HI FRIENDS!  
             
                 MY NEW WEBSITE IS OPEN AND      RUNNING, NOW!!


ADDRESS:   WWW.JOYPSALMS.COM



PLEASE COME AND JOIN ME!
 
FOR PROSE, POETRY AND MUSIC!!

                   THANK YOU,

                    CAROLE CASTAGNA

Official Website

www.JoyPsalms.com

Visit the Official Website, Click the picture or link above!

                Words of Comfort from Psalm 121:  1-8
           

             I will lift up my eyes to the hills-
             from whence cometh my help?
             My help cometh from the Lord,
             Who made heaven and earth.

             He will not allow your foot to be moved;
             He who keeps you will not slumber.
             Behold.  He who keeps Israel shall neither
             slumber nor sleep.

             The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your
             shade at your right hand.  The sun shall not strike
             you by day, nor the moon by night.

             The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
             He shall preserve your soul.  The Lord shall preserve
             your going out and your coming in from this time
             forth and even forevermore.  (cross reference:
                                                              Deuteronomy 28:6)
            

 

            

            

        

 

           

     Good morning, Everyone!

                 JOY PSALMS! new Website             

will be up and

running by Wednesday,

July 9th, 2014.

           You will receive prompts to get      

there!

   :)  Thank you.

It will contain: Devotions,

Poems, Prayers, Songs,

Artwork and more...

     Please join me... 

                                    Carol A. Castagna

All Flesh Is As Grass

"ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS"

This entry consists of Jesus' words:  the words regard His coming in glory.
It also includes a poem:  The Rapture

1st Peter 1:24

"All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as
the flower of the grass
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away.
But the word of the Lord
endures forever."      quoted from Isaiah 40: 6-8

1st Peter 4:7
But the end of all things is at hand:
therefore be serious and  watchful
in your prayers.


Matthew 24:  some verses from 3-42

Now as Jesus sat on the mount of Olives,
the disciples came to him privately, saying,
What will be the sign of your coming and
the end of the age?"
And Jesus answered and said to them:
"Take heed that no one deceive you. 
 For many will come in my name,
saying, 'I am the Christ.'  and will deceive
many.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of
wars. See that you are not troubled:  for all
these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom.  And there will be famines in various places.  All
these are the beginning of sorrows.  Then they will deliver
you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by
all nations for My name's sake.  And then, many will be offended
will betray one another and will hate one another. Then many
false prophets will rise up and deceive many.  And because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
But he who endures to the end, shall be saved.  And this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a
witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.  As you will
see the 'abomination and desolation' spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

If any man says to you, 'Look, the Christ is in the desert!'  do not go out;
or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!  do not believe it.  For as the lightening
comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son
of Man be.  Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be
darkened and the moon will not give its light:  the stars will fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then the sign of the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send His
angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together His elect of heaven
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."


Matthew 24: 40, 41,
"Two men will be in the field:  one will be taken and the other left.
"Two women will be grinding at the mill:  one will be taken and the other left.
Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming."

                                         

                                               courtesy sunrise Jensen beach  FI IMG2696

A poem that heralds Christ’s second coming 

  

         THE RAPTURE

The sky, star-swept
Whispers of a pearl-haze night
Silence hovers...

Snowflakes fall slippery from above
Like diadems

All is still
A blast of trumpets!
And silence becomes
Welcomed glory to believers
Fear, to scorning multitudes
Nocturnal solitude sparks into radiance
To make way for...

His coming!

The sky, slashed in pastel hues ~

His presence!
Awakening!
Angels, draped flawless in white
Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace
Clouds behind Him, a backdrop for His glory

The redeemed, cleansed, free from sin by His blood
Arise exultantly to meet Him...
‘The dead in Christ rise first’

Then we join to meet Him in the sky-

 ‘And every eye shall see Him’

Old and New Testament
Prophesy Fulfilled!  He destroys pain, sorrow, death…

‘In a twinkling of an eye’

Jubilation!  Celebration!   New life! 

Eternity begins with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit….

