By His Will, They Have Their Being

My iris plant bloomed for the first time since I planted the bulbs in my yard three years ago!

Iris is a Greek word for "rainbow" because the plant can come in a wide variety of flower colours.

When I gaze upon the exquisite beauty of these Iris flowers, I am reminded that without God, they would not exist. Our Lord and God is the Creator of all things, and He alone is worthy to receive all glory, honour and power!

"You are worthy,

our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honour and power,

for You created all things,

and by Your will

they were created

and have their being."

Revelations 4:11 (NIV)

Thank You

My ESL students gave me a thank you card on the last day of classes. I am very proud of them because when they first came to me, most of them couldn't put two words together in the English language. Six months later they are writing a thank you card with full English sentences!

 

 

 

I also give many thanks---to God every time I remember them!
 



"I thank my God

every time

I remember you."

Philippians 1:3 (NIV)

More Blessed To Give Than Receive

Yesterday was the last day of ESL classes until September. However, we will meet once a week for fun activities during the summer months. On one of the days, we will be going to the Library!

 

 

Unfortunately, only half my class was there to have their picture taken. Every one of my students are very dear to me! I love them very much! It has been an honour teaching them, a joy greater than anything I have ever experienced in ministry before. I am so blessed by knowing them and having the priviledge of being able to help them. The time I have spent with these students will be remembered forever in my heart!

 

"In everything I did,

I showed you

that by this kind of hard work

we must help the weak,

remembering the words

the Lord Jesus Himself said:

'It is more blessed to give

than to receive.'"

Acts 20:35 (NASB)

 

It is in giving, when life truly becomes beautiful and a wonderful experience!

Among The Aged

Yesterday, I gave all my ESL students a 4-page test to see how well they are learning the English language.

Then as soon as I got home, I eagerly went to work to mark their papers. I am pleased to say all of my students, (except for one who missed several months of classes when she visited her family in Pakistan), obtained a 70% or higher score.

The student who received the highest mark of 100 %, was my oldest student, who is in her early seventies. She used to be a High School Math Teacher, and she and her husband moved to Canada from Columbia only five months ago. It is truly amazing how well and how quickly she is learning our language. Age does not necessarily deteriorate one's mind. I have discovered, there is great wisdom and deep understanding among the aged.

"Is not wisdom found among the aged?

Does not long life bring understanding?"

Job 12:12 (NIV)

Apple Of His Eye

When Brian and I stayed at the Adobe Inn in Taos, New Mexico, I spotted a raven's nest of three younglings on their property.

 

 

Ravens are considered as the most intelligent of all birds. They apparently even surpass the chimpanzees in their learning abilities and logic in solving problems.

 

I enjoyed watching the mother feed the younglings in the early mornings, as I waited for my own breakfast. The mother may have been the one gathering food and feeding her babies, but I realized it is really God who was providing the food for them. When the young ravens are hungry and cry out for food, they cry out to their Creator.

"Who provides food for the ravens

when their young cry out to God

and wander about in hunger?"

Job 38:41 (NLT)
 



We are to do the same! When we have a need of any kind, we are to cry out to our Maker. If God provides for the ravens, He will certainly provide for us. We are the apple of His eye!

"Keep me as the apple of Your eye;

hide me in the shadow of Your wings."

Psalm 17:8 (NIV)

God Ordered It

The Rio Grande Gorge is approximately 50 miles long, and runs from northwest to southeast Mexico.

 

 

The bridge which crosses the Rio Grande Gorge is the seventh highest in all of United States.

 

The depth of the gorge is at its deepest just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, which has a depth of 800 feet.

The Rio Grande is a rift valley which is the separation of the earth's crust caused by the earth's movements when the North American and Pacific plates scraped against each other many years ago.

Flowing across steppes and deserts, this vital river waters the rich agricultural regions in New Mexico, and it was God who ordered it to do.

 

"You take care of the earth

and water it,

making it rich and fertile.

The river of God

has plenty of water;

it provides a bountiful harvest of grain,

for you have ordered it so."

(NIV) 



He Showers Compassion

At Chaco Cultural National Historical Park in northwest New Mexico, Brian and I spotted three elk grazing on the desert grasses and plants.

 

 

We also spotted two mountain sheep on the way back from the Taos Ski Valley, munching on vegetation growing on a high steep rock face.

It is miraculous that for every beast on the earth, God has provided nourishing food. God indeed showers compassion on all his creation. The Lord is good!

"The Lord is good to everyone.

He showers compassion

on all His creation."

Psalm 145:9 (NLT)

The Desert Rejoices

I was so amazed to see beautiful flowers growing in the desert of New Mexico.

 

 

It was as if the parched land was glad.



 

 

"The desert and the parched land

will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice

and blossom.

Isaiah 35:1 (NIV)

 

 

 

Everywhere Brian and I travel to, we see how the land and everything in it bursts out in joy of its wonderful Creator.

 

Creation everywhere rejoices and sings of God's marvelous glory!

Gold, As Pure As Transparent Glass

On one of the days Brian and I spent in New Mexico, we decided to take a day off from exploring and relax at the Ojo Caliente Mineral Hot Springs to enjoy the therapeutic use of four different sulfur-free mineral waters: Lithia, Iron, Soda and Arsenic.

