (hopefully) 

begin to appreciate and trust their parent's wisdom. 

The happiest child is the child who has learned, like it or not,

 to listen to/trust mommy and daddy.

What a kind favour parents bestow on their children

as they gently and firmly leave no doubt as to who is in charge!

So too, our Heavenly Abba/Daddy knows what is best for us, 

and it is also crucial that we, his children, 

learn to trust Him and obey His commands. 

The promises God gives us to take refuge, comfort and peace in

 often requires something on our part as well as His!

Below are but a few of His great and precious

 (2 part) promises !

2 Pet.1:3-4

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, 

through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 

4by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, 

that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, 

having escaped the [c]corruption that is in the world through lust.

Matt.18:3

“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children,

you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

 John 15:7 

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, 

you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Heb.10:36 

You need to persevere, 

so that after you have done the will of God,

you will receive what He has promised.

Ps.37:4 

Delight yourself in the LORD; 

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Prov.3.5&6 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart 

and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to him,

 and he will make your paths straight.[a]

Ps.145:18-19 

The LORD is near to all who call on Him, 

to all who call out to Him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him;

 He hears their cry and saves them.

John 14:23 

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. 

My Father will love him, and We will come to him 

and make Our home with him.

Isaiah 1:19

If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.

Isaiah 48:18

If only you had paid attention to My commandments, 

your peace would have been like a river, 

and your righteousness like waves of the sea.

Psalm 119:2

Blessed are those who 

keep His testimonies 

and seek Him with all their heart.

How often we see parallels between earthly and Heavenly parenting!

Prov.3:11-12 

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,

Nor detest His correction;

12For whom the Lord loves He corrects,

Just as a father the son in whom he delights.

Neh.1:5

Then I said: “LORD, the God of heaven,

 the great and awesome God, 

who keeps his covenant of love 

with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Psalm 103:17-18
But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the LORD 

extends to those who fear Him, 

and His righteousness to their children’s children— 

 to those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, 

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Oh, how often I am prone to want God to do His part

while unwilling to do mine;

to repent, trust, obey, surrender, sacrifice, yield, wait,

These words conflict with the bent of human nature...

Human nature prefers the 'sugar donuts' of life!

Love is not all 'sugar donuts'

Inducing sweet smiles and cheers

Sometimes love is 'thou shalt have nots'

Resulting in sobbing tears

Love is not all beds of roses

Or a smorgasbord of treats

The One who innately knows us

Mingles delights with defeats

Lest we becomes proud and greedy

Centered on self-pleasing plan

Love reminds us we are needy

Of God first, then fellowman

Because love is more than licking

Frosting-coated mixing bowls

Love is learning to stop kicking

When parental love controls

Because love is tears and laughter

Holding close and letting go

Trusting the blade of the Grafter

When Want's 'yes' is met with 'no'

Love is not always soft cuddles

Love oft suffers long and hard

Until self-will melts in puddles

Pliable and battle-scarred

Love is bearing, caring, sharing

From the greatest to the least

Celebrating while preparing

Someone else's five-star feast

Love is patient in the process

Love is both race and reward

Not all thorns are crowned with roses

Not all losses are restored

...while love, like a life-long 'college'

Winnows wanton, worthless boast

As we grow in grace and knowledge

Of the One who loves us most

Love is not all songs and dancing

Love bears both bitter and sweet

While learning the fine romancing

Of washing each other's feet

Janet Martin

Tea Balls

(nice to mix the night before if you think of it)

With mixer beat well 2 eggs and 1 cup br. sugar

Then add: 1 cup butter milk or sour milk

Beat well then STIR in 1 cup heavy cream

and 1/2 tsp. orange flav. or zest of 1/2 an orange.

Mix dry ingred. and stir in with wooden spoon or gently whisk

till flour disappears.

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 and 1/2 cups flour

Cover. Let stand a few hours or overnight.

Heat frying oil to approx. 350F.

drop batter by teaspoon full in hot oil.

Test one to see if it is cooked in the center;

if it is continue dropping, turning, lifting, draining

till batter is used up. yield: 4 doz.

Cool and toss in a mix of white and icing sugar,

cinnamon sugar or glaze.

The Most Important Things in Life...

Heb.10:35-36 (BSB)

So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.

 36You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, 

you will receive what He has promised.

Doesn't each part/phrase of the above verses

give great truths and conditions to ponder and prize

as we persevere?!!

This hawk has made life a misery for the little birds this winter,

but it is hungry too,

and only doing what it must to survive

though it is heartbreaking to watch!

It is heartbreaking to watch suffering and feel helpless to alleviate it

because we cannot (thank God!) do what only He can

through the Comforter/Helper He has given, to all who believe

and receive the Holy Spirit.

John 14:15-18

If you love Me, [d]keep My commandments.

 16And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another [e]Helper,

 that He may abide with you forever— 

17the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,

 because it neither sees Him nor knows Him;

 but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 

18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

The most important things in life 

Are ministered where no one sees

But He who runs the heavens rife

With ineffable majesties

The Maker, Ruler, Keeper of

Heaven and earth is good and kind

His patient, everlasting love

Enough, if Want is thus inclined 

...to seek life's most important things

From God's momentous smorgasbord

Of invisible offerings

Veiling recompense of reward

We choose either seen or Unseen

Faith boasts in what it cannot see

In spite of the dark glass between

Man's questions and God's clarity 

As sure as the spark upward flies

We are born to sorrow and pain

Where what we understand God tries

With reasons no one can explain

God cares for creatures great and small

Such knowledge is too wonderful

Behold, a sparrow cannot fall

Outside love's kind peripheral 

While goodness and mercy run rife

-est through broken hearts and dreams, for

The most important things in life

Teach us to trust and love God more

So, as we hope, pray, dream and plan

Lord, help us learn through what life brings

To love You first, then fellowman;

These are life's most important things

Janet Martin

Only Trust Him

The Giver of Today Knows All

Ps.31:14-15

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;

I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in Your hand;

Matt.28:20

('lo, I am with you always,')

Whatever may befall

Where morning meets its mark

The Giver of Today knows all

His Light pierces the dark

Whatever may befall

Where morning meets its mark

The Giver of Today knows all

His Light pierces the dark

And grants sufficient grace

Whether we joy or grieve

He IS with us in all we face

As we trust and believe

And victoriously cope

Because each day we live

Is anchored in the blessed hope

That Christ alone can give

Then, do not fail/fear to call

On He who knows our need

The Giver of Today knows all

And He will intercede

Janet Martin

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

12teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,

we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

13looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing

of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us

from every lawless deed and purify for Himself

His own special people, zealous for good works.