Category: Portraits of Life – Seeing God in All

I have discovered a new and exciting hobby of taking photos and sharing God’s Words as they inspire me to be in complete “AWE” of how great our God is! I hope you enjoy the photos.

(Re) Calibration: Can You Hear, The Silence

February 15th, 2023

To my friends ~ thank you for your continued support of my blog but more importantly; I thank you for your kindness, love and support of me as a fellow human being.

It has been several weeks since my last post and I’ve been trying to hear and listen to the silence in my world. My mind has been cluttered with so much noise. The audible white noise of daily living, the wants and needs of caring for loved ones; the duties and privileges of a job along with work responsibilities; the fears of the ever increasing cost of living; the longing to provide love, compassion and assistance to those in need that have less than me; and let’s not forget world peace. I say, world peace somewhat sarcastically because of the gravity of the divide that exists with all humanity on every continent of our world. As a believer in Jesus Christ, I know that I can experience peace, I also know that everlasting peace is coming, and I know the cost to make it possible.

These are a few of the things that spin around in my head both during my waking and sleeping hours. Usually I can convey my thoughts through writing but as of late, the words just won’t come, only noisy silence.

I made a statement about a year ago to a friend and the response what not what I had expected. With hindsight, I believe God was at work in this exchange and perhaps it was meant to shake me to more fully explain myself. This is what I said, “Your silence has not fallen on deaf ears.” Since voicing this out loud I’ve been reminded just how our world takes a comment out of context and runs wild with it. For the record, my friend DID NOT take anything out of context and honestly I don’t remember if I explained it, she merely thought the quote had already been said by someone else. She did not doubt the quote or even misunderstand it. Since that time I have engaged in other conversations with friends. The feedback I received was that the quote could be interpreted as offensive to the community of individuals with hearing impairments. I had to admit that was possible, but had not been my intent. Since my hearing is adequate at the moment, in my statement I merely meant, the message was received and effective without words. In many ways, my spirit/soul recognizes the message that was not relayed with any practiced form of communication. In retrospect, a seed was planted and over the past year it has been cultivated through my life experiences and allowed to grow. I was initially upset about the quote because I wanted to be known for something great, it’s a writer’s thing (maybe), but as I look back it was only a pride thing! God talks about pride throughout the Old and New Testament.

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2

10 Key Bible Verses on Pride: Click this link https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-key-bible-verses-on-pride/

📕 • 📗 • 📘 • 📙 • 📖 • 📚 • 📙 • 📘 • 📗• 📕

The closest quote I found, similar to mine was by (pen name) Truth Devour, an Australian born author.

“When you speak and your words fall on deaf ears, know that the universe listens.”

Truth Devour, Wantin (Wantin #1)

My faith in Jesus had taught me that He speaks and because of the Holy Spirit I can hear even when no audible voice is speaking to me. God tells me in Psalm 46:10a, “Be still, and know that I am God!” Take notice of the coma after the word still; I believe that’s important because we need to pause, being silent, be calm and know that God is God…the God of all creation and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! (And, of you and me!)

Photo Credit: Me
February 20th, 2016
Central Christian Church
Indianapolis, IN

The world, our world at times seems to me to be…overwhelming, that is the word that jumps out to me.

Our world is filled with places of overwhelming beauty. I have never visited most of them and yet as it has been said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Some of us are beach lovers, while others prefer the mountains. Others may enjoy the jungles, rainforests, coastal shores…that’s the wonderful thing about our world there’s literally something for everyone. I personally enjoy all the seasons, with winter being my least favorite. I love a bit of snow for Christmas and then I’m good. Our seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter are very much like our lives. We are always changing and growing. Much to my dismay, changing is merely part of the human experience. I’m so thankful I’m not the same person I was ten years ago. Our ability to look back in hindsight, allows us to see more clearly the roads we have navigated. I know I have accomplished more than I ever thought I might because I only saw obstacles in my way and not opportunities. Life is every emotion challenged at some moment in our lives, difficult times are but a season. Embrace the good and hold it in your heart and when your hope needs reaffirmed, REMEMBER.

