An Unforgettable Alaskan Adventure

August 27, 2024 Gracie

Treasuring An Unforgettable Alaskan Adventure

If your “bucket list” is anything like mine, then a trip to Alaska is right there near the top.

I’m happy and grateful to say that my wish finally came true.

Photo ops everywhere!

My husband and I and some dear friends just got back from an unforgettable Alaskan adventure that we’re still raving about.

I can’t begin to tell you how amazing and beautiful it all was.

Aboard the “Norwegian Bliss” cruise ship, my husband and I felt blessed to immerse ourselves in God’s creation for a “blissful” (couldn’t resist!) seven days.

When did they start making cruise ships this big?

An unforgettable Alaskan adventure

Each day brought exciting new discoveries:

Towering, snow-capped mountains . . .

Majestic mountains

Icy cold waters reflecting the sunlight above and sparkling with brilliant shades of sapphire to turquoise blue . . .

Alaska's towering snow-capped mountains

Glaciers that glistened like diamonds in the sunlight.

Majestic whales and charming coastal towns like Sitka, Juneau, and Ketchikan where we checked out the many shops and chatted with some of the locals.

Charming shops and restaurants

Our dear friends Lisa and Charlie were with us as we explored these fascinating ports of call.

Fellow adventurers Lisa and Charlie

One of my favorite memories was sitting on their balcony next door, drinking hot chocolate and wearing our cozy jackets while the Bliss floated by icebergs, varying in size from tiny to large enough to stand on.

I know what you’re thinking. Yes, we thought about the Titanic.

Check out the icy blue color of the iceberg in this photo.

Icebergs!

August is a good time to go.

The weather was perfect, just slightly cool.

God let us experience all of His workmanship and all the beauty in the areas that we went to. It’s just phenomenal, meeting people that you’re almost drawn to (like our driver that had the same beliefs that we had) that made me feel encouraged. Even in other areas of the world, there are still people touched by God, and being with friends that you don’t get to see very often and have such a good time with – I just enjoyed it so much! – Lisa P.

We didn’t see the Northern Lights this trip, but that’s okay. What we did get to witness was humbling enough.

We were all awestruck and so grateful to our Heavenly Father who created this for His pleasure. He loves us so much that we get to share in His delightful creation.

It was absolutely amazing. We had the opportunity to see an area of our country that we’d never been to before, but heard a lot about. Getting out and seeing the whales and seals and the little sea otters was an experience. Watching the mountains and the glaciers in all their majesty, we were awestruck by God’s ability to put those things there for us to see and enjoy. Kind of like a birthday and Christmas present all wrapped into one. – Charlie P.

If you ever decide to take an Alaskan cruise, I highly recommend getting a room with a balcony.

A balcony room is a must!

Waking up each morning and opening the shades was a delight to the senses.

I’m happy to say that I didn’t get seasick once! The ship gently glided through the open seas. I could barely feel a rocking motion, even at bedtime when all is quiet except the calming waves lapping against the ship’s hull.

Just about every direction you looked was a new photo op. On land, we saw eagles perched on the trees in town, and at sea we marveled at the backs of whales as they surfaced.

Bald eagles

No bears spotted on this trip, but that’s probably a good thing because we forgot to bring bear spray. Lol.

At last count, I believe we took about 400 pictures plus!

Exciting ports of call

You do a lot of walking in those ports of call, but it is so worth it! And, when you’re ready for a break, you can hang out on the upper deck or in the observation lounge on the Bliss.

The ship’s observation deck was the perfect vantage point for stargazing and appreciating God’s creation in all of its splendor.

It was a fun place to people watch and, as always, there was plenty of food and drink to satisfy hungry tummies after a day of sightseeing.

We met so many genuinely wonderful people on this cruise – Tom and Melissa, Jenny and John, and more.

The food, both on board the Bliss and also in the ports of call was, out of this world.

How about some Alaskan King crab – as fresh as it could be. I did let my husband have a bite or two even though crabmeat is one of my favorite foods in the whole wide world.

