Beulah Acres …and the Lord God planted a garden.

Hello all!

Yesterday I walked around and took some new photos of the garden, which is pretty bare right now as you can imagine. The weather was beautiful however, and I knew that I would be able to find beautiful pictures if I simply walked around and gave God the opportunity to show me things. This is so important as we enter in to the New Year and new season – even when it looks like you have nothing or can give nothing, if you just open your heart and give God the opportunity to show you the beauty in what you’re walking through, He will always show you where to look. I hope you all are able to join us on site or on the web for our Starting the Year Off Right conference, beginning tomorrow night with our evening of international worship. Bless you all, and rejoice that you are alive and well and ready to enter in to 2015!

Blessings,

Tracey

Merry Christmas All!

I hope each and every one of you has had an abundantly blessed holiday! Here is a video of the lights in the garden for you to enjoy as Christmas comes to a close. I hope your hearts are overflowing with joy and thanksgiving that God sent His only Son to be the brightest light in the darkness. I love you all!

Many blessings,

Tracey

Hello all!

This morning there was heavy fog around here and I had a field day taking photos of the garden and new land in it. I played around with some black and white editing as well, so you’ll see a lot of those. I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them! Fog really makes for some interesting and creative photos – you have to really zoom out and look at things from a wider perspective to see the beauty and contrast in what you’re looking at. If you’re looking too closely at one facet of your surroundings, everything just looks dreary and washed out. It made me think about how sometimes we focus too much on the small things, and how if we would just look at things from God’s perspective, we’d see that there is beauty in the bigger picture. I have to remind myself sometimes that God sees where we are from a much greater perspective, and where we are is part of His plan for the bigger picture of each of our lives and destinies. So thank God that even if we can’t see it, He sees everything and has a plan and a purpose for each of us.

Blessings,

Tracey

Shabbat Shalom All!

This Robert Frost poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” came to mind this morning as I took photos outside my office –

Nature’s first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

It reminded me of Isaiah 40:6-8 –

“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”

Watching the season set in and drain the color from nature really puts into perspective the stark contrast between God and His creation. Earthly things come and go so quickly, and time can taunt you sometimes. But I truly believe that this quiet, desaturated season is simply an opportunity to shift your eyes to the Creator and revel in His everlasting beauty. It reminds us that nothing in the earth outshines our God. Everything we see around us is temporary – but He is eternal. This season emphasizes this contrast, and makes it easier to focus our eyes where they should be focused.

As you look through these photos, take notice of what catches your eye immediately. It’s these splashes of remaining color and beautiful lingering rain drops that hold your focus and make you forget about the withering flowers and grass in the background. This is what God’s glory does for us! So declare Isaiah 40:6-8 and thank God that He NEVER fades!

Blessings,

Tracey