Jesus- The Light of The Soul

Depression is not something you sign up for. It is quiet and sneaky. Suddenly smothered by a depth into which you have fallen, you struggle to climb back into the light. I have found only one way. " Trust and Obey" is an old hymn that makes it plain that trusting Jesus will bring us back toward the magnificent loving, all-forgiving Jesus. I ask God to continue helping me to Trust and Obey. Prayer, Writing, Seeking without fear, reaching my hands fully toward heaven and professing my need for protection from the thorns that harm, but rather to be made aware of the dangers of the thorns so they become a wall of protection. This has been a year of recovering from the loss of my dear mamma last August 2012. Throughout 2013, I have lost my older brother, my stepdaughter,  and my 92 year old daddy. This had been a year of unknowns , smothered by the grief, but growing stronger because of the brightness of God's glory.
"Greater is he that is in you,than he that is in the world- 1 John 4:4 KJV
There is a song written by Judson W. Van Deventer,  who lived 1855-1939, with words added by Winfield S. Weeden who lived 1847-1908. "Sunlight" 
" I wandered in the shades of night, til Jesus came to me. And with the sunlight of his love made all my darkness flee" " Though clouds may gather in the sky, And billows round me roll, However dark the world may be, I've sunlight in my soul.." " Soon I shall see Him as He is, The Light that came to me, Behold the brightness of His face, Throughout eternity."

REVIVAL IN OUR SOULS

Revival was held three nights and Sunday morning at our small rural community church. The evangelist Bryan Tyndale is part of Uttermost Ministries. He had held crusades in 26 foreign countries and throughout the United States. Having been on foreign mission trips to Nicaragua with Sonny Holland Evangelistic Outreach, I felt the refreshing joy of hearing the gospel message. Crusades on the mission field overwhelm me with the open weeping as hundreds come forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and gain access to the throne room of our Lord. Taking bags of rice, beans, sugar and oil to communities in horse drawn wagons fills a physical need in a country of poverty and starvation. The gospel is preached to groups who enter the rustic medical clinic where doctors see people who may never have seen a doctor for any medical care in their entire life. The children look with beautiful dark brown eyes at missionaries as if to say "Help me for I am hungry". On Sundays, over 600 children come each week to Sunday School and are fed a nutritious meal and blessed with the feeding of their soul. Members of the team bring items on their trip which they feel led to bring. Before I left on one trip, my friend gave me a pair of shoes for a child. The need is so great, I had no idea to which child I would give the shoes. Most of the children came barefoot to church services. A little girl came up to me after one service, wrapped her arms around me and would not let go. I picked her up and carried her to our bus. As she sat in my lap, I looked down at her feet and realized the shoes would be a perfect fit for the child. I fit the shoes onto her feet and she began to cry from gratitude. I could not help but know the hand of God had prompted my friend to send the shoes while God prepared the beautiful needy child to receive them. Every day we saw God work in miraculous ways.

" Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost".

My daughter reviews many books for my grandchildren's home school curriculum. Recently she received a book and an  instructor's manual " The Art of Poetry" by Christine Perrin, MFA . As you see in my blog, I write a lot of poetry from inspiration rather than knowledge of the process or the art. My daughter invited me to participate in their first two lessons about images and metaphors. I am thrilled to be completing the study as instructor for my grandchildren using the instructor's manual.  We hope soon to be able to apply critical thinking to various poems and create poems of our own. 

Early Morning Awakening
Birds Chirping their Song.
Sunshine rising- Light
Joy come to me
God's Word fulfills.
Written by Morninglory 3/23/2013

Belief and Endurance Throughout Life

Weeks before this photo was taken, my 91 year old dad asked me to order him many trees of assorted varieties. He said that if people did not start planting trees, there would be none for the next generation. He was especially interested in fruit bearing trees and flowering plants. When they arrived, they were only slightly larger than feathers but looked healthy. My husband offered to help daddy plant , but daddy said he couldn't just sit in his chair and had to get outside. The next day when I drove by to check on daddy, there he was digging the holes and planting. When I asked if he felt stable enough to be planting, he said when he got tired he just leaned on his golf cart or sat down in it. . The post hole digger was standing in the ground beside him and he said the dirt had to be broken with the digger before the shovel would dig out the soil. As usual, I was afraid for his safety, but he was content and felt productive. Having farmed all his life, he has taken pleasure in still being productive at age 91. As you can see by the tall pine trees behind him, he lives by what he believes. The next generation will need us to plan for them, even the oxygen they breathe.
Isaiah 46:4 NASB

4 Even to your old age aI 1will be the same,

And even to your 2bgraying years I will bear you!

