Walking with God

Using our talents to give back…….

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15
At the end of the first half of the photography seminar I had the pleasure of attending on Sunday, my brain had so many facts whirling around in it, it felt like the inside of a pin ball machine. It was so exciting to see the world renowned photography of David and Ally McKay right there in front of us on a big screen. After our halftime break the lights dimmed as everyone gathered back into our seats. I was sitting there in a worship kind of mode, it being Sunday morning.
How surprised was I to hear the music of Brandon Heath and Leeland singing these lyrics along with a breathtaking backdrop of unbelievable photography of children and people in need all over the world:

“You live among the least of these, the weary and the weak. And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away……….”

 When people first sat down there was much lively talking, but as the scenes and lyrics spilled across the screen, everyone started to quiet down…..how could they not?

“All my needs You have supplied, when I was dead, You gave me life. How could I not give it way so freely?”  

As the song went on, photos were shown of people and children picking through a garbage dump……and a breathtaking one of a tattered pair of worn shorts that a child was still inside….scene after scene. I wondered where all this was going because this was an overtly Christian message I was seeing to my complete joy and wonderment. I wasn’t expecting it here.

“Use my hands, Use my feet, to make Your Kingdom come to the corners of the earth, until Your work is done…….Cause faith without works is dead, and on the cross, Your blood was shed
So how could we not give it away so freely?”

Then a scene of someone praying…..and a cross. Whoa. Am I in church? And here was a mixed group of around 400 people seeing this. The message couldn’t be ignored. It was loud and clear. As the song ended, a very emotional David McKay, famous photographer, couldn’t speak.

He said he gets emotional everytime at this part of the seminar. He went on to explain that as he and Ally went all over the world and saw such tremendous need, they realized they couldn’t not do something. So they formed Vision Culture. A way of linking up individuals who love photography and want to help people at the same time.

I thought how great this was. They had all the acclaim and all the recognition, but they wanted something more. To help people in need.

I left that seminar with more than tools to be a better photographer, I left inspired that people were moved to do more, even with everything they had. They felt moved to give back……..I would encourage anyone with an interest or love for photography go to their site. You won’t be disappointed.

And I’ll
Follow You into the homes of the broken
Follow You into the world
I’ll meet the needs for the poor
And needy, God
I’ll follow You into the world

If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? James 2:16

Evening Prayer

 
Lord our God,if I have sinned this day in word, deed or thought,
forgive me all, as the good and loving God You are.
Grant me peaceful and untroubled sleep,
and deliver me from every attack and design of the evil one.
Raise me in due time to give You glory;
for blessed are You, with Your only-begotten Son and all-holy Spirit,
now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
One of my favorite moments of the day is when I lay my head on my pillow, give a sigh and say a prayer of thanks. Thanks for what I did right, and maybe what I did not so right, that I have another chance to do it all over again tomorrow, by His grace.
This morning was a tough one. I felt as if everything I have been going through lately caught up with me at once. Tears flowed effortlessly as I stumbled around in the early morning hours getting ready……..I wanted, needed to have a confirmation that God heard my prayer. Knew how I felt.
Sometimes we just need that as humans. We feel far from the angels, even though we know they are there. We need a touch. Sometimes we get the answer throughout the day……little assurances we feel.
Sometimes, He uses others to lift us up and over…..a smile here, and hand on the shoulder there.
And sometimes, like this morning. He shows us right away. It was as if a strong hand…..His, lifted me up and sent me on my way, and I was a little bewildered and amazed by it all….. awestruck that He would do that for me. But He did. Of that I have no doubt.
Thank you, loving Father, for knowing just what I need at the time I need it. I give you my days and my nights, for they all belong to You.
Your love for me is something I will spend my whole life trying to understand.
Prayer at top from source: http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/Evening_Prayers.htm

Holding out hope

“Come now, let’s settle this,”says the Lord.“Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. Isaiah 1:18

Isn’t it wonderful to know that we have a reasonable God? One who wants to know the deepest desires of our hearts? One who wants and seeks a relationship with us?

We serve a God of reconciliation. One who wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives. One who already knows our thoughts but wants to hear them from us in our own words. He delights in that.

People everywhere are seeking something, but too often they are asking the world to supply something it never can. Real Peace. But not the kind the world offers. The kind only God can give. Real and lasting peace. The kind of peace that comes despite every circumstance life throws at us.

