February Hope Breathers

February 27, 2023 Trudy Den Hoed31 Comments

Someday We Will Understand

Her little body wracked by RSV, Covid, and pneumonia, our 1-1/2 year old great-granddaughter, Lily, was struggling to get enough oxygen. Filled with worry, we begged God for a miracle. In the same week, God gave us the precious gift of a new great-grandson, Caynen. Grief and joy. Fear of loss vs. new life. (Thank God, the grief over Lily turned to joy when God healed her.)

As I reflected on the coexistence of grief and joy in life, I thought of how both painful experiences and God’s faithful love are a part of His weaving for our lives. We often see a messy blur of trauma, trials, evil, and injustice in the world and in our lives. But if we step back and see it from God’s perspective, we see how God is interweaving those dark times with the brightness of His new-every-morning mercies, His amazing grace, and the golden threads of His unconditional love even during those times when we didn’t see it.

We can never fully understand everything that happens, but one day we will see the full picture and be amazed by how God brought all things together to create the beauty of His purpose.

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23

Jesus replied, “You do not realize
now what I am doing,
but later you will understand.”
John 13:7

“For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

It’s the Size of Our God That Counts

“It is not the size of your faith, but the object of your faith that matters.”
~ Tim Keller

“While faith is a very precious grace, yet it is only the medium of the communication of God’s infinite love and power, and we must never put it in the place of God Himself.”
~ John Alexander Dowie

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”
~ Oswald Chambers

Nature Retreat

Photos Courtesy of My Brother

Amazing photos of a Hooded Merganser pair and of the female downing her goldfish lunch

I sure hope these robins are coming our way! I’m longing for spring!

I just came across this collage I made
years ago from some of my butterfly photos
and thought I’d share it again.
FLY FREE in JESUS!

January Hope Breathers

January 28, 2023 Trudy Den Hoed26 Comments

God’s Wings of Faithful Love

❤️❤️❤️
“Like a bird protecting its young,
God will cover you with His feathers,
will protect you under His great wings;
His faithfulness will form a shield around you,
a rock-solid wall to protect you.”
Psalm 91:4 VOICE

Jesus Longs For Us to Find Refuge Under His Wings of Love
Blog Post Excerpt and Prayer from 2019

“Though a bird will give its life for its young, there are times when it has no power against much stronger enemies. That will never happen with God. He is invincible. There is no enemy too strong for Him. We can always find refuge under His Almighty wings of safety in the storms of life.

And there will be storms, because we are part of this sinful, fallen world. As long as we are on this earth, physical, mental, and emotional losses in various forms will continue to cause heart-rending grief, anxiety, and fear.

We all need a Shelter, a Refuge, a Safe Savior in these storms.”

Lord, thank You for loving us so much and longing for us to take shelter in You. Please help us to trust You with all our hearts. Take away all the roadblocks that keep us from fleeing to find refuge in You. Take away all the trust issues we may have in our hearts. Take away all our self-sufficiency. Please help us to snuggle underneath Your wings of loving care with all our restlessness, anxiety, and fear. Help us to picture Your protective wings around us whenever we step forward into places or situations that make us feel so afraid and untrusting but yet will help us on the road to healing the brokenness within us. Help us to be dependent on You and Your all-sufficient grace in whatever struggles we go through in this life. Thank You that Your wings of love and safety are invincible.

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Learning To Tell God the Truth

“…We are crafted for communion with our Creator, built to share both the marvels and the mess of this life with the One who knows the beginning and the end.

Lament isn’t merely complaining about God. It’s being honest enough to bring our complaints to God. It’s not raging behind God’s back. It’s turning back to the One who is able to handle our anger and our questions, our discouragement and our despair.

Lament is processing grief in the presence of Love…”

Alicia Bruxvoort in It’s Ok to Be Messy: Learning to Tell God the Truth

We Have True Value in God

“The devil has convinced so many people that they are worthless. Each of us needs to stop and remember the cross – at the cross we will discover our true value – for it is here that we discover the price God was willing to pay for us, the depth of His love, and how much we are worth to Him.” ~ Roy Lessin

“Just think, you’re here not by chance, but by God’s choosing. His hand formed you and made you the person you are. He compares you to no one else – You are one of a kind. You lack nothing that His grace can’t give you. He has allowed you to be here in this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation.” ~ Roy Lessin

“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.” ~ Brennan Manning

Nature Retreat

“There is not one blade of grass,
there is no color in this world
that is not intended to make us rejoice.“
~ John Calvin

My brother got up early one morning and took this spectacular slice of beauty!

From their home in Arizona, he zoomed in the distant mountains. More beauty!

Another slice of beauty from one of our sons when their family visited Maui.

Our daughter caught this amazing two-sided view of a sun dog, caused by the refraction of sunlight by ice crystals in the atmosphere.

New Year Hope Breathers

January 5, 2023 Trudy Den Hoed30 Comments

Were you devastated from heartaches or losses of one kind or another as you closed out 2022? Has it continued into 2023? I’m so sorry. No matter what you’re suffering, I pray God strengthens you with His measureless grace and pours His peace into Your hurting heart.

🦋 “God has a heart. And it hurts.
Not with just a few drops of ache,
not just with a slow drip of sadness —
His whole massive heart fills, swells,
burns with this raw, relentless pain.”
~ Ann Voskamp

God’s Grace Is Immeasurable

❤️❤️❤️
“So here’s what I’ve learned through it all:
Leave all your cares and anxieties at the feet of the Lord,
and measureless grace will strengthen you.”
Psalm 55:22 TPT

As I look back to 2022, God truly has been generous with His boundless love and His all-sufficient grace. Does that mean it was free sailing without any struggles? Not at all.

There will always be trials on this earth, but God has promised His measureless grace to get through them. I am such a worrier and feel so helpless to “fix” things, but God is infinitely patient with me. I continue this life-long learning process of more deeply trusting God and leaving all worries and troubles in His Hands. To repeatedly surrender my heart and past, present, and future life and that of others to Him and His faithful love and infinite and powerful grace. To remember to relinquish the things I can’t change and to believe they are better off in God’s hands than mine. But also to seek His wisdom, guidance, and strength to have courage to make a difference wherever He places me.

❤️❤️❤️
“The Lord Himself goes before you
and will be with you;
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.“
Deuteronomy 31:8

Nature Retreat

I’m so grateful to receive photos from warmer climates during these cold and snowy winter months! The first 6 photos are of Arizona birds from my brother. 🙂 The rest of the photos are ones my niece took recently on her trip to Hawaii to visit her daughter who lives on the Big Island and studies and rescues sea turtles. 🙂