 

 

I'm not sure what I expected, but I got bored really quick at the Hot Springs. I tried out all the different mineral waters for about ten minutes each. Then turned to my husband and eagerly asked if he wanted to go hiking on the trails located behind the resort. He wasn't surprised at my restlessness at trying to relax doing nothing, (He knows me by now.) and readily agreed. He wanted to see a mine in the area.

 

My boredom soon disappeared once we got out onto the trail. I saw cacti in bloom and a unique-coloured lizard sun-bathing on a rock.

The lizard is called a New Mexico Collared Lizard.

 

After Brian and I hiked for about two miles in the high desert, to my surprise the terrain began to glitter like a wonderland of sparkling crystals.

 

This is when I asked my husband, "What mine is it that we are going to?"

He answered, "The Ojo Caliente Mica Mines."

Silvery mica flakes of all sizes lay littered on the ground, gloriously leading the way to the mines.

When we finally reached them, there were three caves cut into the pink granite cliff.

These mines were used in the early 1900's to the 1940's.

The caves were intriguing, but what really allured me was the shimmering beauty that laid around them. And just think, if I thought the mineral mica was pretty, I wonder what the streets of heaven will look like. The Bible says they are made of gold, pure as transparent glass. I can't wait to one day see them.

"The great street of the city

was of gold,

as pure as transparent glass."

Revelations 21:21b (NIV)

Like A Dove

Every morning at the Tavares Inn, Brian and I woke up to the tranquil sound of Turtle Doves cooing softly in the stillness of daybreak.

 

 

When we would sit out on the balcony of our room to enjoy our morning hot drinks, we would see hundreds of Turtle Doves sitting on the telephone wire just in front of the Inn.

 

 

I managed later to capture a picture of one of these graceful birds close up.

 

I love hearing the soothing sounds of doves gently calling out in the near distance. They remind me of God's Holy Spirit. After Jesus was baptized by water, the Bible says the heavens opened up and the Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove and rested.

"After His baptism,

as Jesus came up out of the water,

the heavens were opened

and he saw the Spirit of God

descending like a dove

and settling on Him."

Matthew 3:16 (NLT)

 

Like a dove, the Holy Spirit regularly calls to us gently and soothingly. He is always near for the He has also settled upon us. He will never leave.

God's Promised Faithful Protection

The owners of the Tavares Inn had one male and two female peacocks.

 

 

 

 

One of the female peacocks was sitting on her nest waiting for her eggs to hatch. The eggs were due any day, so I was hoping they would hatch while I was there. To my disappointment, they didn't.

 

As I was admiring the beautiful feathers of these birds, I was reminded of God's promised faithful protection for each one of us.

 

"He will cover you with His feathers.

He will shelter you with His wings.

His faithful promises

are your armor and protection."

Psalm 91:4 (NLT)

The Rigtheous Care

The Tavares Inn is the beautiful Spanish home Brian and I stayed in Alamogordo.

 

 

This bed and breakfast is located on ten acres with a gorgeous view of the Sacramento Mountains.

 

 

The owners loved animals, so I was right at home there. They even had fifty outdoor cats, which were kept in a large clean garage at night. 

 

 

Most of the cats were once pets that were abandoned by their original owners in the area.

 

The owners of the bed and breakfast live near the Hoffman Air Force Base, so when the military personal were deployed overseas to Iraq in 2003, their cat population suddenly grew from ten to sixty.

 

Everybody in the area has cats to kill the rattle snakes coming onto their property, but not fifty of them.

 

 

The owners try to spay and neuter the cats right away, but then they inherit a few more.

 

 

Some of which come pregnant, so kittens are born.

 

 

The bed and breakfast was like a private-owned SPCA for animals. The owners are being upright before God by taking care of the needs of the animals God sends to them.

 

"The righteous care

for the needs of their animals."

Proverbs 12:10a (NIV)

 

God even sent them a lonely pigeon whose mate died, and two squirrels, one injured and one an orphan. They all became wonderful pets who refused to ever leave the property, and the love and care of the owners.



Who Can Compare?



While Brian and I stayed in Alamogordo, we also drove to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico to explore the extraordinary beauty of the limestone caves.



 

 

As we walked down 88 stories into a large cave chamber called the Big Room, it gave us a perspective as to just how deep this cavern was.

 

 

When we finally entered the Big Room, stalagmites of all shapes, sizes and designs were seen protruding from the cavern's floor.



 

 

Then when we looked up, we saw stalactites hanging from the cavern's roof like jagged tan-coloured icicles.



 

Stalagmites and stalactites are made of calcium carbonate.

 

 

They are created by the dripping of percolating calcareous water in large caves.

 

 

The Carlsbad Caverns are unique because they were formed not only by groundwater, but by sulfuric acid as well, producing some striking features.

 

Jim White, a local in the area and a young boy, was the first person to explore these caverns.

 

An inscription reading "J White 1898" was discovered deep within the Carlsbad Caverns in the 1980's, providing evidence of his existence there when he was only sixteen years old.

 



Jim used homemade tools, such as a wire ladder, to do his exploring, naming many of the caves and prominent formations. In Jim White's honour, these names are still used today.

 

 



Exploring the natural phenomenal of these limestone caves, I couldn't help but consider it's Creator and His marvelous handiwork. There is no one who can compare!

 

"To whom will you compare Me?

Or who is My equal?

Isaiah 40:26 (NIV)