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“Moonless Trust,” p 57

Some of you are perhaps feeling that you are voyaging just now on a moonless sea. Uncertainty surrounds you. There seem to be no signs to follow. Perhaps you feel about to be engulfed by loneliness. There is no one to whom you can speak of your need. Amy Carmichael wrote of such a feeling when, as a missionary of twenty-six, she had to leave Japan because of poor health, then travel to China for recuperation, but then realized God was telling her to go to Ceylon. (All this preceded her going to India, where she stayed for fifty-three years.) I have on my desk her original handwritten letter of August 25, 1894, as she was en route to Colombo. “All along, let us remember, we are not asked to understand, but simply to obey… On July 28, Saturday, I sailed. We had to come on board on Friday night, and just as the tender (a small boat) where were the dear friends who had come to say goodbye was moving off, and the chill of loneliness shivered through me, like a warm love-clasp came the long-loved lines—‘And only Heaven is better than to walk with Christ at midnight, over moonless seas.’ I couldn’t feel frightened then. Praise Him for the moonless seas—all the better the opportunity for proving Him to be indeed the El Shaddai, ‘the God who is Enough.’”

Let me add my own word of witness to hers and to that of the tens of thousands who have learned that He is indeed enough. He is not all we would ask for (if we were honest), but it is precisely when we do not have what we would ask for and only then, that we can clearly perceive His all-sufficiency. It is when the sea is moonless that the Lord has become my Light.

Is it a Farmer’s Market???
Nope! Just the produce I harvested this afternoon from my backyard garden! 🙂
Love it.

I love this shot. So much edible goodness!

Delicious carrots.


Yes, I realize some of these are not at their ripest — but we’re freezing at night and I’m sick of covering my tomatoes with flannel sheets! lol. 🙂 We’ve had plenty of huge, juicy, deep red tomatoes for at least a month.


Sweet, tender beets.


My almost-completely-harvested garden! A lovely first attempt.

Along with squash (ummm, yes, we learned 27 squash plants was tooooooo many!) and lettuce, my pumpkins are remaining to be harvested. I think I’ll give them another week or two. They are beautiful: all different sizes and different colors. I think there are about 18 of them, but 2 of them are on the other side of our fence in the neighbor’s yard! 🙂

Yes, he runs so fast that this is what it always looks like! lol.

Did you have this “corn popper” toy when you were little? We had one at Grandma’s house growing up. And now Gabriel has one of his very own!

I think my precious little boy looks just like his handsome daddy in this picture!

He also brings me book after book after book during the day — or sometimes it’s the same book 12 times. 🙂

It’s so sad this is blurry, because I like this one. You can see  his teeth — and his swollen gums where the molars are trying to pop through! Ouchies.

October

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if the were all,
Whose elaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost–
For the grapes’ sake along the all.

~Robert Frost

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry’s cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I’ll put a trinket on.

~Emily Dickinson

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

~William Shakespeare

     Thirty-one million miles. That’s a very big stack of paper. By the time I get to twenty-on-and-a-half million I’m lost–aren’t you? I read somewhere else that our galaxy is one (only one) of perhaps ten billion.
     I know the One who made all that. He is my Shepherd. This is what He says: “With my own hands I founded the earth, with my right hand I formed the expanse of sky; when I summoned them, they sprang at once into being… I teach you for your own advantage and lead you in the way you must go. If only you had listened to my commands, your prosperity would have rolled on like a river in flood… (Isaiah 48:13, 17, 18, NEB).
     Hardly a day goes by without my receiving a letter, a phone call, or a visit from someone in trouble. Almost always the question comes, in one form or another, Why does God do this to me?
     When I am tempted to ask that same question, it loses its power when I remember that this Lord, into whose strong hands I long ago committed my life, is engineering a universe of unimaginable proportions and complexity. How could I possibly understand all that He must take into consideration as He deals with it and with me, a single individual! He has given us countless assurances that we cannot get lost in the shuffle. He choreographs the “molecular dance” which goes on every second of every minute of every day in every cell in the universe. For the record, one cell has about 200 trillion molecules. He makes note of the smallest seed and the tiniest sparrow. He is not too busy to keep records even of my falling hair.
     Yet in our darkness we suppose He has overlooked us. He hasn’t. I have been compiling a list of the answers God Himself has given us to our persistent question about adversity:

