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Showing posts with label rainbow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rainbow. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

And the Clouds Parted


The clouds are gray and threatening.
It’s been raining.
The wind blows leaves hither and yon.

My mood is down-cast.
So much is happening
So many problems at home and in the world
So many issues to deal with.
Sometimes it’s over-whelming.

And the clouds parted.
The sun shone through.
The sky is still gray with patches of blue




But the day brightens
My mood brightens

My father is telling me that regardless of how dark my life becomes, He is with me always, beside me, helping with all my problems, with all life’s issues.

He says “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”  Hebrews 13:5
He never has and never will.

I am never alone.

He has a plan for me, a plan to help and not to hurt me – or you.

Be blessed, my friend.


This is the day the Lord had made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24


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



                        God gives us rainbows to remind us 
               that He walks with us through each of life's trials.

Happy New Year dear friend.
It's the time to reflect on what happened in 2018 and think about what we would like to accomplish in 2019.  I would encourage you to pray and ask God what He would like you to accomplish in 2019.
Your true happiness and fulfillment will come when you are working with your Father and living the life that He has planned for you.  I wish that happiness and fulfillment for you and that 2019 is your best year yet.

All photos taken by Debbie McEwen
All bible reference from the NIV
     unless otherwise noted.
If you are interested,
    you can click on the Blog Archive
    dates on the top right side of this post
    to connect to previous blog posts.
I would love to hear from you either 
    on the comment section of this blog post
    or through my email.
    debbieamcewen@gmail.com
I usually post every other Saturday.
Lately I have been very busy with Grandma duties on weekends 
    so I may try to post during the week.

The next post should be in about 2 weeks.

                               I'll close with a beautiful sunset.  
             I am so blessed that God has planted me in a beautiful area 
             and that He sets up wonderful scenery for me to photograph.
                            When I look at His wonderful sunsets, 
                 God seems to be saying "See you in the morning, child.
                                         Tomorrow is a new day, 
                             wait till you see the plans I have for you.
                      "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 
                           plans to give you hope and a future. "  

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Your Choice?


Two different kinds of rainbows that I have seen in the past 2 weeks.
Both are beautiful and both are gifts from God.
        "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it
          and remember the everlasting covenant between God
           and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 
                                         Genesis 9:16
                     
God always chooses us and all things ultimately
                                   in our best interest.
                                  What do you choose?
        


Jesus tells us: I will never give up on you.
"Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Know with confidence that you are His and He fiercely protects what is His.

Jesus, son of God prays for you. Imagine what that means, that the son of God prays to His father on your behalf!

You are so special.
You were chosen by God from the beginning of time.
You are loved beyond all measure!
So much so that God in the person of His beloved Son suffered a horrendous death to pay for your sins and mine and to buy our ticket to heaven.

God seeks us.
He knocks daily on our door.
He wants to spend eternity with us.
That’s why He created us.

He also gives us free will to choose.
He loves us so much that He will not force us to choose Him and heaven.

He wants us to take our rightful place as His chosen and beloved children.
We only have to choose to join Him.

What will you choose?

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15



               Photo taken yesterday at Black Lake, NY.
                     Life has some very dark times for all of us.
                    When we choose God, He leads to still waters 
                                   and restores our souls
                     regardless of whatever life sends our way.





Prayer Request:
The people of Puerto Rico, the people in Guatamala, the people in Hawaii who are all suffering the devastation from nature's fury.

Please pray for healing for this country.  There is so much division in thoughts and actions.  We were all created by God and He loves all of us dearly.  Please pray that God helps us find common ground and work together to make our great nation the wonderful, free democracy that it was meant to be "One nation under God with liberty and justice for all."


All photos taken by Debbie unless otherwise noted.
All bible reference from the NIV
     unless otherwise noted.

If you are interested,
    you can click on the Blog Archive
    dates on the top right side of this post
    to connect to previous blog posts.
I would love to hear from you either 
    on the comment section of this blog post
    or through my email.
    debbieamcewen@gmail.com
I post every other Saturday.
The next post will be on June 30, 2018.

                          Anybody know what kind of moth this is?
                             It visited my house last weekend
                              and kindly posed for this picture.

                          I love the colors and the huge "eye" spots.


