Count it ALL Joy...

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. James 1:2

"Life is full of hidden rocks, sudden violent winds of circumstances lying in wait for the believer. Every single one of them is embraced in James' word it. There is no trial, no great calamity or small pressure, no overwhelming sorrow or small rub of life outside that plan of God, whereby it is a stepping stone to glory. And it is for this reason that our settled conviction must be to appraise it as all joy, not because it is joyful in itself (for 'all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant' [Heb. 12:11] when it is in full flood), but because 'later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness' (Heb. 12:11). In James' words, it is the only way forward to become perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Alec Motyer

Quote of the Week

Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both thy hands as a true opportunity and blessed occasion of dying to self, and entering into the fuller fellowship with thy self-denying Savior.

William Law

Quote of the Week

I am soooo guilty of this...change my heart O, God!...

We tend to look at the circumstances of life in terms of what they may do to our cherished hopes and convenience, and we shape our decisions and reactions accordingly. When a problem threatens, we rush to God, not to seek His perspective, but to ask Him to deflect the trouble. Our self-concern takes priority over whatever it is that God might be trying to do through our trouble...

An escapist generation reads security, prosperity and physical well-being as evidences of God's blessing. Thus when he puts suffering and affliction into our hands, we misread His signals and misinterpret His intentions.

Arthur Mathews

Quote of the Week

A great many things in God's divine Providences do not look to the eye like goodness. But faith sits down before mysteries such as these, and says, "The Lord is good, therefore all that He does must be good no matter how it looks. I can wait for His explanations."

Hannah Whitall Smith

Don't forget, we're moving our blog next week. If you'd like to follow us to our new address, please send me an me an email (housefullofgrace@gmail.com). We'd love to have you join us!

Quote of the Week

It is true ... there are excellent truths in [other writings], but yet they are far short of [the Scriptures]. Those may comfort against outward trouble, but not against inward fears; they may rejoice the mind, but cannot quiet the conscience; they may kindle some flashy sparkles of joy, but they cannot warm the soul with a lasting fire of solid consolations.

Charles Spurgeon

Quote of the Week

I'm so thankful that a very special friend (who sometimes fears she has a rampant ego, so I want to make sure she is properly noted) helped me understand this on an even deeper level this past week. What blessing; what freedom. I picked it as the quote of the week for both of us.

Our present enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Oswald Chambers

Quote of the Week

Afflictions, though they seem severe, in mercy oft are sent.

Charles Spurgeon

Quote of the Week

Then she heard the Shepherd saying, "I bring my people into Egypt that they, too, may be threshed and ground into the finest powder and may become bread corn for the use of others. But remember, though bread corn is bruised, no one threshes it forever; only until the bruised and broken grain is ready for its highest use."

Hannah Hurnard, Hinds' Feet on High Places

Quote of the Week and Stuff

It's been a tough week here on many fronts and for sanity's sake, I had to take a complete break from the cyber world. I'm playing a little bit of catch up this evening and look forward to visiting more in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, here's my "Quote of the Week":

Our Saviour kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives. But rather than recoil in horror, he reaches out in kindness and says, 'I can clean that if you want.' And from the basin of his grace, he scoops a palm full of mercy and washes our sin.

Max Lucado

While I was away, I was graciously and lovingly bestowed an award by two of my favorite blogging-friends. If you haven't met these lovelies yet, do visit Heidi Pocketbook at Bargain Hunting in the Corn and Becky at Holiday in the Sun. Thanks, Ladies. What a welcome back into blogging world! God knew I needed a little lift!

If The Shoe Fits is an award for those enthusiastic people who just bubble over!! I'd like to share it with my incredible sister-in-law Beth at It Is What It Is , my dear friend Liz at A Day in the Life of Liz, and my new bloggy friend, Isabel, whose life I can relate to in so many ways, at Thrills, Frills and Drills of Motherhood. Amazing Fiona at FeeBeeKay, who has a true-blue heart and the (6th!) most beautiful baby on the planet, also deserves the award but has already been granted it twice, otherwise, I'd share it with her too!

When I finally got out of the house today, this is the song that came on the radio. It was just what I needed:

I look forward to sharing what God has been doing in my heart and life, knowing full well that He only puts us through the fire so that we come out more refined and closer to His image than we were when we went in.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2&3

Quote of the Week

God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.

Elisabeth Elliot

Quote of the Week

Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of; they just turn up some of the ill weeds on to the surface.

Charles Spurgeon

Quote of the Week

When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.

Peter Marshall

Quote of the Week

Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.

Oswald Chambers

Quote of the Week

What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.

John Wesley

Quote of the Week

My children love this one...

Obedience is doing what you're told, when you're told, with a respectful attitude. Anything less is not obedience.

Voddie Baucham

Quote of the Week

I have come to the conclusion that none of us in our generation feels as guilty about sin as we should or as our forefathers did.

Francis Schaeffer

Quote of the Week

Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength.

Charles Spurgeon

Quote of the Week

Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and bring Him nearer to our own image.

A.W. Tozier