--Flying Faith--Muddy Trenches

Amen and Amen!: Hallelujah by Heather Williams

2011-12-16T05:22:00.001-05:00

2011-11-28T06:15:00.001-05:00

God Walks the Dark Hills
by:
Audra Czarnikow

God walks the dark hills, the highways and byways.
He walks o'er the billows of life's troubled sea.
He walks in the cold, dark shadows of midnight --
God walks the dark hills for you and me.

Chorus
God walks the dark hills to guide my footsteps;
He walks everywhere by night and by day.
He walks in silence down the lone highway,
God walks the dark hills to show me the way.

God walks in the storm, the rain and the sunshine,
He walks in the shadows of glimmering light;
He walks o'er the mountains, the rivers, and valleys,
God walks the dark hills to guide you and me.

God walks in silence in the stillness of midnight,
He walks in your Garden of Gethsemane;
He walks through the halls and aisles of the Temple,
God walks the dark hills to guide you and me.

O Come All Ye Faithful by Chris Tomlin.wmv

2011-11-19T22:13:00.000-05:00

Jesus Culture - One Thing Remains

2011-11-16T07:33:00.000-05:00

Faith Thoughts

2011-11-06T14:57:00.000-05:00

Faith must be tested because it can turn into a personalpossession only through conflict.

Like a muscle it must be flexed against resistance in orderto grow stronger. It must collide withthe impossible and come out the stronger of the two. Will God ever fail a heart of faith? I wouldlike to know the answer to that question. I don’t believe that He will if the heart of faith is perched upon hispromises. If it is perched on their owndesires, they will be disappointed.Did God say it? Than you can take it tothe bank and cash it in. If not; thenyou may swing through Divine silence.

by: Cynthia Lott Vogel 01-09-2011

Holy Holy (lift up his name) Live, Phatfish

2011-11-06T01:22:00.001-05:00

This song is pure worship...another GREAT one from Phatfish - an

up and coming group from the UK.

HOLY HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!!!

2011-11-05T12:54:00.004-04:00

photo by Leroy Lott

The fragrance of Christ is like none other...

offer the fragrance of sacrifice and prayer to the Father.....

photos by CLV

BE the Fragrance of Christ to others....

photo by CLV

And ENJOY the Fragrance of the Spirit when He shares it with you!

Selah - Unredeemed

2011-11-04T05:16:00.000-04:00

The writer of this song must have known me...

2011-10-29T01:04:00.002-04:00

not because of what I've done;

but because of who You are!

2011-10-23T07:47:00.001-04:00

We thank you, OLord, because you are near.

Psalm 75:1

End Once; Begin Forever

2011-10-18T04:32:00.003-04:00

I was listening to the Jars of Clay album (disc 2) called "Furthermore" tonight....and God gave me the words to this poem. It came to my mind accompanied by very clear...very specific images. These images will have to be drawn or custom photographed as I will never be able to find things suitable, which are already in existence. I will work on that project as God grants me time and ability. However, I want to share the words of my poem with you tonight...a project half complete...a sneak preview if you will....

The Art of Life has passed
Leaving dry ahes of dusty Death.

Brushing the chalk lines aside,
I glimpse-beyond the
Walls that limit me, hinder me---

A View of a Light and Life;
                 Entrancing me
                 Compelling me
                 Bidding me:
                              Hope yet
For an end to this death expanse.

Grasp it.
        Touch it.
                  Taste it

Oh God,
Please end this and Carry me.
Let me breathe once the unhindered air;

Dance once with unlumbared legs;
Fly once with unfettered wings;
Laugh once with unchoked joy.

Grasp me, God, and Twirl me in a Death spiral
                                                   Life embrace
A cartwheel into freedom that now
                                                   Eludes me,
But tantalizes and entices me.
                                                   Yearn yet
For an ending
So that what has not yet started
                                                  May yet---begin.

Cynthia Lott Vogel

10-17-2011

Talking to Abba...

2011-10-14T04:55:00.000-04:00

Is there a prayer

Too audacious?

Toocourageous?

Have we not bold

And Pressing need?

PresumptuousDesire?

If God permits these,

Certainly He encourages

Us to bring them to Him

To Handle and provide!

