Icicles

Icicles- Beautiful designs of frozen water in the frigid cold.

Longing

Longing. This is what I believe this photo signifies.

The definition of longing is a yearning desire. This year I have a longing, a yearning desire, to know my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ more. I have a longing to be able to see and spend time with my sister Marissa more. I have a longing to be rid of my medical conditions. I am weary and tired. I want to be at peace with whatever the Lord's will is for my life.

I am reminded of a hymn called All Your Anxiety. I hope it comforts you.

Is there a heart o’erbound by sorrow? Is there a life weighed down by care? Come to the cross, each burden bearing; All your anxiety—leave it there.

Refrain: All your anxiety, all your care, Bring to the mercy seat, leave it there, Never a burden He cannot bear, Never a friend like Jesus!

No other friend so swift to help you, No other friend so quick to hear, No other place to leave your burden, No other one to hear your prayer.

Refrain: All your anxiety, all your care, Bring to the mercy seat, leave it there, Never a burden He cannot bear, Never a friend like Jesus!

Come then at once; delay no longer! Heed His entreaty kind and sweet, You need not fear a disappointment; You shall find peace at the mercy seat.

Refrain: All your anxiety, all your care, Bring to the mercy seat, leave it there, Never a burden He cannot bear, Never a friend like Jesus!

A New Year

As this year draws to a close and a new year begins I can see how the Lord has grown me in my love of capturing children on camera and God's beautiful design in the nature I see around me. This coming year I hope to grow in learning how to better capture these on camera. My goal is to be able to spend 30 minutes a day photographing nature. I will be posting more regularly on this blog. Thank you to everyone who have been an encouragement to me in regards to this. Thank you to my dad who I truly believe first started and helped develop a love for photography. Thank you to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has given me eyes to see His beautiful creation, ears to hear the melodious sounds and hands to touch. I am forever grateful. Here are a few photos I took yesterday of our Winter Wonderland in Davenport, IA. Enjoy and I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Day 10- Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:25-34- New King James Version (NKJV) 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Day 9- Fishers of Men

For those of you that don't know I am a full time preschool teacher aide. I found out yesterday that I will from here on out be in charge of the Sunday School lesson on Monday's, Thursday's and Friday's in my classroom. I will be leading them in prayer, reading the Bible story to them, time of music, and an art project related to the Bible story. I'm excited but a little nervous. This upcoming week is about Jesus choosing His disciples. I was wondering how I could do an art project for this but I remembered how Jesus said He would make them "Fishers of Men." So my art project is going to be having my students paint on some fish that I drew and cut out for them. After the paint dries I would put "Fishers of Men" and the Bible scripture on the fish so that the parents would know what the children learned. During my time of devotion with the children I will talk to them about how they even at the age of 4 can follow Jesus and what that looks like in a school setting. I pray that God blesses this hour each day that I have to teach them. So I decided today's photo would be the fish that I prepared for this coming weeks lesson.

Day 8- O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded is one of my favorite hymns.

 I can't wait to learn how to play this on the keyboard. My favorite rendition of this hymn is by the group 4Him:

Day 7- Yes It Rains Here in Southern CA

To all my friends who think Southern CA never gets any rain. Yes it is a rare thing to have a rainy day in CA. But when it does rain, it is a downpour. We actually had rain two days in a row. I love the rain. To quote the Winnie the Pooh song "And the rain rain rain came down down down.."