Mary Thoughts: May the Mind of Christ My Saviour

This is one of my very favourite hymns. I have only sung it a few times in church, but the words are so wonderfully rich. Sometimes I like to pray the lyrics. I hope it blesses you today! 

May the mind of Christ my Savior
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and pow'r controlling
  All I do and say.

May the Word of Christ dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
  Only through His pow'r.

May the peace of Christ my Savior
Rule my life in every thing,
That I may be calm to comfort
  Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me,
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
  This is victory.

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
  As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
  Seeing only Him.

Mary Thoughts: Blessings

"We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise"


~ Laura Story

Fragments: Lingering Light

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Fragments: Lingering Light

The light of You

Catches my eye.

It lingers, playing

With the shadows 

On my face.

Piercing so bright

I raise my hand

To shield my face.

How do You know?

Let the light of Your presence 

Cleanse me.

Lift me from the mire of life

To soar with Your sunbeams

Shining from Your face.

~ Anna M. Nix

Martha Thoughts: In The Kitchen

I'm going to share a cake recipe that I got from my Nana. Every time my family would make the 10-hour drive out to Denver, Colorado, this ultra moist cake would be awaiting us in her immaculate kitchen. As my family expanded, she had to make two cakes for everyone to have some! Once I got married, I discovered that my husband prefers coffee style cakes over cakes with frosting, so I determined to get my Nana's recipe. After the very first bite, Aaron was instantly a fan! Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 4 bars (1.55 oz each) Hershey chocolate bars
• yellow cake mix
• 1 package vanilla instant pudding mix (3.4 oz)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. powdered sugar

Spray and flour Bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break up Hershey bars into small pieces. Mix yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until thick and smooth. Fold in chocolate and pour into Bundt pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Leave in pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto rack to cool completely. Shake powdered sugar on top. Enjoy! 

PS - This cake simply begs to be eaten with a glass of milk! 

Love,

Anna

Mary Thoughts: Isaiah 1:16-17

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"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;

Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.

Cease to do evil,

Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Rebuke the oppressor;

Defend the fatherless, 

Plead for the widow."

~ Isaiah 1:16-17

{Pardon the re-post, so to speak, but I'm re-organizing some things. :) }

Encouragement

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I'm lonely. I have lived here for just over two months and haven't found a good friend yet. I feel at home with Aaron's family and love them very much. His sisters are good friends, but I just haven't found that community of friends, good Christian friends, that I had back where my family lives. Of course, I am living with my best friend in the entire world which is wonderful in and of itself. But we haven't found a church family or community to plug into yet. So it just is a struggle sometimes.

However, today I received some very sweet encouragement from a long distance friend who lives in Texas. (This is her blog : Musings from the Feet of Jesus) Kathryn sent me a box with two yummy recipes, some Starbucks coffee (yippee!!), a "Friends" picture frame, and a very encouraging note. She reminded me that God will provide me with amazing friends, sending me the recipes and coffee that I could enjoy with my future friends, and the frame so I could place their smiling face within it as a reminder of God's faithfulness. Kathryn's kindness to me really brightened my day! And I definitely needed that reminder that God would provide friends in His own timing.

And you know what? I decided to start praying differently. Instead of saying, "Dear God, please bring me a friend," I decided to pray, "Dear God, please show me someone who needs a good friend." Instead of looking at what I don't have, I decided to look at what I do have. God has given me world's best husband as my best friend. He has given me in-laws that feel like family that I have known forever. He has given me two new sisters that are great friends!

Yes, it's still lonely sometimes. But that's when I need to remind myself of God's enduring faithfulness and remember the blessings God has provided for me already! Thank you Kathryn for your wonderful encouragement and your ray of sunshine that brightened my day.

Love,
Anna

The Gospel

We all need to remind ourselves of just how good the Gospel is on a daily basis. This video does an excellent job of sharing just that.



G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

Love,
Anna