Comforting Words

What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.
~Martin Luther

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isaiah 40:29

Do the Next Thing
At an old English parsonage down by the sea,
There came in the twilight a message to me.
Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven
That, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven.
And all through the hours the quiet words ring,
Like a low inspiration, do the next thing.

Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from heaven,
Time, opportunity, and guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care.
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand,
Who placed it before thee with earnest command,
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe 'neath His wing,
Leave all results, do the next thing.

Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
Working or suffering be thy demeanor;
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance, be thy psalm,
Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing.
Then, as He beckons, do the next thing.
~Author Unknown

I Mustn't Quit!

While flipping through one of my daughter's story books, Treasury of Christian Classics for Children, I ran across this poem, one that I really needed to read today!

You Mustn't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest! if you must--but never quit.

Life is strange, with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won if he'd stuck it out,
Stick to your task, though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with one more blow.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt--
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that YOU MUSTN'T QUIT.

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Anonymous, (commenter #21) who has won the drawing for the book The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady. I will e-mail you and you can then send me the information I will need to get this sent out to you.

This giveaway has been a lot of fun! Last I looked there were 600 and some different contests going on! Lots of prized being given away this weekend!