As We, Want's Cases Plead

Lord, where we err

 in our thinking, 

teaching, serving, 

seeking, worshipping, 

reveal it unto us!

Lord, wherever

 and in whatever circumstance

 we find ourselves today, 

you care for us!

Lord, a deeper fear 

and thus love for thee, 

work in us

Thou, Holiest of holies 

and Best of the best

***

Romans 8:17
And if we are children, then we are heirs: 

heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—

if indeed we suffer with Him, 

so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Philippians 1:29
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ 

not only to believe in Him,

 but also to suffer for Him,

James 1:2-3
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, 

when you encounter trials of many kinds, 

because you know that the testing of your faith

 develops perseverance.

Acts 5:41

So they departed from the presence of the council, 

rejoicing that they were counted worthy

 to suffer shame for His name.

A bud is but the waiting room

of the unfolded Flower...

A prayer is like a bud; it's bloom 

awaits its perfect hour

Last week my neighbor-tots eagerly bent over buds

While I reminded them; 'no picking!'

Yesterday they 'visited' me while I was working.

suddenly shrieks of delight were heard!

The buds had turned into flowers!

Oft we want answered prayer

Without full-yielded hearts

In our logic, oft we err

Where trust its test imparts

Oft we want finest fruits

Without Love's pruning rod

 To tear away at sinful roots/shoots

That choke the Word of God 

Oft we defend the cure

Without probing the cause

Until motive is wholly pure

Without self-serving flaws/clause

Oft we want faith's reward

Without faith's suffering

As witnesses for Christ, out-poured

Like a drink-offering 

Lord, show us where we err

As we, Want's cases plead

Teach us to trust as you prepare

Faith's fallow ground, for seed  

Janet Martin

Philippians 2:17
But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering

 on the sacrifice and service of your faith, 

I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

I Thank Thee, Lord, For Home, Sweet Home

Happy Victoria Day, Canada!

In Ontario it is finally warm and both people and nature 

Are 'leaping' with joy...

Recently I've been contemplating the beautiful blessings of Home

 since my friends moved to their first purchased home

 a week ago in another province(eager to put down roots on unrented soil)!

When I messaged her last Monday, in their travels to see how they were faring

she said all was going fine but they were very travel-weary,

and as I tried to cheer her on by reminding her every mile behind them

is a mile closer to home-sweet-home, I was struck with a picture,

of all who are travel-weary; how every mile behind us

 is a mile closer to Home/Heaven/Him!

John 14:1-4

“Let not your heart be troubled;

you believe in God, believe also in Me.

2In My Father’s house are many [a]mansions;

if it were not so, [b]I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

3And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and receive you to Myself;

that where I am, there you may be also.

4And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going,

and how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me.

***

It's Victoria Day weekend in Canada, a weekend where many of us

enjoying working around our homes and getting them summer-ready after winter!

A weekend of thankfulness and contentment as tulips pop...

...and birds in a rainbow of colour drop by!

Makes me want to put this song on constant replay...

Charley Pride & Dolly Parton God's Coloring Book

***

I thank Thee, Lord, for home, sweet home

A shelter from the gale

A port to which we gladly come

And from which dreamers sail

A hearth that kindles in our hearts

A hymn of joy profound

For favors only home imparts

Where loved ones gather round

Where pleasures are simple and sweet

Whatever they may be

Where earth and glimpse-of-Heaven meet

As we remember Thee  

Where daily toil and nightly rest

Unfold beneath its dome

Where moms and dads feel humbly blessed

For the place/grace we call Home 

Where childhood memories are made

As carefree years cartwheel

Through rooms where 'flowers' flare and fade

To frames, strangely surreal 

Where joy and grief mingle, where cares

Teach us to trust and pray

As the bud of Becoming bares

The bloom of day-to-day

Where we are ever Homeward bound

From the first breath we draw

Lord, until we are safe and sound

With Thee, fill us with awe

...as here and there, a missing face

An empty chair or three

Begins to endear more, the Place

Of home, sweet home with Thee

...but till then, may we by Thy Love

 Make home and family

 A precious, peaceful foretaste of

The Home that waits to be

I thank Thee, Lord, for home, sweet home

When life on earth is through

 The port to which each soul will  come

Who puts their trust in you

Janet Martin 

Some 'Forever-Home' Hymns...

