Wayne Christian Assembly

" 'Tis paradise if thou art mine"

Should famine o’er the mourning field
Extend her desolating reign,
Nor spring her blooming beauties yield,
Nor autumn swell the fruitful grain:

Should lowing herds, and bleating sheep,
Around their famish’d master die;
And hope itself despairing weep,
While life deplores its last supply:

Amid the dark, the deathful scene,
If I can say, the Lord is mine!
The joy shall triumph o’er the pain,
And glory dawn, though life decline.

The God of my salvation lives;
My nobler life he will sustain;
His word immortal vigor gives,
Nor shall my glorious hopes be vain.

5Thy presence, Lord, can cheer my heart,
Though ev’ry earthly comfort die;
Thy smile can bid my pains depart,
And raise my sacred pleasures high.

O let me hear thy blissful voice,
Inspiring life and joys divine!
The barren desert shall rejoice;
‘Tis paradise, if thou art mine.

-Anne Steele

"...somewhere, beyond the stars, is a love that is better than fate" ❤️

In the bitter waves of woe,
Beaten and tossed about
By the sullen winds that blow
From the desolate shores of doubt,­­

When the anchors that faith had cast
Are dragging in the gale,
I am quietly holding fast
To the things that cannot fail:

In the darkest night of the year,
When the stars have all gone out, That courage is better than fear, That faith is truer than doubt;

And fierce though the fiends may fight, And long though the angels hide,
I know that Truth and Right
Have the universe on their side;

And somewhere, beyond the stars,
Is a Love that is better than fate;
When the night unlocks her bars
I shall see Him, and I will wait.

Washington Gladden

Streams in the Desert, 1/24. Another gem...

"And even if the heaven seem brass, without a sound?
He hears each prayer and even notes the sparrow's fall."

But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him... And the dove came to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf (Genesis 8:9-11).

God knows just when to withhold from us any visible sign of encouragement, and when to grant us such a sign. How good it is that we may trust Him anyway! When all visible evidences that He is remembering us are withheld, that is best; He wants us to realize that His Word, His promise of remembrance, is more substantial and dependable than any evidence of our senses. When He sends the visible evidence, that is well also; we appreciate it all the more after we have trusted Him without it. Those who are readiest to trust God without other evidence than His Word always receive the greatest number of visible evidences of His love.
--C. G. Trumbull

Believing Him; if storm-clouds gather darkly 'round,
And even if the heaven seem brass, without a sound?
He hears each prayer and even notes the sparrow's fall.
And praising Him; when sorrow, grief, and pain are near,
And even when we lose the thing that seems most dear?
Our loss is gain. Praise Him; in Him we have our All.
Our hand in His; e'en though the path seems long and drear
We scarcely see a step ahead, and almost fear?
He guides aright. He has it thus to keep us near.
And satisfied; when every path is blocked and bare,
And worldly things are gone and dead which were so fair?
Believe and rest and trust in Him, He comes to stay.

Delays are not refusals; many a prayer is registered, and underneath it the words: "My time is not yet come." God has a set time as well as a set purpose, and He who orders the bounds of our habitation orders also the time of our deliverance.
--Selected