As I rocked my littlest grandson to sleep I was quoting him verses from Scripture.  I sat in the rocking chair watching out the window at the farmers field behind our house.

   There were quite a few birds flying all around in the sky in a sort of twirling dance.  I began to plan my walk for later today and wondered what my God would teach me today.  My mind, however, kept being pulled back to the birds out side.

     They were to free so un-burdened with cares of life.  They could go anywhere and all their needs were provided for by their Creator.  As they flew in various directions they reflected the sun off of their feathers in slivers, whites and reds.

    My mind left the things of this earth (Colossians 2:3?) and flew on wings to heavenly places where my Father dwells.  As the birds twirled here on earth my spirit twirled before my King in heaven.

God is: My Creator
             My Provider
             My Protector
             My Redeemer
             My Joy

Color:  Silver, white, red swirls

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness and all
these things shall be added unto you"

     Today I invited my grandson to walk with me.  He brought his 'shepherd hook' (which is in reality an elderly man's cane that we purchased second hand). 

     He talked the whole way and his enthusiasm and strong desire to be a shepherd of the Lord brought to mind how energetic and talkative I can be in God's presence.   I wondered if my talking too much and my passion for guarding His words along with my deep emotions and depth of heart were a delight or a disappointment to Him. 

    I was thinking of what a 'firecracker' we both are, my grandson and me.  I rounded a corner and there in the lawn at my right was a low round bush of red and yellow rounded mini buds. They resembled the explosion of 'fire crackers'.

    I am always amazed at how God knows my thoughts even before I do.  I really love my walks with Him!

   God is : Attentive to me

   Color:  Red and yellow

    We took a different path today and walked to a neighboring housing development.  There were beautiful lawns and grand houses but no color.  As we headed down the main road to come home, there across the street was a tall stately oak tree with red leaves on top followed by neon green leaves and lastly yellow.  

    Right in front of it was a sapling with the exact same color scheme and order.  It looked like the little one wanted to be just like the older mature tree when it was growing up.  The trees were like a Father and child standing together.  The Father standing guard over and directing the growth of the son.  The child idolizing his Father and wanting to be just like him.






     God is:  Big standing over small.  Loving Father, Good Shepherd

                   Small growing just like the older more mature one.  "follow me"; "be holy as I am holy"

     My sweet little granddaughter accompanied me on my walk today.  She listened as I sang or prayed out loud.  She looks for God's 'special blessing' with me.

      Today once again we arrived home at the end of our walk having not yet found God's special 'color' gift to me.    She wanted to stay out a bit longer so we decided to take a stroll around our home.

     We went around the north side of the house where the raspberry and blackberry bushes are.  They are dormant now due to the cold weather but the thorns are still just as sharp.  As we passed the twining vines of raspberry plants we were met with our 'surprise'.

     There in the midst of a very large patch of raspberry bushes was a single solitary stem of tiny white and yellow daisies.  They just seemed to come out of no where.  Amazing!!

    God is: Amazing! and He is worth searching patiently for!

     Color:  White and yellow

P.S.  God is sometimes in the small things, the details.  Do not miss the tiny delights because you are too focused on the greater picture.

    My daughter called be to the window this evening at sunset.  I had not found my 'color' yet today on my walk with my Father.

    The sky was a very unusual shade of turquoise!!

    It was stunning.  How striking!  It is usually in reds or oranges but tonight it was turquoise.

    He saved the best for last.  Just when I thought He 'skipped' as day of personal communication with me, He dazzles me with this.  God is good all the time, oh, yes He is.  He cares for even the everyday average child of His like me.  How great is that.


God is : Loving kindness that is everlasting
              His mercies are NEW everyday!
Color: Turquoise

    I was driving a long drive home so I was conversing with My Father.  I passed a field of fire red flowers waving in the gentle breeze as I passed. They cheered me on my way.

    God was reminding me of Joshua 1:7-9.  He is truly with me 'whithersoever I go'.

   Once home I went out for my usual walk.  It was late afternoon and I was not certain today if God would continue to visibly give evidence of His presence with me as I seek to hear Him in my spirit.

   As I came back home, I was walking up the driveway and there was a surprise waiting for me.  There is a planter in front of the house, where all the plants are dead due to the cold weather here.  But today it was full, yes full, of bright happy, yellow mums.  They were little ones but they were bright and growing in full bloom.

