Life at the Speed of Sound

After taking this picture and working with it in Lightroom, I realized that it sums up where I am in my life right now. In transition, blurry, always moving, and hurried. The summer looms before me, yet I know that it will speed by me and soon September will be here. It will still be too warm to even think about going outside, but still things will be changing. As much as I pray that everything will come sooner rather than later...I still feel the twinges of melancholy.

I lay on the couch watching my brother open his birthday presents last night. I wish that I could capture that moment in a little mason jar and carry it with me to my new home so that in the dark winter days I could open it up and relive the warm moments where family is all around me and we are all happy and safe and healthy.

I am thankful for change. I am thankful that God doesn't leave us in our puddles of misery and sin.

So even though right now I'm in constant motion, I feel blessed. It's a good moment. 

POW

God likes to work in spite of me, thank goodness. Today, while I was driving to work I heard Him gently remind me that He will never leave me or forsake me. I felt like I could breathe a little more after hearing that. My day was filled with my own thoughts crowding out the peace. I obviously needed the reminder again, because tonight at my worship and arts group at church (artists meet up to create for the church) my friend Sasha listened to me while I was explaining my worries about a upcoming trip to NYC and VA. She sweetly reminded me to; "Remember, He said He would never leave you or forsake you." POW. I love when God shows up.

Well...He does show up all of the time...sometimes I'm actually watching for it.

All Creation Cries Out

 

 

Tonight,  I thought I had lost my Kindle so I went outside to look for it in my little red car. I didn't really get very far. I made the mistake of looking up. The light pollution didn't allow for such spectacular views of the sky like in this picture, but the stars and planets I did see were so bright! I sat on the front step of the walkway up to my house and just looked up. A breeze filtered through the trees and I felt like I was in the mountains again. I felt like I could breathe and be with God in his creation and listen. It's amazing that even from so far away you can detect the slight color that radiates off the celestial creatures. Mars was most definitely very red tonight.As I sat there I felt the wind rustle by me as if God was saying He was with me.

"The whole world admires the rainbow's beauty. But the scriptures indicate God created the rainbow specifically to remind people of His promise to them (Gen. 9:11-17). Charles Spurgeon, the famous English pastor said: 'God seems to talk to me in every primrose and daisy and smile at me from every breath of morning air, and call aloud to me in every storm.'" - From Hearing God's Voice by Henry and Richard Blackaby. 

 

 

Truth

This may remind you of one of those posters you see on the ceiling at your dentist's office. You know the one. Those "reach for the stars" sappy inspirational posters that you see as the chair lowers down and you resign yourself to the (hopefully) capable hands of your dental hygienist for the next thirty minutes of teeth cleaning.

I needed to make this. I was watching Hungry for Change and they were talking about not only changing your diet, but looking in the mirror and saying something like; "I accept myself the way I am right now." I thought I could take it one step further. Let's deepen this a little more.

I will probably always think something about myself isn't right (no matter how much I tell myself the truth that God formed and fashioned me as only a master artist can) and so looking into the mirror and chanting something like that really doesn't do me any good. I pray God changes my heart to match the truth in my brain and I'm sure someday it will click, Lord willing. Until then, and even then I think I will repeat the truth. Jesus loves me and accepts me where I am in this moment. Right now.

Elizabeth Elliot

Reflection

 

This past weekend I had an adventure. I don't get to go on many and I'm not really that adventurous in the first place so this was a treat! I headed up into the mountains of North Carolina to visit Nancy and go through a one day conference she runs called Footprints to the Potter's house. That weekend was such a time of rest. I didn't even know how many burdens I had been carrying until I started simply talking about my life with Nancy.

 The mountains are so beautiful. I looked like a dog in the car, my head going this way and that, trying to take in everything at once. My mouth was open and I'm sure at some point my tongue was hanging out in awe at the landscapes around me.

The sounds of the stream outside my window at night soothed me like no music ever could. I heard God speak more clearly than I had in a very long time. It wasn't that I couldn't hear Him in civilization...it was that I was trying to fill the silence myself. Normally, I would journal or say a prayer and not wait long enough, most of the time, for Him to answer me back. When I went out to the stream to pray and eat lunch I heard Him whisper; "Just let me talk. Don't journal. Don't look up anything in your Bible, yet. Just listen." So I did. He gave me Psalm 91 as my theme for this year to memorize. Funny, He's been showing me a lot of chapters about fear. Maybe He's trying to tell me something. Novel idea...right?? 

Psalm 91

 ¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
   will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.^[a]
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
   my God, in whom I trust.”

 ³ Surely he will save you
   from the fowler’s snare
   and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
   nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
   nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
   ten thousand at your right hand,
   but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
   and see the punishment of the wicked.
 ⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
   and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
   no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
   you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
 ¹⁴ “Because he^[b] loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
   I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
   I will be with him in trouble,
   I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
   and show him my salvation.”

These were the other ladies who attended the conference. I was the youngest. I loved being around the other women. I think women my age need to be mentored by older women. I learned so much from them in such a short time. The only one missing from the picture is Sandra who co-ran the conference with Nancy. Sweethearts! There was such a difference in countenance when everyone came back from talking with Jesus. It shouldn't surprise me, but He always seems to. 

It doesn't take much to impress me. I don't really need a lot. Give me the stars, the ocean, the mountains and I'm pleased. I had two out of three. Life was wonderful.

 

Nancy and I on the steps of the church. She is my new surrogate grandmother. We bonded over Newman O's and art. 

I loved exploring the countryside. I found places that people don't get to see out in the suburbs. I automatically wondered about the pioneers who came before us as we drove around the mountains in Nancy's car. It's hard not to, because a lot of the land looks untouched and wild.

 I added a couple of macro shots to show you the beauty I found. Nancy kept saying she wished I was around for spring when everything bloomed. I found enough loveliness in the moss and the dead trees. Like I said it doesn't take much to make me happy when it comes to nature. 

 I love moss and found it everywhere. I even painted it at one point. There must be some sort of hidden meaning that! As I left the mountains I felt better prepared for what is coming. I felt God was giving me a period of rest before my life gets a little more topsy turvy. I feel so grateful to have been able to go. I'm so blessed.

The Artist at Work

 

It's probably the grace and mercy of God, but I was able to hear his soft quiet nudging this morning on the way to church. I was looking at the clouds admiring His workmanship when he let me in on his process. He said; "I shape them with my hands like a potter shapes clay." I thought this morning's display of gorgeousness was enough, but then tonight He really allowed me to see a small fraction more of the beauty he can create.

 

As sunset began, I saw all of these colors emerge after a late summer storm. Pinks, oranges, and purples all began to swirl like the watercolor painting I was working on. Every time I looked out the window I saw majestic cloud formations filled with golden sunlight.

 

Pictures never capture nature the way God intended it to be seen. He wants us to experience, feel, run, jump, roll in His nature playground. Too often I trap myself behind my computer screen and passively choose not to explore...not to learn...not to immerse.

 

If I can capture a half of a half of a half percent of the beauty that God let me see tonight in my art I will be happy.

Glorious.  I can't believe the colors were that vibrant. I can't imagine how Heaven will look, but boy am I even more excited to see it after the presentation I saw tonight.

 

amen.