He is our Father—

And it is the task of a father

To provide for the needs of

The children

And his delight

To respond to their desires!

But when the Father

Knows the desire to be

Destructive or

Better met by another path.

We must then yield;

Acquiescing to His more complete

Comprehension.

Nothing pleases our Father

More than when His children

Come in trust-or

Desperation-

withoutdelay

Bearing their requests

In the chalice of faith

To lift to their Provider

To be filled.

The sooner and the more

Persistently we come,

The more He is pleasured.

When we walk away from

A period of panicked prayer

In calmcontentment

Knowing

That the response

Is alreadyrealized;

Ready

To await itsarrival,

We delight our Father

With the artlessness of our Trust.

When we persist through

Long periods of seeming silence

And apparentdeafness

To our need,

Plowing through doubt;

Barring ourheart to despair;

We honor Him—

And Hestrengthens us.

As we proceed

Through long and arduous days,

With our hearts continually

Lifted inexpectation

Or our minds occupied in

Conversation with our Creator,

We grow more familiar

With HisVoice;

More alert to His hand

As it moves onour behalf.

It is then that we can

Learn—and be moved to—

A gratitude that

Suffuses our spirits

With the delight of

Perceiving His Holy Hand

As it moves through

Our days—

Neverloosening its grip.

There is nothing else

Like the companionship of a father:

The perfect combination

Of wisdom,

provision

and Amicable companionship.

Cynthia Lott Vogel

all rightsreserved

10/21/08

PHATFISH - And Can It Be

2011-10-14T03:52:00.001-04:00

From one of my favorite groups...

His love is AMAZING!

Our Present Troubles....

2011-10-10T04:29:00.002-04:00

Again, to tie in with my friend Caryn's "Memory Monday:"
( http://4disposablewomen.blogspot.com/ )
she has chosen the following verse for our consideration this week:

2 Corinthians 4:17

New Living Translation (NLT)

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

Adonai....

2011-10-09T04:21:00.004-04:00

Adonai

Cynthia Lott Vogel

O Adonai of the universe—Where are You?

I see Your hand all around me, the evidence of your gifts;

The footsteps of Your path form craggy ridges, crystal icelakes;

Your voice calls in the howl and whisper of wind;

Elohim - you leave clues all about me. Everythingencompassing me

Shouts Your Glory!

You are lofty, grand beyond grasping.

You beckon and angels do your bidding.

But Lord, El Elyon—do you know?

Is your heart stirred by broken tears?

In the stillness, when clamor calms, I hear a whisper…

A voice, familiar and still not enough so.

El Roi, you see the tear treads of my path,

Not only do you see—You weep a duet.

El Shaddai: I have missed your presence…and that is

Lunacy because like moonlight soft

You surround my ways…There are shadows, but they are

Not obscure to you. They merely enhance

The luminescence of Your Presence.

When we commune; when my soul rises

Above its own height in worship….

Then my heart sings the descant to the

Gloria sung by creation

As rocks cry out and trees clap

Attesting to the Magnitude of Majesty

That goes before and follows after You.

Tears have their place, but next to You,

In sight of Your glory, are only spawned

By uncontainable joy and sorrow at what I’ve wasted

Searching for You Who already

Possess me and encompass me about.

High time to learn to walk in the Splendor of You;

To occupy that which already owns me,

And which is mine not by right but by declaration.

To grasp and to be gripped by this High Calling

And thus to walk, nevermore alone.

His Name in My Moments

2011-10-09T03:39:00.002-04:00

This night, a little past three thirty AM, my heart is worshiping. HIS NAME not only saves us altogether, it saves us all together, and it altogether saves! Was thinking about this tonight. The Power of HIS NAME is offered to ALL, equally. And it saves us, not only our souls, in general, but in the MOMENT. In the moment of temptation. In the moment of fear. In the moment of tragedy. In the moment of loneliness...pain...heartache...IN EVERY MOMENT, HIS NAME saves us.

I Praise you Jesus!

Come to Me

2011-10-05T00:46:00.001-04:00

Today our sump pump died; Our car needed VERY expensive work; my laptop died; my refrigerator doesn't work right and will die altogether very soon; we need to have 3 trees cut down before they fall on our house; we have no/inadequate heat until we can afford to buy the proper system needed....Need I go on? I could you know; because there is more.