  God is: Always there and brings Life out of Death
               He is happy to be with me and with you

  Color: Bright yellow

    This very early morning I skipped breakfast to take a pre-dawn walk with my precious Lord, my God, my Father, my Guide and companion of intimate proportions in the Holy Spirit.  I walk past all the places where we had met this past week.  As I walk I look up and the 'STOP' sign was directly in front of me.

    I felt compelled to stop right there in the road and as I look to the right of the stop sign I saw a wondrous sight!  Coming out of the midst of an evergreen tree and surrounded by evergreen trees, was a single, solitary twig.  This twig had red AND neon green leaves in the shape of a SMILE!

    This made me smile, then it made me laugh!

  What joy there is in my Creator.  We miss so much in our busy lives.  He has placed so many fantastic things, simple things, beautiful things, unexplainable things, everywhere. They are just waiting for His children to stop and notice and delight in them.




    It is like the Sunset.  Never two exactly the same but we miss most of them because we are to preoccupied to look.  What artistry we miss and it is all free!!  Oh how He freely gives.

God is : Joyful and in His presence is the fullness of Joy

Color: Red and green and everything in between.

    A morning of deep fog yielded to an afternoon of bright sunlight and vivid Autumn colors all around me.  As I walked I looked across the lake at the thick forest of lovely rich colors displayed in all their Fall glory.

    As the clouds moved and the sun traveled across the trees, the leaves would appear to 'light up' with color as the sun skipped across them.  It was as if God was walking across the trees and His steps were illuminating the individual members of the forest as He passed by.

     Then as suddenly as it came it was gone.  A brief momentary glimpse of the glory of the Creator.

God is:  Multifaceted  light unto my path

Color: Auburn, Gold, Russet, Green, Yellow, Emerald, Red, Lime, Burgundy 

    We took a 3.7 mile walk today, around the lake.  I have never before walked anywhere near that far but I felt invigorated and excited about what my heavenly Father would have to show me or say to me.

    It is an overcast day with lots of cloud cover, but relatively warm for an Autumn day. About half way around I stopped to look at a very unusual cactus like rubbery plant.  It was growing along the edge of the road just on the border of a marshy part of the lake.  This plant caught my eye because of its brilliantly bright yellow flowers.  As I picked one and held it up toward the sky to get a better look at its delicate structure, the clouds parted in a circle and the clearest, bluest sky appeared.  

     The contrast between the blue of the sky and the lovely yellow of the blossom was remarkable.  What a work of art these are.  The broad vast strokes of the sky and the soft delicate details of the flower speak of our Creator's diversity in style and texture.  What a fascinating and artistic God we serve.

    All around me is a living, breathing, breathtaking testimony to the both the power and the gentleness of our Mighty Master.  

    God is : Bright and Beautiful

    
     Color:  Yellow and Sky Blue

     Today is a day of delighting in the Lord.  My early morning hour of prayer on this day of fasting was so delightfully precious and intimately personal.

    I walked down to the dock by the lake on this crisp sunny morning and there was not a soul around anywhere I could see.  I stood and listened to the sounds around me and heard: the water lapping under the dock; the breeze skipping across the lake and into the trees; and birds chirping in the distance.  That was all, on this beautiful still morning.

    I spoke praise and thanksgiving to my loving Father and interceded on behalf of His children.  I read Zephaniah chapter 1 and then opened to Psalm 29 randomly.  God spoke to my heart concerning the coming Day of the Lord and the raising up of 'one calling in the wilderness' to "make straight the way of the Lord" from our family.

   Then Psalm 29 described God's Voice being in the wilderness.  I was so filled with the sense of His presence that I was moved to sing,  Out loud! I never do that! so I sang Psalm 29 to my God.  At first it was awkward and the tune I was making up as I went was no masterpiece!  But I remembered my daughter telling me that she was learning to embrace the awkward, so I sang louder.

  The tune was clumsy at first but as I continued and began to take my thoughts off myself and set my sights on the One for whom I sang, it took shape.  The words lifted in praise and worship to the majesty and power of God's voice.  I sang with my whole heart and I sang louder and louder and freer and freer!!

