After a tutoring session with a resilient (and quite active) little 5 year old, we took a walk (sometimes a ‘RUN!’) through the woods. We looked at flowers and trees and butterflies.  I let him take some photos and I took a few of my own. It was a fun little fifteen minutes of the day that refreshed me. Hope some of these photos refresh you.

You see, we looked up.  Way up. And after a super busy week with some deep concerns, I just kept thinking this:  “Sometimes in order to not give up, we’ve gotta look up.” Way up. We’ve gotta see things in light of the big picture, not only in the light of the deep concerns. It’s hard to see in the dark. So if you’re having a difficult week or day or rough season, here are just a few quotes on pressing on, on not giving up….as well as a few visual reminders to look up <3.

My husband said it best once. As a football coach, he said to his players that one of the best things is to just “keep moving your feet.”  Yep. “Keep moving your feet.” I’m no football player, but I’ve used this advice more times than I can count. Yep, it’s good to  keep moving our feet. Just take another step, do the next thing, one step at a time.”  So thanks to Buddy Halbert for the quote:  “Keep moving your feet….”

Thanks also to Elisabeth Elliot. She said something so simple and she said it often. “Do the next thing.” We may say, “You mean I’m facing the worst trial and you’re telling me to just ‘do the next thing’ ?!!  Yep. ‘Keep moving your feet’. ‘Do the next thing’. Don’t give up.

And we all know Winston Churchill’s quote– “Never Give up. Never. Never. Never.” At least that’s what I thought it was. But here it is in it’s entirety:  Churchill’s speech – Never Give Up  It’s definitely worth the listen. I listened to it about five times this morning, lol.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”      – Joshua 1:9   With you. Wherever.  Those are good words.

Here’s one of my favorites: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:16-17   It’s one of my favorites because even when we do walk through difficult things in our lives or the lives of those we love, or the world as a whole, well the Bible says we can be renewed on the inside.  Revived. Given hope to keep pressing on.  When we look up to Him, hope has a way of changing us from within.

So, I hope you’re doing well and having a great week and laughing a lot and enjoying working hard and loving well. But if  life seems a bit heavy and dark right now, well, I hope you’ll take a moment to look up.  To  look up and know you’re not alone. That God loves you. and me. and the best and worst of us all. He loves us all. He’s a prayer away. His perspective is a bit greater than ours for sure.  And it’s hard to see in the dark.  I can’t change hearts and minds and circumstance. I don’t have that kind of power. But I can look to the One who does. He never gives up. Never, never, never, never. But He doesn’t bulldoze His way in. He knocks on the door and waits for us to answer. He’s always available. Always, always, always. But he waits for us to seek Him. To …Look up.  Yep, am thinking it’s a good thing to stop, breathe, think, and look up to the One who has the power to do what we can’t…and the presence to walk with us through  it all.

Blessings~
Heather

“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'” Acts 2:21