Delicious Alaskan King Crab

There were so many excursions to choose from. We loved the Gold Creek Wild Salmon Bake in Juneau.

This was no ordinary buffet. We joined other hungry diners on picnic tables which were set up under a jacket-worthy rainforest canopy.

The peaceful sounds of a waterfall beckoned nearby. I could have sat there for hours.

Waterfall at the salmon bake

I’ve never been a huge fan of salmon. However, this salmon, I am not kidding, was the best, most mouthwatering, salmon I have ever tasted in my life. Fresh caught and grilled over an alderwood fire right in front of you – I couldn’t believe how great it tasted. (We may have to move here just for the salmon 😉

Alaska's beautiful flowers and plants - Delight in God

Such pristine beauty all around us.

The landscapes, the adventures, and the friendships forged on that unforgettable journey to Alaska will forever hold a special place in our hearts. Alaskan adventure

Our Exceptional God

Jesus Walked Among Us

August 20, 2024 Gracie

Yes, It’s Real: Jesus Walked Among Us

If you want to think about something truly amazing, how about the fact that Jesus walked among us?

That is, in earlier Biblical times, God’s only Son walked along the same ground as humanity.

It’s almost incomprehensible.

A view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

Here, from the book of John, is perhaps the most well-known verse from Scripture.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. – John 3:16, (NASB).¹

Jesus, both God and man, is the ultimate expression of the depths of God’s love for us.

Who are we to deserve such a gift?

His sacrifice on the cross exemplifies the ultimate act of love.

Through no works of our own, He offers believers a path of free grace which leads to our salvation.

He didn’t die for Himself. He took sin upon Himself. He died for those who did not deserve it. When we put our faith into who He is, Jesus Christ, the God-man, and we put our faith into what He did for us, then righteousness, His righteousness, is now written to our account. You cannot be righteous in yourself. To think that you can earn your way into heaven is to put yourself on equality with God, and you cannot do it. The only man who ever did it was the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, putting our faith into Him. Then His righteousness and His life come to live in us. Now He can produce through us what we could have never done ourselves. – Precept Austin commentary.²

Jesus Walked Among Us: He is Real

We know from the Bible that when Jesus walked among the people, He showed them great love and compassion.

He comforted the brokenhearted.

Why would we think He would be any different today?

He hears your prayers and mine.

As of this writing, Jesus has not yet returned, but He is coming!

In the meantime, set your sights on His victorious return.

I hope the following poem will encourage you as it did me.

Look To The Cross
By Catherine Pulsifer

In the stillness of the night, you hear the call,
Jesus beckons, He invites one and all.
Up high in heaven, God’s Son does reside,
Yet on earth, His love for you does abide.

Look up to the cross, where Jesus bled,
For you, for me, His precious blood shed.
In simple faith, just believe and see,
The saving grace He offers for free.

No need to search in distant skies,
For Jesus is near, He hears your cries.
He walked amongst us, in human form,
To guide us through life’s tempest and storm.

God’s love is so deep, it knows no end,
His mercy and grace, they always mend.
So come to Jesus, with a heart open wide,
In Him, true peace and joy abide.

Through His word, a message so clear,
Jesus, our Savior, always near.
So heed the call, don’t hesitate,
In Jesus, find your eternal fate.

# # #

² Dr. Wayne A. Barber quotation is from the Romans 10:1-10 Commentary, [2015] Courtesy of Precept Austin, Web. Accessed 9 August, 2024.

Memorizing Scripture Like a Pro

August 7, 2024 Gracie

Memorizing Scripture Like a Pro

How good are you at memorizing scripture?

Admittedly, I can’t remember where I leave my readers half the time.

However, I’m happy to say that I am getting better at memorizing God’s Word.

It takes commitment and a lot of repetition.

Friends – you can do this!

You might be asking what is so important about memorizing scripture like a pro?

It’s to know Him more.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. – Colossians 3:16, (NASB).¹

Memorizing Scripture like a pro

The Bible is God’s Word, we can trust it.

