Inspirational Weekend - "Waiting Can Be A Good Thing" (Photographs of Flowers, Animals, and Relaxing Video)

A very happy weekend to you !  Enjoy the photographs and video that follow.

The photograph above is my cat Lika admiring a christmas cactus my son and daughter-in-law gave me about three years ago.    You can see the small pot and the plant was not very large.   Below is how it looked this year when it bloomed in April.

Waiting for it to grow and bloom again took patience....and lots of care and fertilizing.   It bloomed other years as well, but this past Spring was its best show yet.   This is rather like life itself:  waiting teaches you patience and, if you take care and nurture your soul and the souls of others, it will blossom into a thing of great beauty.    Peter Marshall has said,  "Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work."   

I used to be very impatient and when I wanted something, I wanted it NOW.   That is pretty typical of people today.   The good Lord has taught me to have patience by allowing circumstances to get pretty dire at times;  I have learned to wait on the Lord and to look to Him for guidance and direction.   

Psalm 27:14 ...... Wait on the LORD:  be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart:  wait, I say, on the LORD.

Milt. Lennart Karl Gottling  "Hula Skirt"

Milt. Andrea West "Hop"

I remember several years ago I had over 50 rose bushes and I would wait patiently for the buds to open to view the beauty of the fully opened blossoms.   Only thing is, I lived in an area where there were many deer that would roam the suburb and it didn't take them too long to discover my tasty rose buds.   What a disappointment to wake up to after they feasted on them overnight.   I did not know when I planted the roses that deer took a fancy to them.      So sometimes waiting can be full of frustrations in this imperfect world.   Of course,  I have been struck by much more serious circumstances than this about the roses, but I do not want to comment right now about the hard times.  Isaac Newton said, "Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise Physician prescribes because we need them, and He proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires.  Let us trust His skill and thank Him for His prescription."

"If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him.  He is worth waiting for.  The waiting itself is beneficial to us:  it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes.  The Lord's people have always been a waiting people."   - Charles Spurgeon

"Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want.  Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be."  - John Ortberg

True believers have also waited expectantly for the Lord's return and now more than ever, it will be soon.    Hurts and heartaches are easier to bear on this earth when you realize soon there will be no more sorrow and God will wipe away our tears when we arrive in heaven.  Now is the time to get right with the Lord.   That is one thing you do not want to wait for.   Accept Jesus as your Savior now before it is too late.  

Below is a nature video (not mine) to relax you this weekend, and it is complete with soft music.

 

Here is a photograph (not mine) guaranteed to make you smile this wonderful weekend.

Psalm 130:5-6  ....I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope;  my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

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Inspirational Weekend - "Distractions" - (Photos of Plumeria and Hibiscus Flowers, Relaxing Nature Video)

"A man focused on God always knows the direction he is headed."

Gorgeous Hibiscus

Happy weekend to you !  I am a little late wishing you that for it is Sunday afternoon now.  I do sincerely hope you had a nice Saturday as well.   Me?  Well, I have been distracted a lot by necessary errands and it has cut into my painting time and blogging time tremendously.   This coming week will be a slower pace at home for me, I hope.   T. S. Eliot once said, "We are distracted from distraction by distraction."     Do you ever feel like you are pulled in a million different directions all at once?   

At times like that, just getting into God's Word will settle you down and keep things in perspective....that and prayer.   Rest can also help.   Callie, my cat who passed away about 3 years ago, always had the proper view of rest.  See below:

Sleep is one thing cats love to focus on !  I have sleep apnea so at times it is difficult for me to focus if I do not get proper rest.   

The times in which we live require for us to be alert and on guard.   At Walmart a complete stranger who was behind me in line began a conversation about how evil the world is now and I answered back , "It may appear that way, but God is in control."   He then said that God was also evil, at which I instantly felt an uneasy shudder in my soul and emphatically replied, "God is good.  God is holy," and walked quickly away as my purchase transaction was complete.    I was shocked at such blasphemy on his part and wanted to exit the scene immediately.   Later I thought how I should have said that God is also love and He loves you,  but I am not so sure it would have penetrated his darkened mind.

That encounter was a few days ago and it still bothers me.

I try to see the good and beauty in everything.....in my photography and in my paintings.  It is a shock sometimes when that mindset is temporarily shattered.   Let's look at some pretty pictures of flowers!

Rainbow Plumeria/Frangipani Blossoms

Pale Pink Hibiscus

Below is a nature video with beautiful scenery, animal pictures, and soft instrumental music to relax you this wonderful weekend !    Enjoy !

Scripture:

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the LORD which  exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:  For in these things I delight, saith the LORD.    Jeremiah 9:24

Inspirational Weekend - The Times We Live In

Pali Overlook, Oahu, Hawaii

Are you wishing to live on an island Paradise?   

Or live in the mountains as shown below?

Silverton, Colorado

Someone may have other plans for you.   Check out the following:    And also read   and pay particular attention to the article about 10 things that are soon going to happen.  But all that is not what I want to dwell on in this post.   There is good news for true believers in the Lord and it will happen soon.   Watch the video here .  

There is a lot of evil in this world but, despite that, there is still much good and much beauty and much to be thankful for.   Sometimes we might feel hemmed in or in difficult rocky places like the wildflowers in the photos below.

These wildflowers are not only hanging in there, but they seem to be thriving in rough territory.  When we depend on the Lord for strength and endurance and spend time with Him daily, He will see us through life's trials and will help us to carry on.   Our time here is a test and a school of sorts.  It is also of short duration compared to eternity.   Go here for more information.

There are so many things happening and converging all at once right now and in September of this year that we need to be alert and ready....for the good Lord.   Keep your eyes on what is happening in the Middle-East.   Isaiah 17:1 foretold that Damascus would become a destroyed city....completely wiped out, and later in Isaiah 17 it says that Israel would be the destroyer.   There is conflict right now between Israel and Syria, so that prophecy will be fulfilled soon.    

Bible prophecy has been of special interest to me for many years, and events right now (as foretold in the Bible) are happening fast and furious.....at an accelerated pace and several things all at once.   I have peace in my soul because a relationship with the Lord will do that for you.   I am not afraid of what the future holds because I have an everlasting hope.   

Still Waters -  peaceful pond

I realize the time is urgent, however, and I hope many will come to know the Lord before it is too late.       I felt I must post this message now, as time is also short.   

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."   Proverbs 3:5-6