Saturday, August 5, 2017

Does Your Heart Ever Ache, Lord?


                                        Sunrise at Black Lake, NY.
                    (Photo taken by Sandi Farina, used with permission.)

                      No matter how much pain we cause Our Father, 
                                        He loves us dearly.
                               The sun comes up every morning 
                      along with His JOY that is fresh each morning.

Do You ever weep when Your children ignore You?
Are You ever down-heartened 
     when some even deny You exist?
Do You ever regret that You created all of us
    when we let You down so completely at times?
    -especially when we are so mean to each other?

Fortunately, You are Faithfulness
     from forever to forever.
No matter what we do or don’t do 
     You forgive us when we tell You we are sorry.

You love us that much.
You desperately want to spend eternity with us 
     so You put aside all Your feelings to nudge 
     and coax us back to You.

All regrets and heartaches are gone.
All sins are forgotten forever.
There is only JOY when we turn back to You.

Please help me Lord, to do my part to bring You JOY.
Please help me, Your prodigal daughter,  
     to stop causing pain
     to Your wonderful, loving heart.
Please help me to live Your way from now on.

I really want to spend eternity with You.
It’s a tall order, but with God, all things are possible.

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

                   (Photo by David Sanford - used with permission)
                                  What will heaven look like?


     Rainbow at Black Lake, NY.  Photo by Sandi Farina.  Used with permission.








                                                   Boat launch at Santa Clara, NY
     I took this photo in PA on a side road on the way home from Montrose, PA.  

                                   A golf course in Montrose, PA

               I'd like to think that when we see the beauty of nature, 
                      that we catch glimpses of what we will see 
                            when we get to our eternal home 
                                  - if we choose Jesus.

Blessing:
May you be blessed each day 
    knowing that you have a Loving Father 
    who is always on your side, 
    who does all things for your betterment.
May you always realize 
    that you can simply trust Him 
    and He will always come through for you.

Hope to see you all in heaven someday!!!
May God bless you greatly, my friend.


All photos taken by Debbie and Tim McEwen unless otherwise noted-          used with permission.
All bible reference from the NIV
     unless otherwise noted.
If you are interested,
    you can click on the Blog Archive
    dates on the top right side of this post
    to connect to previous blog posts.
I would love to hear from you either 
    on the comment section of this blog post
    or through my email.
    debbieamcewen@gmail.com
I post every Wednesday and Saturday.
The next post will be August 9, 2017.


                             We are all traveling on the road of life 
                              headed toward our final destination.  
                                      Our choices along the way 
                       determine where we end up for all of eternity.  
                  Where do you want to spend your forever and forever?
                                           Choose wisely.
                         I'd love to spend eternity with you in paradise.
                   (photo taken on the way home from Saranac Lake, NY)



Saturday, December 31, 2016

Are You Wounded?

Is your heart empty of JOY and life like this deserted house?
Do you have trouble and pain in your life?

Is your heart hurting?
Is there trouble and strife, stress, sickness, tragedy, sadness and turmoil in your life?

Look up.
Look to the One who is weeping for you
    and with you.

When the storm clouds are at their worst, Jesus will break through.

He cares
He will hold your heart in His loving hands
    and give you peace



Jesus leads us to the magnificent sunset at the end of a terrible day
          and gives peace to the soul.


Cry to Him
He is listening

He too suffered from the evils of the world
His heart was stomped into the ground
He was left raw and bleeding to death
His heart was pierced for us
Do you ever feel that life is beating you down?
The world closed in around Jesus and beat Him down the way nature is deteriorating this old house. 
Go to Jesus and He will help you through whatever life gives you. 


And He is God

He didn’t have to do this for us
But He loves us so much, He did it anyhow

And He would do it again – just for you

Hold out your hand to Him
He is there waiting for you


Run to the light that is Jesus and know that you will find your peace.

He will hold you and cry with you
He will dry your eyes and give you peace

He will help you through the worst

When you are wounded, go to Jesus

And know that you are loved!




“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
   Psalm 23:1-4
A beautiful sunset on the St. Lawrence River from Ogdensburg, NY. 
 