The only way to replace the error of the world’s way of thinking is to replace it with God’s truth, and the only infallible source of God’s truth is His revealed Word, the Bible. Transformation through renewed minds comes as believers expose themselves to God’s Word through the faithful exposition of it each week in church, personal Bible study, and group Bible studies. – gotquestions.org.²

Did you know there are inspirational Christians on YouTube who have memorized entire books of the Bible?

There are several of note, but I wanted to give a special nod to Susan Heck.

She has memorized the entire New Testament and several books in the Old Testament.

How amazing is that?

This is a longer video, but it’s full of some of the helpful techniques that she uses.

Memorizing Scripture with Index Cards

My favorite way to memorize Scripture is by using index cards. I place the treasured verses in a card box labeled by the days of the week, then by odd and even dates and finally every day of the month. You can read more about that method here.

There’s another method where some people like to write out their verses to memorize and place them on index cards placed strategically throughout their home.

You can check it out in the following short video.

Memorizing Scripture in the Right Context

One key point here is to always make sure, whether you’re memorizing an entire book of the Bible or just a few verses, when you recall these verses that they are used in the right context.

I hope the tips shared in this post are helpful to you in your quest to memorize God’s Word.

# # #

²Quotation from gotquestions.org from “What does it mean to be transformed by the renewing of the mind”? n.d., para. 6. Web. Accessed July 31, 2024. Retrieved from Renewing the mind

Our Exceptional God

God’s Rescue Mission

July 30, 2024 Gracie

Joining God’s Rescue Mission

A few days ago, I had just gotten home when I received a text from our neighbor.

It wasn’t good news.

There’s a ranch located behind us and a coyote had gotten ahold of a newborn calf.

The baby’s hindquarters were clawed through. The calf was on the ground, defenseless and barely breathing.

The mama cow was standing over her baby making the most agonizing distress cry.

I felt sick to my stomach.

We all sprang into action making phone calls to our local game warden and the sheriff’s office.

If at all possible, we wanted to try to help save this calf.

The officers arrived and headed over to the pasture.

Sadly, it was too late, the injuries were life-threatening.

I couldn’t watch.

A loud gunshot rang out as an officer put the little one out of its misery.

Some might say it’s just the “circle of life”, and that’s true for the animal kingdom.

But, as far as human lives are concerned, as believers we can’t just sit back and watch a population of lost sinners lose their eternity because no one bothered to tell them about Jesus.

We are part of God’s rescue mission for mankind.

A Call To Harvest

In the following passage, Jesus was speaking directly to the disciples – a call for them to take the gospel message to the people.

As believers, we are to carry His life-saving message as well.

There’s still time.

And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. – Luke 10:2, (NASB).¹

God’s Rescue Mission

Only our Savior, Jesus Christ, can ultimately save lost sinners.

It is our responsibility as believers to take His life-saving message of salvation to our circle of influence.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you the right words to say when starting that all important conversation with an unbeliever.

God's rescue mission

Who is on your heart right now who needs to know Jesus?

Is it your husband or wife?

Your kids?

Another relative?

Your best friend?

If you don’t think it’s the right time to do that, pray for the right time. Ask our Heavenly Father for those open doors and opportunities!

He will hear you.

I see others online who continue to believe that, as long as a person is kind to others, God won’t send them to hell.

That’s not how it works.

From John 14:6:
Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.²

God didn’t send His only Son to the cross for us to simply be nice.

Follow Jesus

Consider the dear ones in your life.

Have you talked about Jesus in your home lately?

Do you know if your loved ones believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?

Regarding their eternal life, it’s the most important question you could ask.

# # #

Our Exceptional God

The Largest Frog Invasion Ever

July 22, 2024 Gracie

The Largest Frog Invasion Ever

Breaking News!

We‘ve been invaded . . . by frogs.

I’m not kidding.

Frog invasion

They’re small and cute as the dickens, but these lightning-fast amphibians seem to delight in taunting our dogs.

