God is with Us

 

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.  God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Psalms 46:1-7 NIV

Peace in the Storm

"Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.  Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise, and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock."

Matthew 7:24-25 

Keep Close to Nature's Heart

"Keep close to nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.  Wash your spirit clean."

John Muir

Jesus Commands my Destiny

"No guilt in life, no fear in death--
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or  calls me home--
Here in the pow'r or Christ I'll Stand."

Lyrics Stuart Townsend

In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found

"In Christ Alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand."

Lyrics by Stuart Townsend

Princess Place Preserve - Letting Go

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

Psalm 127:2

Whatever is True, Whatever is Noble...

 

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, what ever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Philippians 4:8 NIV

Beauty is God's Handwriting

 

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's Handwriting."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Knowing the End of the Story

 

In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.

John 16:33 NIV

Broyhill Walking Park - Let Your Light Shine

 You are the light of the world...Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to Your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16 ESV

Huron Manistee Forest - He Gives Strength to the Weary

 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.

Isaiah 40:28-29 NIV

The Friend of Silence

 "We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.  God is the friend of silence...We need silence to be able to touch souls."

Mother Teresa

Broyhill Walking Park - Finding Rest for Your Soul

 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 res for your souls.

Matthew 11:28-29 NIV

Lake Huron - Finding Your Good Way

 

Thus says the LORD:  "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls."

Jeremiah 6:16 ESB

Keep your face toward the Sunshine

 

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows bill fall behind you.

Walt Whitman

Eat and Sleep with the Earth

 

"Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons; It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."

Walt Whitman

In the Beginning...

 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, "Let there be light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.  So the evening and the morning were the first day.

Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

And God called the firmament Heaven.  So the evening and morning were the second day.

Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.

And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas.  And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:1-10

Could We with Ink the Ocean Fill...

Could we with ink the ocean fill;

And were the skies of parchment made;

Were every stalk on earth a quill'

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky.

Unknown

This is verse 3 of Frederick Lehman's hymn {The Love of God" (1917),  This verse is apparently an adapted translation of a Jewish poem by Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai (1050).  It seems that the hymn-writer found it scribbled on the walls of a patient's room in an insane asylum after the death of its occupant.  Whatever its origins, it is a wonderful and unusually striking piece of devotional writing.

Emerald Green Waters

Alaska rivers are like mirrors reflecting all the beauty of the sky above and the majestic mountain peaks.  Emerald rivers flow for miles.  Is this not paradise?

"You, Lord, in the beginning 

laid the foundation of the earth.

And the heavens are the 

work of Your hands;

They will perish, but You remain;

And they will all grow old 

like a garment;

Like a cloak You will fold them up;

And they will be changed.

But You are the same

And Your years will not fail."

Hebrews 1:10-12

Rain in the Springtime

 

Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime, it is the LORD who sends the thunderstorms.  He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.

Zechariah 10:1

Reaching for a Dream

 

Not all angels reside in heaven.  Many walk the earth and are our guardians.  My angel is in heaven.  She joined her grandmother at the Eastern Gate August 18, 2019.  Her grandmother told her two months earlier that she would be waiting for her at the Eastern Gate.  She told Crystal to live a good life and she will be waiting for her.  Crystal cried out wanting to go to heaven to be with her grandmother.  Little did any of us know the day would come so soon; within 4 weeks after her grandmother left this earth, a angel lead Crystal gently by the hand to join her heavenly Father.  God is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34.18).  God knows what is best for each of us.  He comforts and takes care of the weary and heart broken.  I have to believe that God heard her cries. Nothing is impossible with God.  

Jesus replied, "What is  impossible with man is possible with God."

Luke 16:27 

In loving memory
Crystal Michelle Fallin
June 19, 1984 - August 18, 2019

In the Roar of Your Waterfalls

 

In the roar of Your waterfalls,
ancient depths surge, calling out to the deep.
All your waves break over me;
am I downing?
Yet in the light of day, the Eternal shows me His love.
When night settles in and all is dark, He keeps me company--
His soothing song,  a prayerful melody to the True God of my life.
Even still, I will say to the True God, my rock and strength:
"Why have You forgotten me?
Why must I live my life so depressed, crying endlessly
while my enemies have the upper hand?"
My enemies taunt me.
they shatter my soul the way a sword shatters a man's bones.
They keep taunting all the day long,
"Where is He, your True God?"
Why am I so overwrought,
Why am I so disturbed?
Why can't I just hope in God?
Despite all my emotions, I will believe and praise the One
who saves me, my God.

Psalm 42:7-11

Sound of the Sea

Sound of the Sea

The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,

And round the pebbly beaches far and wide

I heard the first wave of the rising tide

Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep;

A voice out of the silence of the deep,

A sound mysteriously multiplied

As of a cataract from the mountain's side,

Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep.

So  comes to us at times, from the unknown

And inaccessible solitudes of being,

The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul;

And inspirations, that we deem our own,

Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing

Of things beyond our reason or control.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As if The Sea Should Part

As if the Sea should part

And sow a further Sea--

And that--a further--and the Three

but a presumption be--

Of Periods of Seas--

Unvisited of Shores--

Themselves the Vere of Seas to be--

Eternity--is Those--

By Emily Dickinson

Walking on the Sea

 

But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.  Now in the forth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

Matthew 14:24-25

Alone in the Mountains

 

And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on a mountain by Himself to pray.  And when evening had come, He was alone there.

Matthew 14:23

The Land of the MidNight Sun

Beautiful Alaska!  Endless sunlight living on the top of the world.  

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun
by the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold..."

The Cremation of Sam Mcgee by Robert Service, 1916

Broken Things

 God uses broken things.  It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grains to give bread, broken bread to give strength.  Quote:  Vance Havner

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18