Our Chihuahua, Esther

Our son and his family came in for a week last week, and our chihuahua, Esther, had a great time playing with them. However, she was not above stealing toys left on the floor. She chewed the legs off a toy dinosaur and was going after a Lego piece when I stopped her. Yesterday, she found a toy my granddaughter left outside, picked it up, and carried it around the yard. She looks very pleased to have it in this picture. But she is a good girl and dropped it when I told her to. I gave her a treat and the toy is undamaged. 

The Lord bless you and keep you,

Claire

All Nature Sings, Charles Spurgeon, and Depression

 The title for my latest photographic devotional, All Nature Sings, came from one of my favorite songs, "This Is My Father's World." One line says, "All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres." I was singing that song when it hit me that "all nature sings" was perfect for my book title. Here's an excerpt from the book:

Day 1

Psalm 94:18-19

When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.

“’Ah,” saith the soul, “whatever this trial may be, one thing is clear, my heavenly Father knows all about it; there is not a circumstance in my present condition which is hidden from him. That eye which has watched me from my childhood is not closed towards me in this dark hour. He understandeth and knoweth the way that I take, and if I be surrounded with the thick darkness, it is no darkness to him.’”    ­--Charles Spurgeon

I love this excerpt because C. H. Spurgeon was a great theologian, yet he suffered from depression. But though surrounded by darkness, He knew who to call on. It's a lie from the Enemy that believers cannot suffer from depression. Christians battle deep emotional upheavals just like everyone else. The difference is we have a Helper to lift the heaviness and hopelessness that threatens to overtake us. We need only to cry out to Him. Moses, David, Elijah suffered from bouts of depression and in the midst of it, they brought their depression to the Lord. We can do the same.

New Nonfiction eBook Coming Soon!

Excited to announce a new project I’ve been working on will be released in the near future. The Lord sent so many birds to my backyard last month, and I took so many photos, I just knew He wanted me to share them in another photographic devotional. I’ll reveal the book cover next week. I’m really excited about this project since I hadn’t planned on doing another devotional. But when the Lord blesses, we need to share the blessing. 

May the Lord bless you and keep you,

Claire

God’s Constant Love

Photo on Unsplash.com

If we could only grasp the wonderful, unfailing love God has for each one of us! The closest we can come is that of the nurturing love of a mother for her child, or the protective love of a father, or the joyful love of a husband for his wife/a wife for her husband. God’s love is like all of these but much purer, higher, deeper, truer, more constant and faithful. 

Paul’s desire for the Ephesians was to know this love of God. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19) (NIV)

To be filled with God’s love is to be filled with God Himself, for God is love!