Thankful Thursday

Tuesday of this week marked the completion of the study of Revelation that I've been doing this year. At the beginning of the book, in Revelation 1:3 is this promise: "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near." This promise is repeated near the end of the book in Revelation 22:7 with these words: "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."

I have been truly blessed by the study of this book and I am so very thankful that I have had the opportunity to study it! I've been blessed by an expanded understanding of the very nature of God, His character and His attributes and His eternal plans and purposes. Who could ask for more? But there were further blessings for me. I've experienced an increased understanding of other passages of Scripture because of my new knowledge of Revelation. I have read the warnings of Revelation with an increased sense of the urgency of sharing the gospel. And reading the commendations and warnings to the churches of Asia Minor was of particular relevancy to me as a member of a relatively new and small church plant. So I praise God and thank Him for the blessings He has so graciously given me through this study, blessings I did not anticipate from studying this particular book.

What are you thanking God for this week? Each Thursday of 2010, I am joining with my friend, Kim, of The Upward Call, and others in giving thanks to God for His good gifts. Please join us!

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb!

Rebecca is inviting us all to join in a big ole' celebration of the joys of rhubarb! A rhubarb fest! And I love, love, love rhubarb!!! I love it almost any way you can serve it...in pie, a sauce, rhubarb cake, rhubarb muffins, in a crisp, a cobbler. Oh, and rhubarb anything jam! Can't forget that! But for the celebration, I'm going to share this recipe for Honey Rhubarb Betty. Its tried and true and if you love rhubarb, I can't imagine that you won't love it.

Honey Rhubarb Betty
1 lb. or 4 cup rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
dash of salt
2 tablespoons water
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup honey
5 slices bread, torn or cut into cubes

Combine rhubarb, sugar, nutmeg, salt and water in a 10 X 6 X 1 1/2 inch baking dish. Blend butter and honey; stir in bread cubes. Spoon evenly over top of rhubarb. Bake in 375 degrees (Fahrenheit) oven about 30 minutes or until topping is a light golden brown. Yield 4-6 servings.

I doubled the recipe and used a 9 X 13 inch baking dish.

And here are couple of rhubarb recipes that I've shared in the past; rhubarb muffins and blueberry rhubarb jam. I think you'll like them too!

I've had rhubarb growing at some of the places we've lived before but I don't have a patch here. I was planning on correcting that this spring but along came the big electrical project which involved ditches and men tromping over the planned patch. The project is nearing completion and I'm hopeful that it won't be too late to get in a patch this year. I've had some very generous friends who have kept me in the stuff in recent years but its past time to correct that and be on the giving side of sharing rhubarb.

For information on growing rhubarb, rhubarb varieties, rhubarb history, rhubarb festivals (other than Rebecca's), rhubarb recipes, non-food uses of rhubarb and just about any other sort of rhubarb information you can think of, I've found The Rhubarb Compendium to be the go-to site.

Now its your turn to join the celebration of this wonderful plant. Put up your own rhubarb post and share the link with Rebecca. Or leave your rhubarb thoughts in a comment at her site. Just do it by Thursday to be at the party. See you there!

Sunday's Hymn: To God Be the Glory

To God be the glory, great things he hath done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
Who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that we may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great things he hath done!

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood!
To ev'ry believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus forgiveness receives.

Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Fanny J. Crosby, 1875
Tune: Praise the Lord, William H. Doane, 1835-1916

Thankful Thursday

I have a cold today...a miserable one that's really laid me low, praise God. Now, I know you think that's a pretty strange thing to be thanking God for but hear me out on this one.

What I am really thanking God for today is His omniscience. He is all-knowing and that knowledge includes His knowledge of me. He made me! And I am an introvert and a homebody! I've learned to temper those qualities over the years but I still need more alone time than many other people I know and my most satisfying alone time is spent at home.

But I've had various people in the house for the last 10 days or so working on this electrical project. People, nice as could be but...they are not even friends let alone family members!

Yesterday marked the end of phase one on the project and we get a few days off until the power company gets the approved inspection and schedules their part of the job. I did have some commitments today and tomorrow but God in His infinite knowledge of me and His loving kindness forced me to cancel them and stay home. In fact, He made the cold of enough magnitude to force me to rest at home!

I've been thinking of Psalm 139 today, a psalm that praises our Lord for His omniscience. Here it is in its entirety:

O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

But it is verse five that I am especially meditating on today. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. I needed that hemming today. I needed the shepherding that He provided for me, His stupid sheep that probably would not have done what was best for herself, canceling commitments and taking a day of rest, without His tender care. I'm praising God for His hand upon me!

Each Thursday of this year, I am joining with Kim of The Upward Call and others in giving thanks to our loving God for the good gifts He gives us. Won't you join us?

Sunday's Hymn: My God and Father, Day by Day

My God and Father, day by day,
Far from my home in life's rough way,
O teach me from my heart to say,
"Thy will be done."

Though dark my path and sad my lot,
Let me be still and murmur not,
Or breathe the prayer divinely taught,
"Thy will be done."

What though in lonely grief I sigh
For friends belov'd, no longer nigh,
Submissive still would I reply,
"Thy will be done."

If thou shouldst call me to resign
What most I prize, it ne'er was mine;
I only yield thee what was thine,
"Thy will be done."

Let but my fainting heart be blest
With thy sweet Spirit for its guest,
My God, to thee I leave the rest:
"Thy will be done."

