Majesty

TODAY'S QUOTES:

Majesty, worship His Majesty,

Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise!

Majesty, kingdom authority, flows from His throne,

Unto His own, His anthem raise.

So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus.

Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King.

Majesty, worship His Majesty,

Jesus who died, now glorified,

King of all kings.

~COPYRIGHT 1987, Songs, and 1981, Rocksmith Music, Words and Music by Jack Hayford

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

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I used to go to the mountains of Colorado every summer as a kid for youth camp.  I remember it was amazing.  I felt like I was in a place where everything in creation stretched up into the clouds in an effort to declare its praise for our Creator.  I remember standing on a mountain, in a clearing of pine trees, with the sunlight filtering through the branches of the trees and thinking it was the most perfect place of worship I could ever find.

This weekend we went to a family reunion in Durango, Colorado.  I love getting together with family, people who belong to me.  We share memories and play games.  We eat and laugh.  It was a good reunion.  But even better, was the reminder of how awesome God's Creation is.  How it shouts of the love of a Creator, who sculpts the earth and paints the skies with us in mind.  This Majestic Artist, our God, calls to us from the mountains and the seas, painting trees, flowers, and the clouds so that we might notice and understand His great love for us.

July had been a stressful month.  Larry and I really needed a vacation.  We looked forward to loading up the van and starting off down the highway, leaving our daily stresses and obligations behind to spend a few days with each other and our children.  It was something we had looked forward to for so many weeks!

But what God had planned for us was so much more than a relaxing road trip and a weekend vacation.  He wanted to paint the skies and sculpt the earth, to shout His love for us, and remind us how Awesome and Mighty He is.  His Majesty shouted to us from the mountains to the valleys and back to the skies.

He was in the clear blue skies, the gentle rains, the breathtaking landscape.  He comforted us with views of mountains blanketed by fluffy white clouds. He refreshed our spirits with the crisp cool mountain air, that tasted unlike anything we've ever known.  He romanced and wooed us with sunrises and sunsets of every imaginable color and hue.  He awed us with the sheer majesty of His creation. 

And we are speechless.

And we are grateful.

And we are loved.

What a refreshing we have recieved from the hand and heart of such a Mighty God as He.

Here are some pictoral highlights from our weekend in the mountains:

View of part the city of Durango from the top of the mountain.

Mountain top view of Durango's beautiful Animas River.

I love this shot of the view of the mountains behind this great green shed.  The colors are so amazing!

As we left and headed toward Albequerque, New Mexico the clouds and the rain were amazing.  I especially love this shot of a hole in the rain clouds.  Notice the rain pouring down in the lower left hand corner.  Cool!

We stopped for the night in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.  There we found this amazing place called the Blue Hole.  It was a natural spring, with the bluest water!  Here's some info from the website:

http://www.dtmag.com/dive-usa/BlueHoleStRosaNM.html

"The invitingly clear water in the 81-foot- (25-m-) deep bell-shaped spring well is produced from a cave system near the well's bottom that generates about 3,000 gallons per minute. The surface of the site is roughly oval-shaped with a diameter of 80 feet (24 m) at its widest point and approximately 60 feet (18 m) at its narrowest. The Blue Hole widens the deeper it goes until the diameter reaches 130 feet (40 m) across at its deepest depth."

Here also, are some of the pictures I took from the Blue Hole:

 I have to admit that I had a panic attack at the Blue Hole.  It defies all reason, and wasn't something I could rationalize away.  But when my kids stepped out on the ledge over that hole, my heart stopped.  I lost it, and began to tremble and cry.  I had to walk away, and not watch them, as they peered over the edge into that 81 foot deep well.  Now my brain knows they can all swim.  And my brain knows that if they fell in, Larry would be there in a second, diving in and pulling them out. 

But this fear didn't listen to reason.

It reminded me that I have other fears that I have to face.  I have to deal with things like this that worry and often frighten me.  I can't walk away and hide my eyes from life. 

My mother told me a story this weekend of an encounter she had with terror.  She was riding a few days ago with my father on the back of their Gold Wing bike, through the mountains of northern New Mexico.  The wind was terrifying.  She panicked.  She lost it.  She clung to my dad in sheer terror and cried while she prayed.  She made it through safely.  They found a place to pull over and she finally calmed down.  But for a few moments, she was overtaken and controlled by terror.  When she finally got it back together, she realized she had conquered her fear enough to get back on the bike and go on.  It was a turning point for her.  She felt strong and powerful, because she had faced the fear that only moments before had gripped her with terror.  After a couple of days with us in Durango, she climbed back on that bike with Dad and headed down the mountain with my two aunts and two uncles on her way to Sturgis -- a stronger woman.  I am amazed at who she is becoming.  She is chasing life in all its glory!  She inspires me over and over again.  And this weekend, she taught me about faith in the middle of terror.

Faith is absolute trust in God, in spite of what fear is shouting in my ear.  I want to be able to experience all the amazing wonderful things God has to offer me in this life.  God help me to face the fears I ignore, so that my faith might be strengthened in You.

Hoping you've gained, in some small way, a sense of the profound love of God and the awesome power of faith in Him,