"Strength of my heart, I need not fail

Not mine to fear, but to obey;

With such a Leader, who could quail?

Thou art as Thou wert yesterday.

Strength of my heart, I rest in Thee,

Fulfill Thy purposes through me!"

-Amy Carmichael

Reading "War of Words"

I'm currently reading the excellent book War of Words - Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles, by Paul David Tripp. I keep on being amazed at the things I'm learning about the words I say. Here are some excerpts that I wrote in my notebook.

"often our words reveal an attempt to control things for our own good. We are moved by a personal sense of what we want or what we think would be good, and so we speak in a way that guarantees we will get it. We defend, accuse, inflict guilt, manipulate, rationalize, argue, cajole, beg, plead, or threaten all for the purpose of controlling a person or situation. Sometimes we do this out of fear. It really does feel as if our lives are spinning out of control. It does seem as if the people around us are standing in the way of what is best. It seems right to take control. If we don't, then what will happen? But fear-driven talk forgets one of the post precious promises of the gospel: that Christ right now, at this moment, is ruling all things for our particular benefit as his children.
...our words often reveal that we are not so much trusting in the Lord as trying to be
Him."

"Our words are one of the ways we seek to gain, maintain and keep what is realliy important to us, what we really want and what we are living for."

wow.

"Only when I submit to the rule of God, who has a perfect plan and is in complete control, will I begin to live and speak as he has purposed."

I hope others find these things encouraging and inspiring. May the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be pleasing in God's sight.

I like the picturesque progression of this poem by Charles Spurgeon

All my soul was dry and dead
Till I learned that Jesus bled -
Bled and suffered in my place,
Bearing sin in matchless grace.

Then a drop of heavenly love
Fell upon me from above,
And by secret mystic art
Reached the center of my heart.

Glad the story I recount,
How that drop became a fount,
Bubbling up a living well,
Made my heart begin to swell.

All within my soul was praise,
Praise increasing all my days;
Praise which could not silent be,
Floods were struggling to be free.

More and more the waters grew,
Open wide the floodgates flew,
Leaping forth in streams of song
Flowed my happy life along.

Lo, a river clear and sweet
Laved my glad, obedient feet!
Soon it rose up to my knees,
And I praised and prayed ith ease.

Now my soul in praises swims,
Bathes in songs and psalms and hymns;
Plunges down into the deeps,
All her powers in worship steeps.

Hallelujah! Oh my Lord,
Torrents from my heart are poured!
I am carried clean away,
Praising, praising all the day.

In an ocean of delight,
Praising God with all my might,
Self is drowned. So let it be
Only Christ remains to me."

A Recipe - Fiesta Sloppy Joes:

Brown in heavy skillet, keeping meat in chunks:
1 lb. ground turkey

Drain if necessary; add
1 c. chopped onion
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cream of rice cereal (we use Bob's Red Mill Creamy Brown Rice cereal, but regular "white" stuff would work too)
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
1/4 t. chili powder
1/4 t. celery seed
1/4 t. dry mustard, optional
2 c. cooked (canned) tomatoes

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover, and cook 25 minutes. Stir and serve hot in whole grain buns.

"This cruel self, oh how it strives

And works within my breast

How many subtle forms it takes

As if it were not safe to rest

And venture all on Thee."

- from Chinese Diamonds for the King of Kings by Rosalynd Goforth

The Mark of Wisdom

The Mark of Wisdom

The highest mark of wisdom is not the ability to speak of great and lofty things, or to eloquently tell others the things I know. No, the highest mark of wisdom is humility; it is submissiveness of spirit to God and others, that seeks advice, heeds good counsel and takes to heart reproof.

"Hear instruction and be wise
and do not neglect it."
- Proverbs 8:33 ESV

"The wise of heart will receive commandments..."
-Proverbs 10:8 ESV

"Nothing is trivial for the Lord"

A preacher once found himself advertised to preach in an obscure village, the storm was terrible, and, therefore, though he kept his appointment, he found only one person present in the place of meeting. He preached a sermon to that one hearer with as much earnestness as if the church had been crowded. Years after he found churches all over the district, and he discovered that his audience of one had been converted on that day, and had become the evangelist of the whole region. Had he declined to preach to one, what blessings might have been withheld.

Brethren, never neglect the loosing of the shoe-latchet for Christ, since you do not know what may hang upon it...Never say within yourself, 'This is trivial' - nothing is trivial for the Lord.

- from C.H. Spurgeon's sermon, "Loosing the Shoe Latchet"