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Simplici-Tea & Crumpets © Cindyann Rasquinha Volume 1 Issue 6 16 January 2007
Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Psalm 66:16 … a deeply held conviction that we make our lives harder than they have to be. … An excerpt from my Mission Statement.
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Abundance of the Heart Greetings to my friends! Tea is served twice daily here in India, very simple, tea and a biscuit or another tidbit. Those of you who know me know that I prefer coffee though I do love tea. As I began this letter a couple of days ago I sat down with coffee and a wheat bran muffin. I do not use china here, but one of the pastor's wives gave me this beautiful cup for Christmas and one to take to America. I will think of her now, wherever I am! I have included the recipe for this muffin here.
The first month of the year is half over and it is no wonder! Like us, you are busy with the things in your lives; I’d like to encourage you to come apart for awhile and have a visit with me! Please visit back with a note; I enjoy them so much! This Sunday I was greatly encouraged by a hymn we sang, an old one, but just right for the beginning of a new year! The song is "Higher Ground", written over a hundred years ago by Johnson Oatman, Jr. He wrote about 3000 songs in his leisure time, another reminder of what we can do with spare moments. We can even change eternity. Here are the words to that beautiful hymn. I’m pressing on the upward way, My heart has no desire to stay I want to live above the world, I want to scale the utmost height Refrain to be sung after each verse: Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
We (Harry, girls and I) began the year with a planning meeting. With calendars and notebooks in hand we roughly planned our year, filling in the essentials! We have many miles to travel after we journey back from India the beginning of March. A scheduled trip into the northeastern United States early March reminded us that we will need to consider adding a couple of pieces of warm clothing, but this is an ideal time to buy, everything on clearance and now we can do by internet so we don’t have to think about hunting warm clothing in Florida in March! I love Valentine’s Day! It is a fun time to let my family especially know how much they mean to me by doing little and unexpected things. A quotation that is both funny and true comes to mind about husbands … Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots. The credit for this thought is by a Hoosier (Indiana) Farmer. You cannot tell me it is not true! There is merit to that statement. Each month I write a small essay about a "tea"; this month I prayed about something very special for this time of year, so I looked up the word love in my Encarta dictionary. What I found was quite fascinating! This month, the love of loves ... Christiani-Tea! I thought I'd include some fun ways to say I love you to your loved ones in Decorate! Celebrate! And what is Valentines Day without some sweet treat? I have included in my recipes a heart healthy recipe, a recipe for a joyful heart and even the recipe for offering your family a tea with hearts in it! To keep you warm, here is a recipe that speaks love especially if you have loved ones out in the cold! Called Mom's Tea! This past Sunday was wonderful, with several adults believing that they needed a Saviour and that they could not save save themselves! They accepted Jesus Christ and He saved them! Also this was the first week of Junior Church for children under age 10 and it was beyond our expectations in every way. We are excited; the church was also full and could not have fit the additional 24 people that were in the Junior Church! Encouraging! I trust you will enjoy January's tea of the month, "Christiani-Tea". Next month's tea will be Mediocri-Tea, inspired by the hymn, Higher Ground. Happy Valentine's Day Friend! By God's grace, in His strength ... Until then ... My prayer, my aim is higher ground! (taken from the hymn Higher Ground) Cindyann Rasquinha
You will never guess where I found this definition for Christianity! I looked up the word “love” in my Encarta dictionary and this was a portion of the definition! If they wanted to use the word “love” in a sentence, they could have used this one, because it says it so perfectly:. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Good sentence; good formation and also truth! Of course, it has to be as it was taken from the very Word of God. The writer, John, explained so carefully and yet with urgency why Jesus came and how we must respond to this love so amazing. In the coming month many people think about their “valentine”; what can we do for those we love to remind them how special they are to us? Do we have a valentine to celebrate with? Some may even be thinking, can I “get one by then”? Being married now for almost twenty years, I have learned many things about love. You do not need to be married to know about love, but a good marriage surely parallels Christ’s relationship to us when we are right with him ~ and with our spouses! We have already been loved with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 tells us that “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” When we are young and sometimes when we are old, we think that we need to do wonderful things so that someone will love us. The Lord loved me before my parents loved me and hard as it is to fathom, more! He loved me more. When we love someone we do want them near us and we will draw them toward us; we hope that they will want to spend time with us. We want to do things to please them. God created this longing to love and to be loved and He wants us to be near Him! We can know this because we were created in His image. So, in love He draws us. Here is what He wants for us most of all. Adoption; He wants us to become His child. “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15. We recognize the freedom that is in Christ. As a child we wanted our father to protect us and now we have The Father. Next the Bible tells us The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: This tells me that we should have a very strong sense that we are children, saved from eternal condemnation! A loving father does not want his children worrying; he wants them to have good things, to lead happy lives. Matthew reminds us of this so clearly! If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:11 If you, my dear sister, have a secret doubt that you may not truly be saved for whatever reason, please write to me and I will share passages from The Bible to help you determine the truth. Know that God (according to His Word) is not willing that any should perish. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. II Peter 3:9. This is a picture of Him waiting for us, drawing us, but never forcing us to come to Him. It is very important not to miss the word repentance. Many believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the very existence of Him, but thankfulness is not there for the sacrifice He made for us. Belief will never be enough to get us to Heaven. Never. The belief must be deep enough to change our heart, to make us aware of how offensive our sin is toward Holy God. Many churches are teaching believe and be saved, without teaching what the word believe means from the Biblical text. We believe that Pittsburgh is a city in Pennsylvania, but it raises no passion. If we believe that Jesus is our Savior and it raises the same amount of passion, please examine your belief. One verse always comes to mind so clearly: In James 2:19 the Bible reads "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." The book of James, a small book just after Hebrews is a very short, practical and easy to understand book of the Bible that would be a great help to anyone that wants to assess where they are in their Christian faith. My suggestion would be to pick a month, say .. February and read it every day, sometimes aloud, other times slow and meditatively. This act can change your faith and therefore, your life! Ladies, we are loved with a perfect love, an everlasting love by the One that holds the keys to your eternal life. If you hear His voice in your spirit and hear Him knocking, then open the door of your heart to the altogether lovely one!: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. What love … “God’s Love for Humani-Tea”. Yes, Encarta got it right when it came to this definition of Christianity! You may have heard (many times) the Bible being referred to as a love-letter from God to us. I could not agree more, yet we hear this so often, we become indifferent to this truth. When a love-letter arrives in the mail, we read it over and over, trying even to “read between the lines,” to understand the intent of every phrase. You will not sense the powerful and unwavering love of God unless you are listening to Him by reading His love letter to you, over and over. I never get tired of hearing my husband tell me how much he loves me yet I should have an even greater sense that I am accepted in THE BELOVED … To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Now, THAT is love! There is a series of verses within Scripture all in one book that clearly show you all that is necessary to become adopted into the family of God. It is often referred to as the Roman's Road. Most of you are familiar with it. I enjoy reading the truths and being reminded of the Simplicity that is in Christ! Take the Romans Road to salvation
Who is good?
Now, that is
love!
Love embodies different characteristics to everyone. Here is what my marriage has given me and each is a corresponding gift from God to my life! Whatever is good in love, you will see it as an example of The Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ!
A few Crumpets for this month! Please stay in prayer for the two men that have been imprisoned in Texas; they are two fine men that have served God their entire lives. Their names are Josh and Caleb Thompson. They are twins, pastor's sons and have a testimony of service and teaching. I have mentioned them before, but they are much on my mind. There is a website called RememberMyBonds.com that you may visit. Their mother has an incredible testimony given there that you may wastch on video. It would be a good use of your time and would be a reminder to pray for some that need us. Christians are being treated unfairly, even in a country founded upon Biblical principles. As a lady once reminded me, "Prayer is the most we can do!" http://www.remembermybonds.com/
If you make doctrine the main thing, you are very likely to grow narrow-minded. If you make your own experience the main thing, you will become gloomy and critical of others. If you make ordinances the main thing, you will be apt to grow merely formal. But you can never make too much of the living Christ Jesus. Remember that all things else are for his sake. Doctrines and ordinances are the planets, but Christ is the sun. Get to love him best of all. –Spurgeon
Have you made crumpets yet? A friend wrote to tell me that she made them for Christmas and that her family loved them! I appreciate the feedback!
Human things must be known to be loved; but Divine things must be loved to be known. –Pascal
I love reading (and collecting) quotations written by people that have understood great Scriptural truths; they are not so eloquent as Scripture, but a reminder to me of the excitement I get when I realize that God has just taught me something! ~ Cindyann
Incidentally, I know that all hyperlinks are not working in the PDF (Adobe) format; I am still a novice with technology but will get to the reason when time allows! I think I have an idea ... We will see!
Here is a very good website for finding fun things to do! The address "says it all"! http://www.livingonadime.com/ . Many of the things on my pages and in my letters are inspired by others or by the Bible. There is nothing new under the sun, but when I can I will endeavor to give credit or source information when I can!
"...and there is no new thing under the sun."
from Ecclesiastes 1:9 ... taken from the Authorized Version
of the King James Bible, which has no copyright upon it at all; after all,
would God copyright His love letter? To Him be all glory for the holy
words within. Why is common sense all so uncommon today?
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