Others, stunned and aghast, watch,

                                                wait

                                                  and tremble…

                  

Carol Ann Turiano(-Castagna) written 1962     © 10/2012

 

EPHESIANS 3 ...THE LOVE OF GOD

THE LOVE OF GOD

In Ephesians 3, the apostle, Paul gives us a simple and concise explanation of the 'mystery' (verse 9) of the relationship between God and His followers.  He expounds upon what he says in Ephesians
2: 19...that we are 'fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.'   Paul continues in 3:  8 and 9:
         'To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this gift of the grace of God was given that I should preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things, through Jesus Christ.'  So that we, 'being rooted and grounded in love, through God's Holy Spirit, may be able to comprehend with all the saints, the width and depth and length and height...to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.'

Even though the Jewish people were and are God's chosen people, He extended His grace to us from the beginning of time...that we may be 'partakers of the kingdom of God, through Christ.'  Our minds may never, here on earth, be able to take in the 'length and breadth and height' of God's love for us ~ but surely we can understand that this is great and awesome and boundless, the love of God.

---

I am reminded of a hymn, entitled,' The Love of God,' the lyrics to which are as follows:



                              THE LOVE OF GOD
1.The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.

 

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure the saints’ and angels’ song.

 

2.When years of time shall pass away, and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray, on rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure, all measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—the saints’ and angels’ song.

Refrain

 

3.Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.

Refrain

I always felt that the third verse so beautifully describes the extent of the love of God...and yet...it still cannot... completely tell the story of God's love for man.  Words, which I love, fall short of explaining the extent of God's love for us!  But we can glean the essence of that love in
Ephesians 3.



 

 

POST NOTE:

 

"Words: Fred­er­ick M. Leh­man; he wrote this song in 1917 in Pas­a­de­na, Cal­i­fornia, and it was pub­lished in Songs That Are Dif­fer­ent, Vol­ume 2, 1919. The lyr­ics are based on the Jew­ish poem Had­da­mut, writ­ten in Ara­ma­ic in 1050 by Meir Ben Isaac Ne­hor­ai, a can­tor in Worms, Ger­ma­ny; they have been trans­lat­ed in­to at least 18 lang­uages.

One day, dur­ing short in­ter­vals of in­at­ten­tion to our work, we picked up a scrap of pa­per and, seat­ed up­on an emp­ty le­mon box pushed against the wall, with a stub pen­cil, add­ed the (first) two stan­zas and chor­us of the song…Since the lines (3rd stan­za from the Jew­ish po­em) had been found pen­ciled on the wall of a pa­tient’s room in an in­sane asy­lum af­ter he had been car­ried to his grave, the gen­er­al opin­ion was that this in­mate had writ­ten the epic in mo­ments of san­ity.
Frederick M. Lehman, “History of the Song, The Love of God,” 1948

Music: Fred­er­ick Leh­man; ar­ranged by his daugh­ter, Clau­dia L. Mays (MI­DI, score).

In reference to the writer of the third stanza, I have researched the circumstances under which people were admitted to insane asylums during that period of time:


"Many of these patients were epileptic or suffered from other chronic diseases, and had nothing wrong with them mentally at all."        
Georgia's Mental Institution, Central State Hospital, Milledgeville, Ga. by Rhetta Alcumotsu, Yahoo Contributor Network

"If a woman grew too old the husband could have her committed and would take a younger wife. Menopause or PMS was reason enough to ship her off to a facility. Once a woman was committed the asylum, it was as if she died, and usually an obituary was published.

