Anyone who knows me,
know I like to hear and talk about the history of songs. While in
concert in Michigan recently, I met a man and his wife (Ken and Cheryl)
from Iowa, who were visiting friends in Michigan.
As we started talking, I had no idea where they were from!
We begin to talk
about old hymnal songs, and as fate would have it, I brought up the old
song “Little Brown Church in
the Vale, also know as,
“Church in the Wildwood”.
They just smiled and begin telling me a little about the history
of the song, and have since, sent me some literature on it. I thought I
would share a little of it with you!
The song was written
by New York native named William S. Pitts in 1857. When he was about 27
years old, he took a stagecoach from his home where he resided in
Wisconsin to Fredericksburg, Iowa. The stagecoach made a stop in
Bradford. Mr. Pitts was strolling around and he was so impressed by the
hills, and how they seemed to form into a small valley, with the Cedar
River flowing so peacefully among the beautiful trees and wildflowers.
When Mr. Pitts
returned home, he couldn’t get the imagine of the beautiful setting he
had seen out of his mind, and he composed the words and music to the
“Little Brown Church in the Vale.” He just put it away and did
nothing with it.
Approximately 5 years
later, Mr. Pitts, now married, moved to Iowa to be near his elderly
in-laws. He took a job teaching music at the Bradford Academy. Since his
trip 5 years earlier, a church had been built in the spot, he had become
so found of on his previous trip.
The Civil War was
still going on, and Christians in the community were growing weary
having to meet in abandoned store buildings. In 1862 the building was
up, and since the economy was hard, the people painted the church with
the cheapest paint they could afford, which was brown.
Once Mr. Pitts saw
the church, he retrieved the song he had written years earlier and sang
it at the Church’s dedication in 1864. He later sold the song to a
publisher in Chicago for $25.00, which was a lot of money back then. He
used the money to attend Rush Medical College. He spent the remaining
years of his life as the town’s physician in Fredericksburg, Iowa, about
fourteen miles from Bradford.
The Church is a
tourist location for thousands of people each year. It’s located in
Nashua, Iowa, and is famously known for hundreds of weddings, baptism’s,
and etc., that’s held in the church each year. Its membership is near or
about 100 people.
This song is known
throughout the world, and some people who have recorded it are: The
Chuck Wagon Gang, Jim Ed Brown and the Browns, Carter Family and many,
many others, which are to numerous to mention. It is such a peaceful
song!
To learn more about
the Church, click on the link under the picture below!
http://www.littlebrownchurch.org/song.cfm
Please remember our
Nation, our Nation leaders, our soldiers, their families and each other
in prayer.
Until next time!
I love you, and GOD loves you….
A Thought of
Encouragement
I was thinking the other day about how none of us
can be on the mountain all the time.
Sometimes GOD puts us in the valley for awhile so that when we
are on the mountain top it will seem sweeter.
Many of life’s lessons is facing challenges,
worrying, going through heartaches, pain and suffering. These are just
simply life’s lessons that we must endure. Going through the hard times
will only make us stronger and a better person in the end.
A lot of our daily disappointments come from
illnesses, death, betrayals and tragedies.
We sometime may feel like life is so grim and if we
don’t watch it we will get caught up in a world of self-pity, but
remember GOD always balances our sorrow with joy and our disappointments
with hope. There will be a rainbow in the end! I feel that going through
a lot of lessons in life can be a spiritually and personal growth. It is
GOD’s way of making us more humble and more compassionate toward those
around us.
Many times when life and circumstances start to get
us down and we are searching for direction, GOD speaks to us in one way
or the other. I’ve learned down through the years that no matter what
happen in life, or how bad it seems today, Life goes on, and it will be
better tomorrow. When one door closes another will open!
Revelation 3:8 says, “I know thy
works: I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.”
When we have little strength, have kept his word and not denied his
name, then he will take care of us.
I try to look at life with a positive attitude. I
want to encourage those around me that there is nothing impossible with
GOD. I was always told when
I was growing up to speak words of encouragement, be appreciative,
supporting and respective of others and to always learn to be self-aware
and listen to what you say and make sure you make many more positive
comments than negative ones.
Ephesians 4:29 tell us “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your
mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to
their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”.
We should all look for ways to think and speak
positively and encourage others, because positive words can and will
make a difference in someone’s life as well as our own.
