A Season of Singing

"In this season of much singing, I ask those who love our Lord Jesus to ask very specially for singing hearts.

"It would be sad if the lovely Christmas hymns and carols sounded only like a noise – even a noise of music – to Him. But if they are the glad and wondering adoration of our hearts, then I think they will give Him joy.

"Do not forget what Christmas cost Him – Gethsemane and Calvary." 

· Amy Carmichael
Edges of His Ways daily devotional

Merry Christmas!

~ Hannah

His Eye is On the Sparrow

I am slowly pulling out of yet another physical setback...days of deep weakness and survival mode. And in them, God is with me. How do I know?! One way is through the songs He places in my heart. Like one morning last week...

...How glad I am that even before I woke to the fact that today was a hard-to-breathe, hard-to-move, legs-giving-out sort of day...

Even before this I woke to a song in my heart:

"Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come?...

"I sing because I'm happy
I sing because I'm free;
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me."*

That song is obviously a perfectly timed gift from my loving Father today.

• Matthew 10:29 — Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

• Luke 12:7 — Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Even though I am working my way back toward my "normal" strength this week, Elsa is facing a more prolonged setback due to the toxins spread through our house during days of cement chipping and grinding in our basement. Would you pray that her near-blacking-out through large portions of each day will clear up more quickly than the first time mycotoxins put her body in this state for much of a year?

P.S. - Pics are of last week's Jasmine-Green tea with the spontaneous addition of dandelion fluff. Tea outdoors is the best! Especially in my favorite mug by The Evergreen Studio.

*Civilla D. Martin (1905)

Rest in Him

Come, Thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.

• Charles Wesley, 1744

Merry Christmas!!!

P.S. - Though not something one usually sits down and reads of an evening, this hymnal is still one of my favorite books.

You know how words are so much more easily memorized when set to music? Every child should grow up filling their memories with timeless hymns full of eternal Truth!

Countless times these hymns have come back to me "out of the blue." Actually, I know I am given just the right one at just the right time to meet the needs of my heart.

Hymns help me find my rest in Him!

Echoes in the Darkness

"The Alpine shepherds have a beautiful custom of ending the day by singing to one another an evening farewell. The air is so crystalline that the song will carry long distances. As the dusk begins to fall, they gather their flocks and begin to lead them down the mountain paths, singing, 'Hitherto hath the lord helped us. Let us praise His name!'

"And at last with a sweet courtesy, they sing to one another the friendly farewell: 'Goodnight! Goodnight!' The words are taken up by the echoes, and from side to side the song goes reverberating sweetly and softly until the music dies away in the distance.

"... So let us call out to one another through the darkness, till the gloom becomes vocal with many voices, encouraging the pilgrim host. Let the echoes gather till a very storm of Hallelujahs break in thundering waves around the sapphire throne, and then as the morning breaks we shall find ourselves at the margin of the sea of glass, crying, with the redeemed host, 'Blessing and honor and glory be unto Him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever!'"

"This my song through endless ages, 
Jesus led me all the way."

"AND AGAIN THEY SAID, HALLELUJAH!" - Revelation 19:3, R.V.

Exerpt from December 31st entry of Streams in the Desert, edited by Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman, 1925

First photo may be found here and second here:
Agnes Monkelbaan, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Besides our reading from Genesis and a hymn last night, we were also blessed to join the Getty family for a hymn sing from their current home in Northern Ireland. How neat to see another family gather their little girls around the piano and sing songs of truth and faith - something we desperately need to pass on to keep each generation strong in the Lord.

One of the hymns that was good to sing again was Great is Thy Faithfulness.

It's amazing how many powerful lines are contained in these few, short verses!

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow...

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth...



As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!



Click here to sing along with the Getty Family Hymn Sing - from Northern Ireland