 A landlord could have a tenant committed for not paying rent, being outlandish in behavior or dress. A boss could do the same thing to an employee, if the employee was slow or a 'bad employee'. People could be committed if they were poor. One could be committed for being a alcoholic, person with a short fuse, or anyone who deviated from the normal things society thought was right. This goes for both men and woman and this is very sad indeed to be admitted to an insane asylum for such a thing.
Children who acted out or had mental or physical disabilities were also placed in mental asylums. Imagine a blind child or a child with a speech problem being locked away for his or her entire life because of a birth defect."   Amy Browne Yahoo Contributor Network

 

 

 c 6/2014 Carol A. Castagna 



A Father's Day Tribute

 

DAD WAS A PRACTICAL MAN

 

Dad was a practical man.  I remember that he would carry an umbrella to work every day, just in case it rained, for he had to walk a few blocks from the car to the Bridgeport Brass Company where he spent forty years.  I can’t remember that he ever missed a day of work.  He had been caught in a few downpours of rain and decided that he did not intend to have that happen to him ever again…thus, the umbrella.

My dad suffered from migraine headaches and Major Depression…there were no effective medications for him, unfortunately. As a result, he endured the pain of migraine headaches for most of his life.  My Dad busied himself with his garden, made the backyard (almost an acre) of our home in Nichols, Ct., resemble a park.  He won many medals for his artistic way of gardening.  I recently learned by finding a favorite book of his that he had an interest in the Bonsai Tree, a miniature tree that grows in a small tray:  Vincent and I visited Selby Gardens in Sarasota, Fl. on several occasions where the Bonsai are plentiful. Curiously, I also found a copy of Writer’s Digest dating back to 1979, the year of my divorce from my children’s father.  I am not surprised that my Dad was interested in writing; I just wish I had known so that we could have commiserated, communicated, had fun with words. We had a lot more in common aside from mom’s illness but our common ground was never realized.  I often think about all the conversations we might have had about our interests, things to do and places to see…but  whenever we had an opportunity to talk to each other, we talked about Mom – how to ‘fix’ her and how to deal with our own feelings of helplessness and frustration regarding her behavior.  One place he wanted to see before he died was Banff:  he never traveled there due to mom’s fear that she may not have been able to deal with his cancer while far away from home. 

 

Dad read the Bible early in the morning and sang hymns most of the day. He whistled hymns and played the harmonica and accordion by ear.  I can still hear him singing, if I listen closely enough...He had a distinctive baritone voice that would have highlighted any choir but mom wanted him by her side and he adored her since their high school years, so he never joined the choir. He focused on the Lord and the beauty of the earth and dismissed that which he could not control.  I am sure the Lord has a special place for him in Heaven’s Choir.

Dad worked in the basement of the Bridgeport Brass Company in Bridgeport, a die-maker, a perfectionist at his trade….every day for 40 years.  He worked a second job doing mason work, building fireplaces, walls, stone floors, sidewalks.  He was artistic, multi-talented and worked under poor conditions to support his family.  My father, a man with an extraordinary sense of humor, telling stories to the whole family about his days when he was a young man working on his brother, Lou’s small truck delivering milk, eggs, juice, cream.  In those old days when no one knew the extent to which cholesterol could harm us…we just enjoyed the delectable flavors.

 

We would laugh until our bellies hurt but dad kept on making us roar. My cousins who are far younger than I still recall the milk truck stories ‘Uncle George’ told and the laughter that followed. He was a raconteur at heart; you were on the edge of your seat waiting for the next detail!  Dad was a ‘world-traveler’ said my cousin John, another only child, our mothers having been born sisters.  Dad was an avid reader and traveled to the far corners of the world in his mind as he read.  He would always say, “I have a great imagination.”  This man, with a knack for beautifying everything he touched outdoors, from his rock-garden to his flagstone walk, merely accepted the fact that he worked at the Bridgeport Brass Company in a basement with no windows, cutting dies with precision for a living for forty years – and worked almost incessantly as an artist after work, either sketching, or building stone walks and walls and fireplaces or working in his garden.  (Our family called the landscaped acre in our back yard our Park.)   He would never take credit for any of its beauty though…he would say with humility “I just plant the seeds and God does the rest.”

 

I remember the newspaper covering for his head that he would fold in place, with the same precision he used when measuring a cement walk, when he was working outside on a very hot day.  Dad fastidiously folded each corner to result in a raised oval covering above his ears.  It shaded him from the sun …He would wear it while he was pouring cement in the hot sun, whistling all the while, (usually, Jimmie Crack Corn or Little Jimmie Brown-the Chapel Bells Were Ringing)  enjoying what he was doing, proud of a job well done when he finished his work.  I remember him fondly.