A minister said to me one time, “How can we dry the
tears of others if we have never cried ourselves?”
We should follow GOD’s example as quoted in Psalm 10:17 which
said, “You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them
and you listen to their cry”.
Remember when we talk to others whether it is
family, friends, co-workers and etc. sometimes difficult topics may come
up. When we speak we should always be courteous and in a friendly tone
of voice. The way we all speak is usually more important than whether
our opinions are right or wrong, don’t you think?
The following little prayer was sent to me the
other day. I hope you get a blessing out of it as much as I did.
“Dear GOD,
I have never
thanked you for my thorns. I
have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my
thorns. Teach me the glory
of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns.
Show me that I have climbed closer to you along the path of pain.
Show me that, through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look
much more brilliant”. Amen.
The Trail of
Tears we all have:
Have you ever
wondered how many different types of tears we shed during our life time,
and what they mean? I for one, cry more than I would like to admit. I
don’t look at it as a weakness, but as a way of letting my feelings out,
how I feel in my heart at the time.
I was listening to
the radio the other night, and I heard a song called, “Trail of Tears”.
I couldn’t get those words out of my head, so I started thinking about
the many different types of tears we shed during our life time. I
started thinking about the people in the Bible who cried tears of joy,
of love and sorrow just as we do today!
How many of us heard
as we were growing up, now don’t cry, be a big girl or boy.
I remember in school many who let
their feelings show, were teased by the other kids and called, “Cry
Babies”. As we grow up though, we realize that in many situations, tears
are warranted language.
In Sunday school
class growing up, we learned about the tears of Hezekiah, who was sick
and about to die, how he turned his face toward the wall weeping and
praying unto the Lord. God saw those tears, and in
Isaiah 38:5 God said, “I have
heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy
days fifteen years”. God
does see our tears, and is not unmindful of them. He sees them through
compassion.
Jesus even shed
tears of sorrow while standing at the grave of Lazarus. The shortest
verse in the bible is John 11:35
said, “Jesus Wept”.
I guess one of the
first things that come to my mind about tears, is when the sinner woman
stood weeping, and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears.
Luke
7:38 said, “and stood at his feet behind him “weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head”.
Many heroes of the
Bible wept tears. Jeremiah was known as the “weeping prophet”, David who
said, “My tears have been my food day and night”, and Paul who said, “I
serve the Lord with great humility and with tears and the list goes on.
We will endure
different emotions of tears in our lives, but one thing we have to
remember, is God will wipe them all away one day. God promises us that
there will be no tears in Heaven, no sorrow and no pain, but only peace,
joy and love. Thank you, God.
One of the hardest
things to me is to watch someone you love, go through some of these
battles. Even people you don’t know, when you hear about the situations
they are going through, will definitely bring a tear to your eye, and in
this day and time, we are living in peerless times.
I have found God’s
comfort many times through my tears no matter the circumstances. So many
times, tears have fallen upon the pillow where I laid at night, but
through it all, I could feel God’s hand reaching down to help me in my
time of despair.
One memory of tears
comes to mind as I write this, and that’s as a kid growing up, I
remember my Mother many times reading the Bible, and I would see tears
falling from her eyes. I knew as a child, this book she was reading, was
a very important book.
One of the stories
in the Bible that brings tears to my eyes every time is
John 3:16 which said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son, that whosoeverbelieveth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life”. The fact
that God send his only son to die on an old rugged cross for your sins
and mine, is enough to bring tears to our eyes forever. Such boundless
love he had for us all!
Tears are just a
part of being human, and it’s more than O.K. to let your feelings out
sometimes, instead of keeping them all bottled up inside.
Psalms 125:5 said, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of
joy”. Sometimes when we cry,
it allows others to see our heart and allows God to see our sincerity!
I think there is a
time for everything in our lives including tears. Ecclesiastes 3:4 said,
“A time to weep, a time to laugh, and a time to mourn”.
Every one of us has
a cross to bear in life, and even though our crosses are different, we
should always be there for each other to lend a hand, or a shoulder to
cry on. We are all part of that wonderful family of God.
Let’s continue to
remember our Nation, our Nation’s leaders, our soldiers, their families
and each other in prayer.
Until next time!
I love you and God loves you…
I was thinking the
other day, about the many roads we walk as we journey through this life;
the roads we travel take many directions. First and foremost, we can’t
walk it alone. We may think we can, but soon we find that so many twists
and turns of life, we are unable to find our way.
