This I Know

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.

Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.

Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

- Anna B. Warner, 1860, "Jesus Loves Me"

Jesus loves me, this I know. He does love. He has loved. He always will, for longer than always, for eternity.
Christ's love for me, imperfect and riddled with scars from sin, should never cease to amaze me. Yet, sometimes it does. Sometimes Christ's love seems as expected, ordinary and commonplace as having milk in the refrigerator. But it isn't. It is a miracle.
The love of God is what salvation hinges on.
It is unmerited.
Full of grace.
Freely bestowed.
Abundant and overflowing, overwhelming.
Never ceasing, even when I turn away.

Jesus loves me, this I know ...

Grandma Jacobsen's Cookies

1 ½ cups Sugar

1 ½ cups Shortening (melted) use white Crisco (do NOT substitute oil)

½ cup Molasses (black strap)

2 Eggs

4 cups Flour

4 tsp Baking Soda

½ tsp Cloves

1 tsp Ginger

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

Melt shortening (Crisco) and add molasses and sugar. Cool – then add eggs.

Sift spices, soda, and salt in with flour and mix thoroughly.

Combine flour and shortening mixtures.

Roll in balls and dip in sugar before placing on baking sheet.

Bake 12-15 minutes at 375.

Bake less time if you like them chewy.

An October Birthday

Yesterday was Daniel's birthday! He turned 23.
We celebrated with a family dinner and cake, with presents, of course. :)

Rivers

At last they turned into their bunks in the cart; and Toad, kicking out his legs, sleepily said, "Well, good night you fellows! This is the real life for a gentleman! Talk about your old river!" "I don't talk about my river," replied the patient Rat. "You know I don't, Toad. But I think about it," he added ... in a lower tone. "I think about it - all the time!"
- The Wind In The Willows, chp 2 "The Open Road", by Kenneth Grahame

I may not talk about the things that are on my heart, but I think about them. Oh, I think about them!

Just because you may not hear about it does not mean that I do not care. I probably care more than you ever dreamed or realized. Remember, the surface of the river may appear to be smooth and still, but underneath there are strong and powerful currents.

Learning - to trust and obey

2007-10-22 fall leaf, silver maple, originally uploaded by Lizi Beth.

 When we walk with the Lord 
 in the light of his word, 
 what a glory he sheds on our way! 
 While we do his good will, 
 he abides with us still, 
 and with all who will trust and obey. 

 Not a burden we bear, 
 not a sorrow we share, 
 but our toil he doth richly repay; 
 not a grief or a loss, 
 not a frown or a cross, 
 but is blest if we trust and obey. 
 
 But we never can prove 
 the delights of his love 
 until all on the altar we lay; 
 for the favor he shows, 
 for the joy he bestows, 
 are for them who will trust and obey. 
 
 Then in fellowship sweet 
 we will sit at his feet, 
 or we'll walk by his side in the way; 
 what he says we will do, 
 where he sends we will go; 
 never fear, only trust and obey. 
 
 Trust and obey, for there's no other way 
 to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

-John H. Sammis (1846-1919), "Trust and Obey"

I have been learning - and re-learning - to "trust and obey" recently. Learning through tears, through pain, through joy and laughter, and everything in between. I used to sing this song rather glibly, hardly paying attention to the lyrics I was singing. But I heard it again the other night, and pondered it.
Trust.
Obey.
All on the altar we lay.
Trust.
Obey.
I desperately want to see my plans happen, or at least solidified. But each time I try to finalize a certain project, it gets foiled. This project is very dear to my heart, and I have shed many tears over it. Finally, I gave it to Him. Finally, I relinquished my control and trusted.
What will happen? I do not know. But I am learning to trust and obey. Trusting when there seems no hope seems foolish. But I am learning.

Subtracting and Adding

Know therefore that the LORD your GOD, He is GOD, the faithful God, Who keeps His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.

-Deuteronomy 7:9

Give to the wind your fear
Hope and be undismayed
God hears your sighs and counts your tears
God will lift up, God will lift up, lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
Lift up your head
Leave to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command
Then shall we wandering on His way
Know how wise and how strong
How wise and how strong
How strong is His hand
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
Lift up your head
Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears the way
Wait because in His time, so shall this night
Soon end in joy, soon end in joy
Soon end in joy, soon end in joy
Soon end in joy, soon end in joy
God will lift up your head
(Soon end in joy)
God will lift up your head
(Soon end in joy)
-"god will lift up your head", by jars of clay

Sometimes it seems as if God is only ever taking away, never blessing. Those times are when you are overwhelmed by sorrow, and cannot see His hand. But He is there, He does see your tears, and He will come through. He always takes away before He gives. There must be a need before He can fill it.

Sunday He took a friend Home.
I went to that man's funeral today. And grieved. Grieved for the man's wife, his children, his grandchildren. Grieved for all the hundreds of people who had lost a dear friend. That included me.
God will lift up your head.
Yes.
I know.
I know.
But I still grieve.
It seems as if this year has been one of extreme emotion, swinging from joy to sorrow to joy and back to sorrow again.
God has been subtracting.
I am ready for Him to add.
Maybe He already is.

In the meantime, I will trust.
He has hitherto been faithful, and I know that He will continue to be so.
Even though my eyes are blinded by tears and I can hardly see my way, I will trust Him.

For such is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will guide us until death.

-Psalm 48:14
yet even death cannot part us from Him or His love (Romans 8:38-39).

