Lonely Cottage

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  “Among the few features of agricultural England which retain an appearance but little modified by the lapse of centuries, may be reckoned the high, grassy and furzy downs, coombs, or ewe-leases, as they are indifferently called, that fill a large area of certain counties in the south and south-west. If any mark of human occupation is met with hereon, it usually takes the form of the solitary cottage of some shepherd. Fifty years ago such a lonely cottage stood on such a down, and may possibly be standing there now. In spite of its loneliness, however, the spot, by actual measurement, was not more than five miles from a county-town. Yet that affected it little. Five miles of irregular upland, during the long inimical seasons, with their sleets, snows, rains, and mists, afford withdrawing space enough to isolate a Timon or a Nebuchadnezzar; much less, in fair weather, to please that less repellent tribe, the poets, philosophers, artists, and others who “conceive and meditate of ple...

"The Lord is not paying attention to my prayers."

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A dear woman from Nigeria wrote and asked "i have been praying to God for a husband and children but it seems that the Lord is not paying attention to my prayers- what have i done wrong and how do i right the wrong? pls help me as i am very desperate and frustrated".

First, we must remember that God works everything according to His purposes in Christ Jesus. He cannot be moved to work according to our purposes.  There is no power in prayer, as if it were magic.  God is the God of power and He answers according to His glory.

Second, there are three ways God answers prayer: He can say, “Yes,” and grant the request; or He can say, “Wait, not just yet,” or He can say, “No.” It seems right now He is saying “Wait,” but that does not mean He will say, “Yes,” either. God has ways of putting each of us in a place where we must learn to become content in Him, for “godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6)

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