Here are a few favorite photos that have been taken by me.
They are by no means professional.
Most were taken with my phone camera.
Little did I know that I could go on and on.
These are where I had to stop.
I hope you enjoy them too.
Until next time …
A question of self esteem –
So many are not happy with the way they are.
Whether they have thought it themselves, or been processed to believe it by others, self esteem is a huge issue.
It is an issue so large that it can give us the sense of being orphaned.
Our hearts feel orphaned because we feel that we are always “Less than”.
Less than the top executive, less than the doctor or the nurses, less than the pastor or other public speaker.
We feel less than the guy driving the cool car, or the lady wearing the most expensive jewelry.
The truth though, is that “No one is better than us, and we are better than no one”.
How do I know this?
Because I’ve read it over and over, in so many different ways in my Bible.
My belief is that whatever GOD says; Stands.
Even over what others say, or try to make me think.
We each have value.
It is given to us by God, the One who made us.
Romans 12 says this – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind ….. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
As we read about in ⇾The Orphan Heart #5⇽, the fruit of the Spirit has the ability to change our thoughts and intentions.
We CAN renew our minds, and begin to believe what God our Maker has said about us.
Here is what He says in Ephesians 2 – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 9 says For I know I the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call to me and come and pray to me, (read; Talk to me) and I will hear you.
Psalm 139 tells us that God knows us.
He knows us all.
He knows us all the way to the smallest parts of our DNA.
And He loves us.
All of us.
Even when our days are dark, He will not leave us.
Hebrews 13:5b says “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Since all these things are true, should we not, could we not, begin to see that we were made higher than the dirt way we see ourselves.
You can read more about it here.
139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
I said all that, to say this; If our self esteem is suffering from how we were raised, (or not raised);
How we were treated by nice people or by bullies;
Called out in front of others by well meaning teachers;
or lifted up higher than we should have been;
or worse;
the list goes on;
We have been damaged.
But God!
He wants us to be whole, and serve the purpose for which we were created.
He wants us to be ourselves, not who someone else thinks we should be.
He created us to be fully OURSELVES, not someone else.
He also wants to walk by our side and has provided help in the form of His word to get it accomplished.
He never says it will be easy, but it will be worth it.
Dig in.
Dig in deep.
Keep digging, and using what you find to get yourself healed.
Take control over that Orphaned Heart.
Until next time …
Another coolish August morning.
Jack and I enjoyed ourselves.
He doing “doggie” things, and I, listening to a pod cast.
The one I listened to this morning ⇾“What Silence Can Teach You About Sound”⇽ was not my normal one.
Not even my usual TYPE of pod cast.
It was spoken by Dallas Taylor, and provided by TED Talks Daily.
If you have been with me for any length of time, you might know that I cherish quietude.
So the title caught my eye, and listening to Dallas speak, I was flooded with new ideas about what I was surrounded with.
Maybe not new ideas, but instead, old ideas that finally found their voice.
I’ll share some photos from my walk, and some thoughts that came along with them.
I was encouraged to pay attention to ordinary things, in an extra ordinary way.
Here we go.
This tree.
I love this tree.
This tree; only God Himself knows how long it’s been there.
I can see it from my office window, there under the hill.
I see it every time Jack and I walk.
I can see it on my road when I’m driving home from town.
I even see it in my dreams.
I love that tree so much.
The only thought I’ve had about it is that it has always been present.
One of our neighbors though, is clearing out the valley so that he can have more land for planting.
The only thing that saves this patch of trees, is that the original owner, though getting up there in years, is still alive and well; and she loves her trees.
One day, she will be no more, and I am sure her trees will follow.
I will mourn the passing of both.
I never thought about the “why” of my love for this tree until this mornings walk.
You see, here in Iowa, this past week we had what is known as a de·re·cho.
It is defined as – a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds. Some sustained winds across Iowa were clocked at 115 mph.
Needless to say there is widespread destruction, and thousands without power for cooling, food preservation, and sanitation.
With that as a back drop, I had to wonder just how many storms this old tree has weathered.
As I neared my old friend, I saw that some of his pieces had fallen during the storm.
I also noted that there is much left to him, and he is still quite beautiful, in spite his losses.
Upon my return back up the hill, my eye was drawn to this;
One lone flower.
It had weathered the storm.
A message of hope.
Life goes on.
A light, shining after the storm.
So I ask you.
Have you been in a storm?
Have you been embattled on every side?
Does COVID, quarantine, irrational happenings in our world, and such have you feeling like the last one?
You may even be the last one, but in a different season, life will be restored.
Guess what?
You are still beautiful, whether you have all the pieces you came into this world with or not.
So you get to decide.
What will you leave behind?
Will your parts end up in a stack somewhere where no one will understand all you have endured, or will you you shine out, like hope in a dark time?
I encourage you.
Pick up your pieces.
Share them out.
Tell your story.
Let someone, somewhere know of it’s importance.
When you’re done, be that light that shines out hope –
Hope for a new reason, a new season, a new time.
All because of a four and a half minute silent space inside a TED Talk.
Who knew?
Until next time …
Significant Encounters 
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