I'm feeling weary after 3 days/nights without sleep due to steroids. Weary after battling difficulty breathing for weeks; Weary after years of pain. Weary.

"Come to me O weary one and I will give you rest...
Come to me you broken one and I will give you peace...
Come find your joy...He is waiting here for you with open arms."

Tears.

I've sought rest and relief in food. And found only guilt. And self-hatred.

I've sought relief in the sympathy of others...and found only loneliness.

I've sought peace in avoidance; and found only pain.

I've sought joy in....

........................................no actually I've given up on joy.

Time maybe to run into those arms which have been waiting to embrace me all along and to soothe my troubled heart in his smile.

Not waiting for me with condemnation for making him my last choice.

but with patient love. For me.

thank you, Nan, my friend for this: Morning Glory

Please read about my other adventures with Nan's blog on my blog Treasures from Darkness

MEMORY MONDAY

2011-10-03T06:12:00.000-04:00

My friend Caryn at A Disposable Woman ( www.4disposablewomen.blogspot.com ) is sharing a memory verse every Monday...I would like to support her venture by displaying the week's memory verse here as well.

This week it is (the NLT is the translation I have chosen to use...feel free to choose a different one...for options see www.BibleGateway.com ) :

Hebrews 10:35-36

New Living Translation (NLT)

³⁵ So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! ³⁶ Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

My HOPE is in His Hands

2011-10-03T05:53:00.004-04:00

My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart ...
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Before the Throne of Christ Above-

lyrics copyright unknown

2011-10-01T06:54:00.000-04:00

...so that from the rising of the sun

to the place of its setting

...

...men may know there is none besides me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:6

2011-10-01T06:34:00.004-04:00

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.

- H. Jackson Brown

Worship Central // At Your Name Video // Spirit Break Out

2011-09-30T05:07:00.001-04:00

Yahweh!

Who's your God??

2011-09-30T04:13:00.000-04:00

I have sworn by my own name, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to my name." Isa. 45:23

NOW, you have a choice.........................Later, you won't.

Our God Reigns

2011-09-28T00:05:00.001-04:00

OUR GOD REIGNS----

Blessings by Laura Story

2011-09-27T23:47:00.001-04:00

From your lowest Lows.....

"Indescribable" by Laura Story

2011-09-27T23:44:00.001-04:00

To the Highest Heights....

....And He Loves you...Indescribably.

Chris Tomlin - Take My Life

2011-09-27T05:23:00.001-04:00

Worship: Giving Our Best

2011-09-27T05:02:00.000-04:00

Worshipis giving God the best that He has given you.

Becareful what you do with the best that you have.

Oswald Chambers

For a Friend Gone Home

2011-09-25T04:05:00.001-04:00

Feeling sad this night. Mourning. Lost a friend (heaven's gain)...and mourning too my own lost "life"--independence, usefulness, and ability to participate in the activities others take for granted. So blog and blog readers...it's just you and me and the words I can give to you that remain. Need to go and listen to some music now. Here is the playlist I made to comfort myself and others in times like this...go, listen, and be blessed. Rigors of the Mind

to Sara, "Gitzen Girl" (see www.gitzengirl.blogspot,com)
Photo by my daughter: Alexa

What a child is meant to be

2011-09-24T05:02:00.000-04:00

Please listen to the words of this...
as you watch the story that unfolds in the video.

It all relates to the post that follows. Be blessed today.

In the Grip of Love

2011-09-24T04:01:00.001-04:00

Ever felt like the child in this painting? Lost, upset, frightened...panicked even? You have nowhere to run...but to the safety of the arms of the one who loves you unalterably, determinedly, eternally. The Mother Arms of love...with the Father's ability to make it all right; that's what we find when we run with our tragedies and discouragements and fears to the arms of God.

The Bible says it like this:

"There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you." Deut. 33:26-27

So the next time you want to cry....or scream...or hide in a closet....Run to those arms! He is running to meet you too...ready to wrap you in that strong, loving, sheltering embrace.

The Love of God

2011-09-24T01:27:00.000-04:00

Enough

2011-09-23T04:06:00.004-04:00

You’re enoughfor me….