 

CHEERS

A Letter to Dad

 

Here's to you, Dad

To your skills as a builder of houses and dreams

To your craft, etched with precision

To the work of your hands

Through the years of your life

Thank you for building my world.

 

Here's to you, Dad

To your strength of character - to your acceptance of life in the raw

To your readiness to forgive - and your caution in judging

Thank you for the heart you try to conceal,

For letting me see your imperfections ~ thereby making it

Possible for me to embrace my own.

 

Here's to you, Dad

To your love of life and God and people

To your spirit - to your sacrifice - to your sense of humor and the

Raconteur within you - to your quest for knowledge

(My self-taught dad with a genius all his own)

Thank you for pursuing life in spite of its storms that rage

Thank you for teaching me to smile

Your heart is an open book - It teaches humility and hope and Courage

The words speak echoes of truth and of Christ's promise for an Eternity without pain.                           

 

Your loving daughter, Carole

 c 6/2014 Carol A. Castagna

Photos  Carol A. Castagna

Sketch by the late, George Turiano, Author's father

A Prayer

A Prayer  (written in 2006)


"Today, as I journal at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, I lift my heart in gratitude to you, Lord, for the opportunity of this dream realized, for the possibility of a hope fulfilled."  ( I am attending a 5 day workshop on Writing Publication.  My daughter, Jill who has an interest in journalism, is with me.  Her new Aunt and Uncle through marriage open their home to us for a night.  Judy is a concert pianist and Ray has graduated from Gordon-Conwell.  I hadn't awakened yet that morning.)

(Upon awakening, I heard the piano:  I felt as though I had awakened in heaven!)

 

Sketch by the late George Turiano, Carol's dad

   "Thank you, Lord, for this music that sweetens my morning. The hymns are so beautiful!  To  awaken to a concerto of hymns played by Your servant with her heart and soul in praise to Thee, is overpowering and brings tears to my eyes.  Thank You for this experience."

"So many people have come to me, through the years, and still do, after I have played the piano in church to say that my music is a blessing to them:  this has always been my prayer ~ that You, Dear Father, would speak to them through my music ....But today, Lord, it happened to me!  To hear these songs of praise played by this woman of God, was a blessing that You created for me!  Judy played 'Amazing Grace' and 'We Shall Behold Him,'  'Over the Sunset Mountains,' 'Beyond the Sunset,' 'He's Coming Soon' and other favorites of mine~"

a glimpse of heaven ~ a taste of heaven's joy that awaits me."


     "to be greeted in the morning with Your song
     to be with Your children
     to be in Your matchless presence now and
     to know the joy of one day seeing You face to face...!"

     "Thank you, dear Lord for these moments with You."

 

 

  Ephesians 2: 13 and 19

  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been     brought near by the blood of Christ.

 ...Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Thank you, Father,  for Your sacrifice, Your resurrection and for the gift of being called a Child of God.  In Jesus' name ~Amen

 

 

 

  

 c 6/2014 Carol A. Castagna 

A BLESSED EXPERIENCE

                                                  A BLESSED EXPERIENCE 

     It was 7:30 on a Thursday night. The moon was full and all was quiet on my seventh floor, 29-patient psychiatric ward.  I was the Charge Nurse:  I had two psychiatric technicians to assist me.  I was charting at the desk.  “Excuse me.  I’m looking for Mrs. Anna McPhearson.”  I looked up at this gentle-faced, kind woman of about 40 years.  She looked at me in her colorful winter attire and smiled, told me she was Chaplain Irena and remarked surprisingly that the unit was extremely quiet, the most serene she had ever experienced.  She went on to say that she had visited countless hospital wards in the evenings and never had she felt the calm peacefulness of this unit.  Chaplain Irena obviously sensed a spirit of calm and serenity, a spirit of prayer and quiet confidence.  She asked how it was that this quietness and stability can be reached. I told her I was a Christian and I prayed not only for my patients’ well-being but for guidance in caring for them, for organizational skills to meet their needs efficiently and effectively, and for the Holy Spirit’s leading in my deed and my word.  She did not know that the unit was filled with probably the most serious variety of troubled souls that I had ever cared for simultaneously…all in different stages of their diseases. The unit was comprised of alcohol and drug abusers, those who had attempted suicide , the physically compromised and mentally tormented, the psychotic, the wounded and depressed and suicidal and on...and on.