1. We need to be pruned. In Jesus’ last discourse with His disciples before He was crucified (a discourse meant for us as well as for them), He explained that God is the gardener, He Himself is the vine, and we are branches. If we are bearing fruit, then we must be pruned. This is a painful process. Jesus knew that His disciples would face much suffering. He showed them, in this beautiful metaphor, that it was not for nothing. Only the well-pruned vine bears the best fruit. They could take comfort in knowing that the pruning proved they were neither barren nor withered, for in that case they would simply be burned up in the brushpile.
     Pruning requires the cutting away not only of what is superfluous but also of what appears to be good stock. Why should we be so baffled when the Lord cuts away good things from our lives? He has explained why. “This is my Father’s glory, that you may bear fruit in plenty and so be my disciples” (John 15:8, NEB). We need not see how it works. He has told us it does work.

2. We need to be refined. Peter wrote to God’s scattered people, reminding them that even though they were “smarting for a little while under trials of many kinds (they were in exile–the sort of trial most of us would think rather more than a “smart”), they were nevertheless chosen in the purpose of God, hallowed to His service, and consecrated with the blood of Jesus Christ. With all that, they still needed refining. Gold is gold, but it has to go through fire. Faith is even more precious, so faith will always have another test to stand. Remember God’s loving promise of 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is all you need; power comes to its full strength in weakness” (NEB).

I have been having an email discussion with Mrs. Wilson lately, and she has been delightfully encouraging in her typical straight-forward manner. She never makes herself vulnerable, but she has a talent of pinpointing what others need to hear about themselves & their relationship with others/God/the world/what-have-you.

She reminded me, “God is not doing this to you, He is doing it for you.”

Of course, it frequently doesn’t feel like the death of my children is for me. But she’s right. I know she is.
And I think, as my darling Steven pointed out, it is for more than just me or us or our family.
Losing our three children has affected many people, and given us opportunities to minister to many people, and helped us learn alongside others to recognize the image of God even in little tiny people who fit in the palm of my hand.
(It has greatly expanded our view of what being Pro-Life even is; it has grown our view of covenant children in general; it has taught us to reach out to others in affliction; it has shown us to tame our tongues specifically around people in affliction… The list could go on and on.)

Anyway. She has an excellent new post. I could just link you.
But sometimes it’s nice to have it copied here for you too. And for my own reference, too, in the future.
When I need an extra reminder.
I need reminders frequently. 🙂

For our Mommy & Tots fellowship group today, we concentrated on Proverbs. It was wonderful to read good, thought-provoking, godly articles; discuss them; share prayer requests; eat yummy food; and watch our children play together & learn about something called sharing. 🙂

My dear friend Elizabeth brought pumpkin muffins and a plate of super-juicy orange slices. And, by the way, Gabriel now has apparently decided that oranges are his favorite food. He had never had them before. He’s hooked!

The material for our conversation and fellowship follows, for your enjoyment & edification:

“The woman of wisdom is tall in faith, but humble in spirit; light in burdens, yet heavy with grace. She does not always put herself first, but willingly steps aside and moves for the good of another. Her marks are kindness; her law is love; her heart desires purity; her eyes seek truth. She may or may not be well-known; the wise woman may or may not be successful in this world. She may be rich, or she may be poor. The woman of wisdom may have great talent or possess none; may have friends or be alone…………..

 Every woman of wisdom is unique, but every woman of wisdom is beautiful and has much to give and share. Her light is ever glowing, as she waits, watches, day and night, on opportunity to serve, to pray, to wait, to love, to ponder God’s word. And every woman who knows the Lord Jesus Christ can be a woman of wisdom. It is not beyond the reach of any, for Christ is always working in us, and He sculpts our lives with increasing purpose, as we, through the process of time, give more and more of ourselves to Him. Indeed, wisdom is a treasure to be won, and we will have a life of wisdom in due season if we continue in His grace and do not faint in our walk with Him (Galatians 6:9).”

~from www.aparsonswife.blogspot.com~

By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and Rest, 
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best. 

~Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)~