When  I was finished all was silent around me and I no longer heard the breeze or the lapping of the water.  All I could hear was the smell waterfall behind me- slapping on the stones and making a very distinct 'clapping' sound... God clapped!!!!!!!

   On the way back I 'happened' to look down at my feet and saw a small bunch of purple flowers in a field of green grass.  What a royal offering.

God is : Majesty and Royalty

Color:  Purple

     Today I went for a walk in the early afternoon with my daughter while she sought out unique scenes to photograph.  We stepped off the road into the woods and covering the ground in the woods were beautiful red mushrooms with bright yellow, ribbed under bellies.

     They were so colorful and brilliant, so unique.

 Here they were hidden away where few would ever notice them let alone draw close enough to enjoy their beauty.

     The path least traveled where the narrow gate is to be found must be such as this place. One must turn off the wide road, struggle with the roughness of the path, and keep a careful watch for all that the Creator has prepared.

     The reward is greater than the effort put forth.  The blessing larger than the distance traveled.  The value of the offering greater than the sacrifice of our time and energies.

God is:  Lowly and meek    Color: red and yellow
             Found on the narrow path less traveled    Color:  Woodland

Today it is cold and rainy.  I was drawn outside, from my nice warm bed, in the early morning hours. I felt  a great yearning to meet with my God and cry out to Him for all the unfed lambs,the shepherd-less sheep of His flock and for my own brokenness.

I donned my neon orange rain poncho and headed out to my "spot" where I found the neon green and the vibrant red branches in the evergreen forest.  I poured out my heart to God as never before.  I fell on my knees and cried out from the depth of my soul with "groaning too deep for words".  I had never before prayed with such fervency or with such a broken empty heart.

Something cracked open inside me and my spirit became free beyond understanding.  An inexplicable peace and joy flooded my soul and has continued to abide there.  It made me think of what a caterpillar must experience after all the struggle, uncertainty, bondage and change.  To break free from the chrysalis and soar on in newly created, breathtakingly beautiful wings.  The unfathomable freedom!

Later that morning as I ended my time with the Lord, there in the pouring rain, alone and yielded I had asked for God to pour the rain down harder so I would know His presence.  Instead, He broke open a cloud above me and the Sun, for just a moment, broke through and shown on my face with warmth and light.  It was as if the Face of my Father had looked down upon His weak and weary daughter for but a moment.  Then the clouds united once more and the dark rainy day continued.

I knew inside my spirit that God had heard.  I knew that He had called me out of bed that morning.  I knew that He would answer.  I may never know how or when, but He would respond. That is all that matters anyway is it not?  That we answer His call, humble ourselves before Him, pour out our hearts for others, trust Him to work, and rejoice in the awesome privilege of being in the presence of the Almighty.

God is:  Glorious
              God sees us
              God hears us

Color: Sunlight = Golden

     As I walked out in the early morning at the Northwoods, I turned a corner and in front of me was a neon green leafed branch. Right next to it and sticking out from a forest of tall evergreen trees was a brilliant red leafed branch, scarlet red to be exact. 

    Each branch was alone, single, like no other around.  That is what made the discovery so delightful.

                                                                 

     It was so vibrant and beautiful and so unexpected. It was unique.  It spoke to me of my Father's 'unexpected blessings' and His brilliance in glory!

God is:  Brilliantly Beautiful and One of a kind!

Color:  Neon green = peace
           Red = sacrifice

  I discovered today that God, my Father, desires to meet with me and speak to my heart- the core of my being- personally on an individual level.

  I have not been hearing because I did not expect Him to speak to me in a way that is special to me.  Scripture states that God is not in the storm or in the earthquake (although Psalm 29 tells us His voice causes those), but is in the quietness and stillness.

  So, if God's word relates God's presence to aspects of His creation I decided to look for God's special word to me in what I love and that is COLORS!

  Today He drew my eye to a single, solitary Daisy in the center of a field of dandelions on a chilly Autumn day.  The dandelions were bent over from the rain and the lone Daisy stood up tall and straight.  This spoke to me of God being 'lifted up', He is worthy of worship. He alone is high and holy. One day every knee shall bow to the one and only eternally self existent one, the I Am, our God and Father who is always waiting to talk with us.

How great is that? 

God is : One.

 Color: White Daisy= Pure/Holy.  Yellow Dandelions = Cast Crowns