How many ways can I tell you I love you?

Sunday is Special

This week I had the privilege of looking carefully at Gideon's life.  Gideon's story is a beautiful account of God using an individual who felt weak, insufficient, incapable of the task given him. Gideon didn't trust God, but the Lord was still patient with Him and comforted Him. He looked for every excuse to not obey the commands God was giving him, and God's answer was simply: "Surely I will be with you."

What an amazing answer to Gideon's failings and shortcomings: don't worry about all that, Gideon - GOD is going to be WITH you in all that He asks you to do. And through Gideon's weakness, God was mightily glorified! 

Oh Lord, you know how weak I am.  Might you might be glorified in me, too?!

Purple Beauty

A Beautiful Moment

Early this morning at our house the sun shone brightly and surprisingly.  It turned our dew-drenched backyard into a sparkling wonderland, and I was holding my little one trying to show her the spectacle.
"Look! Look at that, little lady!" I encouraged, but despite my best efforts, she was intently focused on something else. We were standing inside the glass at our back door, and instead of taking in the glorious view, she was staring down at the small deck outside the door.  This little landing is... less than beautiful.  Water stands on it sometimes in the rainy season, and some rather interesting but ultimately unsightly tiny orange moss speckles in a few divots.  But my girl couldn't take her eyes off it. I tilted her.  I distracted her.  I tried to block her downward view, but she was entranced.
So.... I enjoyed the gloriously beautiful moment myself and was thankful that I could be cheek to cheek with my darling even if she was looking at something that paled in comparison to the radiance of the sunshine.
The situation made me think about how often I focus on my own interests and my own busy-ness and my own, beloved plans instead of gazing at TRUTH about my CREATOR and working on GLORIFYING Him.
Thank you, Lord for giving me such a beautiful moment to realize such a beautiful truth!

Beauty Observed

I've often enjoyed and admired "Joy's Hope" blog.  Julie's tagline is right up my alley: "do something good. everyday."  Her blog is bright and beautiful, and on it she writes in a friendly, captivating way about her life. She loves brightly colored fabric and fun and her little ones and her husband and most of all the Lord. And seeing how her blog and all of this creating and beauty stemmed from a time when she reached the end of herself and went through some remarkably difficult trials adds an incredibly beautiful depth of meaning to it all. To say that I'm inspired by her story of relying on God during those days and of how He guided her to a healing place would be a huge understatement.  Her story reminds me how thankful I am to I serve such a gentle, loving Heavenly Father!  Today is a very special day for Julie and her family, so stop on over and read her story. Be inspired. Bask in the beauty that is the healing power and JOY of Jesus!

"Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's 

goodness while I am in the land of the living."

Psalm 27:13

Beauty Found

Today, as I had the privilege to create again, I re-realized that it is becoming an incredibly, entirely therapeutic process for me.  There is so much beauty around us, and today's project had layers of it.  I took this tremendously beautiful song and re-arranged it in as lovely a way as I could for four beginner instrumentalists who are also beautiful.... and I just cannot wait until the practicing is underway and I can hear for real how beautiful they will make it as they pour their souls into it and embrace its Scriptural lyrics.
Joy!

Beauty Found

I'm discovering the joy of matching my girlie. It's a beautiful thing!