We all will encounter
shattered dreams, tears, pain, illnesses, failures, heartaches, toils,
trials, mountains too steep to climb, valley’s really low and etc., but
God is always there when we call on him. He will give us strength
and faith to get us through wherever the road may lead us.
Sometimes all the
frustrations of life may overwhelm us and our confidence is nearly gone,
but if we just look up, we can feel
God’s love inside us, and
feel him holding our hand. It’s then that we know, he’s walking right
there beside us. When we stumble and fall, he will lift us up, and put
us on the right path.
Psalms 143:8 said, “Make the way known to
me wherein I should walk, for I have lifted up my soul to thee”.
The best road I took in this life, was when I chose to travel the road
that would lead to God, and I
don’t regret a mile that I have walked for the
Lord.
I have found in life
that the narrow roads we take, somehow eventually turns into one, if we
don’t waver and loose our way. The roads may become rocky, but
God will make our pathways smooth again if we just trust in him and
let him walk beside us.
Now many times we
feel like there is no hope and life get seemingly hard, but through all
those dark and dreary days, a light will somehow shine through. Each
portion of our lives is going to be filled with trials and blessings,
but God is right there to strengthen us and give us hope.
Psalms 116:8 said, “For you, O
Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet
from stumbling”.
When life’s burdens
start getting me down and I don’t know which way to turn, I just
remember Isaiah 41:10 which
said, “Fear not, for I am with you.. I will strengthen you.. I will help
you”. I just remember with the help of
God, all things will fall into place!
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To every thing
there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”.
The roads we go down and have to endure is just seasons of our life.
Psalms 126:5 said, “They who sow
in tears shall reap in joy”. The way I like to look at life is, our
life has many pictures and all of them are like a piece of art work. It
will all come together in the end.
God
sends us many blessings everyday and so
often we may over look some of them. We tend to dwell on the bad instead
all of the good. We just have to remember, that there wouldn’t be any
rainbows if it wasn’t for the rain! We need to count our blessings one
by one as we travel through this journey of life, and we’ll find out
that we are blessed more than what we think!
I just hope and pray
when my life is over, if I’ve left but one person on this earth, whose
life was touched by mine, by something I said or done, then it would
have been worth it all! Romans
8:18 said, “For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in
us”.
Let’s keep our lamps
burning and the love of God
in our hearts, so the world can see
Jesus in us as we travel
together on this journey through life. GOD’S LOVE IS MAGNIFICENCE!
Keep praying for our
Nation, our Nation’s leaders, our soldiers, their families and each
other.
Until next time!
I love you and God loves you….
Exodus 20: Verse 12 in the Bible said, “Honour thy
father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee.
I was very blessed to have a loving and devoted
father on this earth, who cared deeply about his family and God.
My father farmed and worked in a Saw Mill to
support his family. He never had the finer things in life, but he worked
hard to put food on the table, clothes on our backs, and shoes on our
feet to the best of his ability. We never went hungry although at times
the pantry got very low. God always seemed to know exactly when and what
we needed!
Now that I am grown up, I look back and see all the
sacrifices my Dad made for our family. I look through old photographs,
and realize all the gratitude, respect, love and admiration that I had
for him.
Yes, Dad was always on our family’s side through
the good times and the bad. He could take any situation and see
something good in it! He taught us to always think positive about life.
After my Mother passed away, my Dad had his hands
full finishing raising all us kids, but there’s not enough words to
express how grateful we all are to him for what he did. He devoted the
remainder of his live after we all grew up to just loving and enjoying
his children and grandchildren. He was definitely a winner as a father!
No, life was not always easy growing up, but I have
learned down through the years that many times when we want sunshine,
God sends us the rain, and many times when we are looking for a
mountain, valleys are all we see, but that’s when we have to have faith
in God. He knows what’s best for us, and he will supply our needs, not
our wants, but our needs!
Happy Father’s Day in Heaven Dad, and thanks for
being there for us kids. We loved you dearly and your memories will live
on forever through our families.
So, as we celebrate Father’s Day, let’s not forget
to celebrate our Heavenly Father, who makes all things possible. He is
our greatest Father of all!
Continue to pray for our Nation, our Nation’s
leaders, our Soldiers’, their families and each other!
Until next time!
I love you, and God loves you.
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