Where the Soul Never Dies...

This World Is Not My Home (Lyrics)

O Think of the Home Over There - acapella hymn with lyrics

In the Sweet By and By-Redeemed Quartet 

 

In the Quietude of Awe...

Just as the body needs nourishment to thrive...

so too, the soul!

Ps.34:8

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Matt. 5:6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

Ps.31:19

How great is Your goodness,

Which You have stored up for those who fear You,

Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,

Before the sons of men!

Psalm 119:103

How sweet are Your words to my taste—

sweeter than honey in my mouth!

Jeremiah 15:16

Your words were found, and I ate them.

Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight.

For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

Ps.46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

Isaiah 30:15

For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said:

 “By repentance and rest you would be saved; 

your strength would lie in quiet confidence—

but you were not willing.”

***

We have within, a sacred rill from which our spirits draw

But it runs dry lest we are still for God to will and do

His good pleasure of restoring our souls to holy awe

So we can face life's roaring tolls, refreshed by heaven's dew

Be still where living bread is found and living water flows  

Take off your shoes where holy ground of earth and heaven meet 

Like Elijah, drink from the brook the Word of God bestows

In life's wildernesses, ah look! Here manna, honeysweet 

What profit this; to gain the world at the cost of the soul 

To haste and miss the Fount unfurled, where healing tides are spilled 

To discover the pure delight of faith cheered and made whole

As we hunger and thirst for righteousness, then and there filled 

Be still and know that He is God; then let His love renew

Our strength so we can run and not weary; walk and not faint

For unless we are still, how can God fill the rill with Dew

That nourishes the soul of man and empowers the saint 

On storm-tossed sweeps, dew cannot fall, but oh, when we are still

So still, we do not even call on Him with creature-cry

Then, in the quietude of awe showers of grace refill

The rill within, so we can draw and not find it run dry 

Janet Martin

Be Still, My Soul-Libera Boy's Choir

Thank-you Lord (For Those We Still Have)

Somehow in the course of conversation last week,

with my now 4 year old grandson something made him say, 

'but Gramma, you're not going to die!"

and I told him 'no, not until God says,  all the days I made for you

are done! then I will die.'

'ohhh, he replied, 'just like Lucy!' (My sister)

His comment caught me so off-guard I got choked up

as I said 'yes, just like Lucy. I still miss her so much.'

'Oh well, at least you still have Marlene!'

Grandson reminded me, and I smiled though my tears.

'Yes, and Carolyn and Cheryl!' (my other sisters) 

Out of the mouth of babes...

Aren't you thankful for all those

'we still have' as we mourn together and comfort each other;

Family, church family, neighbours and friends. 

(but, all this to say, no one ever takes the place fully

 of the loved one we dearly miss!

and no earthly comforter can quite take the place of  our Heavenly One)

Ps.147:3

He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.

Matt.5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

~Jesus

With Thy Holy Spirit, Lord

With the power of Thy Word

With the Armour of Thy sword

Comfort us, we pray

Through the fellowship of prayer

Through each others griefs we bear

Through dark valleys of despair

Comfort us today

Cheering sorrow with sweet peace 

With the joy of hope's increase

Till all shadows of death cease

In Thy Presence where

No more death will enter in

No more consequence of sin

No more tears or pain. amen

In Thy Presence there 

Let not sorrow paralyze

Faith from pressing to the Prize

To the home of no goodbyes

With Thee evermore

Guard the place where Longing smarts

Touch and heal our broken hearts

With comfort Thy love imparts

Till this life is o'er

Thank-you for those 'we still have'

Fellow-friends to help us brave

Life's sojourn-ey through the grave

To Thee, face to face

Thank-you for our hope in Thee

Throughout all eternity

Till love, without grief will be

Sorrow's resting place 

Janet Martin

1 Cor.15:19

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, 

we are of all people most to be pitied. 