It feels like the largest frog invasion ever is happening right there in our backyard, although I know that’s not true.

I couldn’t help but think about the plague of frogs in earlier Biblical times.

Remember that one?

I’ve read about the plagues representing God’s judgment several times, but didn’t stop to really think about what it might have been like.

That is until now when little frogs are practically knocking at our door.

While the account of the second plague in Exodus is yet another powerful display of God’s righteous sovereignty, I see a little irony in it as well.

Here’s a good descriptive explanation:

The second plague, bringing frogs from the Nile, was a judgment against Heqet, the frog-headed goddess of birth. Frogs were thought to be sacred and not to be killed. God had the frogs invade every part of the homes of the Egyptians, and when the frogs died, their stinking bodies were heaped up in offensive piles all through the land (Exodus 8:13–14) – got questions.org.¹

The largest frog invasion ever

I tried to imagine what that could have been like for the Egyptians during the plague.

Picture the scene.

Per Scripture, the frogs appeared everywhere – not just in the Nile River, but well . . . EVERYWHERE.

^3“The Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house, and into your bedroom and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. ⁴So the frogs will come up on you, your people, and on all your servants.” – Exodus 8:3-4, (NASB).²

Pardon my colloquial, now THAT isn’t cute.

As previously mentioned, the plague of frogs was God’s second plague – a severe punishment Moses had clearly warned Pharaoh about when he refused to let the Israelites break from bondage in Egypt.

When God says “Let My people go, so that they may serve me”, He means business.

Frog Invasion

As the historical account goes, Pharaoh gave in (albeit temporarily) and God removed that particular plague – but not without repercussions. A lot of little frog corpses had to be removed.

So they piled them in heaps, and the land stank. – Exodus 8:14, (NASB).³

Pharaoh had a severe case of pride and a hardened heart.

We know that God sent a series of plagues, each an opportunity for Pharaoh to obey and let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh would renege on his promise.

If you haven’t gone through the book of Exodus in awhile, I encourage you to go back and read it again. There’s so much more to be learned from it.

Is there a takeaway from this dramatic story?

Yes. Pharaoh kept missing the point. He simply wanted the plagues gone.

As sinners living in today’s world, we too, can miss the point.

Emphasis mine . . .

What all this shows is how much a person can learn about God without ever coming to him for salvation. Pharaoh knew that God was both Creator and Judge. He recognized the power of God’s name and believed that he could answer prayer. But he did not know God as his Savior and Lord. The proof is that he could not pray to God for himself; he had to ask Moses and Aaron to do the praying for him. He also made the wrong request. Rather than asking God to take away his sins, he asked God to take away the frogs. Pharaoh wanted relief from the punishment for his sin without being willing to repent of the sin itself. Quite literally, the man didn’t have a prayer—at least not a proper prayer to call his own.” (Ibid) – Precept Austin commentary.⁴

# # #

¹Quotation from gotquestions.org from “What was the meaning and purpose of the ten plagues of Egypt”? n.d., para. 4. Web. Accessed July 19, 2024. Retrieved from the second plague.

⁴ PhD Philip Ryken quotation is from the Exodus 8 Commentary, [2022] Courtesy of Precept Austin, Web. Accessed 18 July, 2024.

Our Exceptional God

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An Unforgettable Alaskan Adventure

Treasuring An Unforgettable Alaskan Adventure

Jesus Walked Among Us

Yes, It’s Real: Jesus Walked Among Us

Jesus Walked Among Us: He is Real

Look To The Cross By Catherine Pulsifer

Memorizing Scripture Like a Pro

Memorizing Scripture Like a Pro

Memorizing Scripture with Index Cards

Memorizing Scripture in the Right Context

God’s Rescue Mission

Joining God’s Rescue Mission

A Call To Harvest

The Largest Frog Invasion Ever

The Largest Frog Invasion Ever

Frog Invasion

Look To The Cross
By Catherine Pulsifer