Happy Sunday~Flag Day and Beyond~On Eagle's Wings

Happy Flag Day!  I proudly display our American Flag on our front porch every day, but today was extra special...

Just as I put the flag out, I noticed these clouds "flying" in towards the flag...and the one looked just like a giant American Bald Eagle soaring in the sky...what a perfect symbol of our very wonderful, strong, and powerful nation and American Flag.  But it's even much more than that...

God speaks to us about the Eagle's wings throughout Scripture, with messages of comfort and strength and protection for us as well as His chosen people Israel...

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Exodus 19:3-6

3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

This made me think of the song "On Eagle's Wings"... 

The song is based on Psalm 91:

Psalm 91 NKJV

91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

4 He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes shall you look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation.”

I don't know if you noticed it, but there is also "The Sign of the Fish" in a cloud just above the Eagle's Wings.   

I don't know about you, but I found these clouds to be quite a powerful display of God's love and power and strength today...for myself personally, and also for our nation as we celebrate "Flag Day" and all that our flag represents: 

Just prior to signing the Declaration of Independence, this was the final statement contained at the very end of the document:

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

As long as our nation remembers that we are "One Nation, UNDER GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all", "with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence," we will continue to be a powerful nation who represents trust in the One True God before the world.  But when we lose sight of that truth, we will fall captive to other world ideologies and failed systems of government, and our great nation will be doomed to destruction.

But God gives us (and Israel, as this verse was written for them, but we who are believers in Almighty God through His Son Jesus Christ are also called by His name), this promise...that if we will humble ourselves and pray and seek HIS face, and TURN from our wicked ways (REPENT), then He will hear from heaven and will forgive our sins and restore our land.

I am very thankful for our country and our flag and all that it stands for.  May God continue to bless America.

Now, onto another note, thank you all who had such kind things to say the other day regarding the loss of my friend Maura (and her husband Woody). I did indeed go to their Celebration of Life service yesterday, and it was very moving and special in every way.  I felt like God was bearing me up on eagles' wings to help me get through the service. I sat with our mutual friend, Marian, and together we cherished the sweet and special memories that we have of our dear friends.  Maura, in particular, was such a powerful witness for Christ wherever she went. She loved the Lord so much and was never afraid to share her faith with others. She was such a positive and loving person...and there is such a huge void now that will be difficult to fill.  My prayers are with her granddaughter in particular, as she now must take care of all the details of their estate, etc. by herself. May God give her the strength she will need.

I also want to thank the Lord for the good rains we've been getting the past few days.  I said I wished that I could just sleep through the storm like my kitty...right there on the porch while the rain was pouring (it's hard to see it, but it was definitely raining).  Blackie seems to be in perfect peace...not even afraid when there is thunder.  He is definitely a sweetheart.  BTW: Hubby didn't feel up to going to the funeral with me yesterday, but I noticed when I got home that Blackie had been inside the house keeping him company while I was gone...Who was it that said he didn't want a cat in the house????? LOL.

And just to close out with some extra pictures of that old house in our historical section of town that I showed you before...word has it that it has been sold. 

 We had taken a little ride past there again a couple of weeks ago, and I got out of the car to get a closer look...

I was surprised that the old porch swing was still hanging there! I didn't try to sit on it just because I wasn't sure how secure it was, but I thought this made a wonderful picture...

And since there weren't any pictures of the kitchen on the Zillow ad for this house, I wanted to look in the "open" window to see what I could see...

But there really wasn't much to see, so that's probably why they never showed it in the listing. Whoever bought this house will have their work cut out for them to put in a working kitchen...but I just saw on the listing that they closed on the house with a sales price of $125,000., so they got a good deal and hopefully they will have plenty of money to do all the restoration that needs to be done to make it a beautiful restored home.  I may have to stop by sometime and get acquainted with the new owners!

But for now it remains a "Closed Door"....

And so I will close this post on that note.

I wonder how many of you put out your flags today? How many of you put a flag out every day?  Especially as we approach our 250th celebration of our freedom as a nation, I hope everyone will find ways to show our patriotism and pride in our amazing nation!  "One nation, UNDER GOD, with liberty and justice for ALL!"  Amen.

My door is always open to you!

