An Appalachian Country Rag-- By Faith Alone
roseA Country Rag By Faith Alone


By Eunice Soper

"Now, concerning myself, I want you to know, my brothers, that what has happened to me has, in effect, turned out to the advantage of the Gospel."
Phillippians 1:12



"Butter -- Lemonade -- And A Gold Medal"


Someone has wisely remarked that troubles can either make or break us. Consider the case of the two frogs.

A crock of cream had been carelessly left uncovered, and two frogs fell into it. "What a hopeless situation," moaned the one frog. He swam around a few moments, and seeing that there was no way out of the churn, gave up and drowned.

"Looks hopeless," agreed the other frog. But he went round and round in the crock, looking for a way out of the situation. He leaped and swam and jumped about so energetically in his search for a way to help himself, that before long he had churned the cream into butter. Then he climbed on top of the pat of butter and hopped over the edge of the crock to safety. He had turned a hopeless situation into a means of saving his life.

Some modern sage has said, "Give some people a lemon, and they will turn it into lemonade!" In other words, they will turn their trials into steppingstones.

Five-year-old Shelley Mann had polio. To strengthen her weakened, pain-racked muscles, her father took her to the swimming pool and began working with her. Day after day they kept at it.

"It was the most wonderful day of my life," Shelley said later, "when I could lift one hand above the water." Months of practice followed before she could swim across the pool. Still Shelley kept on working and striving. There was careful training under a coach. Her speed and endurance increased, until Shelley Mann entered the Olympics and came away with a gold medal.

All things worked together for good for Shelley, but note that "work" was involved. She took her affliction as a matter of course. It was something that was there and had to be overcome. She worked wholeheartedly and persistently, at first merely to gain strength. But she kept right on working and turned her seeming tragedy into a success story, topped by a gold medal.

Maybe you have some difficulty in your life that you feel is nothing short of a tragedy. Take a good look at your misfortune and see if you cannot do something to overcome it. Perhaps someday in the future you may look back and see that the adversity or handicap that appeared to be insurmountable was in reality one of the greatest boons of your life. Make lemonade of that lemon that life has handed you!



Widely varied in size and structure, picturesque houses of worship cling throughout generations to the Valley's hills and hollers. There's an echo of faith in everyday conversation and an ancient devotion steels Shenandoah residents in courage, humor and grace as they struggle with weather-related and man-made catastrophes.






























Eunice Soper has written many devotional books, mostly for children. Semi-retired from professional service worldwide for the Seventh Day Adventist Church, she and her husband, Francis, radiate peace, strength and practical good-heartedness from their adopted home in the central Shenandoah Valley.


















Sister Mary Rose McGeady, administrator of Covenant House, writes a very readable monthly on-line newsletter about her experiences with some of the 44,000 homeless and runaway children CH helps each year. Covenant House offers assistance, including food, clothing, medical aid, educational and vocational training and counseling, through shelters in 15 major cities. Their toll-free NINELINE (1-800-999-9999) connects children to counselors and resources in any area.
"Love is the answer to the final question." -- Unknown.
Spirit Web: Spiritual Consciousness on the WWW, a site maintained in Switzerland with copious worldwide links, introduces alternate and ancient paths of enlightenment which have become increasingly popular throughout this century, including within Appalachia.
"The path of knowledge is that of the occultist and the sage; that of love is that of the mystic and the saint. The head or heart approach is not dependent upon the ray, for both ways must be known; the mystic must become the occultist; the white occultist has been the saintly mystic. True knowledge is intelligent love, for it is the blending of the intellect and the devotion. Unity is sensed in the heart; its intelligent application to life has to be worked out through knowledge." -- Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, page 120 ; quote from The Feather of Maat and other words of wisdom
The Hindu Tantric Home Page explores the ancient, complex spiritual tradition of India.
"And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.... Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them with a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.... that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth." -- Deuteronomy 11:13,14,18,21

Beth El Shaddai, a small Messianic Synagogue uniting Jews and Gentiles from Birmingham Alabama, updates their informational site weekly with pertinent Biblical history, feasts and holidays, and maintains related web links.

pheasant


"My wish for all of you is that your Light may shine brightly and purely, that your Dark Nights of the Soul may bring you awareness and knowledge. That you may at the last find someone to take on your light and set you free." -- To Serve the Light, an address by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki.
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn seeks to unite Western abstract and esoteric traditions (e.g. Gnostic, Cabalistic, Masonic, Rosicrucian,...).


Word Preserve -- A Country Rag Index







By Faith Alone, text © Eunice Soper, 1998. All rights reserved.