Tag Archives: nature

Look Up

     The beauty of creation and the pull of my Creator drew me outside into the vast warmness of the sun and slight breeze blowing through the trees. Expectantly I walked briskly to the back forty into the wide open space encapsulated by a magnificent treeline that acts as a protective shield from the noise and busyness of the city street located close by. Oh yes, a happy place to retreat for a noon time walk. Just me and my Lord, and of course the sweet sounds of the wildlife hanging out in the trees and below. Not that I truly paid much mind to them. My purpose was to be alone with God and take in his beauty.

     This time with my God in his creation is precious to me. The peacefulness of nature. The sweet sounds of birds. The warmth of the sun and slight breeze through the trees. These bring a stillness to my soul that welcomes God’s promptings in my mind. Prayers for friends. Sweet memories. 

     With a few laps in, around the property perimeter, I sensed God telling me, “Look up. While you are watching the ground, you are missing the beauty all around and above you. The same is happening in your life. While you are absorbed in the stuff, you are missing the beauty of life all around you. And me, above you.”

     Such a powerful moment for me. I didn’t realize until that moment how I had been spending my whole walk looking down at the ground and my feet. As I began to look up and all around me, I noticed the vibrant greens of the tree’s leaves, the volleyball net standing at attention, the bleacher seating empty and alone, and the pavilion full of tables. These things had been there this whole time. I noticed them. But did I really see them?

     My mind went to my current life situation. I realized how I’ve been so encapsulated by the tough stuff I’ve been experiencing that I’ve been missing the beauty of so many things around me. Especially the Lord above me. Have I truly noticed these? The weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds of time I’ve spent covered in distress. They are time and beauty that has slipped through my fingers.

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     Recently, I spent some time with a handful of special people in my life. I was in a space where I was invited to ‘go for a walk’. I quickly tagged along not knowing where exactly we were walking to or the purpose of the walk. With my lunch in hand, I trailed along. The walk was to the back forty to set up a pool/baptismal. I announced, “I’ve not ever set up a pool before, but I can follow direction if someone tells me what to do.” I became the instructions holder and navigator of what parts are to go where. In short order with grace-filled cooperation, the pool was soon assembled and the task was finished.

     What soon occurred to me is that this must be what working as a family looks like. Not that I had or have a bad family life, this was just a new experience for me. The memory is so precious to me and stirred something in my heart. I ‘looked up’ and saw a place where I belong. A place where I can look around me and see beauty. A place that points me up towards God.

This song was on my mind as I finished my walk today.

Look Up by Lauren Daigle 

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Blessings & Trials in Transition

     The thoughts of living simply and simply living seemed like a great break from the busyness of my life. 

No more lawn to mow.

No more maintenance of a whole house.

Smaller monthly bills.

Only keeping things that seem essential.

More time to write and think.

More time to spend with God and my husband.

All these things seemed like a glorious way to live.

     At first I was all in and then my gut said, “I don’t think so.” Knowing it’s wise to pay attention to a feeling in the pit of my stomach, I shared some concerns with my husband. This led to us putting the plans to sell our house and buy a camper to live in full time, on a back burner.

     Months later, the topic of selling our house seemed to repeatedly crop up in our minds and conversations. We began to seriously entertain the idea of putting our house on the market, without knowing what would be next, other than the town for which God was drawing our hearts to. 

We set a date to list the house.

Began to clean up the yard.

Started selling and giving away belongings we felt the need to let go of, or allow someone else to enjoy.

     Thirteen days before the house went ‘live’ on the market, we made the decision to purchase a camper. After looking at campers online and in person for a couple of years, we had finally found one with a floorplan and style for us. My husband and I actually saw it online about the same time and it stopped us both dead in our tracks. We loved it! 

     Without physically walking through the travel trailer, we committed to buying our next home based on what we saw by touring a similar model.

     Camper parked in the yard, waiting to be our movable home, we committed to sell our house. After one week of showings and four offers, we had a buyer.

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    My organized plans were ripped apart one after another, so was my security in those plans. By this time, God had shown me some of the things I had been placing my identity and security in. This included my well laid out plans.

     Through this incredibly revealing transition, I’ve come to let go of many things.

Belongings from loved ones who’ve passed.

My shelves of books.

Furnishings that filled the house.

And the thoughts that I have control over much.

    As our transition to full time camper living continued to become a reality, so have the trials. One after another. Small obstacles were doable in my own strength, so I thought, until one after another they wore me down to exhaustion. Becoming weary from the journey, the small hurdles became harder to manage by the time we reached moving weekend.

Trials in this transition:

My timeline not matching my husband’s.

Late start on moving day.

Blown tire on enclosed car trailer five minutes down the road.

The power cord for the camper too short for our campsite. Note: ninety-five percent of our food was in the camper refrigerator.

  Struggles to find an extension cord or parts to make one.

Miscommunication on my part for house key exchange with the new home owner.

Running out of daylight, time, and patience in getting our belongings out of the house on time.

Leveling the camper at midnight.

Cold showers after midnight.

My nesting impulse kicked in with no way to make our camper a home for two days.

Experiencing some mild depression with the large adjustment to our new lifestyle.

After seven nights of sleeping in the camper, we discovered our bed had broken and was causing flooring damage. Also, a brake and turn signal malfunction.