Not in thesense of minimal necessity,

But of absoluterepletion…

No lack,

No want.

Not mereadequacy

But absolutesufficiency.

Sometimes wecling to you in the

Death throes oflife

And it seems thatwe can merely eke

Through survival.

And in timesmore real

We areoverwhelmed,

Overcome,

Blown over andprostrated

With theenormity—

The immensityof your

Outrageous outpouring of Love;

The excellenceand repletion

Of yourSublimity.

Enough

Could notpossibly be more:

No lack

Nothing else todesire

No otherconceivable benefit

To be attained by any avenue.

Enough for thesatisfaction and Fulfillment

Of everydesire, longing and need

Every wild wish

Every audaciousaskance

Everyconceivable crevice,

Every achingneed…

Enough tosatisfy every hunger,

Every deficit.

Enough

Could not bemore;

Cannot be less.

Oh Adonai

You’re Enoughfor Me.

Cynthia Lott Vogel

2008

What Faith Sees

2011-09-23T03:16:00.001-04:00

Faith sees the invisible,

believes the unbelievable,

andreceives the impossible.

- Corrie ten Boom-

"Impossibilities"

2011-09-21T23:34:00.001-04:00

I've done a lot of "impossible" things in my lifetime...

When I was 17 someone gave me a book for left handed people to teach them how to knit. My mom said "You can't learn to knit from a book! It's impossible!"

well, I did. And very well too....Before long I was designing my own sweater patterns and making them.

Then I went through many years of serious depression and mental illness. I lived in a group home, which generally is a one way ticket to hopelessness. I was thirty years old and had had as many hospitalizations in the prior 12 years as I had years lived. I was pretty much a hopeless wreckage of a person. NOT marriage material, to be sure.

But I met a man,...and married him. Everyone said, "It's impossible for that relationship to survive." Well, 22 years later...we are still together and kicking.

Then two years later, I had a beautiful baby girl...something else everyone thought was completely impossible. Not only did I raise her...but I did a pretty good job of it!

In 2000 I lost my health to a severe case of fungal pneumonia which left me with damaged lungs...At one point due to the heavy doses of IV steroids needed to save my life...my muscles became extremely damaged....I could not even sit unassisted and was completely wheelchair bound...despite long periods in a rehab working hard. I was finally told that I would never walk again.

But two years later...I did.

I've recovered from life threatening events such as endocarditis, double, multiple pneumonia events, and spinal meningitis as well as two bouts of MRSA and multiple surgeries which are continuing to occur. And in each instance, I 'bounced' back. Although I am finding it harder and harder to "bounce" I am nonetheless, crawling back.

All of this is NOT a testament to MY own strength of will or body. It is a testimony of God's love and provision. Yes, I still have a serious mental illness. But I have lived a full life despite it...had successes and experiences that NO one ever thought would be possible for me.

If I had just one thing to say to you...in the midst of whatever "impossibility" you are facing it is this:
Get to know the God of the Impossible. He can do impossible things in you too.

Do the Impossible....

2011-09-21T01:45:00.000-04:00

DREAM

NEVER, EVER

GIVE UP

"The person who says it cannot be done

should not interruptthe person doing it."
Chinese Proverb

I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST,

WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH

PHILIPPIANS 4:13

Profane Pain

2011-09-20T07:06:00.003-04:00

by Cynthia Lott Vogel

3-25-11

Something is there....

It rudely elbow-shoves its way into my peaceful sleep,

Tossing aside my dreams like fist-fighting TV ninjasaccost an opponent.

It screams its way through the darkness splitting thesilence with an alarm shrill as an

Ambulance shrieks terror into the night.

A raucous pain as unwelcome as a 4 a.m. wake-up call.

Pain starts at my exploding head and screams its way downmy spine,

Numbing my lumbar-stump legs and splitting those woodenappendages as cleanly as

An ax might fell a mighty oak.

Faith music sings into the night mocking my pain

(Or is it the other way around?)

The sweet tunes and their lilting joy oppose and are madefoolish by

The unholy sacrilege of agony.

The joyful tones become the heresy

As the profanity of pain assumes the throne...

Spewing its vulgar vernacular

which then becomes my mother tongue.