Click link below to view the 7 Wonders of the World

https://www.thecollector.com/what-are-the-seven-wonders-of-the-world/

The phrase beauty is in the eye of the beholder means that different people have different opinions as to what should be deemed attractive. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder means that beauty is subjective. Whether or not beauty is subjective has been debated at least since ancient Greece. Shakespeare wrote of beauty in Love’s Labour Lost, saying “Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye…” Benjamin Franklin wrote “Beauty, like supreme dominion/Is but supported by opinion,” in Poor Richard’s Almanack. Margaret Wolfe Hungerford is credited with coining the exact phrase beauty is in the eye of the beholder in her novel Molly Bawn, published in 1878.

https://grammarist.com/
MARGARET WOLFE HUNGERFORD "THE DUCHESS," 1855-1897

Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, who wrote under the name The Duchess, was an Irish author of popular romantic fiction. A widow, she supported her young family with her writing after the death of her first husband. She continued to write after her second marriage to Thomas Henry Hungerford, enjoying considerable success in Britain and the United States. She was the mother of six children, and died of typhoid at the age of 41.

Molly Bawn is The Duchess's most famous novel. Written in 1878, after the death of her first husband, it tells the story of a flirtatious young Irish woman. The Duchess is credited with coining the idiom "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" in Molly Bawn.

Friends, when you feel overwhelmed hold onto HOPE, your hope and help comes from the Lord God Almighty. Place your trust in Him and as the storms and seasons of life come and go, God will remain with you always. Even in my distress of feeling overwhelmed I knew God was with me.

~Peace to you my friends, with love always.

A few of my favorite photos, may you feel joy. All photos where talked by me in Indiana.

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God;my hope comes from him.” ~Psalm 62:5

References:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps.46.10&version=NRSVA

https://grammarist.com/phrase/beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the/

https://yellowbacks.digitalscholarship.emory.edu/exhibits/show/

https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-key-bible-verses-on-pride/

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps.62.5&version=NIV

Further Up, Further In • Advent 2022

December 25th, 2022

Friends, I pray you each had a beautiful holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, our reason for celebrating Christmas. I am not so naïve to believe that everyone’s prayer were answered today, as if God were a genie granting wishes or that Jesus is like Santa delivering gifts. Holidays can be difficult for many people for a variety of reasons, but we always have HOPE. Hope is Jesus and the promise to be with Him in eternity. I have a friend that had planned for all her children to be with her and her husband this Christmas and unfortunately because of Winter Storm Elliott, their daughter’s flight was cancelled. What a bummer! They were disappointed but these things do happen and it did to several people this holiday traveling season. Disappointments, yes…thankful to be safe and loved is precious. And, another friend of mine is most likely celebrating Christmas with her father for the last time this side of heaven. Knowing that all involved are believers, helps and with the joys of being present with one another, a sense of sadness may also be casting a shadow or chill. The birth of Jesus is our gift from God, knowing we will always be loved and beloved by Him. This earthly life because of sin, will have its measures of pain, of sorrows and of grief, but because of a baby born in Bethlehem laying in a manger, these are all temporary. Our real home is not here, it is “Further Up, Further In.”

The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia)

I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now…Come further up, come further in!

— C.S. Lewis

If you have never read “The Chronicles of Narnia,” I highly recommend them to both children and adults. I recently re-read them all and now I’m reading “Finding God in Narnia,” also a great book, the writer takes you on a beautiful trip weaving you through Narnia and the Bible.

The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia)

“The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.” (Meaning: They had arrived in heaven).

— C.S. Lewis

The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia)

Further up and further in

— C.S. Lewis

The Magi Visit The Messiah

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;for out of you will come a rulerwho will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

— Matthew 2:1-12

The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven,and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

- Luke 2:1-21

Thank you so much for journeying with me through Advent. I am thankful for each one of you and I am grateful for your support and encouragement. Much love, peace, hope and joy to you.

~Charlotte, Seeker of unexpected Comfort, Happiness, Joy and Patience.

Christmas Eve Prayer • Advent 2022

December 24, 2022

Mary & Joseph Travel to Bethlehem

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,”

DAILY MEDITATION | DECEMBER 24, 2022

A Prayer

O Lord,

How hard it is to accept your way. You come to me as a small, powerless child born away from home. You live for me as a stranger in your own land. You die for me as a criminal outside the walls of the city, rejected by your own people, misunderstood by your friends, and feeling abandoned by your God.

