Prayer

There is no power like that of prevailing prayer – of Abraham pleading for

Sodom, Jacob wrestling in the stillness of the night, Moses standing in the

breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heartbroken with remorse

and grief, Jesus in sweat of blood. Such prayer prevails. It turns ordinary

mortals into men of power. It brings power. It brings fire. It brings rain.

It brings life. It brings God.

Samuel Chadwick

Prayer in its highest form of faith is that prayer which carries the whole

man as a sacrificial offering. Thus devoting the whole man himself, and

his all, to God in a definite, intelligent vow, never to be broken, in a

quenchless and impassioned desire for heaven.

E.M. Bounds (p498 TCW)

Success is certain when the Lord has promised it. Although you may have

pleaded month after month without evidence of answer, it is not possible

that the Lord should be deaf when His people are earnest in a matter which

concerns His glory. The prophet on the top of Carmel continued to wrestle

with God, and never for a moment gave way to a fear that he should be

non-suited in Jehovah's courts. Six times the servant returned, but on each

occasion no word was spoken but "Go again." We must not dream of

unbelief, but hold to our faith even to seventy times seven. Faith sends

expectant hope to look from Carmel's brow, and if nothing is beheld, she

sends again and again. So far from being crushed by repeated

disappointment, faith is animated to plead more fervently with her God.

She is humbled, but not abashed: her groans are deeper, and her sighings

more vehement, but she never relaxes her hold or stays her hand. It would

be more agreeable to flesh and blood to have a speedy answer, but

believing souls have learned to be submissive, and to find it good to wait

for as well as upon the Lord. Delayed answers often set the heart searching

itself, and so lead to contrition and spiritual reformation: deadly blows are

thus struck at our corruption, and the chambers of imagery are cleansed.

The great danger is lest men should faint, and miss the blessing. Reader,

do not fall into that sin, but continue in prayer and watching. At last the

little cloud was seen, the sure forerunner of torrents of rain, and even so

with you, the token for good shall surely be given, and you shall rise as a

prevailing prince to enjoy the mercy you have sought. Elijah was a man of

like passions with us: his power with God did not lie in his own merits. If

his believing prayer availed so much, why not yours? Plead the precious

blood with unceasing importunity, and it shall be with you according to

your desire.

Charles H. Spurgeon

He prays not at all who does not press his plea. Our praying needs to be

pressed and pursued with an energy that never tires, a persistency which

will not be denied, and a courage that never fails.

E.M. Bounds

Oh, to Long!

You have seen a dog after a long run; how he stands with opened mouth panting for life and breath. Oh, that we had desires after God and divine things strong enough to make us thus open our mouth and pant! We may never have seen a stag in extremis, but I dare say David had. He had seen it in the fierce hunt, when it longed to have its smoking sides in the water brooks and to drink long draughts, and he said, “As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.” 

Nothing puts such energy into prayer as intense anguish of desire. Desire comes out of a sense of want; and in proportion as the necessity is overwhelming, the fervency of the desire will be vehement. My brethren, we have not, because, although we ask, we use a kind of asking which is as though we asked not.

An old Puritan says, “He that prays to God without fervor asks to be denied.” There is a way of asking for a thing in which the person to whom the request is made finds it very easy to decline the request, but persons in dire necessity understand how to put the case, so that only a very hard-hearted person could say “no.” They know how to place their petition in such a way that the request wins, not merely because of the rightness of the petition, but also because of the very style in which it is put. We must learn how to pray with strong crying and tears, for there are mercies which cannot be gained by any other mode of supplicating. 
From a sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon entitled "Opening The Mouth."

That's Not My Job!!!

This is a paper my sister and I found in an old photo album at our Grandmother's house.

It is so funny and yet so thought provoking.
I am ashamed of how many times I have sidestepped a job reasoning that 'somebody' would do it, so why worry about it.

Every time I read this I feel challenged to not let that be me.

But I know that unless I depend on the Lord for strength I can do nothing! 

(Romans 7:18) (Psalms 16:2)

TIME

Time
is a choice to be made
Every moment of every day, 

A choice of what to do with it.  