     The night was long and filled with treatments, assessments, monitoring, medications and walking and running, supervising, documenting, and keeping a watchful eye on those in my care.   I often felt as though I could almost inhale the sweet peace of God’s presence while I cared for the sick.  I would come to a point in the evening where I had completed each patient's 'nursing care.  At that point, the Lord was in charge, completely, keeping them safe, watching over them as I charted and prepared for the oncoming staff for the next shift.  Chaplain Irena said that she came to the unit to visit a patient and that she did.  She will never know, however, that the message she carried to me was one of excitement and calm all rolled up into one feeling

     Chaplain Irena and I had shared so much of God’s love and His peace and His promise.  I’ll always remember this lady, a lady who passed through my unit to let me know in her own way that my relationship with the Lord had a distinctive impact not only on her but on my caring for the sick.  It was as though she came to me personally, as a messenger from God. There was a messenger on that cold December night, who spoke kind words of affirmation, with a smile and a sense of understanding, with a calm assurance that she saw something different on my unit that night.  I thank God for the confirmation statement of my mission, my calling, through the sweet Chaplain Irena ~ that the peace of God on that unit was visible to someone else, aside from me and that someone else spoke to me about the palpable presence of that peace.…And I thank my God and my Savior for this blessed experience of His love and of His grace.                                          

 © October, 2012

 Carol A. Castagna
 Library of Congress

                                                    

'I Will Dwell in the Shadow of the Almighty' -

 I WILL DWELL IN THE SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY

Psalm 42: 1-2

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.


Psalm 91: 1-2
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the Shadow of the Almighty.  I will say 
of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress...my
God, in whom I trust."


Psalm 42: 8 
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime. 
And at night His song shall be with me.


Psalm 93: 4 
The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves
of the sea. 

Exodus 20: 2  For I am the Lord, your God.

Psalm 104: 1-2- 3
Oh Lord, my God, You are very great:  You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment...Who makes the clouds His chariot,  Who walks on the wings of the wind.. Psalm 103: 3-4  Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies...


             Jeremiah 31: 3                                                                                                The Lord said:
             I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

The Lord comforts us with His Word.  He knows that our soul does not rest until He

inhabits us, that we long for and wait for Him to fill that empty place in our lives.  So He 

welcomes us to find shelter in Him - to find 'rest in the Shadow of the Almighty.'   He promises

His lovingkindness by day and His song by night.  He is our mighty and gracious God in whom

we trust and in whom we rest.  He is our place of refuge.  This is why we love Him.  This is why 

we praise Him.  He has declared Himself our God because He loves us.

Psalm 106: 1
Praise the Lord!  Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever.
All Scripture from the Holy Bible, NKJV

carol castagna (c) 6/2/2014

"Carol, You Bring the Sun Out from the Clouds!"

 
      Each time Grandma Rose saw me, she would greet me with a warm hug.  She would often say:  "Carol, you bring the sun out from the clouds!"  We would then hug as though we hadn't seen each other in years.  Actually, on many occasions, it had been earlier that day that the same hugs were exchanged.  We were our very own 'mutual admiration society.'  Grandma's words were lovely to hear and the sincerity in her voice and hugs made me love her more than ever.  Even after her passing, I remembered those moments and the way my life was  blessed and enriched because of her unconditional love.