I have 3done it, and I will carry you;

And I will bear you and I will deliver you.

Abundant Love

"To my Loving Wife"

This is a little note to tell you how much I love you.I know God blessed me with you from the beginning. My love has grown for you each year.I pray God will send you a special Joy to help you get through this Christmas without your mother. God is in control of all things in our lives.God has placed me to help you and love you.I could not have asked for a better gift from God. You are my sunshine and my love.I wish you a special Christmas. God made a wonderful person when He made you. He has given you a special way to help other people by teaching and showing them how to be better exposed to helping others through Christ. We often meet them when we go out. God will bless you for your caring and love to each one. Christ, you and our children make my Christmas. With Love Always.

The Lord has blessed my husband and I with 33 years of abiding love. This is what he wrote and placed in my stocking for Christmas morning.This tender message filled my heart during this first Christmas after losing my mother. It was also the passage in my life from 42 years of full-time nursing, most recently as an educator into the time of retirement. It takes a true man of God to have written these beautiful words to me.

Ephesians 5:33 "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband." King James Version: The Open Bible.

Scenes - Memories- Different Views

How different the same scene can look when viewed on different days in different seasons. This tree is across from the end of the country lane from our house. The old fence posts fallen down remind me of a different time when the land was occupied by neighbors and the fence row stood even and tall. Down the hill behind the old oak tree was a real horse drawn syrup mill. As a child I ventured with my daddy to see the horse walk in a circle pulling on a large wooden stirrer in the syrup as it cooked. The syrup began as juice from sugar cane and ended as Ribbon Cane Syrup, often sold in a quart can.

Memories floating gently like leaves falling from a tree,
Sometimes remembered through the misty fog of time;
Golden like the straw in an old pasture,
New memories branching out green in the hope of Spring.
Written by Morninglory 12/7/2012

"It may be hard going forward, but it is worse going back." 
Charles H. Spurgeon

Ma'Maw's Coconut Pie

When a cool snap comes south during late fall, I begin reminiscing about the food my mother and mother in law used to cook for family gatherings.My husband's all time favorite is Ma'Maw's Coconut Pie". I tried for years to make a pie just like his mother. Somehow mine always came out more like a chess pie rather than a custard. I even tried to slow cook the custard that I had prepared for my daughter when she was a baby and then add fresh grated coconut. Several years ago, my best friend brought us a splendid pie that was just like the pie my husband dreamed about. She wrote the recipe down and I had a winner. Oh my, did I make a mistake when I lost that recipe. I called my daughter to see if she had borrowed it and she said no, but she knew where I could find Ma'Maw's recipe. When my daughter had lived in Gulfport, Mississippi, she had participated in compilation of a church cookbook. She said that while in college when she spent a lot of time with her Ma'Maw, that she had written down her coconut pie recipe and it was now in the church cookbook. I made the pie and my husband smiled and smacked his lips in joy. Here is the recipe for you to enjoy.

Ma'Maw's Coconut Pie

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 T cornstarch

3 egg yolks (Save whites)

2 cups milk

1 dash salt

1 can coconut or 1 cup fresh shredded coconut

1 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, flour, and cornstarch together. Stir in about one cup of milk into this mixture. Mix the other cup of milk into the egg yolks and stir into the mixture. Add dash of salt. Cook slowly over medium heat, stirring constantly until it becomes a smooth custard consistency. Add coconut and vanilla and blend until very smooth. Pour into a baked until brown pie crust.  Cover with meringue.

Ma'Maw's Meringue

Cream of tarter-One dash

3 egg whites

1/4 cup of sugar.

Whip egg whites and cream of tarter on high speed until peaks are formed. Slowly add a small amount of sugar at a time while still whipping on high. The meringue is ready when it is no longer gritty when a little is rubbed between finger and thumb. Seal the meringue to the entire crust edges so no filling leaks out. Cover the entire pie surface. 

Bake the pie at 350 degrees until the meringue is golden brown. Cool and serve unless someone you love digs into the pie before there is time for cooling. Enjoy!

"This is the day the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24