 

Wednesday Treasures: Autumn Days in The "Secret - Memorial Garden"

 Oh friends! It's been SO long since I was able to sit outside in our "Secret-Memorial Garden" and enjoy a beautiful cool autumn breeze from the garden swing.  Yesterday afternoon and this morning have been just perfect for "porch sitting" or walking around the yard, enjoying these beautiful fall days here in north central Florida.  I will just share pictures so you can see what I've been enjoying...

Good morning from the garden! No, it's not your typical garden...I call it "My Secret-Memorial Garden" because it's a combination of the two, however there's really not much growing there except for what grows naturally and wildly. If you've been with me a long time, you will know that both garden ideas started at our previous home in the Ocala National Forest, and if you click on links over in the right sidebar for either the Secret Garden or Memorial Garden, you will find lots of posts telling about them both and their origination.  

Anyway, here at this house we combined them and it is primarily a beautiful and peaceful place in our yard and along the shore of Still Waters Pond, 

where I love to sit and enjoy the beauty of nature all around while I meditate on God's Word or read a book or magazine, 

or write in my journal or just relax and watch the birds and /or the cat!

Blackie decided to come join me on this beautiful afternoon. I was happy for his company!

He was very aware of any other activity around us, like squirrels chattering in the treetops at our intrusion into their world, or the birds flitting to and fro, who kept a watchful eye on this intruder...

This morning I was thrilled to find so many kinds of flowers blooming all around us, even though we've been in a drought situation here for the last few months! I love these wild purple asters that pop out in the fall:

And in the butterfly garden these seed pods of the Roselle plant I planted earlier this year are literally weighing down the branches of this bush:

Click on this link for more details about this plant.

It's a very unusual plant that I haven't quite figured out yet. 

This Cape Honeysuckle plant is blooming again.  I love these colorful flowers in the fall. They also attract butterflies!

This beautiful hibiscus that we planted in the "memorial garden" in memory of our son Matthew last year is still blooming every day!  This bloom was just starting to open up this morning! So pretty!!!

Out in the front yard the geranium is blooming!

I am so excited to see so many holly berries on the holly tree in the Memorial Garden this year! It hasn't had this many berries in several years.  Click on this link for a post about when the Robins and Cedar Waxwings came and cleaned off every berry in just a couple of days!  That was in November of 2020...5 years ago! It hasn't had that many berries since then, and so I am hoping that we will see those beautiful migrating birds come through here again this month like they did that year!  I will definitely be watching for them, and hopefully will be here to take pictures when they come!

Blackie has been quite active lately, and one of his favorite places to go "sit" is up in the very large Live Oak Tree in our front yard.  I happened to step outside on the front porch yesterday evening, and there he was. Of course, as soon as he saw me he started coming down to greet me...thinking I had food probably! LOL.

And here he comes!  He's becoming quite the character.    His buddy Sunshine has kind of traded places with him and seems to be gone most of the day lately, not showing up until supper time. Not sure where he goes, but at least he still comes home and stays a while and then leaves again for the night. Maybe he's found a warm hole to curl up in somewhere at night since it's been so chilly. Neither one of them are very interested in the nice warm beds Benton made for them.  Time will tell...

While I was in the Secret Garden I thought I'd better check on our Gnome Family! Sadly, I have been neglecting them over the summer because it was just too hot to go out there and look at them! But here they are...a little dirty from all the debris under the tree, but still intact and happy as a family of Gnomes can be I guess.

I probably should do a bit of housekeeping for them...

Speaking of Still Waters Pond...it's really the "Very Still NO Waters Pond" right now!   

But even with all the dryness, there is still a lot of beauty and growth on and around the pond...

These beautiful wildflowers are blooming all around the shore:
Be sure to watch out for the bees! They are quite active!

Yikes! Glad I didn't get too close!

And just when I thought I was finished with these pictures, I looked outside and saw this beauty laying in the yard:

Isn't she/he? beautiful? Look at that raccoon tail!  I believe this lovely cat belongs to someone else in the neighborhood...she took off as soon as I came out the door for a closer look.  Hopefully she/he?? will go back home where he belongs.  I'm not taking on any more boarders here on this porch!

He/she is really pretty, however...

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little tour around our yard and gardens along the shore of  Still Waters Pond...right now things are still beautiful, but eventually the autumn days will turn into winter, and things will begin to fade away until springtime...but here's some good news:

And even these words from the Book of Isaiah are a great comfort and encouragement to us in these days of uncertainty in our world...

Amen.

Be blessed my friends, and enjoy these autumn days while they last!!