Wordless Wednesday

Today...

My sister-in-law gave me the book "Streams in the Desert" by L.B. Cowman...and it truly is an amazing devotional.  Each day that we've been in the hospital, the devotion is absolutely appropriate.  Since the book was written so long ago, 1925 I think, I've been reading from the updated language version.  Here's today's devotional....

"You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above." ~John 19:11

                  Nothing that is not part of God's will is allowed to come into the life of someone who trusts and obeys Him.  This truth should be enough to make our life one of ceaseless thanksgiving and joy, because God's will is the most hopeful, pleasant and glorious thing in the world.  It is the continuous working of His omnipotent power for out benefit, with nothing to prevent it, if we remain surrendered and believing.
                  Someone who was passing through the deep water of affliction wrote a friend:
Isn't it glorious to know that no matter how unjust something may be, even when it seems to have come from Satan himself, by the time it reaches us it is God's will for us and will ultimately work for our good?

              "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Rom. 8:28).  Think of what Christ said even as he was betrayed: "Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" (John 18:11)
              We live fascinating lives if we are living in the center of God's will.  All the attacks that Satan hurls at us through the sins of others are not only powerless to harm us but are transformed into blessings along the way.  Hannah Whitall Smith

    In the center of the circle
           of the will of God I stand:
   There can come no second causes,
          all must come from His dear hand.
   All is well! for it's my Father
           who my life has planned.


   Shall I pass through waves of sorrow?
         Then I now it will be best;
  Though I cannot tell the reason,
          I can trust, and so am blest.
  God is Love, and God is faithful.
         So in perfect Peace I rest.


  With the shade and with the sunshine,
        With the joy and with the pain,
   Lord, I trust You! both are needed,
        Each your wayward child to train,
  Earthly loss, if we will know it,
        Often means our heavenly gain.
                                                                      I.G.W.


Can I get an AMEN?  *Any typos are a result of my misguided youth, not the author of the book.

Rejoice in the Lord!

Rejoice in the Lord by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
	"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Hab. 3:17, 18). Observe, I entreat you, how calamitous a circumstance is here supposed, and how heroic a faith is expressed. It is really as if he said, "Though I should be reduced to so great extremity as not to know where to find my necessary food, though I should look around about me on an empty house and a desolate field, and see the marks of the Divine scourge where I had once seen the fruits of God's bounty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord." Methinks these words are worthy of being written as with a diamond on a rock forever. Oh, that by Divine grace they might be deeply engraven on each of our hearts! Concise as the form of speaking in the text is, it evidently implies or expresses the following particulars: That in the day of his distress he would fly to God; that he would maintain a holy composure of spirit under this dark dispensation, nay, that in the midst of all he would indulge in a sacred joy in God, and a cheerful expectation from Him. Heroic confidence! Illustrious faith! Unconquerable love!--Doddridge. Last night I heard a robin singing in the rain, And the raindrop's patter made a sweet refrain, Making all the sweeter the music of the strain. So, I thought, when trouble comes, as trouble will, Why should I stop singing? Just beyond the hill It may be that sunshine floods the green world still. He who faces the trouble with a heart of cheer Makes the burden lighter. If there falls a tear, Sweeter is the cadence in the song we hear. I have learned your lesson, bird with dappled wing, Listening to your music with its lilt of spring When the storm-cloud darkens, then's the TIME to sing. --Eben E. Rexford