BLESSED ASSURANCE AT OCEAN GROVE

You know – not really ready for vacation but had to get ready and I had the car packed in waves of unorganized mess with 3 times as much as I need – but well, I plan to get some time to organize this week – a week of vacation… Ahhhhh….

And so – not knowing but then knowing – whether it would work out that I could go to my new favorite beach place, Ocean Grove, for the 1030 church service before travelling onwards for vacation, well it worked out!!! Blessed Assurance that God is in charge – and He is. (FYI Blessed Assurance was written by Fanny Crosby while vacationing here in Ocean Grove).

I had Blessed Assurance last night and then this morning – well the outside cat that I am feeding for a friend turned up after going missing for a couple days – he gave 2 small meows when i arrived at 630am = whew! and he had eaten the food – so that is a relief. Blessed Assurance that he will be OK this week with another friend feeding him. – and then BLESSED ASSURANCE at home I saw that my own cat – who has not been eating well – had used the litter box – TMI sorry but this is blessed PROGRESS ! Let us pray for an increase in eating… one day at a time.

Blessed Assurance – rest assured divine. With all that – for sure I felt the freedom to leave the house and start my adventure with the beach and then vbs etc. (especially when i got the perfect parking spot – here with 0 time left before the church service – wow!)

And oh yeah – still don’t have my phone – well – there is WIFI and a table here at the bookstore – and the nicest host who also is writing a blog – and with the wifi at the picnic table next to the building, in the shade, I can check in with the world and my family… You know that feeling of unease not being reachable and yet they are ok even if they are not reachable by me. Well that melted away at the church service… Yeah!!! OCEAN GROVE IS WHERE I FELT (AND FEEL) THE PEACE – OH HOW BLESSED THIS BLESSED ASSURANCE!!!!

AND THAT BLESSED ASSURANCE IS THAT “JESUS IS MINE” – IS THAT IN OUR UNEASE, WE ONLY NEED TO REMEMBER THAT HE IS ALL WE NEED – HE IS ENOUGH. (I appreciated that someone this morning gave me a sticker that said “you are enough” AMEN !

And wow the sermon spot on – oh the music amazing – oh the vibrations of the organ music – I am going back at 230 for the Sunday organ recital concert. and so spot on the preaching – the sermon by guest Pastor Vito Aiuto (link below) spoke of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter 3, as he urged them (even in his own distress) for them to keep going – and “DON’T LOSE HEART” – yes – we have so much but really in the worst of times, and Paul was in them, we still can pray for others and be at peace with this blessed assurance of Him giving us salvation – and we can live and be OK ultimately.

The sermon (and the whole service) is really worth the listen – and when he mentioned JOSEPH? Joseph being taken to Egypt against his will but in God’s plan? WOW – that is what my VBS is this week – I had to run up to him after the sermon and say thank you and God bless! cool… and wow the music so spot on – the hymns and Him.

BLESSED ASSURANCE!!!

God’s Got this!!! AMEN!!! Let’s get this vacation started!

WHEW!!!Here is a video of the service!

Call to Worship – Shore and More

It’s great to remember to “walk by faith and not by sight” – a scripture sign that I saw in Ocean Grove NJ last night, along with beautiful light too… The light of living well (and abundantly too)… JOY…

At the shore escape, I sat on the beach in the shade reading… reading about Heaven (great little book by David Jeremiah) and reading about Fanny Crosby, songwriter and child of God. Truly Fanny Crosby, blinded as an infant, gained spiritual sight in INSIGHT of the HEART to be a poet and hymnist of the mid to late 1800s, living in the LIGHT of Jesus’s Way. These people in this era experienced faith in revival in the cities and here at the shore. Fanny, like me, like us, can visit and live in the experiences of the waves of God’s Love more numerous and powerful than the ocean waves. Waves of the ocean and of love, like we experience in Grace and Mercy. We must let it wash over us to understand.

Fanny Crosby wrote in an early hymn lyric:

“More like Jesus would I be.

Let my savior dwell in me.

Fill my soul with Peace & Love.

Make me gentle as a Dove.

More like Jesus as I go.

Pilgrim, in this world below,

Poor in spirit I would be –

Let my Savior dwell in me.”

And isn’t that the central core of LIVING BY FAITH? Less of us and more of Him. To be poor in our spirit ourselves and let Jesus lead the way. AND WORSHIP THE LORD because He calls us too – and because our Sprit aches for acknowledging Jesus.

Less angst, more acceptance.

Less worldliness, more forever thinking.

LESS US, MORE HIM.

Less demanding, more giving.

Less profiting, more prophetic.

Less put-off, more praise, even in pain.

“Be Joyful in Hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12

Jesus praised His Father as we should… The praise of the Spirit dwelling in us is greater than anything we could produce. Let us take the moment to embrace the grace, and sing out God’s Glory in song and spirit. Let us let the Lord lead our day and way.

Amen

I Can’t Complain No More, a Day Trip to the Shore

I find it very hard to complain about a temperature of 74,

even if I was actually CHILLY down at the shore.

Wore a jacket, but I had a break from 100 degrees! Say no more!

Yet even 100 degrees, I had AC, could get out of it, I can’t complain if I COULD and DID get to the shore.

My car is always packed ready, who knows what life has in store!

In my beach chair, I started reading about Fanny Crosby, her life as a blind child, famous for her poems, then hymn lyrics, and her trips and more.

I read about the scurge of 1800’s cholera in NYC all around. You know, we DON’T have cholera no more – should count blessings, right? Need I say more?

Famous Fanny Crosby even wrote a poem for the Camp Meeting of Ocean Grove – the blessed site of revival a stone’s throw from big city’s door.

Fanny Crosby loved life, she visited so much, appreciated, enjoyed the shore.

I was told this and MORE, by a gentleman greeting at the Gospel Pavilion, where they had free electricity too, cellphone plug outlets galore!

I respited there, watched lightning while a thunderstorm rolled off-shore.

Yes, a clear a display of God’s power and balance of life at the shore.

At the auditorium, the bells rang beautifully and a woman walked hunched over, surely a chore.

She struggled with a broken back but she kept walking, we enjoyed chatting, she invited me another day to visit with her some more.

And WOW, the hydrangea flowers, the scenery, and the quaint Camp tents, I loved their appreciative decor!

Back on the pier, a bee landed on me, rested 15 minutes, picked pollen off his head like a cat, done from his day at the shore, so many flowers he did explore.

It was me a busy bee too, appreciatively resting my core.

Yes, even in life stress, let us take a moment to remember the bless, blessed anywhere, just chilling, knowing about Jesus’s Forevermore!

Life on earth has many a temporary short summers, please find ways like a non-fancy little day trip, to LIVE IT UP some more.

I appreciated all the temperatures this day, we surely can endure: 100, then 80, then 74!

Amen