Little River Road, Smokey Mountains National Park - “A Spiritual Forest”

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.

JEREMIAH 17:7-8 (NRSV)

Abrams Creek Waterfall - “My Soul Finds Rest in God”

Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. 

Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. 

How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence? 

Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. 

Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

Psalm 62:1-6

Little River Road, Smokey Mountains - “Speak through Me”

 

Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and don’t return there without watering the earth . . . so is my word that comes from my mouth; it does not return to me empty. Instead, it does what I want, and accomplishes what I intend.

ISAIAH 55:10-11 (CEB)

Big Witch Overlook, Smokey Mountains - “The Strength of My Heart”

 

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

PSALM 73:26 (NIV)

Great Smokey Mountains - “Do You Not Know? Do You Not Hear?”

 

Do you not know? Do you not hear? 
Has it not been told you from the beginning? 
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, 
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; 
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, 
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 
Who brings princes to nothing, 
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Isaiah 40:21-23

Juney Whank Falls, Deep Creek Loop Trail, Smokey Mountains - “Love Brings Freedom”

1 Let my whole being bless the LORD! Let everything inside me bless his holy name! 2 Let my whole being bless the LORD and never forget all his good deeds: 3 how God forgives all your sins, heals all your sickness, 4 saves your life from the pit, crowns you with faithful love and compassion, 5 and satisfies you with plenty of good things so that your youth is made fresh like an eagle’s.

Psalm 103:1-5

Clingmans Dome Mountains, Great Smokey Mountains National Park, North Carolina - "The Heavens are higher than the Earth"

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways."  declares the Lord.  "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

The One Who Sees Me

 

She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her:  “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

Genesis 16:13 NIV

"Ask, Seek, Knock"

 Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Matthew 7:7 NIV

Cades Cove - The Beginning of Wisdom

 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise.

Psalm 111:10 NIV

Smokey Mountains - “Search With All Your Heart”

 And you will seek me and find me

when you search for me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13  NKJV

Little River - Smokey Mountains

 

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he

neither ate bread nor drank water.  And He wrote on the

tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 34:28 NKJV

Cades Cove - "I am the Way and the Truth"

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said, "Lord show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

Jesus answered:  "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, 'Show us the Father?'  Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?  The words I say to you are not just my own.  Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.  Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.  I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.   You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

John 14:9-13 NIV

Smokey Mountains - "Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled"

 

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God' trust also in me.  In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going."

John 14:1-4 NIV

Little River Road - “Let the Rivers Clap their Hands”

 

Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
Let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.

PSALM 95:7-9 NIV

Smokey Mountains - “A New Heart, A New Spirit”

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you, I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Ezekiel 36:25-27
 

Flowers of the Forest

 

To see a World in a Grain of sand

And a Heaven in a Wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hours.

~William Blake

Looking for a Butterfly in the Winter Woods

 "No moment is ever free of the life history that has preceded it" (Martha W. Hickman). The fear of losing the memory of a love one we have lost will never happen, but there is hope for the broken hearted.  We can lose, or be released, from the overhanging cloud of gloom.  I for one am looking for that Butterfly in the winter woods.  I want to be able to see it!  As a loving tribute to my daughter Crystal, I will walk out from under this cloud so I can see the beauty of life around me.  She would want that.

"They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods."

~Edith Wharton

"What the Sunshine is to the Flower"

"What the sunshine is to the flower, the Lord Jesus Christ is to my soul."

~Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

Hope Smiles

 

"Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering 'it will be happier'.

~Alfred Lord Tennyson