Reflections of His Love

Last evening I took my usual walk to the neighborhood "pond", and as I approached the edge of the little cove, I was stunned by the beauty of the reflections on the water that was as smooth and clear as glass....pictures don't do it justice...but the reflections were so clear that it almost took my breath away...

 Just let your eyes focus on the reflections in the water...

  I know I've shared many pictures from this same place, but it seems as though I am always surprised to see just how perfectly the water reflects the trees and grasses and foliage around the shoreline and even in the middle of the pond...

 Even this is a reflection of God's creative beauty at work...

I mean...the reflection was so clear...I could even see my own face in the water... and I was reminded of this verse:

"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known..."  

I Corinthians 13:12

And of course this all made me stop and think and pray...because I have a lot of questions about  God's plans for us now and in the future...many things...and this message also came to me:

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."

Jeremiah 33:3

And as I turned away from the beauty of the pond to head back home,  I looked down on the ground and saw this snakeskin that had been recently shed by one of the local black snakes...and I know some of you are squeamish about snakes in general, but I saw this shed skin as a very positive message from God at that moment...giving me encouragement and hope regarding our future:

"Behold, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I declare;

Before they spring forth I tell you of them."

Isaiah 42:9

and also from Isaiah 43:18-19

"Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness 

and rivers in the desert."

And these words encouraged my heart and helped me to put "old" things into perspective and look forward to the "new" thing that God is planning to do.  He is going to help me shed this old, dry skin of the past and the things that hold me back from moving forward and give me a fresh new start.

I love this promise to the children of Israel in Isaiah 44:3-4, and I'd like to claim it for my own as well:

"For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,

and floods on the dry ground;

I will pour My Spirit on your descendants,

and My blessing on your offspring;

They will spring up among the grass

like willows by the watercourses."

Yes, Lord...pour it on...pour out Your Spirit upon us, and bless us for Your Kingdom's sake, Amen.