      The richness of those memories were refreshed recently at the dedication of my husband's great-granddaughter, Scarlett.  Vincent's grandchildren were there at the church to mark the occasion as well as at the luncheon hosted by Scarlett's parents, Kristal and John S.  At some point the conversation recalled the times when the grandchildren were young and each summer, together with their now deceased grandmother, Angela, they went places and did things that enriched their lives ~ Small things like rides on the train, the Long Island ferry, visits to the candy store, the ice cream shop, the pet store were times that left vivid impressions in their minds and I saw the resultant smiles, love and camaraderie and laughter in their voices.  Most of all I noticed the resultant mutual love and respect among all the grandchildren.

                                                                   Photo by Kristal S.


      The one thing that Vincent's and my families shared was our love for the Lord Jesus.  Though we came from different backgrounds, when he and I courted and eventually married, we understood how that love had shaped us and how influential that love was in shaping our families.

The Dedication Service was a tender reminder that the grandchildren remembered the importance of the commitment to teach Scarlett to love the Lord and learn about Jesus and it thrilled us!  The lessons were being passed on to the next generation!

      What a privilege we have as grandparents to pass on lessons learned, love received and relationships formed and molded with the love of Jesus at its core.  We as grandparents hold a special place in our grandchildren s' hearts.  We can 'Bring the Sun Out' when problems and disappointments 'Cloud' their way.  Sometimes, we just need to let the 'Sun Come Out' for no particular reason at all.  Even though it's difficult to set aside our own hardships, and my grandmother, like most of us, had her share of heartaches; yet, she by setting her own sadness aside and greeting me with joyous enthusiasm, gifted me an unforgettable legacy.

                                                              Photo by Kristal S.




carol castagna c 5/2014

Returning to Give Thanks

                                    


      There is an account in the New Testament, found in the book of Matthew 17: 11-17, about the ten lepers in Jerusalem.   One day Jesus was passing by, saw them walking toward Him.  They asked Jesus to heal them and He had compassion on them...He healed them of their physical infirmities of open skin wounds,  deformed limbs and multiple other symptoms.  When the people saw them in their healed state, they were astonished to see lepers appearing so changed!  They were clean and whole!  They were free from the prison of illness, shame and ugliness. People readily associated with them without fear of contagion.  The lepers were pariahs no more.

      One would think that each one would have said, as a matter of gratitude and graciousness:  'Thank you' to the One who made this new life possible.  There was, however, only one leper who returned to say, 'Thank you.' to Jesus Christ, the Great Healer.

        I have often thought that out of 10 lepers, only 1 returned to say he was grateful and to acknowledge the great miracle that had just taken place in his life.  After verbalizing a request for healing and actually receiving the gift of healing, only 1 man, a Samaritan, out of 10 people stepped out to verbalize thanks.  It seems sad and ungrateful and thoughtless of the people ~  but that is the way it happened.


carol a castagna  (c) 5/2014

HYMNS OF OLD...

BIBLE VERSE  "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands."   New Living Translation

There are old, old, hymns that I remember from my childhood.  The choruses go something like this:

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME   (public domain/ author:  unknown                 
This world, this world is not my home.
This world, this world is not my home.
This world is not my resting place.
This world, this world is not my home.

FARTHER ALONG (public domain/author: Brad Parsely                
Farther along, we'll know all about it
Farther along, we'll understand why.
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine.
We'll understand it...
All... bye and bye.

FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS (public domain/ author: Joseph C. Ludgate       
Friendship with Jesus...
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion.
Jesus is a friend of mine.

I'VE GOT A MANSION OVER THE HILLTOP  (public domain/ author:  Daniel O'Donnell        
I've got a mansion, just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we'll never grow old
And someday yonder
We will never more wonder
But walk on streets that are purest gold.

CHANGED IN A TWINKLING OF AN EYE public domain/  author:  Fanny  Crosby,
Changed in a twinkling of an eye.                                                           W.J. Kilpatrick
Changed in a twinkling of an eye.
The trumpet shall sound.
The dead shall be raised.
Changed in the twinkling of an eye!

KEEP ME TRUE public domain/ author:  unknown             
Keep me true, Lord Jesus.  Keep me true.
Keep me true, Lord Jesus, Keep me true.
There's a race that I must run...
There are victories to be won.
Give me power, every hour, to be true.

