Thankgiving Message from the LWG Team

Laced With Grace

What does thanksgiving mean to you? The Laced with Grace team is sharing their thankfulness with their readers. I hope you will be able to join in…

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
(Psalm 95:1-5 ESV)

Have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving, my dear friends!!!

Love & peace,
Iris

God the Master Painter

Painted Sky

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
(Psalm 37:7 ESV)

The other night as I was working on portraits for a client, I noticed the orange hue hitting our back window. I knew it was time to grab my camera; I was not disappointed when I stepped out on the back porch.

I love it when God paints the sky like He did the other night. For some reason, it gives me comfort. It reminds me of God’s promise to never give up, but to wait on Him. I have to admit, patience is not my strength. He is teaching me though.

Have you seen God’s beauty this week? Today, I am linking up with my friend Joan to share His Beauty. Click on the image below to read more of His Beauty…

Beauty in His Grip Button

Thank you for stopping by today!

Love and peace,
Iris

God the Solid Rock

Superstition Mountain Nov 2011

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” ~ Psalm 18:2 (ESV)

To be perfectly honest with you, I do not like Arizona. Yes, I have been living here for the past 20 years, but I still don’t enjoy the summers. You see, I grew up by the sea and you cannot take the salt water out of my veins…

There is one particular place though that I continue to go back to: the Superstition Mountains. I have photographed the mountain range several times, but every time they look different.

I really cannot explain why this mountain draws me so often. It may has to do with God. Every time I see the mountain (actually every day), I am reminded of God – the SOLID rock in my life. No matter where my path takes me, I can count on God. He is the true constant in my life.

To some, a mountain can be something daunting, but for me it is sheer beauty. Massive, unmovable, solid, beautiful…just like our God.

Have you seen God’s beauty this week? Today, I am linking up with my friend Joan to share His Beauty. Click on the image below to read more of His Beauty…

Beauty in His Grip Button

Thank you for stopping by today…
Love & peace,
Iris

Unexpected Blessings

Today, I am linking up with my friend Joan to share His Beauty. Click on the image below to read more of His Beauty…

Beauty in His Grip Button

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(Romans 8:37-39 ESV)

Last week I had shared with my readers that I had ‘A Perfect Day’. Let me share a little more with you how it came to pass and how it ended up a day of unexpected blessings.

You see, since I am not a US Citizen (by choice I keep my German citizenship), I have to renew my ‘green’ card every ten years. Honestly, I was a little nervous; much has changed over the past 10 years. Since 9/11/2001 (the year I renewed last) as you can imagine, applications to stay in this country as a foreigner have become more complicated.

The biggest changes were put in place last year with a new law on how you have to renew your ‘green’ card. You no longer can go to the local office; you have to fill out a form online to receive an appointment for the local office.

On my appointment day I was so nervous, I sent a couple of text messages to some very close friends to pray for me. On the way to Phoenix I thought my husband would have to pull over; I was sick to my stomach. My heart knew that everything would be fine, but I could not get my tummy to follow my heart.

When we got to the USCIS office in Phoenix, I was still nervous.  I noticed that I was not the only one how had butterflies in the tummy 🙂 …I have to say, the employees at the USCIS office were the nicest people. There were many people with appointments that morning, but I was done within 45 minutes (fingerprints, photo etc). I almost skipped out of the office.

Pancho's Enchiladas As I mentioned, my husband went with me and we took the opportunity to stay for almost 3 hours in Phoenix. We had a wonderful lunch and took a walk, photographing. I had a smile on my face all afternoon (the weather was perfect too). I told my husband at least a hundred times how much I enjoyed spending the day with him.

By the way, we even found a parking spot we didn’t have to pay for (long story for another day :))

You see, sometimes God blesses us unexpectedly. Even if a day does not start out to promising, God will give us something to remember. I sure will remember the day I had to renew my green card for years to come…and will be smiling.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and peace,
Iris