As I prepare to celebrate your birth, I am trying to feel loved, accepted, and at home in this world, and I am trying to overcome the feelings of alienation and separation that continue to assail me. But I wonder now if my deep sense of homelessness does not bring me closer to you than my occasional feelings of belonging. Where do I truly celebrate your birth: in a cozy home or in an unfamiliar house, among welcoming friends or among unknown strangers, with feelings of well-being or with feelings of loneliness?

I do not have to run away from those experiences that are closest to yours. Just as you do not belong to this world, so I do not belong to this world. Every time I feel this way I have an occasion to be grateful and to embrace you better and taste more fully your joy and peace.

Come, Lord Jesus, and be with me where I feel poorest. I trust that this is the place where you will find your manger and bring your light. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Amen.

My dear lovely friends, I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas. I so appreciate your love, encouragement and support.

~Charlotte, Seeker of unexpected Comfort, Happiness, Joy and Patience.

References:

https://www.biblegateway.com/

Christmas Adam • Christmas Eve Eve • Advent 2022

December 23rd, 2022

Christmas Adam is a colloquialism for the day before Christmas Eve or December 23rd. It is a rather new term. An online slang dictionary created a listing for it only nine years ago. Christmas Adam is not listed in any formal dictionaries and we had a hard time finding formal writing examples of its use.  

The general consensus of the origin of the name is that in anticipation for Christmas to come, people were looking for a name for the day before Christmas Eve. Some were calling the 23rd Christmas Eve Eve. Then someone (or more likely several someones) realized that in Christian mythology God created Adam before he created Eve, so the day before Christmas Eve would be Christmas Adam.

It is hard to tell if this term has traveled outside of the United States, since it is too colloquial to be used in most writing. However, if you do intend to use it as a greeting, pair it with the appropriate adjective (e.g., Merry Christmas Adam in the United States and Happy Christmas Adam in other countries.)

- Grammarist
  https://grammarist.com/words/christmas-adam/

God Created Man and Woman

“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them;male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

— Genesis 1: 26-31

The Word Became Flesh

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

— John 1:1-5

The Birth of Jesus

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

— Luke 2:11-12

Friends, this is the season of JOY, PEACE, LOVE and HOPE because of Gods great love for mankind. I pray for you this day, may the God of the universe bless you and keep you for evermore. ✝️💟🛐

~Charlotte, Seeker of unexpected Comfort, Happiness, Joy and Patience.

References:

https://grammarist.com/words/christmas-adam/

https://www.biblegateway.com/

Hope Recognized • Advent 2022

December 22nd, 2022

True Hope comes from God

“A wonderful result of hope is delivered by the Holy Spirit of God. He gives us the power to hope and that is a demonstration of God’s love for us. Hope given by him works together to give us confidence, joy, peace, power and love. That is a true gift!”

— Blog from the Billy Graham Library

Friends, we are just a few days until we celebrate Jesus’ birth. The HOPE that had been prophesied centuries ago by prophets of God, was fulfilled over a two thousand years ago and we too will celebrate God becoming flesh. Our HOPE is the same HOPE that was upon the hearts of Mary, Joseph, the Shepards and the Wisemen way back when.

The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-18

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

— John 1:14 (NIV)

Believe me, HOPE can sometimes be blurred from our vision when we are faced with life’s challenges; it is in our most difficult circumstances we must place our trust, our HOPE in Jesus, in our Heaven Father. God has promised to never leave us.

“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

We see the signs

but cannot always 

divine their meanings.

You call us to move forward 

not always knowing 

whether what we grasp

in our hands

will prove to be

a seed of hope

or a thorn in our flesh.

Train our fingers,

that what brings life

we may with persistence hold,

and that which wastes

our souls

we may with grace release.

- Jan Richardson

Hope is more easily seen when we learn that it rarely comes from outside sources. Hope often rises within us, our soul (Holy Spirit) speaks to us. It is in these moments, we can see more clearly the longings and fears that we have kept silenced for far too long. HOPE is real, Jesus is our HOPE and with His grace, love and forgiveness we can look to the horizon and see a sky filled with possibilities. May you be blessed today and always~ much love to you! 💟

~Charlotte, Seeker of unexpected Comfort, Happiness, Joy and Patience.

References:

https://billygrahamlibrary.org/blog-5-things-the-bible-says-about-hope/

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deut.31.8&version=NIV