The Rolling Thunder

Today I was woken by the wonderful sound of thunder and rain....there's something about storms that intrigues me, and we sure have needed this rain here in Florida!

It brings to mind the song, "How Great Thou Art" , where it says: "I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thou power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How great thou art, How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How great thou art........How GREAT thou art".

With that said, I found a passage in Psalms where David speaks of this very thing - the power of our Lord, and how the He reveals himself to us through nature.

Psalm 29

"Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.

The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord twists the oaks, and strips the forest bare.

And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as a King forever.

The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace".

May you be blessed this Sunday.....

Janelle

O Holy Night

Today I want to share Luke 2: 8 - 14 - the great announcement to the world, that the Messiah had come...

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeard to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ' Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the city of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger".

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeard with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and earth peace to men on whom his favor rests".
This brings to mind, my favorite Christmas song, "O Holy Night" -

O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Til He appears and the soul felt it's worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn



FALL ON YOUR KNEES

O HEAR THE ANGEL'S VOICES

O NIGHT DEVINE, O NIGHT WHEN CHRIST WAS BORN

O NIGHT - DIVINE, O NIGHT O HOLY NIGHT



I tell ya, when I hear that chorus begin with, "fall on your knees", mine always buckle and the waterworks begin....

Thank you dear Heavenly Father, for your perfect gift found in Jesus........thank you for so great a love for each of us, that you would be willing to become one of us make the perfect atonement for our sins....



Merry Christmas Everyone.....

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Yesterday I got to go out "junkin" - thrift store and estate sale shopping - and I was fortunate to find a few old Baptist hymnals. I just had to get them, because they brought back such memories from my childhood, and always having those at our piano at home. I used to memorize what page numbers my favorite songs were on.
Today I wanted to share the lyrics to the song, "Great is Thy Faithfulness"; a favorite of mine, and in times like we're facing, a good reminder that God is faithful, no matter what circumstances or situations we find ourselves in.
"Great is they faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with thee
Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not;
As Thou has been
Thou forever wilt be
CHORUS
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
ALL I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is they faithfulness, O Lord to me
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love
CHORUS
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
ALL I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is they faithfulness, O Lord to me
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
CHORUS
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
ALL I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is they faithfulness, O Lord to me

With the economy of the world in a tailspin, and wars and violence all around, Satan wants to keep us all in fear as to what is going to happen to us.
BUT the Lord says that His faithfulness will get us through and bring us to a place of peace.

I pray that you will put your trust in God's faithfulness today.

Janelle

Blessed Assurance

Today, we went to First Baptist and heard the new preacher that they brought in after Charles Rosell retired last year. This new guy's name is Cliff, and he was awesome. As soon as service was over, Bill said, "I really like this church, and I really like this pastor". Well that was music to my ears!

The song choices today were also music to my ears - there were several old hymns sung, and this one elderly lady who was sitting behind me had a strong and powerful soprano voice, which sounded much like my mother's.
It was when the song, "Blessed Assurance" began, and I heard this dear woman singing, that the tears just flowed down my face. It sounded just like my mother was standing behind me singing this hymn, which I heard her sing many times throughout my life, as it was one of her favorites.

Here's a little history about this song:

This is Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), who wrote the words to this beautiful hymn.
Words:
bio("Fan­ny Cros­by","c/r/o/crosby_fj")
Fan­ny Cros­by, 1873:
My friend, Mrs. Jo­seph F. Knapp, com­posed a mel­o­dy and played it over to me two or three times on the pi­a­no. She then asked what it said. I re­plied, “Bles­sed as­sur­ance, Je­sus is mine!”
Music: As­sur­ance,
bio("Phoe­be P. Knapp","k/n/knapp_pp");lmn("a/s/s/Assurance")
Phoe­be P. Knapp (MI­DI, score).
This hymn was sung in the Acad­e­my Award win­ning mo­vies Plac­es in the Heart (1984) and Trip to Bount­i­ful (1985).
“During the re­cent war in the Trans­vaal,” said a gen­tle­man at my meet­ing in Ex­e­ter Hall, Lon­don, in 1900, “when the sol­diers go­ing to the front were pass­ing ano­ther bo­dy of sol­diers whom they re­cog­nized, their greet­ings used to be, ‘Four-nine-four, boys; four-nine-four;’ and the sa­lute would in­var­i­a­bly be an­swered with ‘Six fur­ther on, boys; six fur­ther on.’ The sig­nif­i­cance of this was that, in ‘Sac­red Songs and So­los,’ a num­ber of co­pies of the small edi­tion of which had been sent to the front, num­ber 494 was ‘God be with you un­til we meet again;’ and six fur­ther on than 494, or num­ber 500, was ‘Bless­ed As­sur­ance, Je­sus is mine.’”

If you're not familiar with this hymn, you can click on the midi link above, and if you are familiar with it, I'm sure you understand the emotion that this song brings.

Here are the words to this beautiful hymn:

Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!

O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior, all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song,Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,

Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

Angels descending bring from above

Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Refrain

Perfect submission, all is at rest

I in my Savior am happy and blest,

Watching and waiting, looking above,

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Refrain

Thank God for the talents he gives to each of us, and may we all use them to glorify Him!

Janelle

He Touched Me

Good Monday Morning!
I hope everyone had a blessed weekend, and that their new week has started off well.
We visited a church yesterday that I had gone to years ago when I was a teenager. I saw some familiar faces of older folks that were friends with my mother and stepfather, and was happy to see that one of my childhood friends was now the pianist there.
It's a small church of about 200 hundred people, and I would love to visit again and see if that's where God wants us to be a part of.
The music were some old familiar hymns, and "He Touched Me" was one of them. That's one of those songs that brings me to tears everytime - I can sometimes almost hear my mother singing along. She had a beautiful soprano voice, and would sing hymns around the house all day, every day, as she did her housework.
I wanted to share the words of that song today, and will get back to my study of Jeremiah tomorrow.

"Shackled by a heavy burden, 'neath a load of guilt and shame
Then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same

He touched me, Oh He touched me
And oh the joy that floods my soul.
Something happened, and now I know - He touched me and made me whole

Since I met this blessed Savior
Since He cleansed and made me whole
I will never cease to praise Him
I'll shout it while eternity rolls

He touched me, Oh He touched me
And OH the JOY that floods my soul.
Something happened, and now I know - He touched me and made me whole"

If you are burdened today, as the song says - I pray that you will let the hand of our dear Lord touch you and free you from those things that have you feeling guilty, empty and less than whole. He says in Revelation 3: 20: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me". That's the Lord speaking to each one of us and letting us know that he so desires to have close fellowship with us.

May your week be blessed in every way

Janelle