Tag: worries

New Year Hope Breathers

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. 🙂

American Robin
Bridled Titmouse
Hermit Thrush
Arizona Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker
Burrowing Owls
Love this view with the lighthouse!
Another Ocean View
Sea Turtles
Green Sea Turtles
Waimea Canyon

August Hope Whispers

Trudy Den Hoed34 Comments

The Ultimate Resting Place

Before I published this post, I listened to a song a blogging friend, Lois Flowers, shared. God knew exactly what I needed to be reminded of. Do you have questions that don’t have answers and tears that just keep on running?

“…When your questions don’t have answers and you just can’t understand it
When your mind just won’t stop running and the tears just keep on coming
You don’t have to explain it
He hears you before you can speak
Come with me, let’s take it to Jesus
This is the place you can rest for a while
If you need to just fall apart
Lay down your worry, He’s not in a hurry, take all the time you need
This is the place you can rest for a while…”

God Promises Streams In the Desert

“Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.”
Isaiah 35:6

Are you feeling downhearted with no hope in sight? Here is a powerful video to watch as you read Isaiah 35:1-7 & 10. Imagine yourself in this waste-howling wilderness and the joy you will feel as God sends streams of joy to quench your parched soul.

God Knows & God Cares

“When God sends no answer and “the cloud remain[s],” we must wait. Yet we can do so with the full assurance of God’s provision of manna, water from the rock, shelter, and protection from our enemies. He never keeps us at our post without assuring us of His presence or sending us daily supplies.” – Lettie B. Cowman

“The matters we or the world might consider trivial, He cares about and wants to remedy. He longs to relieve our worries and has promised to supply our most fundamental needs.” – Charles R. Swindoll

“God knows what each one of us is dealing with. He knows our pressures. He knows our conflicts. And He has made a provision for each and every one of them. That provision is Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit, indwelling us and empowering us to respond rightly.” – Kay Arthur

Nature Retreat

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”
~ Laura Ingalls Wilder ~

First of all, my brother shares some bird beauty. 🙂

Elegant Trogon
Western Kingbird and Ant Lion
Lunchtime!

It was so dry here that even sprinklers couldn’t keep the grass green. Then one day God blessed us with 4 inches of rain! The next day we went to the Falls. What powerful sights and sounds to see and hear as the water rushed over the rocks and pooled out into some dry areas!

“But the most celebrated water in ancient Palestine did not come from wells; it rose in the natural springs that fed enduring streams and rivers and communal reservoirs. In the Old Testament, flowing or “living” water stands for God’s faithful and lasting provision for His people.” – Sarah Ruden

I’m amazed how God speaks straight to my heart by sending butterflies to cross my path, whether I am in the house looking out a window, sitting on the patio, walking, or riding in the car. He whispers hope, “I am with you always, My child.”

Sometimes there are situations out of our control in which we hurt for and with someone who is hurting so deeply. But God… God is still with us, even when it doesn’t feel like it, and He has the power to heal and restore anyone and to change the hardest of hearts.

How has God spoken to you this month? What has brought you hope in the midst of the hard?

Pouring Out and Leaving Our Worries and Stress at the Feet of the Lord

Trudy Den Hoed20 Comments

“Grace” was my Word for the year in 2021. And truly, God’s grace was so generous and free and still is. When I went through dark valleys, I had a difficult time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but God still graciously brought me through. In hindsight, I can now envision Him holding my hand and leading me or carrying me, even when I had no strength to lift my eyes and focus on His love and grace.

Focusing on the depth of meaning in that word did help me to open my eyes more to grace moments I so easily overlook. However, this year I decided not to focus on a specific word but rather on a renewed thought process.

In the past months, when I start thinking I must get this or that done, when I get anxious and overwhelmed about all that’s going on in this world and my heart aches for those who are hurting, I hear God whispering, “Just rest, My child.” I feel He is calling me to put less pressure on myself. To take one day at a time, and even one step at a time, and to keep my focus on Jesus. To lay low and rest in Him and His unchangeable goodness and unfailing love. Just to take a deep breath, confide in Him, and do the next right thing. To stop stressing out if I post less here, am unable to keep up with other things in life, or cannot change situations out of my control. To just “be” who I am in Christ, give all my anxious thoughts over to Him, and to seek to be more like Him in my every thought, word, and action.

“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

“Pour out all your worries and stress
upon Him and leave them there,
for He always tenderly cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:7 TPT

I have read about some chosen words for the year, and I am looking forward to hearing what lessons God has taught you. But whether you have chosen a word or not, my prayer for all of us is that God will anchor us more and more in His unfailing love and bottomless grace for us.

Still
by Hillary Scott

“I believe that You are God alone
But sometimes I still try to take control
Cause I get scared when I can’t see the end
And all You want from me is to let go

You’re parting waters
Making a way for me
You’re moving mountains that I don’t even see
You’ve answered my prayer before I even speak
All You need for me to be is still…”