"The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord. 
 It is good for a man that he bear
    the yoke in his youth.

 Let him sit alone in silence
    when it is laid on him;

let him put his mouth in the dust—
    there may yet be hope; 

 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
    and let him be filled with insults.

For the Lord will not
    cast off forever,

but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love;"

-Lamentations 3:25-32 


Streams in the Desert, Sept 30:
 
."...And is it not so with the Christian who is afflicted, tempest-tossed, and not comforted? Till the storms and vicissitudes of God’s providence beat upon him again and again, his character appears marred and clouded; but trials clear away the obscurity, perfect the outlines of his disposition, and give brightness and blessing to his life.
Amidst my list of blessings infinite
Stands this the foremost, that my heart has bled;
For all I bless Thee, most for the severe.
–Hugh Macmillan"

Some More Good Music to Share :)

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion...
 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.  If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."- Psalm 137:1, 5-6

Be Thou My Vision

One of my favorite Hymns. Jesus, Be Thou my Vision <3

 (don't mind the actual video, just the song is good)

Be Thou My Vision Hymn

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

The Terribly Romantic, "Impossible" life we very possibly Live :)

As the furoughs of pain are plowed deeper into the soul, so also the lines of character are more distinctly drawn. I always thought that when life becomes “arrived” and resistance free, then also will I be blossoming and glowing with success. But, ere I find that the more this flower is pressed and perplexed, the more the fragrance of Christ is escaped from me. This pressing and casting down almost brings despair, yet cannot destroy.  The inner life of the saint has eternal resilience that baffles this world.  The tortured and tried saint is the cause of God weaving the common, Roman cross into a glorious crown.

My stubborn heart strives for explanation, but can scarce determine the path beneath me. Where will tomorrow take? Below, I see only a small portion of earth with each wobbly step. God, I’ve never been this way before, and you have never led me quite like this. You do not reveal more than one step at a time, but choose to reveal Yourself instead. You tell me that it is not tomorrow or an earthly arrival that I must see, but Your face and heart experienced before me today.

It has been said that God engineers various times of overcast and fog over our paths.  In these times, sight will profit nothing, for there is nothing my eyes can determine of the spiritual work concealed from me.  The marvelous working of God is momentarily undiscerned by my eyes, so that my heart will learn to trust - that though I cannot see more than one step of earth beneath me, the living God is working out a greater plan.

After the struggle and wrestling to get sight, to demand my right to see what is going on; alas I relent and just believe in only what I can know, that is Jesus, my reward. In the foggy day, the indiscriminate time, He is the blessing to be had and the precious treasure to be found and enjoyed. Though my eyes do not perceive, my ears are still able to hear His faithful words. They come softly, but surely through the dense fog. “I am with you always.”  

“But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold”- Job 23:10.

Life will find a way; there is always hope and new buds of green that sprout undetected.  They are growing all unseen, into a fruitful garden of the Lord’s. To my surprise, I have discovered  these hopeful  little buds born from death. Most unexpectedly, they are small and green, coming forth with great resilience and strength through the "impossible" darkness. They so purely say, to yet hope in God.

There was a time when I thought that just a trial or two and then it would get easier and God would be finished. But, we are soldiers in the Lord’s army together, and there is no retirement from our enlistment. Yes, rest and peace in Christ, but only in the midst of battle are these most real and sweet.  We have an impossible life of beauty from ashes, of being cast down but not destroyed, of being perplexed but not forsaken. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day”- 2 Corinthians 4:16.  

God Himself is the reward and the peace we experience in the darkest day of battle. He massively lends Himself to the weary and thirsty soldier, fighting endlessly on the front lines. God is the overflowing spring from which we draw new life day by day. If you find yourself continually in the face of enemy fire, do not shrink back, for the Lord is your rear guard and you are dressed to move forward in His armor. You will make it, even when hope is hard to see. Don’t quit, for Jesus is Your Commander, and He has valiantly gone before you, to every place you must go.

If I had not known even my small, light affliction, neither would I have known much of Jesus. The suffering Savior would have been still alien and distant. But His stripes have brought me close. My sufferings are shared in His; we are knit through His blood that gives me life. The soul that endures these present trials, is being woven into a greater story of God’s deeply romantic love for us. The couple that endures great trials and opposition together is the terribly romantic, epic kind of love story.

  “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. … For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”- 2 Corinthians 4:1, 5-7. 

When His Cross Weaves into Our Crown

“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me” (Ps. 138:8)

"There is a Divine mystery in suffering, a strange and supernatural power in it, which has never been fathomed by the human reason. There never has been known great saintliness of soul which did not pass through great suffering. When the suffering soul reaches a calm sweet carelessness, when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask God to deliver it from suffering, then it has wrought its blessed ministry; then patience has its perfect work; then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown."
- Streams in the Desert