Category: God

  • All Nature Sings: A Spiritual Journey of Place

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    I love Carol Rottman’s analogy in, All Nature Sings: A Spiritual Journey of Place, where she shares about landscapes and seasons…listen:

    “Thank goodness for that walk down the driveway every day. What a rush; what a treasure—and of a totally different, and even opposite kind! The landscape changes with the seasons, but the Creator never does. I don’t even have to carry a battery pack—God has been wireless from the beginning. We can always be in touch.

    Carol J. Rottman takes us on a seasonal, spiritual pilgrimage through her eyes in a corner of their 17-acre plat of land: Flat Iron Lake Preserve. I immediately fell in love with the picturesque floral cover of the hardcover book, and continued to feel drawn in as Carol’s husband’s photography graced the pages within, All Nature Sings: A Spiritual Journey of Place. Fritz Rottman recorded images as husband and wife worked to “restore seventeen acres to its native prairie state.”

    I looked forward to each successive entry of Carol’s journey to contentedness right where God has placed her. The added photography complements and add visual excitement to the quotes and scripture verses.

    Recommended reading for anyone desiring to virtually join the author on an uplifting, spiritual pilgrimage. This book makes an excellent addition to coffee table or library. Presentation and layout professionally created – very impressive!

    All Nature Sings: A Spiritual Journey of Place, by Carol J. Rottman

    Published by Credo House Publishers, Grand Rapids, Michigan, ©2010

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  • Safe from Destruction

    Lightening over Ludington
    Lightening over Ludington-Photo by Steve Lasher

     

    It’s a wet and blustery day out today – perfect day to snuggle inside and work on my editing and to read! A day like today I’m not so inclined to want to be outdoors, so it’s easier to keep my nose and eyes pointed on my papers and computer screen.

    “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber.” (Psalm 121:3)

    The adversary of your life has no power to trap you…as long as you stay hidden in the shelter of God’s wings where you are safe from emotional destruction, hidden from emotional ruin. – June Hunt

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  • quote from “Honest Abe”

     

    A quote from Abraham Lincoln: “God bless my mother; all I am or hope to be I owe to her.”

    I believe my mother influenced me in many profound ways, some of which include a genuine love and concern for all people, love for family, and love for God. How did your mother influence you?

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  • “friends are friends forever”

    Last day of our women’s Bible study group at Calvary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

    Remembering, “Friends are Friends Forever,” with Michael W. Smith.

    I’m also thinking of families who moved away from Michigan, death, broken relationships, and all those complicated issues in between…this one’s for you.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbPKaIozS-c

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  • More from Anne Lamont and Grace

     

    Anne compares writing (or performing, photography, art in any form, etc…,) to driving at night. The driver can’t see very far, but can still make the whole trip that way.

    And don’t you feel that’s how God operates? He gives us just enough to take a step (or maybe two steps). When we complete that, he then opens up the next door and we take another step. Trust and obedience plays a key ingredient in life.

    In Pastor John Piper’s sermon, “What is the Recession For?” suggests that when the economy plummets, God has His own purposes. One of them being, that “nothing is impossible with Him.” (Luke 1:37) It’s good to know He can steer us through the difficult times if we allow Him.

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  • Bring the Rain!

     

    I can count a million times
    People asking me how I
    Can praise You with all that I’ve gone through
    The question just amazes me
    Can circumstances possibly
    Change who I forever am in You
    Maybe since my life was changed
    Long before these rainy days
    It’s never really ever crossed my mind
    To turn my back on you, oh Lord
    My only shelter from the storm
    But instead I draw closer through these times
    So I pray

    Bring me joy, bring me peace
    Bring the chance to be free
    Bring me anything that brings You glory
    And I know there’ll be days
    When this life brings me pain
    But if that’s what it takes to praise You
    Jesus, bring the rain

    I am Yours regardless of
    The dark clouds that may loom above
    Because You are much greater than my pain
    You who made a way for me
    By suffering Your destiny
    So tell me what’s a little rain
    So I pray

    Holy, holy, holy
    Is the Lord God Almighty 

    Artist: Mercy Me, Album: Coming Up to Breathe, Title: Bring the Rain

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU

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  • Did I do my best to live for truth?

    We sang this song on Sunday, “When It’s All Been Said and Done.”  The song made me think, and I’m still pondering the words today.

    When its all been said and done
    There is just one thing that matters
    Did I do my best to live for truth
    Did I live my life for You?

    When its all been said and done
    All my treasures will mean nothing
    Only what I’ve done for love’s reward
    Will stand the test of time

    Lord, Your mercy is so great
    That You look beyond our weakness
    Finding purest gold in miry clay
    Making sinners into saints

    So I will always sing Your praise
    Here on earth and ever after
    Cause You’ve shown me heaven’s my true home
    When its all been said and done
    You’re my life when life is gone

    When its all been said and done
    There is just one thing that matters
    Did I do my best to live for truth
    Did I live my life for You?
    Lord, I’ll live my life for You

    © 1998 Jim Cowan (Admin. by Integrity’s Hosanna! Music) 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1llIIhBMCjU&feature=related

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  • The Art of Bloodletting

    The Art of Bloodletting: translating suffering to the shared page, with Jeanne Murray Walker.          

    Great suffering took Jeanne Walker to a land she did not know—where she had to wait.

                In America, waiting is not acceptable. Our society honors ambitious people who build buildings, plant crops, etc…, and anyone who is not active is viewed as pitiable. However, there’s a good deal of power in waiting. Jesus put himself in waiting—productive waiting and prayer in the garden.

                 Out of silence a still, small voice comes forth if we remain attentive and listening! We must steward the afflictions God has granted us when the time is right. We may remain silent in the midst of it, but later (maybe even years later) we must address the issue by telling our story in the form of writing.

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  • Festival of Faith & Writing update

     

    So many amazing folks I had the privilege to talk with and to listen to during the sessions. One of the first speakers: Eugene Peterson: Poet & Pastor on Patmos. He spoke of a time when he entered the Badlands—valley of dry bones, desolation, and filled with failed dreams. This is where he became a writer – in the Badlands!

    In the midst of the Badlands, Eugene got “to the guts, pursued myself, pursed writing and conversation (not explained/directed) but EXPLORED the land of the living.”

    • Listen
    • Look/acquaint self with the neighborhood
    • Then slowly lean into what I don’t know – word by word!

    I appreciated his analogy to walking at night with a tiny pencil flashlight between your teeth which illuminates only a few feet away from the walk ahead. Because of the tiny ray of light, one is forced to walk slowly and cautiously each step of the way.

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  • Final day of writing conference

    Speak now, for your servants are listening, God.

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