A becoming as unbecoming as they come.

No.

This is the cross:

A bloody debauchery of Promise.

A spectacle of suffering that abases every hope

of Life reigning glorious and is rather,

A revolting depravity of expectation.

It calls to question

every assumption of life and self.

And challenges every fiber of Belief in my being;

And squashes every aspiration of my future.

But those concerns are the background beat to the

Melody line of agony.

The immediate thing

to be tackled (by) is the present tensing of every fiber

and the shrill cackle of a tone-deaf singer

-to whom Music is a foreign tongue-

Who shrieks her way into my morning and

Launches the paroxysm of dance's mockery:

The convulsing contortions;

My body's gyrations to her tune

in its efforts to Find. Some. Relief. NOW.

Hand shaking top popping pill dropping

water guzzling desperate measures

come from desperate people

In desperate times of desperate need.

Shout of Joy

2011-09-19T00:51:00.000-04:00

Paul Wilber - O shout for joy

2011-09-19T00:48:00.000-04:00

2011-09-19T00:10:00.000-04:00

The Little Cares

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday
Among the fields above the sea,
Among the winds at play;
Among the lowing of the herds,
The rustling of the trees,
Among the singing of the birds,
The humming of the bees.

The foolish fears of what may happen--
I cast them all away
Among the clover-scented grass,
Among the new-mown hay;
Among the husking of the corn
Where drowsy poppies nod,
Where ill thoughts die and good are born,
Out in the fields with God.

A Reflection of Glory

2011-09-18T07:39:00.002-04:00

I am the moon to Your Son, bathing thesky—

A barren rockscape;

Beaming with borrowed effulgence.

May others not be dissuaded by my darkhalf;

But by Your luminosity in mepersuaded…

As I brighten the ascending path.

Your Glory is Your passion…

May it be my fervor too!

Consume me with Your flaming light—

Change me from a drifting clod

Into a Being that inspires creation

To accolade Elohim: living God…

As we all revolve ‘round Illumination.

...And Glory Floods my Soul....

2011-09-18T01:49:00.000-04:00

The Morning Light Inspires, Cleanses me


Upon Further Reflection....

"You JUST Missed Her."

Strewn; Late August

And Glory Floods my Soul

And Lucidity Follows

2011-09-17T05:45:00.000-04:00

body: swollen, sore

surroundingschaotic

objects strewn onfloor

mind cluttered; (psychotic?)

struggling torecall

examining an eye: contused.

bruised;bemused.

What for?

more importantly:how?

and where has memory crept?

ashamed of itself, nodoubt.

from what ledge recollection leapt?

desperationdriven

despairpropelled

my unwashed fear it smelled "

"Never going back" Ivow.

By:

Cynthia Lott Vogel

allrights reserved

Sept.17, 2011

--Flying Faith--Muddy Trenches

Amen and Amen!: Hallelujah by Heather Williams

O Come All Ye Faithful by Chris Tomlin.wmv

Jesus Culture - One Thing Remains

Faith Thoughts

Holy Holy (lift up his name) Live, Phatfish

Selah - Unredeemed

End Once; Begin Forever

Talking to Abba...

PHATFISH - And Can It Be

Our Present Troubles....

2 Corinthians 4:17

Adonai....

His Name in My Moments

Come to Me

MEMORY MONDAY

Hebrews 10:35-36

My HOPE is in His Hands

My name is graven on His hands My name is written on His heart ... One with Himself I cannot die My soul is purchased by His blood My life is hid with Christ on high With Christ my Savior and my God! Before the Throne of Christ Above-

lyrics copyright unknown

Worship Central // At Your Name Video // Spirit Break Out

Who's your God??

Our God Reigns

Blessings by Laura Story

"Indescribable" by Laura Story

Chris Tomlin - Take My Life

Worship: Giving Our Best

For a Friend Gone Home

What a child is meant to be

In the Grip of Love

The Love of God

Enough

What Faith Sees

"Impossibilities"

Do the Impossible....

Profane Pain

Shout of Joy

Paul Wilber - O shout for joy

The Little Cares

A Reflection of Glory

...And Glory Floods my Soul....

And Lucidity Follows

My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart ...
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Before the Throne of Christ Above-