Is This World Broken?

                                      This rock is called "Split Rock" 
                     and it is located on the Split Rock Road 
                               near Saranac Lake, NY.
                     It reminds me of how our world is broken
                          Nature has grown around this rock
                     making it  quite attractive and interesting.
                                 If we give God a chance 
                              to work on our broken world
                       He will make it and us beautiful too.

Is it beyond repair?
Is it hopeless?

Hurricane Dorian is raging 

in the Carolinas but has at least diminished to a Category 1.

The Bahamas are absolutely devastated, leveled, beaten to a pulp with the death and destruction of Dorian when he was Category 5 raging through the islands.

There was another mass shooting in Texas.

Then there was the horrible boat fire in California.

This is the news for the United States just this one past week and does not include what is happening abroad.

There is so much heartache.

So many people’s lives are broken. Both the victims and the perpetrators.
Is it hopeless?

I don’t believe it for a moment.

Believe it or not, I firmly believe that God is in control.

I don’t know why God allowed all this to happen.

I don’t know why so many people had to suffer and so many to die.

But I do know God has a plan.

And I know in my heart of hearts that if we all turn to Him, He will guide us through the storm of this life.

I know He wants us to love and honor Him first in our lives.

I know He wants us to reach out to the people He puts in our paths to treat them as we want to be treated.

I am certain that if we can do these, which are the commandments that Jesus gave us, that we can turn this world around.

And remember to pray, the power of prayer is incredible. God does love us and really does answer prayers in the way that is the very best for us.

There will still be storms, there will still be problems, but if we follow God’s laws, the world will no longer be broken.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2Chronicles 7:14

           This swamp is located near Waddington, NY. 

                     It joins the St. Lawrence River

                       I took this picture last fall.

                      Some of the trees are bare.

                       The colors are past prime.

                    But it is still a beautiful scene.

                   God makes all things beautiful,

                          at the right time,

                                His time.

                 Another beautiful swamp scene.

               This one was located near Lisbon, NY

It has been almost 2 months since I posted a blog.  I have been busy and had a couple of major illnesses.  I apologize that it has been so long.  This piece obviously was written last month.  The message is at least as vital today as it was a month ago.  Our country is in turmoil today and desperately needs our prayers to unite us.  We need to put our differences aside and become one nation under God.  I'm not saying that there are not issues that need to be dealt with because there are. I pray to God that they are dealt His way. We need to return to decency, manners and consideration for all our brothers.  Who are are brothers?  Are they just Americans? What would Jesus answer to that question?  Listen to your heart and follow what it says.

            The moon is covered with craters.
          Sometimes we can see "the man in the moon"
                           in the craters.
              It has been seriously damaged by meteors
                       that caused those craters.
                 Our land has been damaged 
                          by so much turmoil
                         from so many sources.
                    If we all turn to God and pray,
                        He will heal our land
                     and we will be whole again.
*************************

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 have not posted regularly and I apologize 
to my followers.

Life, health issues and grandchildren 

continue to interfere.

Blessings on you, my friend.

May our Loving Father bless you 
   and all your endeavors

May you see Him in the colorful leaves 

   from the changing season

May you see Him in the eyes 
   of your loved ones
May you feel the peace, love and JOY
   that only comes from the Great I Am.
And may His grace mend our land
   as only He can

                As the sun sets on our day
         God gives us hope for our tomorrow.
              
            

         

This World is Not My Home

               God filled this world with incredible beauty for us to enjoy 

                                         while we are here 

                                BUT we are only passing through.   

                            We have a different final destination.

                  Photo is of little side road near Waddington, NY Fall 2018.

This finally dawned on me to the point that it’s getting ingrained in my thoughts.

What does it mean?

It means that nothing in this life is my final goal.

It means that I’m in school, in training for a different place.

A place called Eternity.

It’s where we live forever and ever without end.

The choices, the deeds, the activities we choose, the goals we work toward will direct us to our final destination.

Our behavior and choices here will determine if we like our final destination or not.

There are two possible final destinations: heaven or hell.

There are no other choices.

And everyone goes one place or the other, no exceptions.

One place is heavenly and the other absolutely is not.

Our loving Father wants us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven where life will be unimaginably wonderful.

However, He gives us free will and lets us choose to go to heaven or not.

All the while we live, God nudges and encourages us.

He gives us almost unlimited opportunities to live in such a way that we get to go to heaven, but He doesn’t force us to choose Him and heaven.

He wants us with Him in Paradise for eternity so badly that He became one of us in the person of His beloved son who lived to teach us how to live. We can only go to heaven if we are holy as God is holy and no one of us is capable of being that perfect. God knows that and made plans for us anyhow. God loves us so much that He choose that His beloved son, Jesus, would take on all the sins of all men for all time, past, present and future. Jesus chose to be tortured to death to pay for all our sins. God offers forgiveness for our sins if we only repent, tell Him we are sorry and try to not sin again. He knows we will sin again, so He keeps forgiving as long as we keep asking for forgiveness. Our debt is paid.

The road to Heaven, to spend eternity with our Loving Father, who loves us without measure requires us to love Him first and foremost, to love and treat others as ourselves and to repent our sins. Repent means to tell God we are sorry for what we have done wrong.

Somewhere along the way of learning about God and what He wants me to do and how He wants me to live, I figured out that I want to go to Heaven, that Heaven is my final home. As a result, I don’t care as much if I have all the stuff that this world tells me that I need. It isn’t as important to be first or best – except in God’s eyes. It doesn’t matter if I “win arguments”, only that I win souls for God. That does matter. I hope to see all of them and all of you when I do go home.

Will you join me? Our Father is waiting to welcome us with outstretched arms.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Philippians 3:20

                     At the end of our toils, Jesus will be waiting for us.

Prayer Requests:

So much is happening these days.  There has been terrible weather.  There was a partial shutdown of our government and thousands of people suffered terrible financial difficulties as a result.  There is a virulent flu going around and the flu shot does not prevent it.  I was very sick with that "bug."  More severe weather is expected this week.  The list of problems goes on and on.  So many people are in need.  Our country and our world are in great need and the only one we can really turn to for solutions is Our Father.  He already has all the solutions.  He tells us: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  Matthew 7:7. 

Our world needs our prayers and our acts of kindness too.  Every prayer and every act of kindness will light a candle to brighten the darkness in this world and make it a much better place to live.

May God bless you greatly, my friend and thank you in advance for your prayers and your acts of kindness. 

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.

                               Here's another one of my sunsets.
                        Sometimes I think God sends so many my way 
                          because He knows how much I enjoy them.
                            The colors are sometimes so glorious that 
                          they are almost like a little piece of heaven,
                                      my little piece of heaven
                               that I share with you, my friend.
                                            Blessings.