Too often we look to the world for answers……we think the best and brightest humanity has to offer is good enough. It reminds me of that old song, “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” When we look to the world for our answers we will come up empty every time.

Only when we begin to entertain the possibility of something bigger than ourselves, hope blooms like the crack of the dawn spilling over a mountain.

This is our future, and it is indeed, a future filled with hope. The world doesn’t have the answers or the hope we need for our future, but God does. This is the future God has for us……

People from many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of Jacob’s God.
There he will teach us his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion;
his word will go out from Jerusalem.
The Lord will mediate between nations
and will settle international disputes.
They will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation,
nor train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:3,4

Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied exactly to the letter all the facts concerning the birth of Jesus.

The rest is history.

God has always had hope for the world…….and that hope came through Jesus.

I wish you a day filled with His peace today wherever your path takes you and that you have a real sense of His presence…….

Rest……

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28
“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26 

“Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.” Psalm 61:1

“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” Psalm 62:1-2

 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:28- 31

I am having a bit of rest today on this little bench…….come and join me. If you don’t see me, that means I am doing some blog-hopping today. Doing a little visiting, neighbor to neighbor, blog to blog.

Get the coffee ready, I like it strong!

Soul Rest

Somewhere there is a quiet place to dream
To be still, and let the world drop away
You know that place
You could paint it on a canvas
it’s different for everybody, this place.
It’s like a familiar friend and you
always know it when you’ve found it.
It is the moment your soul has found rest,
safely landed….
when all the conditions are right and
you feel like everything in
the universe is working with you 
right then.
Every now and again it happens
in this life, and when it does
it is something like
a little miracle.
It’s not so much a structure
or building…..
You could find it on a street corner
far from home….
It’s that place you discover when you are
all by yourself
maybe rounding a hill
or walking through a clearing
or seeing a light shining through
a little alley way
No matter where it is,
you turn as if to say…..look! 
You want to share it
with someone close.
And then again you almost don’t. 

You want it

to be just yours……
and God’s.
I think this place is something we all
have in common, for is there anyone who
does not dream of such a place?
When you see it, something
in you wants to claim
it as your own
It feels like home
You breathe a little prayer of thanks,
because you just know that God
has dropped it out of the sky
just for you!
I found this little building behind the cabin next door that we rented earlier this month. I immediately claimed it as my own and dubbed it My Writer’s Shack. It intrigued me, stuck back there in the woods. One night I actually thought I saw a light on in the little window, but maybe I just wanted to. I had fun painting a little scene for myself there. I saw myself sitting behind that window, kerosene lamp lit in a comfy chair watching big flakes of snow coming down…books and journal at hand. I have no idea if that cabin was a rental or not. It could be that they used the little building as storage, but I had fun imagining what it could be.  
Be at rest sometime this weekend, and be blessed!

It all begins with prayer

“Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instruments afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.” Missionary Hudson Taylor

Mary Slessor wrote to a friend who had long prayed for her: “I have always said that I have no idea how or why God has carried me over so many funny and hard places, and made these hordes of people submit to me, or why the Government should have given me the privilege of a Magistrate among them, except in answer to prayer made at home for me. It is all beyond my comprehension. The only way I can explain it is on the ground that I have been prayed for more than most. Pray on, dear one — the power lies that way.”

On another occasion she wrote: “Prayer is the greatest power God has put into our hands for service — praying is harder than doing, at least I find it so, but the dynamic lies that way to advance the Kingdom.”

As I scrolled through this website of quotes from different missionaries, these heroes of our faith, once again I was in awe. I thought…..how to get that mindset, how to get there? To be able to say to God, “I will go wherever you send me.” It is the “wherever” that scares me. Oftentimes my mind is so made up that I have left no wiggle room for the Holy Spirit to work.

The “wherever” is the unknown……and the unknown can be very intimidating if you don’t know where it is. Yet when God is the sender, I can be assured that the “wherever” is always a perfect fit for me and also for the person I am being sent to.

