Are you discouraged? Are you feeling hopeless and helpless? So much goes on in our lives and in the world that can make us feel this way. But God…

It is often in our deepest discouragement that hope can become the most alive. Hope sings when we feel like crying. It doesn’t mean our troubles go away, but hanging onto HOPE in GOD anchors our souls and gives us renewed strength to keep going forward one step at a time.

When I woke up from hernia surgery, the nurse kept asking me what’s wrong. I couldn’t tell her. Then she asked, “Are you having a hard time breathing?” I nodded. She put me on oxygen and I slowly breathed more easily.

And so it is with our hearts. Without the oxygen of God’s faithful promises breathing life and hope into our souls, we can sink into the pit of discouragement and our way out can seem so impossible.

During the first few days after surgery, God calmed my heart with His promise that His everlasting arms are always underneath me. Lifting me up and carrying me through.

Then at the end of that week I ended up in ER with breathing difficulties. I lay there crying out to God, “Why this setback now, too? I no longer feel Your arms holding me up. Please help me!” Then He reminded me that even when I don’t “feel” Him, He is still with me, because His love never fails. He brought to my mind how Jesus suffered the agony on the cross of being totally forsaken by His Father so that we would never, ever be deserted.

The stress of the surgery triggered a major flareup of my breathing issues. It has been a difficult month trying to get on top of it, but it has made me even more grateful for every moment of easier breathing.

One night a couple of lines from a beloved, old poem of Annie Johnson Flint was impressed on my heart:

“For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.”

Yes, God gives and gives and gives again! Why? Because the riches in Jesus are bottomless! It may sometimes feel like He does more taking than giving, especially when we’re crying out from the bottom of the pit of discouragement. And yet, in the end His giving infinitely exceeds the troubles and losses we go through.

 “Fear not, little flock, whatever your lot,
He enters all rooms, “the doors being shut,”
He never forsakes; He never is gone,
So count on His presence in darkness and dawn.”
Paul Rader (1921)

Nature Retreat

The older I get, the more I need to allow myself to rest, not only in body, but also in spirit. To rest in God’s gifts and signs of His love. To allow the fuel of His love and grace to replenish me.

One of the ways God does that for me is by immersing myself in His creation. He uses it to reassure me that He is in control of every situation in our lives and in this world. That His power can work through any of our impossibilities. His creatures call out to my spirit, “God is faithful! He will take care of you! He will never abandon you!”

“God is an artist of Nature;
He paints in colors, so rare,
The bursting bud in the Springtime,
The lovely trees everywhere …” 
~ Gertrude Tooley Buckingham

My sister-in-law, Linda, took these pictures a year ago at the Tulip Festival (also known as Dutch Heritage Festival) in Holland, MI, and has given me permission to share them here. So beautiful!

My brother John introduces us to the amazing Arizona Carpenter Bee.

John recently sent me some Arizona “signs of spring.” Awesome!

A Flurry of Favorites
Enjoy this link where Photographer Kim Wormald
shares some of her favorite bird photos. Awesome!

What struggles or losses are you going through?
What does God use to replenish, revitalize, and refresh your spirit?