So I trust.

Autumn

The month of carnival of all the year,
When Nature lets the wild earth go its way,
And spend whole seasons on a single day.
The spring-time holds her white and purple dear;
October, lavish, flaunts them far and near;
The summer charily her reds doth lay
Like jewels on her costliest array;
October, scornful, burns them on a bier.
The winter hoards his pearls of frost in sign
Of kingdom: whiter pearls than winter knew,
Or empress wore, in Egypt's ancient line,
October, feasting 'neath her dome of blue,
Drinks at a single draught, slow filtered through
Sunshiny air, as in a tingling wine!

Helen Hunt Jackson

The Way I See It #273

All children need a laptop.

Reading

Not a computer, but a human laptop.
Moms, dads, grannies and grandpas, aunts, uncles - someone to hold them, read to them, teach them.
Loved ones who will embrace them and pass on the experience, rituals and knowledge of a hundred previous generations.
Loved ones who will pass to the next generation their expectation of them, their hopes, and their dreams.
- General Colin L. Powell
Founder of America's Promise - The Alliance for Youth

A Bit Of Time Together (away from home)

Lake Tahoe Vacation

Daniel, Anna, Leitha (a friend), and I went up to Lake Tahoe on Friday. We met the rest of the family at a friend's cabin, and spent two very wonderful days with them. It was a short break from the normal routine of work, school, ministry, work, school, ..................
I only wish it had been longer!

Sisters @ Tahoe

Twirling

Anna, Twirling


I am convinced that there is something unique to girls that causes them to long to be beautiful. They dress up when they they are little (and when they are grown) and want to know "how they look".

Little girls want others to appreciate the effort that they have gone through to "be pretty". They need you to notice their daisy crown and the washable marker on their fingernails. Even if they are prancing around in shoes that are too big, an outfit that doesn't match, and have grass in their hair from a quick tumble, little girls need you to look at them with wonder. They need to be the beautiful princess, need to know that there is a prince somewhere who sees their beauty and will fight to protect it.

Little girls are precious and precocious things. They need to be taken seriously and treated gently. Telling her she is beautiful makes her day. Asking her out on a "date" makes her week. And if you want her to open her heart to you? Open your heart to her.

And they twirl (remember Kathleen Kelly in You've Got Mail?). There is something very feminine and joyful about twirling. Maybe it has to do with wearing a full and swishy skirt, or the way it makes you feel as if you are a dancing princess, and a beautiful one at that. Maybe it is just pure joy. But whatever it is, every little girl has done it, and any truthful woman will admit to twirling occasionally herself.
How do I know? Because I was a little girl not too long ago, and yes, I still twirl.



Dancing Slippers

an evening by the lake

psalm 139

Lord you read my very heart
You who know the least thing
You who see me from afar
Sleeping or arising
Lord before me and behind
Infinite and ageless
Such a knowledge is too high
I cannot attain it

If to heaven I would fly
You would be beside me
If in Sheol I would lie
Even there You'd find me
If I fled on morning wings
Far beyond the gray sea
Even there Your hand would lead
Your right hand would guide me

In the secret of the womb
I was formed and molded
By Your skillful hand alone
Wonderfully woven
You have numbered all my days
Long before You gave them
In the pages of Your book
They have all been written

High and wondrous are Your thoughts
Vast beyond all telling
If I count them they grow more
I can never grasp them
Search me God and know my heart
Let evil never find me
Lead me on Your righteous path
Sure and everlasting

-"Psalm 139", by Fernando Ortega

More Than Gold

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
-Psalm 19:9-10

More desirable than gold ...
Think about it.
What have people done in their pursuit of gold?
They have changed their careers, their lifestyles. They have become fanatics, only caring about the "color" that might be in the stream, the mountain, or under their feet.
Prospectors left their wives and families for years at time - sometimes indefinitely - all in pursuit of gold. Many died before they were able to return home.
Men have panned rivers, monitored away entire mountains, dug miles of tunnels, and spent the best years of their lives in their search for that precious metal.

People have done stupid stunts and endured mind numbing monotony.
They have learned patience and acted rashly.
They have gone to extremes.

Gold seems to have the ability to draw people after it. It ignites a passion in them, and they lust after it. Gold occupies all of their thoughts, their dreams. A person with "gold fever" will not let anything stand in their way in their pursuit of it.

Does any of their passion, their desire, characterize the way I follow after God and His words and ways?

Something to ponder.

A Lazy, Rainy Day

Daniel and Anna and I are going up to Pilot Lake for the weekend.
So I made some pies to take with us: a pumpkin, a banana cream, and two apple (with lattice tops).

It snowed 8-10" there last night. Enough to completely change the prospective schedule!

Today I have been doing laundry and getting caught up on things around the house.
Right now I am listening to the rain through the open window. It is 64 degrees outside, with intermittent showers. When we are between showers, the sky is a brilliant blue, and all the colors of the trees are extremely vivid. I found out that the pears are almost ripe, and a few early ones had fallen. When we get back we will have pears for breakfast!

Wonder ... in everything

P4230013i, originally uploaded by Lizi Beth.


"Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame.
I asked for wonder,
and He gave it to me."
- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

time is marching on ...

and mid-terms are coming up, the leaves are starting to fall, ....... which means Thanksgiving, and then Christmas (!) will be here soon! I have eight weeks of school under my belt, which means that there are only ten left, which means that I am almost halfway done.