IT'S IN THE VALLEYS WE GROW

Hola! Soy Ophelia, your BLOGGER friend! Before anything else, I wish to thank all my Blogger friends who cared to send me thoughtful emails and electronic greeting cards...I sincerely treasure them. I also want to thank my blogger visitors for sending in their comments and suggestions. I am always welcome to all comments or suggestions and opinions and ideas. We all learn from each other's ideas and I really love hearing from you. Now I am again in the mood for spiritual musings and I would like to share with you pieces of my mind.

In life, most often we only tend to look up when we are knocked down flat on our backs...when troubles, fears, worries and sicknesses arise and when life's pressures seem so hard to bear. Honestly, I, for one used to succumb to this attitude but I thank the Lord that He opened my mind to deep spiritual truths that helped me face life as it is planned for us: one day at a time. I must admit that recent pressures almost knocked me down but by God's grace I am meeting life too bravely to be beaten now. With a childlike faith in God and with a stout heart and a cheery face, I face up to pressures without any compromise to remain true to my claim as a chainless soul. Blogger friends and visitors, always remember this..."we can always find a rainbow in every dark cloud and the sparkle of God's love in every tear as He gently leads us home" because.......

Sometimes life seems hard to bear,

Full of sorrow, trouble and woe

It's then we have to remember

That it's in the valleys we grow.

If we always stayed on the mountain top

And never experienced pain,

We would never appreciate God's love

And would be living in vain.

We have so much to learn

And our growth is very slow,

Sometimes we need the mountain tops,

But it's in the valleys we grow.

We do not always understand

Why things happen as they do,

But I am very sure of one thing.

My Lord will see me through.

The little valleys are nothing

When we picture Christ on the cross

He went through the valley of death;

His victory was Satan's loss.

Forgive me Lord, for complaining

When I'm feeling so very low.

Just give me a gentle reminder

That it's in the valleys I grow.

Continue to strengthen me, Lord

And use my life each day

To share your love with others

And help them find their way.

Thank you for the valleys, Lord

For this one thing I know

The mountain tops are glorious

But it's in the valleys I grow!

HAVE A BLESSED WEEKEND BLOGGERS!

SINCERELY,

OPHELIA

VALLEY POEM BY JANE EGGLESTON

Somewhere In The World

Time, changer of seasons,

time will see another flower growing.

Climb over the mountains,

There you'll find warm winds blowing.

Somewhere in the world,

there is peace of mind.

Somewhere in the world,

that's what I must find.

Somewhere in the world,

there's a place for me

in this world...

I cannot believe it,

everywhere I see lonely faces.

Why have we no answers?

Just some more empty places?

Somewhere in the world,

there is peace of mind.

Somewhere in the world,

that's what I must find.

Somewhere in the world,

there's a place for me,

in this world.

~~Boney M~~

Hola, bloggers! We live in a world full of chaos and confusion. We see injustice all around us that we sometimes ask, "why doesn't God do something?" Dear friends, it is worthy of note that we are living in a world that is always in rebellion with God. As long as this trend continues, complete peace will be just wishful thinking, but we can always have peace in our hearts. The Lord Jesus said, "Peace, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)

Yours truly have gone through very tough times of trials and pressures from all sides, but as a chainless soul that I always call myself to be, I have overcome each and every trials of life that came my way only by the grace of God. Yes, a chainless soul I am indeed and a chainless soul forever I will be. May God pour upon each and everyone of my readers grace and blessings the whole year through. Always remember that we can have "the peace that passes understanding" in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Source of Mountain Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sergiosartori/

Beach and sunset photo taken from:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ophelia_jane_julia/

Have a Great Week Ahead Bloggers!!! Love you all!

Sincerely,

Ophelia

"And now I am blank for you,

a tabula rasa ready to be printed with letters

in an undiscovered language

by the great press of our love."

Paint my love

You should paint my love

It's the picture of thousand sunsets

It's the freedom of a thousand doves

Baby you should paint my love.

Been around the world

Then I met you babe

It's like coming home

To a place I've known

Since you came into my life

The days before all fade to block and white

Since you came into my life

Everything has changed

Paint my love

You should paint my love

It's the picture of thousand sunsets

It's the freedom of a thousand doves

Baby, you should paint my love.

~~Michael Learns To Rock~~

"I want somebody to share

Share the rest of my life

Share my innermost thoughts

Know my intimate details

Someone who'll stand by my side

And give me support

And in return

He'll get my support

He will listen to me

When I want to speak

About the world we live in

And life in general

Though my views may be wrong

They may even be perverted

He'll hear me out

And won't easily be converted

To my way of thinking

In fact he'll often disagree

But at the end of it all

He will understand me

I want somebody who cares

For me passionately

With every thought

With every breath

Someone who'll help me see things

In a different light

All the things I detest

I will almost like

And when I'm asleep

I want somebody

Who will put his arms around me

And kiss me tenderly

Though things like this

Make me sick

In a case like this

I'll get away with it

And in a place like this

I'll get away with it...oohhh"

~~Depeche Mode~~

Love Among The Ruins by Edward Burne-Jones

Hola bloggers! Bom dia! Yours truly is a true romantic as you can see in my blogs on blogger. I am one of those who believe that eternal love is still possible to have between a man and a woman. Whom...when and where?...Only God knows if you trust in Him and pray for it for everlasting love is everything it's cracked up to be. That is why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for, and the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

Have a great weekend Bloggerssssssss!!! I love you all! Huggssss and Kissesss...MMwaahhhhh!!! and God bless as I remain

Sincerely,

Ophelia

Spiritual Musings By Ophelia

Hola, bloggers! From love musings to spiritual musings. 'The Pursuit of God by A.W Tozer is one of the Christian Writings that influenced my thinking along with that of the woks of the prince of preachers, the British pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Amidst our busy lifestyle, please let us not forget to gaze and ponder on the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Keeper of our soul. Let me share with you some excerpts from Tozer's 'The Pursuit of God' and I hope they will give you light and deep spiritual insights....

