The Everlasting Arms – A Poem by A. B. Simpson

 

Deuteronomy 33:27  The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…

As we close our the month of March and thinking about how God is eternal, I just wanted to post this poem as one last reminder of the blessedness of having an everlasting Lord.

The Everlasting Arms

Are you sunk in depths of sorrow
Where no arm can reach so low;
There is One whose arms almighty
Reach beyond thy deepest woe.
God the Eternal is thy refuge,
Let Him still thy wild alarms;
Underneath thy deepest sorrow
Are the everlasting arms.

Other arms grow faint and weary,
These can never faint nor fail;
Others reach our mounts of blessing,
These our lowest, loneliest vale.
Oh, that all might know His friendship!
Oh, that all might see His charms!
Oh, that all might have beneath them
Jesus' everlasting arms.

Underneath us - oh, how easy!
We have not to mount on high,
But to sink into His fullness
And in trustful weakness lie;
And we find our humbling failures
Save us from the strength that harms;
We may fail, but underneath us
Are the everlasting arms.

Arms of Jesus, fold me closer
To Thy strong and loving breast,
Till my spirit on Thy bosom
Finds it's everlasting rest;
And when time's last sands are sinking,
Shield my heart from all alarms,
Softly whispering, "Underneath thee
Are the everlasting arms."

By A. B. Simpson

Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted

Isaiah 53:4-5  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.



Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
By His Son, God now hath spoken,
’Tis the true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Is the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.

Thomas Kelly

Evening Song – Blessed Redeemer

Galatians 6:14  But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Sew Happy Friday – How Buttons Are Made

 

This week we have a video about how buttons are made.  It’s an interesting process.  I’m not a big fan of sewing garments with buttons, mostly because I don’t like making buttonholes. :-)  But, I do like the many pretty or attractive buttons that we can get in modern times.  Buttons don’t have to be used only as closures on garments.  They make nice embellishments for quilts, craft projects, home décor and just as decoration on garments.

By the way, I don’t think they mentioned it, but in the past many buttons were made from bone.  Sometimes you can find bone buttons at antique and collectible stores or even garage sales or thrift stores.

 

The Thousand Word Project – Bridal White

 

Taken at various times in our old neighborhood in East Tennessee.

Random Acts of Blogging – Lately Around Here…

 

Hello!  Here are some photos I wanted to share with you of things that have happened in my little world lately.  :-)

We had an ice storm at the end of February that gave us these pretty icicles along our eaves.  Since we don’t get much snow in these parts, I tend to photograph whatever “frozen stuff” we do get. :-)

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Doesn’t this chocolaty dessert look mouth-watering?  Strange to say, it wasn’t.  Neither my husband nor I were very impressed with it, and neither of us are particularly picky eaters.  I invented this myself, but it was a dud.  Oh well.  Some you win and some…

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I asked my husband to pick up some flowers one day when he was doing the grocery shopping.  I expected him to bring home a small bunch of inexpensive flowers such as button carnations.  Instead he came home with these beauties!  He said all the other flowers looked “scrappy”, so he got a more expensive bouquet!  I was not complaining. :-)

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One evening recently some of us cooked our supper over my brother’s portable fire pit.  It was a lot of fun!  Here my husband was helping get the fire going so that we could cook hot dogs and sausages.  The night was lovely – just the perfect temperature for being outside by a fire.

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Another day a friend came over with her children and we had a nice visit.  Here is “Big Brother” looking at the chicken yard.

“Little Sister” had a grand time playing with some of my soft furnishings.

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Some sure signs of Spring:

Evening Primroses
(Photo actually taken a few years ago).
A Quote from my dad:
”I love these flowers. They tell me winter is past, even if we get another cold snap. Also, you have to see them late in the day which gives you one last cheerful message from God before dark.”  - Steve Van Nattan

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Another Cloudy Day – Thoughts On Darkness and Light

 

An article I posted last week over at The Home Maker’s Corner.

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Clouds, clouds, clouds.  We’ve had so much cloudy weather here in Central Texas since December.  It may be “normal”, but we haven’t seen this much of it since we moved here almost 7 years ago.  With my SAD (seasonal affected disorder) this weather can be a real challenge.  Up until recently I have been doing pretty well with it, but it’s starting to get to me – even with all the things I do to deal with it. (See Dealing with SAD – Seasonal Affected Disorder.)

One enigma to me is that when the sun does come out for a few days or part of a day, sometimes it’s almost as if it were “too much” now.  I should be used to lots of sunshine!  After all this is Texas!  But, still I tend to get a headache sometimes or feel like it’s too bright.  This doesn’t happen every time, but it has been enough to notice.  I have to conclude that I’ve grown used to the darkness.

That makes me think, though.  How much is our spiritual vision impacted by the increasing spiritual darkness of the world we live in?  How much have we grown accustom to the gloom of sin and sorrow and wickedness.  I wonder if some or all of us wouldn’t be rather over-dazzled by the glory of the Lord if we had occasion to really “see” it. 

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