A Quote to Send You On Your Way Rejoicing

This is a quote that a sweet friend sent to me this week. It has been so encouraging to me and I do hope it proves a great blessing to you.

"Perhaps you find the duty of your calling too heavy for your weak faith. Look to God for strength. When you are sick of your work and ready like Jonah to run away, encourage yourself with God's words to Gideon: "Go in this thy might...have not I sent thee?" (Judges 6:14). Begin the work God has given you, and you will engage His strength for you; run from your work, and you engage God's strength against you.
Are you called to suffer? Do not flinch in fear. God knows the limits of your strength. He can place the load so evenly on your shoulders that you will scarcely feel it. But still He is not satisfied. His watchful eye is always on you, and when you stagger He picks you up -- burden and all -- and carries you to your destination nestled in the bosom of His promise: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation will also make a way to escape..." (I Corinthians 10:13). How can you fret when you are wrapped in His covenant? Your heavenly Father is so eager to care for you, that while you are timidly asking for a nibble of peace and joy, He is longing for you to open your mouth wide so He can fill it. The more often you ask, the better; and the more you ask for, the more He welcomes you.
Go quickly now. Search your heart from one end to the other and gather up all your weaknesses. Set them before the Almighty, as the widow placed her empty vessels before the prophet. Expect a miracle of deliverance from the limitless resources of God. If you had more vessels to bring, you could have them all filled.
God has strength enough to give, but He has no strength to deny. Here the Almighty Himself (with reverence I say it) is weak. Even a child, the weakest in grace of His family, who can but whisper "Father," is able to overcome Him. ~William Gurnall

This is good news for sinners!

In our precious Jesus and His extravagant mercies,

Sarah

Prayer for Grace

This is a prayer based upon the first twenty-one of Jonathan Edward's new year resolutions.

Lord God Almighty,
We understand that we are unable to do anything without your help, so we ask you to enable us by your grace to fulfill your will. Give us grace to do whatever brings most glory and honor to you, pleasure and profit to us, and life and love to others. Help us to number our days, spending our time wisely, living our lives with all our might while we still have breath. Humble us in the knowledge that we are chief among sinners; when we hear of the sins of others, help us to not look upon them with pride, but to look upon ourselves with shame, confessing our own sins to you. When we go through difficulties and trials, remind us of the pains of hell from which you have already delivered us. Place people in our path who need our help, and give us a compassionate and generous spirit. Fill our hearts with such love that we would never do anything out of a spirit of revenge, nor lose our temper with those around us. Hold our tongues when we are tempted to speak evil of others. Thank you for the gospel and for the hope of glory. Help us to live in light of these truths every day of our lives, so that when the time of our death arrives, we will rest assuredly in you, and you will be most glorified in us.
In Christ’s name…

Trevin Wax
adapted from Jonathan Edwards’ resolutions

Merry Christmas!

"'Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee,' saith the LORD." ~Zechariah 2:10

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"'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord....Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men'" ~Luke 2:10-11, 14

~

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." ~II Corinthians 5:21

Merry Christmas!

May the Lord richly bless you today as you delight in the One who gave Himself for us!

The Novelteatalkers

Book Club ~ Hidden Art

Good Morning!

Well yesterday Lily and I had our (delayed) weekly chat together. Sometimes the conversations are about church; sometimes about exercising; sometimes about our failing bodies of death (people are always telling me we're too young to talk about that but it's true! We are living in bodies of death. From Mono to a back that is killing me, we're waiting for that blessed day when we shall "awake in His likeness."); sometimes we cover all kinds of topics in one conversation. But yesterday we mostly talked about reading: the book club (or lack thereof), our dullness in reading lately, all the books that keep piling onto our "I need to read..." list, and the (multitude of) books that we're in the middle of.

So, after being inspired yesterday by my dear friend to get back into my reading routines, here is the long-overdue book club post on The Hidden Art of Homemaking.

I have to confess, I did not want to read this book. Lily picked this book and I just did not want to read it at all. So, after extending myself to actually spend the precious $0.99 on the book (I know...so generous!) we book-clubbed at the coffee shop once this summer and after that, it's been sitting on my shelf....Until yesterday.

Lily, obviously, has already finished this book and I have been trying to figure out how to get out of it. What a book-clubber, huh? Lily and I decided that we didn't have to read the whole book (she didn't) but just the chapters that really interested us. Yesterday, I narrowed that down to a manageable two and "finished" The Hidden Art of Homemaking last night. I read the first two chapters (which are more introductory) and consoled Lily with the fact that I spent the $0.99 on the book and can go and read any of the chapters whenever I think I'm lacking in the Hidden Art of.... [gardening.]

The Noveltea Talking Book Club will resume on January 1st with our next book (which I picked and am very excited about!) Heaven Taken By Storm by Thomas Watson. Please feel free to join us. It's a Noveltea Talking New Year's Resolution to really book club this year. So we would love for you to join us as Thomas Watson pours our tea in 2010. Add your comments to our posts and send your thoughts and quotes at girleytalk {at} gmail {dot} com

Have a great Wednesday!

The Novelteatalkers

A Quote for the Beginning of the Week

I read this quote a couple days ago and...well...here you go. Instead of changing the Notable Quotable this week I'm just gonna post this Very Notable Quotable today and hope that it encourages you as it encouraged me.

“Neither let your own accusing conscience, nor Satan the accuser of the brethren, hinder you any longer from Christ. For what though they should accuse you of pride, infidelity, covetousness, lust, anger, envy, and hypocrisy? Yea, what though they should accuse you of whoredom, theft, drunkenness, and such like? Yea, do what they can, they can make no worse a man of you than a sinner, or chief of sinners, or an ungodly person; and so, consequently, such a one Christ came to justify and save; so that in every deed, if you do rightly consider it, they do you more good than hurt by their accusations.”

—Edward Fisher in The Marrow of Modern Divinity