Landscape. I love the glimpses of God’s glory in the panoramas of landscapes. The undulations of the sand with tufts of multicolored greens, the hard angles of crags in mountains and the blue of the sky overhead command awe and worship and trust. But sometimes I don’t trust. I’m so focused on one area that I miss the overall view of the landscape. I’m distracted and have lost perspective. How can I gain a new trust in God? I need to step back and get a new view of the landscape. I need to see the greater picture instead of the smaller details. I need to step up to a place where I can be renewed and refreshed so I can continue on in the journey.

Psalm 84 talks about the terrain of our pilgrimage of the heart with God. We will pass through the valley of weeping (Psalm 84:6), but we need to remember we are just passing through. That’s the view of the landscape that we sometimes forget. We think we will be in this one difficulty, whatever it is, forever. We’ve got to remember that God has us on a journey with Him, and He is taking us places we’ve never been before. He sees the path, where it’s leading, and the new views just ahead. It’s an adventure, though we may not see it that way. I like to call it the great adventure of knowing God. For He is dominant in the landscape of our soul where the greatest journey takes place. The courts of the Lord are the place where we will catch the very greatest views (Psalm 84:10). And though we may pass through the valley of weeping, if we are enjoying the courts of the Lord, then even a time of weeping becomes a place where we are strengthened and refreshed (Psalm 84:6-7). He has given us an amazing promise for the journey: For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you” (Psalm 84:11-12). We need to strengthen ourselves in this great promise as we traverse the landscape of life.

So today, as you experience the landscape of life, and follow the Lord on your pilgrimage of the heart, here are some words for the journey to help enjoy the view along the way: trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

God bless you dear friend as you continue on in this great adventure of knowing Him.

Blessings and Grace to you,

Away. Stepping out of the flow of responsibilities and earthly things. And getting into the quiet. You need it sometimes just to see real beauty and think extraordinary thoughts of God and truth. Seeing a view that catches you by surprise is breathtaking. And you find that your perspective changes, sometimes forever, because of what you’ve seen. That’s the way it is even when you take time with God in His Word. He will take you on a journey away from the world and into His kingdom, where you see as you’ve never seen before. Truth does that. It penetrates perspective gone awry from pain and godlessness in the world. One powerful promise from God can cushion a crushed spirit and calm a broken heart in ways no other words can.

Jesus says, “Come away with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and rest a little while” (Mark 6:31). Will you? I did this day, when I walked with God in the desert. I walked on through bushes, up little hills, and came upon this view. The desert really is beautiful when you stop to see it. Before I always wished for the mountains in higher elevations. But when I stopped wishing for something different and walked with God in the desert, I discovered His beauty and His glory in ways never seen anywhere else. That’s what time away with the Lord will do for anyone who is willing to get intentional about knowing and loving the Lord through quiet time alone with Him.

Grab your Bible, your quiet time journal, and step away and draw near. When you draw near to God, He promises to draw near to you (James 4:8).

God bless you dear friend as you continue on in this great adventure of knowing Him.

Blessings and Grace to you,

A rock is a solid foundation. It’s what we want to stand on when we are in a strong wind or a fierce storm. Even when the earth is shaking, if we are on a rock we can hang on. The Lord is our rock, our fortress, and our deliverer, according to David, the man after God’s own heart (Psalm 18:2). He is our strength. And when we find ourselves in the deepest pit and caught in miry clay, we can cry out to the Lord. He will pull us out of the mire and set our feet on a rock, making our footsteps firm (Psalm 40:2). There is no difficulty so great that God is not greater – He is more than enough for whatever comes our way.

Today, call out to the Lord for whatever you need, and wait for Him to give you strength and set your feet upon the rock.

God bless you dear friend as you continue on in this great adventure of knowing Him.

Blessings and Grace to you,

Confidence. It’s what we need for the big things in life. It’s what we need to draw near to the throne of grace to pray in our times of need. And it’s what we need to run our race well. The writer of Hebrews says “Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36). I have discovered that often it’s the burdens and responsibilities that keep me from running my race with confidence. The psalmist shows us a secret to help with those things that burden our heart. “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken” (Psalm 55:22). When you roll your burden onto the Lord, you discover His strength is enough to run your race with ease. And then you are filled with confidence because Christ is your strength. You are able to say with Paul, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 2:13).

I love this photo because it reminds me that just when you think the heat and dryness of the desert will last forever, suddenly the clouds roll in and pour out refreshing rain, bringing growth and renewal. That’s what the Lord does in our life just when we think we can’t make it and things are just too much for us to handle. He gives us what we need to make it through.

Today, be filled with confidence as you run your race in the strength of Christ!

God bless you dear friend as you continue on in this great adventure of knowing Him.

Blessings and Grace to you,

Surprise seems to be something God loves to spring upon us when we least expect it. Sometimes when we think life is so impossible God turns the tide and sends us in a new direction. I love Ephesians 3:20 and associate it with this idea of God’s surprises. We learn from Ephesians 3:20 that “God is able to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to the power that is at work in us…” In this verse I see that God’s power is at work in us through the Holy Spirit. And we can count on Him to do something more than we expect. And there’s the surprise. I pray for one thing, and God may do something else. We need to cultivate a certain surrender of our heart to the Lord, so that we will be open to His moves and surprises in our lives. There’s the challenge. But if we desire God’s will above our own, a yielded heart is an absolute must. And I will say this – yielded hearts are Spirit-driven and Spirit-produced. Only the Holy Spirit makes a surrendered, yielded heart. You can’t manufacture it. So it’s most important that we cultivate and intentional, intimate relationship with our Lord that is nurtured through quiet time alone with Him. In the fiery trial, draw near to God. In times of victory, draw near to God. In confusion or discouragement, draw near to God. Always be drawing near to the Lord. You will experience His amazing surprises, recognize His hand at work in your life, and when you see Him doing what only He can do, you will praise Him and bow low in worship and adoration.

The view in the photo I’ve included here was a complete surprise. We had a guide at Monument Valley who took us to some special places not included in our tour. I remember holding on to my camera and tripod for dear life as he drove our 4-wheel drive up and down some bumpy terrain. Finally, he came to a stop, and pointed in the direction of a small trail leading over a slight rise in the ground. I jumped out, excited to see what I might be able to photograph. But I was completely unprepared for what I would behold. John Ford Point – one of the most famous views in all of Monument Valley! John Ford loved to sit on that ridge that juts out into the center of the whole valley when he would plan for the scenes of his movies. I love this amazing view.

And I actually got to walk out on the Point and shoot some photos from there as well. Every direction had a new view and a new composition. I was using my 12-24mm wide-angle so I could zoom in for closer views or shoot wide at 12mm. I had so much fun composing and shooting these photos.

I was out there so long that my group had to come get me so we could leave. If they hadn’t, I’d probably still be there shooting this amazing view. What a great surprise from the Lord on the journey through Monument Valley!

Look for God’s surprises today. And when you see Him at work in your life, smile, and say, “That was You Lord, wasn’t it!”

God bless you dear friend as you continue on in this great adventure of knowing Him.

Blessings and Grace to you,