What we do with our time
determines who and what we are.
What we do in our spare moments  

shows what matters most to us.
What are you doing with yours?

"This is the day the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24

"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity."
Henry Daivd Thoreau

The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day.
Henry Ward Beecher
"Time is free, but priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back."
Harvey MacKay

Take care in your minutes, and the hours will take care of themselves.
Lord Chesterfield

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time, which every day produces, and which most men throw away, but which nevertheless will make at the end of it no small deduction for the life of man.
Charles Caleb Colton

"Time is the scarcest resource of the manager; If it is not managed, nothing else can be managed.One cannot buy, rent or hire more time. The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. There is no price for it. Time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday's time is gone forever, and will never come back. Time is always in short supply. There is no substitute for time. Everything requires time. All work takes place in, and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable and necessary resource." Peter F. Druker

 "

"One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day might be his last."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

What do you want to get done? In what order of importance? Over what period of time? What is the time available? What is the best strategy for application of time to projects for the most effective results?
Ted W. Engstrom

If time is precious, no book that will not improve by repeated reading deserves to be read at all.
Thomas Carlyle


 

"The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words: I DID NOT HAVE TIME."
Franklin Field

Good, Better, Best,  

Never let it rest,
Until your GOOD is BETTER,
And your Better BEST.

I am reviewing and re-(re)writing my priority list today.
Want to join me?

Feminine Dress

 We apologize that it has been so long since our last post! Please, the next time you see us disappear, bury us in email reminders!
Today's topic is Feminine Dress: What it is, but today, we are going to give you the opinion of others through quotes! If you have something to add, or have more questions, feel free to drop us a note. Rebecca, Heather and I love to hear from you! (...As a side note, are there topics you would like us to cover?)

"One of the first evidences of a real lady, is that she should be modest. By modesty we mean that she shall not say, do, nor wear anything that would cause her to appear gaudy, ill-bred, or unchaste. There should be nothing about her to attract unfavorable attention, nothing in her dress or manner that would give a man an excuse for vulgar comment. When we dress contrary to the rule of modesty we give excuse for unwholesome thoughts in the mind of those who look upon us, and every girl who oversteps these bounds makes herself liable to misunderstanding and insult, though she may be innocent of any such intention."
 ~Margaret Hale



^"In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,
But, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works."
~ 1Timothy 2:9-10

 "It seems to be the fashion nowadays for a girl to behave as much like a man as possible. Well, I won't! I'll make the best of being a girl and be as nice a specimen as I can: sweet and modest, a dear, dainty thing with clothes smelling all sweet and violet-y, a soft voice, and pretty, womanly ways. Since I'm a girl, I prefer to be a real one!" 
~ Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee
To temper man: we had been brutes without you.
Angels are painted fair, to look like you:
There’s in you all that we believe of heaven,—
Amazing brightness, purity, and truth,
Eternal joy, and everlasting love.
~ Thomas Otway, Venice Preserved, Act i. Sc. 1.

"Why do women want to dress like men when they’re fortunate enough to be women? Why lose femininity, which is one of our greatest charms? We get more accomplished by being charming than we would be by flaunting." ~Tasha Tudor

"Modesty answers not the crude how of femininity, but the beautiful why."
~Wendy Shalit (A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue)

Fem’ninity is seen in her modesty,

Of manner and tongue as well as dress,

In her sensitiveness to propriety,

Not overly proud, or with looks obsessed
~ Godly Femininity

"The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood." 

~ Mary Mcleod Bethune

"A good woman is a wondrous creature, cleaving to the right and to the good under all change: lovely in youthful comeliness, lovely all her life long in comeliness of heart."

~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Life of Tennyson, Vol. I. 

“The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.”
~ Margaret D. Nadauld

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— ⁴ rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. ⁵ For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves"
~ 1 Peter 3: 3-5

 


I wonder.... are we, the young, Christian women of the 21st century fulfilling our role?  How are we to bring up the next generation if we do not do what we know is right in this area of modest dress and modest actions?
One does not need a husband to be a godly woman .