Finding Joy Friday

Once to every man or nation comes the moment to decide,

In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; 

Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,

Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right,

And the choice goes by forever 'tixt that darkness and that light.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hast thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou shalt stand,

Ere the Doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust against our land? 

Though the cause of Evil prosper, yet 't is Truth alone is strong,

And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her throng 

Troops of beautiful, tall angels, to enshield her from all wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record

One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word; 

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, ~

Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.

~From The Present Crisis by James Russell Lowell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Admit it:

Life isn't always perfect. In fact, it's far from perfect.  

Believe me...I know all too much. 

{via}

As the poem above states, "Once to every man and nation" there is always a point in life when one must choose which path he or she will follow. 


Only few of us choose the path less traveled. 
  
The road heavenward is rocky, hard, and uphill, filled with life's struggles and toils; no wonder so many people choose the wide, smooth road. It's logical, but in the end, is it really? 
They don't look beyond the path, ahead on the destination, but how smooth and easy the way is.




The high way can feel like a lonely route at times. Fighting against the tide is a much more difficult task than flowing with it. As Christians, we make standards that would be pleasing to God. When a young lady devotes herself to wearing skirts, some people {even Christians} will scoff at the idea and think it's foolish or silly.


I indeed, have as of late, been feeling lonely, set apart like I am the only one here in my social circles, who have made standards that make me different. 
But then I thought of the great Queen Esther. She was very much protected by her cousin Mordecai when she was at a young age, for she was a Jew, but the Lord was also setting her apart in preparing her, 
For such a time as this. 


Dear reader, if you too have been struggling with this, feeling as though you are the only one taking the path less traveled, I know what you are going through. But know, that the Lord can strengthen you, just trust in Him. Even the great prophet Elijah thought he was the only one standing up against the wicked King Ahab and evil Queen Jezebel, but God reminded him that their were 7,000 other faithful followers.

{via}


     Even though at times this road is hard and rocky, I hope as we travel through life, that we can journey with hearts filled with happiness and contentment, and live finding joy in the everyday simple things.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. ~Isaiah 31:40 

Postscript~ Grrrr....this was suppose to be a much longer post {with a STORY!}, but Blogger {or my computer{ had an error and erased this whole nice post! *sigh* :P