2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,

 but on what is unseen. 

For what is seen is temporary,

 but what is unseen is eternal.

Of Seeming and Certain

First an update on the prayer requests HERE

Dad is being released from the hospital today!

and the family that moved to their new home

 made it safely to their destination yesterday evening!

Thank-you for your prayers!

Yesterday our youngest grandson turned four!

A little over a month ago our granddaughter turned 7!

in Jan. our oldest grandson turned 9!! Wh-a-at?!

Our children/grandchildren cannot begin to grasp how much they are loved;

by God, their parents and grandparents!

Just as we, all God's children cannot grasp how much we are loved by Him!

As my utmost prayer for my children continues, that they would choose God; 

to love, trust and obey Him, to treasure His Word and his people,

so too is my prayer for my grandchildren! 

I pray that in the twists and turns of life's pathway, 

in the fumbles and stumbles of learning, 

in the crushing blows that fell pride 

and in the disappointment of Things,

they discover over and over again, 

just like (hopefully) us oldies, Rom.11:33

'the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!'

3 John 4

 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children (and grandchildren)

are walking in the truth.

We need not fear; God sends the test, our allegiance to try

His is the hand that tips the nest and teaches faith to fly

His seeming cruelty is love; He takes to give again

His purpose works in us to prove His faithfulness. Amen

We need not doubt the baffling blade that breaks desolate land

When disappointment's shares invade, behold, there is God's Hand

He ploughs to plant an Eden-clime in plots of pain and grief  

To loosen grips on Things of Time that are, at best but brief 

We need not dread the Hand that tries the ties of mortal whim 

To see if perchance we may prize this old world more than Him

God's seeming cruelty is love; His higher thoughts and ways

If we believe, will prove enough to burst our hearts with praise 

We need not know the holy why of Time-framed seeming loss

The cocoon veils a butterfly! before the crown, the cross! 

Before the flower garden, oh, the breaking of the sod

The surrender of letting go, to know that He is God

To lean on Him in grateful prayer, to worship truthfully 

*Praise rends the chains of dark despair and sets our spirits free

To trust in God, heart, soul and mind, when we don't understand

He tips the nest so that we find the cradle of His Hand

God's seeming cruelty is love; look at the cross and see

Beyond the 'seeming hour of defeat', the victory 

Beyond the fallen tear, bowed head, when death the champion seems

Behold, where once the seed seemed dead, a glorious harvest gleams

Janet Martin

Oh, how painful God's ploughshares in our 'hard acres of the heart'!

Oh, how worth the harvest to let Him sow His seeds! 

But oh, how lifelong is our learning to let go;

and how lifelong is our wonder/worship when we do! 

To Mothers...(and Fathers and Sons and Daughters...)

Written for my mom for Mother's Day/Days!

(she is modeling such kind, patient and loving care to our dad

as he suffers some health challenges. She is teaching

her aging family what marriage vows look like faithful to the end,

with humility and gentleness, by the grace of God)

Thank-you for your continued prayers.

I've shared this song many times over the years

because I love it and it often ministers to my soul!

Keep your Eyes on Jesus - Louvin Brothers

When life's outlook could overwhelm

Love, and distract us from its Source

Remember who stands at Hope's helm;

The up-look keeps our bark on course

When duty's kind demands amass

Till the outlook our joy could dim

Think on the love none can surpass;

The up-look keeps our gaze on Him

When the outlook feels fraught with care

As tolls on hands and hearts increase

Remember He who hears our prayer

The up-look keeps our perfect peace

Janet Martin

Isa.26:3

You will keep him in perfect peace, 

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You

Matt.14:27

But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying,

 Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

A Hymn/Psalm/Poem of Consolation and Two Prayer Requests

Life; a thoroughfare of hurdles!

