Month: August 2025

I was recently out for a walk when I felt the nudge to stop and take a seat at a bench next to our pond. I resisted and continued with my walk. I was trying to get in my steps for the day. It had rained for an entire week and when it finally stopped, I felt a deep need to move. When I came back by the bench, I felt the nudge again. This time I stopped. A light breeze swept gently across the water as I soaked in the stillness and caught my breath.

It wasn’t long before I saw a big fish breaking the surface on the other side of the pond. A few minutes later, I saw some minnows swimming near the edge. I  heard frogs croaking and then I saw a turtle poke its head head up out of the water.

As I sat there, it occurred to me that when I rushed by a few minutes earlier and resisted the nudge to stop, the pond looked completely still. It wasn’t until I took the time to be still and observe, that I saw just a few of the many types of life that it nurtures. I know there are different kinds of turtles and fish in the pond, but I don’t often see them.

In fact, most of the work of living that goes on beneath the surface, is never seen by human eyes, yet I never question its existence.

The lesson was not lost on me. There are times on our faith journey when we wonder where God is. Why is He not answering our prayers? Why is He allowing continued suffering? Is He even listening?

While we may not get the answers to all of our questions on this side of eternity. We can rest assured that He is always listening, always close and always working. If we need a reminder, we can follow the gentle nudge from the Spirit that encourages us to be still, pray, and read His Word. The Bible tells us repeatedly not to be afraid, to be at peace and to be still and know that God is in control.

If we know in our hearts that He is writing our story, then we have to know He is always working, even when we can’t see Him. A visit to a pond reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

It’s getting towards the end of the summer growing season in my garden. I missed some important opportunities to prune just about everything, and then we had five days of rain followed by cloudy skies. Between bugs and blight, my zinnias are looking rough. I’m still getting some blooms, but not nearly as many and most of them have black spots on them.

I was out in the garden, harvesting what I could and deadheading the blooms that were spent or just in bad shape, when a beautiful butterfly caught my eye. It was busy working on the center of a pitiful flower. At least half of its petals were gone and those it still had were tinged in brown. If I hadn’t seen the butterfly on it, I would have definitely cut it and thrown it over the fence.

I marveled at how hard at work the butterfly was on the seemingly spent flower and I couldn’t help but snap a photo, then left it alone to do its work. I circled around the bed and when I got back to it, a bee was busy working on it. Needless to say, I left the flower right where it stood. It clearly still had worth to nature, even if I couldn’t see it.

I thought about that half-eaten flower for the rest of the afternoon. I thought about how quickly we are to attach worth to the people and things around us and even to ourselves, based on what we see. The Bible tells us that God sees with different eyes than we do.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Friend, the truth is that if you woke up today, if you are reading these words, God is not done with you. You may feel like the half-eaten, tattered flower in my garden, but you are here and our God can still use you. Your unique journey matters, all bruises and scars included. Jesus understands. He too, has some scars.

A butterfly reminded me that we are never too far gone for God to use us. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

I was recently going through one of those times where God felt far away. I think of them as wilderness moments. Now, I’ve been walking with Jesus long enough to know that faith is not based on feelings. He is always close and always at work even when I can’t see Him or feel Him. Interestingly enough, a friend of mine called to check in and eventually, we got around to how I was feeling.

She was quick to reassure me that God was definitely working behind the scenes. She encouraged me to keep reading the Bible, keep praying and to lean into Jesus and always to expect big things. These were of course, truths that I knew but, I was so grateful for her call and her encouragement.

I took a walk and said a prayer of thanks for our friendship and marveled at God’s timing. She and I text regularly, but she just happened to call me when I was in a wilderness moment and really needed to hear some words of truth and encouragement. As I was walking, I found some wild  muscadines along my path. I stopped and picked up a couple and popped them into my mouth.

They were wonderfully sweet and transported me immediately back to my childhood when my sister and I would shake a muscadine vine that climbed a tree in our yard and gather the sweet grapes that dropped seemingly from the sky. I immediately looked up and saw the vine that was very high in a tree above. I smiled and thanked God for the surprise treat on my walk and then a Bible verse popped into my head.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

It was the ultimate reminder that every blessing comes from God, the God who is always close, the God who cares about our everyday ups and downs, the God who nudged a friend to call me and remind me of His love and the God who sent me some fruit simply because He could. There are days that I need reminding. Perhaps you do too,

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