Tried With Fire

For us the dear Redeemer died; Why are we then ashamed? We stand for ever justified. And cannot be condemned. Though we believe not, he is true; The work is in his hand; His gracious purpose he will do, And all his word shall stand. If once the love of Christ we feel Upon our hearts impressed, The mark of that celestial seal Can never be erased. The Lord will scourge us if we stay. And wound us with distress; But he will never take away  His covenant of peace. The peace which Jesus' blood secures, And fixes in our hearts, To all eternity endures, Nor finally departs. William Hammond (1719-1783)

In honor of my recent letter...

This is my 1000th post. So with this milestone, here's a little blogging history and thankful list rolled into one: I'm thankful for the internet and Google which led me to... The Spurgeon Archive in 2007. This was perhaps the hardest time in my life, and a friend (nonreformed, too) suggested I read some Spurgeon. His sermons and devotionals were nourishment to my spiritually starved soul. This site in turn led me to... Pyromaniacs which was the 1st Christian blog I ever read. Their posts were eye-opening and showed me how little I understood what I believed but spurred me to want to know more. I then started checking out their blog roll and ended up at... Timmy Brister's blog, Provocations and Pantings , at the start of the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge, which shows the amazing providence of God. It would be an understatement to say that God used those dead guys to revolutionize my theology. I then started Tried With Fire mainly to record quotes from the books ...

Template  here .  Now go get a pumpkin. ht: Pastor Ryan

As when things are cold we bring them to the fire to heat and melt, so bring we our cold hearts to the fire of the love of Christ ; consider we of our sins against Christ, and of Christ's love towards us; dwell upon this meditation. Think what great love Christ hath showed unto us, and how little we have deserved , and this will make our hearts as pliable as wax before the sun. Josiah's Reformation , Richard Sibbes, Banner of Truth Trust, pg. 35.

We just came home from a Scentsy party. It was a very fragrant time, and now my nose is full of different smells. This reminded me of an old post I wrote after attending a candle party, and here it is. I went to a candle party on Saturday. This is one of those Tupperware-like product parties where someone opens their home to a salesperson to showcase their wares. Fragrance is a highly personal thing. One scent may appeal to one person but be disliked by someone else, so to accommodate those varied tastes, there were at least 100 different candle scents. There were fragrance lines that were devoted to a particular type of food such as coffee or baked goods. There were floral scents, seasonal scents, fruity scents, you name it. As I was thinking of all those candle scents, I began to think of some fragrance lines that you would never see in a candle. The Butcher Shop : T-bone Steak, Costco Rotisserie Chicken, Crisp Morning Bacon. The Fishmonger : Shrimp Scampi, Calamari with Marinar...

Please join my friend, Christina at Heavenly Springs , and other like-minded sisters as we look into the lives of the women of the Reformation . The series begins October 31, Reformation Day. Hope to see you there.