How blessed we are to know that this world is not the end of our soul's existence.  The Lord has
promised us that our souls wrapped in a new body will live on with Him in Eternity.  How sweet,
that we can rest on the promise that we are just passing through this life and that this earthly body
will one day be transformed 'in a twinkling of an eye.'  Our trials on earth will be something similar to an eye-blink, when we reach those heavenly shores. And there will be no sadness, there.

Romans 8: 31 We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. NKJV

PRAYER:
THANK YOU, DEAR FATHER, FOR YOUR WORD THAT LIFTS US HIGH WITH HOPE THAT ONE DAY, WE SHALL BE WITH YOU AND SEE YOUR GLORIOUS FACE!  ...AND SING AND REJOICE WITH THE ANGELS!  WE LOOK FORWARD WITH JOY TO THE DAY WHEN WE WORHSIP YOU FACE TO FACE!  WE PRAY THAT YOU WILL KEEP US FAITHFUL AND EVER-WATCHING AND READY FOR YOUR RETURN.  PRAISE YOUR GLORIOUS AND MATCHLESS NAME!    IN JESUS' NAME WE PRAY,   AMEN. 

BIRDS OF THE BIBLE AND OTHERS...

THE BIRDS OF THE AIR

                                                                          Baby birds

I awakened this morning to a sweet serenade of baby birds singing and thought:  'Heaven's symphony must sound something like this!!'  It was soft and serene...peaceful and melodious...The mother had built her nest
against our home.

Above, on his cage, is our cockatiel, Sweetie Pie, seventeen years old, a speaker of words and a whistler of songs:  I now happily add to his introduction:  a composer of music!  He composes his own sweet melodies and we call him Mozart of the Air. He can sing 'Carousel' and 'The Teddy Bears' Picnic.'  It is amazing what these little birds can learn!  He is absolutely a part of the family!

Mozart sings his soft sounds as we listen in astonishment!  He seems to think that he's  quite the entertainer, stretching his little neck and looking up to the ceiling as he sings.  He appears to wear a look of accomplishment  as he whistles and turns from me to my husband!  We think he is rather grand! 

The Lord mentions birds in the Bible several times.  Mathew 6: 26 "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Luke 12:24:  'Consider the ravens...'   and  Matthew 8:20:  And Jesus said unto them: " Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

Psalm 104: 10 and 12, 24 25, 27,
He sends the springs into the valleys.  They flow among the hills...By them, the birds of the heavens have their home; they sing among the branches...The earth is full of Your possessions...living things both small and great.  These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season.  What You give them, they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.  They shall run and not be weary.  They shall walk and not faint.
Exodus 19:4 ...how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself.

Thank you, dear Father, for Your provision, for us and for the creatures of the field and of the air.

Luke 12: 6 and 7

All verses from: Holy Bible N.K.J.V.

I AM AMAZED!

I AM AMAZED!
 

I am amazed!  Not only am I amazed that the God of the universe forgives our sin, black as a starless night, but that He decides to remember our sin no more.!  He chooses to see us in our forgiven-by-the-blood-of-Jesus state, with hearts white as snow and waiting to see Him upon His second coming.

How likely is it for us to ignore someone's hurtful words or actions?...   Probably not very likely, at all.  That is why God is God.  He is able to put aside our sin and the sins of others...we, many times, are not.  How loving is our God!  How filled with tender mercies and compassion!  How kind and merciful!

May the Lord fill us with His great compassion so that we may emulate the love of our Father in heaven.

N.K.J.V. Psalm 103: 11-14   So great is His mercy toward those who revere Him:  As far as the east is from the west...So far has He removed our transgressions from us.  As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.  For He knows our frame:  He remembers that we are dust. 

Photo by Linda Porcello

JEREMIAH 31:34  N.K.J.V.   I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they will be my people...For I will forgive their iniquity,  and their sin, I will remember no more. (cross-reference Hebrews 10: 17)