Dear sweet reader, have you like me, had your inspired plans and dreams dashed. Well, our Good Lord appeals to us, not to lose heart, for He giveth and He taketh away and then He giveth back anew, with the fullness of Life, Love and Glory. Following are some gems I have gathered on my journey. I pray you might see a bit of your reflection, which is His reflection, in some of the facets of these jewels. I have mixed in a few thoughts of my own.At the turn of the last century, Adelaide Pollard was a toiling itinerant Bible teacher. She believed God wanted her in Africa as a missionary, but she was unable to raise funds to go. In an uncertain state of mind, she attended a prayer meeting, where she heard an elderly woman pray, “It’s all right, Lord. It doesn’t matter what You bring into our lives, just have Your own way with us.” At home that night, much encouraged, she wrote this inspired hymn.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
From early in my walk, I had no desire to follow the rising bright stars of Christendom. I speak of the lauded preachers and evangelists, that played to the largest of crowds. Something in me told me, these stars would burn out long before they reached the celestial heights of God's throne. Instead, I desired only to share a cup of of coffee with a hidden away one ..... even a lonely widow woman that had learned in her solitude the power and glories of prayer. Surely, it shall be these that seem as forgotten, who will rule and reign in the Kingdom come. May we seek His reward deferred and prefer, today's deliverance upon others.
Blessed is he whose faith is not offended,
When all around his way
The power of God is working out deliverance
For others day by day;
Though in some prison drear his own soul languish,
Till life itself be spent,
Yet still can trust his Father's love and purpose,
And rest therein content.
Blessed is he, who through long years of suffering,
Cut off from active toil,
Still shares by prayer and praise the work of others,
And thus "divides the spoil."
Blessed are thou, O child of God, who sufferest,
And canst not understand
The reason for thy pain, yet gladly leavest
Thy life in His blest Hand.
Yea, blessed art thou whose faith is "not offended"
By trials unexplained,
By mysteries unsolved, past understanding,
Until the goal is gained.
Freda Hanbury Allen
For who could ever explain the Love of God, only realized through ideals and hopes rescinded and suffering given in return. J Preston Eby comes, oh so close with this anointed poem. Might we realize the Cross of Christ is the very Tree of Life.
Yes, I was living to myself was dead:
Self with its hopes and dreams was all I had;
But soon the Lord fulfilled my prayer to know
The power of His cross ’twas death below.
I asked contrition He sent me pain;
For purity but anguish came again;
I asked I might be meek He broke my heart;
I asked I knew not what the better part.
I asked to know what death was to the world,
And quickly all my living hopes were spoiled;
I asked to be like Him His image bear
He placed me in a furnace, sitting there
Like one refining silver, till He see
The reflex of His image bright in me.
I asked that I the daily cross might bear,
It lacerated me the wounds I wear;
I blindly prayed, not knowing how, nor what,
He took me at my word it mattered not.
Then I began to shrink from following near,
And well-nigh prayed Him to depart through fear.
To suffer was not pleasing to the flesh,
I feared to pray lest suffering come afresh;
But I had gone too far on I must go
The virtues of His cross had pierced me through.
In me His promise now fulfilled must be
Suffer with me, and you will reign with me!
Ah, I had only heard of love but now
I feel it, Oh! I feel its living glow.
He fastened on me such a look of love,
Withering to self tender, all words above;
Follow I must, whatever may betide;
I love the cross I shelter in His side!
Eby
Surely, as He is so are we in this world. And as we are so is He in this world. His wounds are ours and ours His. So identified we are with our Saviour His shadow becomes His very being. We once followed, walking behind Him but now we walk as One. As a follower of Christ we once walked where He was, now we walk where He is.
Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot or side or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land.
I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star.
Hast thou no scar? Hast thou not wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers spent.
Leaned me against the tree to die and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed me I swooned.
Hast thou no wound? No wound, no scar.
Yes, as the Master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me.
But thine are whole. Can he have followed far
Who has no wound or no scar?
Eby
My brother, my sister, from deep within my oft broken heart, I believe, somehow, someway, many of our dashed dreams, that seemed so surely given of Him, shall be realized in another time and another place. Wouldn't that be Heaven on Earth?
“God’s purposes are so vast and glorious, beyond all guessing now, that when they are achieved and consummated, all our sufferings and sorrows of today, even the agonies that nearly break our faith, the disasters that well nigh overwhelm us, shall, seen from that fair country where God’s age long dreams come true, bulk as little as bulk now the pieces of a broken toy upon a nursery floor, over which, thinking that all our little world was in ruins, we cried ourselves to sleep.”
Dr. Leslie Weatherhead (a Christian Universalist)
We never ask for suffering, however, we know it cannot be avoided. We eventually learn for sake of the Gospel and the increase of the Kingdom suffering can be embraced.
These promises below are yea and amen for the Kingdom has come and will continue to come until the last man knows no death, nor pain nor sorrow. Your children, my children and their children's children shall all follow in His footsteps and our footsteps until we be One in Love.
"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation..." Hebrews 5:8-9
"Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" Luke 24:26
"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." Hebrews 2:10
"Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a man has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you." John 16:20-22
"Those who are victorious will come from Mount Zion to rule Esau's mountain. The kingdom will belong to the LORD." Obediah 1:21
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.'" Revelation 21:3-4
Saint of God, should your plans or dreams have been thwarted, or you feel broken and discouraged today, I pray this message brought you some solace and hope.
John