I have so far to go, and yet I am assured, along with both of these courageous ones and so many others who have gone before…..It all begins with a prayer. In that regard we are perfectly in step.
And sometimes, the wherever turns out not to be that scary…….Not when God is walking with you.
Often, I tend to think that being sent means going somewhere really big….another city, another country, another culture. When all God wants me to do is move off the front step….
go across the street….
call someone, or lay a hand on a shoulder.
It is the attitude of my heart that He sees……the willingness to answer that small whisper of the Holy Spirit when He tells me to give the person sitting right next to me some encouragement instead of turning away.
And always, it is a going forward, of pressing on, of striving in the Spirit. Of walking toward Him. Though I falter far too often, still He holds His hands out.
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14 NAS
Photos by me
website source: http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/msquotes.html

Hide and Seek

“God takes everyone he loves through a desert. It is his cure for our wandering hearts, restlessly searching for a new Eden… The best gift of the desert is God’s presence… The protective love of the Shepherd gives me courage to face the interior journey.” — Paul E. Miller (A Praying Life)

I almost missed these little guys as I walked by…….Sometimes it is hard to find the beauty in a day, sometimes there is turbulence in the soul that distracts us from it. But it is there all the time.
 
This morning the sunrise made the clouds blush a wonderful pink…….God was telling me, look what I did for you! At every turn, He does something stunning in nature and it never stops. An ever changing piece of His artwork.
 
Life and noise try to compete for it, but we must not let it get the best of us.
 
That’s all I got today. Getting ready for another trip to California to visit the family.
 
Camera ready!
 
Peace and Blessings for a wonderful weekend opening your eyes to what God shows you……
 

pics taken with iphone on a walk in the desert this spring

Prayer for ordinary people

“But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Some days you pray while walking around, and that’s always a good thing. Some days call for face down praying right out of bed. Today was that kind. Really, every day calls for face down praying. If I think otherwise I am kidding myself. One glimpse of who God  really is would cure that in a heartbeat.
Lord, I confess that sometimes I think I can just walk through my day without asking you for help. What a mistake that is. Help me to walk in the light today. Make me a better person today, because I wasn’t happy with who I was yesterday.
Oh, I don’t think anyone noticed….everything looked fine on the surface, but there is always room for improvement in how I relate to people, the things that rumble around in my heart. You know those little complaints and gripes, flares of anger over things that don’t matter.
I need the blood today and everyday. Without that precious covering I don’t like to think where I would be.
Thank you gracious and merciful Father, for loving me when I get things wrong over and over.
I am so glad Your Grace never runs dry……Amen

Top photo: google
Bottom one: me

The Fear Factor

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish. Isaiah 41:10,11

If we could see God’s grace all around us…….just imagine. I envision something like these Palo Verde tree blossoms which fall everywhere here a certain time of year……we would see it everywhere we walked, for He has promised to hem us in on all sides with His love and protection.

That doesn’t mean that our path will be trouble free and easy. In fact, Jesus promised that in the world we would have trouble. But right after that He tells us to take heart because He has already overcome it. That means, if we belong to Him, so have we! Whatever the world dishes out, we can take it my friends.

And I love what He says right before that……”I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”  

We can rest in the hollow of His hand. Of that we can be certain.

And when we close our eyes at night, can’t you just feel His grace keeping you? For He neither slumbers nor sleeps.

There is much fear and uncertainty in our world today, but we don’t need to pay attention to it. We don’t have to worry about the economy……

our health

our jobs or lack thereof

or anything else that keeps us up at night.

Our Heavenly Father knows we need all these things. So, whatever you are worried about today, give it to Him, He can handle it!

“Who did this? Who made it happen? Who always gets things started? I did. God. I’m first on the scene. I’m also the last to leave. Isaiah 41:4
The Message
And a special prayer for Elaine, my best of friends. You take care of everyone else, but today and every day He will take care of you! He walks behind you and before you today….. May He keep you in perfect peace today and cast away all fear! Me

Lead me to the cross

Savior I come
Quiet my soul remember
Redemption’s Hill
Where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear
I count it all as loss
As I was walking and meditating on this song this morning, I thought, this is what it always comes down to at the beginning and end of every day……We come back when we lay down to sleep and we do quiet our souls. We lay down and then we lay it down too. Then, at the beginning of the day we look up, we return, we say…….”It all comes back to You Lord and what You did, every decision we make, we hold up to the cross, in the light of Your grace.”
We are humbled because we know that no matter what happens, that is where it all leads….and ends. Everything in this life will ultimately come down to One Thing. What we did with the cross,
what we did with Jesus. No other decision in this life matters really unless we settle that one first. 
Lead me to the cross
Where your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to you
Oh Lead me, lead me to the cross 
Brooke Fraser, Hillsong United
Image from google