Charlotte Elliott, 1834
Tune: Almsgiving, John B. Dykes, 1823-1876

Thankful Thursday

Once again, I am thanking God for something I previously took for granted--hot water at a turn of the faucet. Our electrical project has been added onto. We're having a gas line run to the back patio since we have a ditch dug already for the new underground electric service. The gas line is so we can have a natural gas grill back there instead of relying on our old charcoal grill. So today the gas had to be turned off to do some of that work. That meant that the dishes couldn't be washed in hot water unless I boiled it in the electric teakettle or heated it in the microwave. A minor inconvenience but one I noticed. Thank God the gas is back on in time for hot showers tonight after doing some refilling of ditches and replanting of moved plants.

I don't have my gas dryer back yet and probably won't for a couple more days but, since I generally do laundry as it accumulates and never have much of a backlog, that's not such an inconvenience. So for today its that hot running water that I'm especially thanking God for.

Kim of The Upward Call and several others of us are posting our thankfulness to God each Thursday of this year. Won't you join us?

Charlie...

...really didn't want to get up this morning.

Sunday's Hymn: Father, I Know That All My LIfe

Father, I know that all my life
Is portioned out for me;
The changes that are sure to come,
I do not fear to see:
I ask thee for a present mind,
Intent on pleasing thee.

I would not have the restless will
That hurries to and fro,
Seeking for some great thing to do,
Or secret thing to know;
I would be treated as a child,
And guided where I go.

I ask thee for the daily strength,
To none that ask denied,
A mind to blend with outward life,
While keeping at thy side,
Content to fill a little space,
If thou be glorified.

In service which thy will appoints
There are no bonds for me;
My secret heart is taught the truth
That makes thy children free;
A life of self-renouncing love
Is one of liberty.

Anna L. Waring, 1850
Tune: Morwellham, Charles Steggall, 1826-1905

Thankful Thursday

We're getting some much needed electrical work done on the cottage. I won't bore you with the details but its a major project undertaken for safety concerns and its rather expensive. This week I am feeling especially thankful that God has provided not only the money to do this project but also a contractor whom we have confidence in. Some outside digging is necessary and the vacillation of spring weather has slowed that aspect of the project down a little this week but its begun and I'm looking forward to the completion of the work.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
~Philippians 4:19

Each Thursday of 2010, I am joining with Kim of the Upward Call and many others in giving thanks to our God for His good gifts. We'd love to have you join us!

Sunday's Hymn: How Calm and Beautiful the Morn

How calm and beautiful the morn
That gilds the sacred tomb,
Where Christ the crucified was borne,
And veiled in midnight gloom!
O weep no more the Saviour slain;
The Lord is ris'n; he lives again.

Ye mourning saints, dry ev'ry tear
For your departed Lord;
Behold the place, he is not here,
The tomb is all unbarred;
The gates of heath were closed in vain:
The Lord is ris'n; he lives again.

Now cheerful to the house of prayer
Your early footsteps bend;
The Saviour will himself be there,
Your Advocate and Friend:
Once by the law your hopes were slain,
But now in Christ ye live again.

How tranquil now the rising day!
'Tis Jesus still appears,
A risen Lord to chase away
Your unbelieving fears:
O weep no more your comforts slain;
The Lord is ris'n; he lives again.

And when the shades of evening fall,
When life's last hour draws nigh,
If Jesus shine upon the soul,
How blissful then to die!
Since he has ris'n that once was slain,
Ye die in Christ to live again.

Thomas Hastings, 1831
Tune: Hastings, Thomas Hastings, 1831

Thankful Thursday

The one thing that I am most thankful for this week is the visit of old friends to our church on Sunday. These "old friends" are actually a young family. We became acquainted in the days before we had a regular man to fill our pulpit each Sunday. This young man, Rich, was one who often came to preach for us. It was great fun to see him and his wife and their little son again and to meet their seven month old daughter for the first time.

Rich is an excellent preacher and I've always enjoyed his sermons but this past Sunday's has had me contemplating it all week. The sermon text was a familiar one, John 2:1-11, the story of the wedding at Cana where Jesus changes water into wine. But Rich compared the wedding described in the gospel of John, the wedding that occurred under the law, with the wedding of the Lamb, the wedding feast yet to come at which Christ takes the church as His bride, the wedding described in Revelation 19. He compared the water that was in the stone jars to be used for purification under Jewish law with the wine that replaced it, the wine of the gospel. He pointed out that there were six stone jars, one short of the perfect number 7, just as the Mosaic economy is one removed from the New Covenant that replaced it. The act of Jesus in changing the purification water into wine, about 125 gallons of the "best wine", reveals His abundant grace as well as the inadequacy of the Mosaic economy in cleansing us from sin. Only the person and work of Jesus Christ can atone for our filthy sins and make us righteous and clean before God. And Jesus points to that future time, the time mentioned in Revelation 19, when we as His bride will wear the clean linen of righteousness as we are fully united with Him, by saying "My time has not yet come" in John 2:4.

I've been studying the book of Revelation in depth this year, for the first time. Revelation 1:3 says "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near." God's blessings to me have been abundant throughout the study. A perfect example is having this sermon of Rich's fall in the week of my study of Revelation 19. As Rich commented when I told him of this timing, "We know the Spirit is always at work and sometimes we get to see it." I am overflowing with thankfulness this week!

I'm joining with Kim of the Upward Call and several other bloggers in posting my gratitude to God for His goodness to me each Thursday in 2010. Won't you join us?