"The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand.

God is a person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. In making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of personality. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. The continuous and unembarassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of the New Testament religion.

To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.

The man who has God for his treasure has all things in ONE. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in ONE all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in ONE, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever."

Have great and blessed days ahead bloggers. I am Ophelia leaving you with this thought

Materialism and Eternalism cannot wed.

Source of photo: The Shrine by John William Waterhouse taken from illusionsgallery.com

LONG LIVE LOVE!

Hola, bloggers! Hope everyone is having a great week. Even busy as a bee, yours truly always find time to update my blogs on blogspot and continue with my life musings. Let me ponder once again about this great feeling called LOVE...it's my favorite subject...lol...coz I'm always in love..ha, ha....I'm always and forever in love with the Lord...so i'm always in love really. Anyways....

Love is a powerful and winsome force. For example, joy can be thought of as love exalted; peace as love in repose; patience as love enduring; gentleness as love being tender; goodness as love showing kindness; faithfulness as love overcoming; meekness as love in submission; and self-control as love under discipline.

The nature of Christian love is amplified by New Testament scholar James Moffat who rendered 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 like this:

"Love is very patient, very kind. Love knows no jealousy; love makes no parade, gives itself no airs, is never rude, never selfish, never irritated, never resentful: love is never glad when others go wrong, love is gladdened by goodness, always eager to believe the best, always hopeful, always patient."

Ok, bloggers...and lovers...wish you great days ahead and always remember this

Love doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others. At a time when rudeness is on the rise, we need to begin an epidemic of love.

Yours Truly,

Ophelia

Source of photo: Love's Passing by Evelyn De Morgan from

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/

Catty Musings

Hola, bloggers! Bom Dia! Cats are for me the most elegant creatures in the animal kingdom. They are ever so graceful and so so sweet when they are being fussed about. And they are ever so loyal. But one thing I like about cats are their noses. I love to pinch them when they are cold, as a result, my cat Shy's nose has become carabish (dilapidated....ha, ha! joke!) Cats always remind me of idleness. You know why? Observe a cat in its idle times when it is just catnapping and you will notice how gracefully serene and tranquil it looks. How about human beings, how are we when we are idle? Oh never be idle! We can never be graceful when we are idle because when we are idle we are subject to destructive thoughts, dangerous impulses, and perilous pressures from without. All of these contribute to anxiety.

There are some who would rationalize their idleness by their advanced years. Just because you have grown older doesnt mean you can be idle as long as you want. Don't ever think to immunize yourself from the responsibility to industry simply because you have become older.

Let me tell you this:

Commodore Vanderbilt built most of his railroads when he was well over seventy, making his hundreds of millions at an age when most men have retired.

Tennyson was eighty-three when he wrote "Crossing the Bar."

Michelangelo was producing masterpieces in the filed of sculpture at eighty-nine.

Titian painted his incomparable "Battle of Lepanto" at ninety-eight, his "Last Supper" at ninety-nine.

Monet was painting great masterpieces after eighty-five.

Men like these mentioned don't have time for anxiety. Worry is a time thief and they refused to be robbed by it.

We can always admire the gracefulness and tranquility of cats when they are idle but we can never achieve the same gracefulness and tranquility when we are idle. Always keep in mind that "an idle mind is a devil's workshop."

Have a great new week bloggers and God bless us all!

"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."

~~Ralph Waldo Emerson~~

Poetically Yours

Autumn Hilltop by Childe Hassam

Hola, Bloggers! Good day, Bom dia! Change of season and autumn sensation for poetic verses and rhymes. The poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, E.E Cummings, Wlat whitman, robert Frost, Emily Dickinson and William Cullen Bryant are some of those poetic works that influenced my poetic inclination. "A Psalm of Life" by Longfellow for me sums up my whole philosophy and attitude towards life. I consider it one of the best poems ever written.

Since the great object of poetry is to please, every means is employed to that end. Let me tell you, until now I've been striving diligently for the perfection of my versification so as to produce harmony that appeals to our aesthetic sense and thus enhances the beauty of poetry. I strive for poetry everyday even when I'm busy. I see rhymes, reasons that produce verses amidst the hustle and bustle of daily living. I sincerely believe that when one is poetically inclined, he/she can always see beauty in everything even in the most adverse circumstances and in the most vile of persons. Poetry, to me, is reaching in and out both to the most desirable and undesirable and always try to incorporate beauty in them however way that is.

Every writer or artist who decides to believe in himself, to go against the grain, to face years, perhaps a lifetime of rejection and worst of all indifference, needs to remind himself of an old saying in the underworld: "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime," or in this case, "If you can't take contempt, don't make an attempt."

To the budding and aspiring poets out there, young and old alike, I would say, write on and versify poetic images that are originally your own. Never imitate a certain style. Free verse is the best to undertake, that's what I employ, it works for me and it will work for you too. Write verses even under difficult conditions, never give up, "practice makes perfect." Inspired or not, write on, versify and you will achieve what you aim for. Have pleasant days ahead bloggers and God bless us all!

"...good work comes out under pressure of a bad life; he who lives does not work; one must die to life in order to be utterly a creator."

Tonio Kroger, in Death in Venice and Seven Other Theories, tr. H-T Lowe-Porter, Vintage Books, NY; 1962, p. 94