Where does our help come from?!!

Ps.121:1-2

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

  Jer.17:5-8

This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,

who draws strength from mere flesh

and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;

they will not see prosperity when it comes.

They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,

in a salt land where no one lives.

 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

 They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

and never fails to bear fruit.”

Please, if you read this pray for my parents;

Dad in hospital with UTI and quite restless and confused.

Pray he may have a calmer day today!

And pray for my mother to be strengthened physically,

mentally and spiritually during this strain.

Please also pray for my friends packing up today,

to move to another province;

 one of their children is sick today!

Please pray for speedy recovery and strength for everyone

as they pack everything that can possibly fit into a U-Haul.

Please pray as well, for safe travels tomorrow,

that God would go (tangibly) before them and

And part modern day Red Seas! 

***

Below is one of the hymns we (dad, mom and me) sang last night

in dad's hospital room. 

Singing calmed him when nothing else seemed to work.

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Let faith in God my fortress be

Invisible security

No height or depth of wealth transcends

 Goodness and mercy's dividends 

No summit of success compares

To hope in He who hears our prayers

No confidence comforts the soul

Save in the faith that makes us whole

No satisfying substitute

Can nourish like the Spirit's fruit

No other ear can hear hearts plead

And minister to urgent need 

No voice but his can part the sea

Of man's impossibility 

No thoughts and ways can comprehend

The blessings He delights to send 

No earthly joy can strengthen, save

The one who commands wind and wave 

Whose whisper calms the storm-tossed heart

With peace only He can impart 

Able to do exceedingly 

More than we can fathom or see

No cross can crush nor shadow dim

As we believe and trust in Him

Janet Martin 

For the family moving I am praying miracle over miracle

showered on them today and in the days ahead! 💓🙏

When in the Throes of Trouble's Woes

First the snow startled me,

 then it enchanted me...

before it melted in the kiss of the sun!

Life is like weather...

unpredictable and ever-changing!

Sometimes favourable and at other times not what we would choose!

Weather and circumstance are often beyond our control

but we are always in control of our response!

Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!

Today's devotion (shared below) is a timely reminder 

that hope is not fixed on something superficial

but on Someone eternal and omnipotently able!

Rom.4:18 NIV

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed 

and so became the father of many nations, 

just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

As much as we recognize it is not in the good weather/times, but in trying circumstances

 we prove the authenticity of Hope (esp. when it is against all hope)

as faith matures we realize we will not stand firm in trying times 

if faith is not 'proven steadfast'  in 'sunny' weather; weather in which

we may be tempted to lay our armour aside and let down our guard!!

***

When in harsh throes we face faith's foes with deliberate diligence

When we can see the enemy we wield faith's weapons of defense

When rivals rage then faith engages the whole armour of the Lord

His pow'r and might fits us to fight with shield of faith and Spirit's sword

To guard and gird us with God's Word; without which we are doomed to fail

For we know not, then, how we ought to pray in shadows of death's vale

But when the hour is like a bow'r of blossoms and the sun is warm

When breezes dance, then guarded stance is apt to grow lax in its form

And treasure worldly pleasure more than seeking the kingdom of God

When storms subside, beware of pride and feet that are not gospel-shod

For sin sets snares in hasty prayers and beds of roses, fit for kings 

Where faith would not enter our thought if we could see and know all things 

Trust in the Lord; His faithful Word, no matter what befalls, abides 

When in the throes of trouble's woes, remember this; His love provides

All that we need; He does not lead us into battle, unequipped 

His pow'r and might will help us fight when Self is of its tactics stripped 

Yielding control by faith made whole as we relinquish all but He

Whose High Command will help us stand, no matter what the charge may be 

Janet Martin

After we put on the armour detailed in 

Eph.6, verse 18 sums up our Christian combat in this;

...praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, 

being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—