Magnify Monday

Magnify Monday...

I received a most wonderful gift from my son last Christmas... 

a new camera.

 It is a Cannon Rebel... I still have it on automatic,

 (which I plan on changing soon -when I get the time to look into it)

 but... a most amazing gift came with it. The lens opened a new world for me, it opened the door to the details of my life that the Lord has given me.

 It took the hidden and magnified them as praise in my life to the Lord. It created in me a thankful heart.

 Now I have been taking pictures for years and I appreciated my snap and shoot but somehow this camera with it's long lens brings clarity into my life and with it some perspective of the most beautiful details of my life that I had been missing. With this camera I become part of the process... holding it to my eye and closing everything else out I become one with it and I see with a new perspective.

 I found with this new found clarity that thankfulness became joy in my life... my details that surround me, my everyday life turned to joy in the details. The life that I didn't take time to notice or ponder on for just a couple of seconds I see now. When I look through the lens I see a beautiful world in its most intimate setting, it is seeing with my spiritual eyes the life that surrounds me... my true reality. 

And so this Sunday morning as I sit here having my morning coffee on the patio enjoying the beautiful day I have before me... 

I grabbed my camera and saw through the lens a most beautiful world which transformed my already lovely morning into thankfulness and praise.

 It magnified the Lord!

It got me to thinking... Maybe there are others who would like to join me on this journey of capturing the details of life.  You don't have to have a great camera or be a photographer.

 I certainly am not. It is all about appreciating what surrounds you. It is just seeing through the lens of your own life.

Join me every Monday for a linked photo gathering.

Magnify Monday  

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Psalm 34:3

Isn't this little guy amazing? 

Please join me every Monday starting June 11 for

Magnify Monday

A photo linked gathering

Blessings today!

Rebecca

Not By Might...

Hello

I am finally home now after 2 weeks of traveling and I have to admit it is good to be home. I had a wonderful time with my lovely mother and it was so good to see my daughters and grand daughters. We had a short time together, it is never long enough. We celebrated birthdays and I even got to go to Sophie and Savannah's school for their annual carnival. 

My journey to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation started month's ago, actually years ago. There have been prayers going up for this 
First Nation by prayer warriors and mighty women and men of God for ages. I am just a part of that stream of prayers, which I was connected in and through the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus. 
I had been talking to my friend, KC Willis who has been ministering to the Pine Ridge area for the past year. She is planning on going full time to this calling and selling her Lip Stick Ranch  business. 

She has rented a building in White Clay NE, which is right on the border of the reservation. My prior post was on White Clay. 

LightShine 


Her plans at the moment are to use this building as a much needed re-sale shop and art center for the Reservation residents. 
Plans for this shop are to sell quality used items at affordable prices to those that need it, while maintaining the dignity of choosing and purchasing what they need and bringing it home in a pretty package. So they might be a part of commerce, either at the resale shop or in the art center. The art center will enable learning an art skill while having the capability of selling it online at the center. 
This seemed to be right down my alley and so praying about this, I felt the Lord's leading to somehow be apart of this in a small way.
... so this is my journey, I collected a car and trailer full of goodies, thanks to my family and friends and headed 16 hours to
 South Dakota... land of my childhood.

Loading...

Unloading...

The re-sale shop will have 3500 sq feet

Pastor Joe... youth minister. A heart for the young that God is using in a tremendous way.

So much work to do... sort and fold

Beautiful helpers!

 Home Sweet Home for our stay

It had a beautiful view of the prairie...

God is here... in this forgotten land.  He has not forgotten this Nation that has been swept aside. He is sweeping this land by His Spirit and healing this broken Nation... one lovely Lakota spirit at a time.

For I see a hovering over this land, angels standing in wait to go to war for this Nation that has seen no hope for so long. A remnant of people still strong in spirit, a healing that will bring a new beginning with this seventh generation.
 For it is not by might, nor by power,  but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.
(Zech 4:6)

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints-- Eph 6:10-18

God brought me here to learn, help and to minister.
Please join me on my next post and meet some lovely Lakota women with warrior spirits.
Blessings
Rebecca

Beauty For Ashes

Faces of Whiteclay

Hello

I am in Minnsota now visiting my mother,
 making my way home after a week on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

I will be doing a couple of posts on my trip, 

I will try to share with you this learning experience and

the beauty I found in ashes.

Isaiah 61

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

To appoint unto them that mourn, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

These are the faces of Whiteclay.

These are the faces of heart ache and lost hope...

 they have found there existance and survival in intoxicated sleep.

These are the brokenhearted that God has come to save through His never ending love.

The homeless.

They have names... family... stories...

if anyone would care to hear.

This is Dennis, he wanted me to care enough to take his picture and know his name.

I have looked into the eyes of dispair and know without God we are all without hope.

Eli... a sweet spirit that I came to love.

This is Frances, a Korean vet... "I am the only sober one!"

New mercies every morning.

Reggie, the proud one.

Waiting... waiting for an escape.

This is Mary Ann.

She sat on the street for days, waiting for her husband to get out of jail. She wanted me to take a picture of her love.

And finally the escape...

Maggie.

As I was walking one morning Maggie, yelled to me, "Please lady, I need to call my son. I need to know how my grand-daughter is. She was burned with hot grease and they air lifted her to Denver hospital." 

 Please pray for Passion Tobacco, we found out she is 18 months old and burned over 1/3 of her little body.

Maggie's friend, Tyrell.

A shelter for the homeless

My first glimpse of White Clay Nebraska...

400 yards from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Surrounded by controversy and political chaos.

Shattered by the poison it serves.

WhiteClay

Please join me on this journey of goodness and mercy...

how God has brought me to White Clay and the work He is doing.

Not by might - not by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts.

Blessings

Rebecca