I Give It All To You
I'm running on empty
The gage is getting low
My reserve has been depleted
My heart is full of woe
I'm turning to You, Lord
You will know just what to do
I cannot manage on my own
I give it all to You
I Know that You are with me
You've been here every day
You've known me from conception
Your love is here to stay
I only have to call out
And lift my hand to You
You will come to my rescue
You will always see me through
My heart is filled with joy now
You filled it with Your love
You always come to help me
You lift me from above

I put my self in Your hands
I give it all to You
I give You all my problems
You always see me through



So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid
What can mere mortals do to me?"

Hebrews 13:6


Our goal is the far mountain.  We cannot make it on our own.  We don't have to. We have the Holy Spirit and we have the fellowship and support of our fellow travelers who are headed to the same destination.  Together, we will make it.
This is Whiteface Mountain Lake Placid, NY.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The LORD will guard your going out
and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.
Psalm 121:6-10



When times get very difficult to bear find a house of God to feed your soul and to lead you home to your Father who is waiting patiently and lovingly for you.   Find a church that will feed you with the Word of God. Become part of a church family who will help you on your walk with Jesus. 
Pray, pray, pray at all times.  Your Father is patiently waiting to hear from you.
He always listens and always answers.  It will be His will, His way and in His time.  And His answer will always be in your best interest - in the long run.
This church is near South Colton, NY.  
I attend Knapps Station Community Church in Knapps Station, NY.


Blessings From United Prayer  is a blog post from my friend Jean Oathout discussing the value of prayer.

Commentary
When I wrote "Are You Wounded?" I was crying. My heart and soul were hurting for some problems that I had and for all the problems around me.  

There is so much difficulty, sickness and tragedy in the world.

Satan has a firm grip on so many situations and so many people. 

However, Satan is NOT the one in control. 

God is firmly in control. 

When Jesus was born, Satan thought he would eliminate Him when Herod killed all the baby boys. Joseph has to flee with Mary and Jesus but Jesus was safe. 

Satan thought he won the final battle when Jesus died on the cross.  However, Jesus rose from the dead and conquered death and Satan for us.  

Jesus always wins in the end.  

And so will we - if we just hang in there and trust in the One who loves us more than earthly life itself.  

We can be assured that a life following Jesus won't be easy BUT Jesus will walk every step with us and will lead us to victory.  
Remember the saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." 

Every step of this blog post has been blocked and difficult.  The computer has been anything but cooperative.  This has been very busy this week.  

However, with God's help we can and will get through everything that Satan and the world throw at us.

With Jesus at our side we will always be overcomers. 

When we follow Jesus we will always win.


Jesus walks with us through the storm and gives us a rainbow.
He leads us to victory and to our heavenly reward.
We only have to hang in there.

He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." 2Kings 6:16



Book Reviews



The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado  is a sweet Christmas story that could have come right out of Dickens.  We can never discount the power of a Christmas miracle. I borrowed this from the Knapps Station Library.  I recommend this.  

 

Why the Nativity? 25 Compelling Reasons We
Celebrate the Birth of Jesus by David Jeremiah
addresses 25 thought provoking questions surrounding the birth of Jesus.


Cover art

Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey

is one of those gems to be read slowly and digested thoughtfully.  He gives so much meat to feed the soul.  If you let him, Mr Yancey will guide you to a deeper relationship with your Father.  I heartily recommend this book.


Cover art

Basic Christianity by John Stott
discusses some basic Christian principles including was Jesus Christ the son of God? A good read for everyone.


The sun shining on the snow in my backyard.  
                              The Son is the light of our lives.

The Blessing

May the new year bring you 
   to the One who is seeking you
May you come to see that He truly loves you
   and will never lead you astray.
And may you find the peace
   that surpasses all understanding

   In our Loving Father


All photos taken by Debbie and Tim McEwen unless otherwise noted- 
  used with permission
All bible reference from the NIV unless otherwise noted
If you are interested, you can click on the Blog Archive 
  dates on the top right side of this post to connect 
  to previous blog posts
I would love to hear from you either on the      
  comment section of this blog post
  or through my email  
  debbieamcewen@gmail.com

I post every other Saturday 

The next post will be January 14, 2017

Happy New Year to you my friend and may God Bless you greatly!




This huge pile of logs was located near Santa Clara, NY.  We saw it last Spring.  I've seen lots of logging but never a pile this huge.