God, my Exceeding Joy

"Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God." Psalm 43:4

Name:
Location: Oregon, United States

I met my husband while I was a missionary in Hong Kong. He had swum out of China after the Cultural Revolution. We have been married 32 years and have four children (2 biological and 2 adopted), ages 22-30. My mother also lives with us (she just turned 90). I am truly a blessed woman.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Giving our Amen

Here's another quote from Lilias Trotter found in A Blossom in the Desert.

"More and more one sees that prayer is a quiet time for thinking out God's thoughts with Him and giving our 'Amen' in the Name of Jesus. Was it not Galileo, when the light of some great astronomical law broke on him--or was it Newton?--who fell on his knees and said, 'I praise Thee, O God, that Thou has let me think a thought that Thou has been thinking.'"

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him"--but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. I Corintians 2:9-10

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Trained Faith

I have discovered another treasure of a book (imagine that!). Several years ago I was given the biography of Lilias Trotter (missionary to Algeria in the latter part of the 19th century) by Miriam Rockness. Before Lilias became a missionary she was a student of artist John Ruskin. She was very gifted, to put it mildly, and had the world before her with Ruskin as her chief supporter. He said he believed "she would be the greatest living painter and do things that would be Immortal." He was prepared to "launch her career single-handedly." The catch was that she would have to give herself up to art. "After days of agonizing deliberation, she saw she could not devote herself to both art and ministry. She wrote, 'I see clear as daylight now, I cannot give myself to painting in the way [Ruskin] means and continue to 'seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.'"

As she went to Algeria, she did continue to use this gift by filling her journals, diaries, and letters with beauty in color and expression. She wrote devotional books and leaflets in English, and Arabic story parables and booklets also illustrated with her artwork.

"It is from these many sources that the writings and watercolors of A Blossom in the Desert (the book of my latest discovery) have been culled--some paired as she intended, others matched for resonance of word with image--and organized under the great unifying themes of her life: Light and Life and Love."

A Blossom in the Desert (edited by Miriam Rockness) is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. The subtitle is: Reflections of Faith in the Art and Writings of Lilias Trotter. And that is what it truly is.

Here is a sample from one page:

"As an eagle...fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings--so the Lord alone did lead him.

"Fluttereth over--the early stages of faith are reaching upward, like the eaglets for their food when the mother-bird is overhead. It is an older faith that learns to swing out into nothingness and drop down full weight on God--the broken-up nest of former 'experiences' left behind--nothing between us and the abyss but God Himself. Trained faith is a triumphant gladness in having nothing but God--not rest, no foothold--nothing but Himself. A triumphant gladness in swinging out into that abyss, rejoicing in every fresh emergency that is going to prove Him true. 'The Lord alone'--that is trained faith."

I would highly recommend this book.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The God that Hears

He shall call upon me, and I will answer

him: I will be with him in trouble; I
will deliver him.

A ND Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.--Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said unto God, . . . Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people.--And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.

Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power. . . . O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa.

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

PSA. 91. 15. 1 Ch. 4. 10.--2 Ch. 1. 7, 8, 10.--
1 Ki. 4. 29. 2 Ch. 14. 11, 12. Ps. 65.2.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

"Before the Throne of God Above"

I was introduced to this song about five years ago and was so impressed with the depth of meaning in the words. Let it soak into you this week.

"Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea;
A great High Priest whose name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in heav'n He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

"When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

"Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless Righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of Glory and of Grace.
One with Himself, I cannot die;
My soul is purchased with His blood.
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God."

Charitie L. Bancroft, 1863

Friday, April 04, 2008

The Lord, my Rock

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

B E careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.--He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.--Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.--Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat.

Who is a rock save our God?--They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.--Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.--Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.

PSA. 61. 2. Phi. 4. 6, 7. Ps. 142. 3.--
Job 23. 10.--Ps. 90. 1.--Is. 25. 4.
Ps. 18. 31.--John. 10. 28.--Ps. 119. 116.--
He. 6. 19.