Sunday's Hymn: I've Found a Friend

I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love, and thus He bound me to Him;
And round my heart still closely twine those ties which naught can sever,
For I am His, and He is mine, forever and forever.

I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! He bled, He died to save me;
And not alone the gift of life, but His own Self He gave me!
Naught that I have mine own I call, I’ll hold it for the Giver,
My heart, my strength, my life, my all are His, and His forever.

I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! All pow’r to Him is given,
To guard me on my onward course, and bring me safe to heaven.
The eternal glories gleam afar, to nerve my faint endeavor;
So now to watch, to work, to war, and then to rest forever.

I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! So kind and true and tender,
So wise a Counselor and Guide, so mighty a Defender!
From Him who loves me now so well what power my soul can sever?
Shall life or death, shall earth or hell? No! I am His forever.

—James G. Small

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• In Christ Alone at By Grace Alone
• Come to Save Us at Gospel Grace
• Winter in His Heart of Gloom at The Happy Wonderer
• Voices From the Past #2 at Tried With Fire 
• Lord’s Day 2, 2013 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Your Weekly Dose of Spurgeon at Pyromaniacs: Half Empty? Half Full? Overflowing!
• Drawing Near - January 13 at The Upward Call
• Update: Praying the Psalms - Psalm 138 at Daily On My Way to Heaven

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.

Still on Vocation

I posted at Out of the Ordinary this morning, piggybacking on Kim Shay’s Wednesday post on vocation, and considering the vocation of grandmotherhood.

The doctrine of vocation elevates mundane physical tasks by giving them meaning and showing us God’s own presence in them. When I rock a grandbaby, my arms are the arms of God’s providence for her. God clothes the lilies and feeds the birds of the air, and he provides for two little ones through my life.

Read all of Grandmother by Vocation.

Thankful Thursday

It’s late and it’s been a busy day. I’m thanking my heavenly Father for

• an early morning walk with a joyful dog. I’m thankful that God created dogs in general, and our dog in particular. 
• glasses in general, and my own glasses in particular. I’d be blind without them. People think I’m speaking hyperbolically when I say that, but I’m not. I’m thankful for my eye doctor, and for all those who work to provide eyeglasses and contacts to those who need them. They are instuments of God’s providence, whether they know it or not.
• for the focus needed to complete important tasks on a tight schedule. For a quiet day, after a run of noisy ones.
• a bit of warmer weather and the better moods that come with it.
• Vitamin D in pill form. Otherwise I’d be deficient.
• grapefruit in season. I say this (and mean it) every January. They are a spot of sunshine in a dreary month. 
• that the power that work in those who believe is resurrection power.