The brand new generator needed for the camper didn’t work. 

  Followed by a night with very little sleep because of low battery lights and an alarm going off.

  Struggles in getting a refund for the non-working specialty generator.

Expense and hassle of a two night stay in a hotel while our camper was over an hour away at the dealership for repairs.

  Upon arrival at the dealership, we found that a trim piece over the bedroom door had fallen to the floor in transit.

The first day at the hotel, I struggled with getting wifi to work for more than five minutes.

A few days after getting camper back, I dealt with stabbing chest pains and aches with tingling going down my arm. After a six hours ER stay and then a chiropractor appointment, it was found that I had a couple of ribs out of place.

WOW! That was a lot for a two week period of time!

What I want to focus on … blessings that occurred in that same two weeks.

Beautiful walks in nature.

Great time with my church family, experiencing their love and support.

Meeting a very sweet hotel clerk who I was able to bless.

Having dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and being able to bless our favorite server.

Looking back at all the friends and others we’ve been able to bless by our letting go of belongings.

God has sent reminders along the way to reinforce truths to my heart.

When I take my eyes off of Jesus, I start to sink.

Leaning on my own understanding leads to a worn out-exhausted Amy.

Seeking God and being present with him refuels my soul.

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Becoming Deep Real Authentic Women of God

PART 1 (Disclaimer. This message was written in 2018, however, it is still very applicable today.)

     I have a confession or two that I want to make; I love my gardens.  I love my vegetable garden. My Peaceful Garden I sit and drink my hot tea in. And my flower beds!  I even love to weed my gardens. I know you are thinking I have lost my mind. All I can say is,  it relaxes me. I really enjoy weeding, until I come across the THING. The thing I have to confess to you I really don’t like!  It’s those things that stop my tomatoes from growing big and red and delicious!  It’s tomato worms. I really don’t like tomato worms.  I get excited because I see a nice big tomato growing on the vine and then look closer only to find a tunnel through the underside courtesy of a now plump green tomato worm.  Seeing these creatures leads me to want to ask our God, “Why oh why did you create them?”  

     I know they must have a purpose or God would not have created them.  It makes me curious about their purpose because I know they really bother me with their feeding on my beautiful tomatoes.  Well, the tomato worm’s purpose for today is to serve as an illustration for me. Soon after I saw the first plump critter, I realized he is a lot like the enemy of our souls and the barriers  he puts in our paths keeping us from having the connections and relationships God created us for.  The plump lime green critter seeks to feast on my tomatoes and therefore stop me from being able to enjoy some delicious homemade salsa or a slice of fresh tomato on my hamburger.  In a slightly similar fashion, the enemy seeks to devour any chances we have to enjoy and grow in our relationships with our Abba Father and each other.  

     Satan uses many things to attempt to destroy and/or block our relationships. We are just going to focus on four barriers in total. For the next several weeks I will share how we can break free and become Deep Real Authentic Women of God.

     Barriers can be spiritual and/or emotional chains that bind us and keep us from being free to be who God has created us to be.  I am learning when I give God my chains, he breaks me free of them and redeems whatever area of my life I have been in bondage to. The Lord is in the habit of replacing beauty for ashes.

     In preparation for this message, I put out a question on Facebook to see the most common barriers people experience in their relationships with God and others.  While there were a variety of responses, I found many of them fit under similar headings and there were several people with similar responses.  The order I am sharing with you is for the purpose of the flow of the message.

     Next week the barrier discussed will be fear.

#BreakingBarriers#Reconnection

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Inner Strength … Resilience

Part 3 of 3 What Can Dahlia and Japanese Knotweed Have in Common?

     Inner strength. Resilience. Besides them both being plants and created by God, a Dahlia and a Japanese Knotweed have these two traits in common. Their strength comes from a strong root system that grows over time, producing resilience in the face of storms.

     Jesus’ words in Luke 6 verses 46-49 speak to the importance of inner strength and resilience.  

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”    

      After learning about the Dahlia plant and experiencing the Japanese Knotweed, my perspective began to shift. In God’s providence, I knew he had allowed me on this discovery journey for a purpose. 

  • I was to see my own need to be as determined in my faith as this plant is, to survive. Instead of Japanese Knotweed being the proverbial thorn in my side, I started to see it as a strong representation of resilience. 
  • The Dahlia plant blooms more when it’s cut and is a symbol of inner strength. The pruning that it experiences gives its root system internal strength to not only survive, but also to thrive. 
  • Similarly, the Knotweed’s root system is strengthened every time it’s cut back, cut down, or dug up. 

I want to be that determined in my faith journey. 

     I still don’t like Japanese Knotweed and would prefer it to disappear from my neighborhood. However, I am choosing to view it in life-giving thoughts instead of the mentally challenging ones I initially gave way to. 

     Resilience in my faith is what God is working in me. This only comes through difficulties and trials. Having the spiritual wind knocked out of me through life’s disappointments isn’t joyous; however, it will make me stronger in my spiritual resolve. Being cut down, like with the death of my young adult son, wasn’t what I wanted in my life; and yet…I’ve noticed on the flip side of the challenges, my faith and determination is stronger. 

     Maybe an important point to accept is for a strong faith, we need a strong root base or foundation, and to have that, we will need to endure struggles, challenges, and trials.

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