Wednesday's Words! Encouragement from God's Word!

 

(C) 2021, Allen Pearson Photography

"And after you have suffered

a little while,

the God of all grace,

who has called you to his

eternal glory in Christ,

will himself restore, confirm,

strengthen, and establish you."

- 1 Peter 5:10

Sunday's Thought!

"Great Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, TN"
(C) 2021, Allen Pearson Photography

Faith in God Can Move a Mighty Mountain

Chorus:

Faith in God can move a mighty mountain,

Faith can calm the troubled sea;

Faith can make a desert like a fountain,

Faith can bring the victory.

Music and words of Verses: Grace Marilyn Watkins

Music and words of Chorus: John W. Peterson and Alfred B. Smith

When I was just a young kid, maybe as early as 10-years-old, the church used to sing this chorus all the time. Several years later, as a young church organist, I was able to play it by memory, or by ear though I never really used my ears to play, since I'd heard it so often.  

When you are young, you sometimes think things about what you hear or what people say in the most imaginative or wildest ways. A few of mine were related to this song. I wondered how does God move a mighty mountain? After all, mountains do not move. And, when does how does He do it? Though I believe God could do it so I just waited to see the mountains move as my faith grew. Maybe it would happen when I was at my grandmother's house in West Virginia which was surrounded by mountains! Another thought was how does God calm the sea? I'd never been to the sea as a child so I wouldn't know if God ever calmed it and why or how He would do it. This would apply to the desert too. I had never been there but certainly didn't understand how in the world the desert could turn into a fountain. 

Of course, young minds wander, and as they do they come up with so many different interpretations of just about everything. Metaphorically speaking wasn't something I was familiar with at that young age. As I think on those thoughts of my youth, I quickly realized that God does move mountains, He does calm the seas and He does make the desert like a fountain. How? Mountains, seas, or deserts refer to troubles and problems we have in our life.

As I got older, I went through many challenging life events such as the loss of my parents and brother, the loss of my mother-in-law, the illness of my father-in-law, my continual fighting of a progressive disease, and more recently, my wife's battle with cancer. There were many times when I felt like the challenges were too much raising my stress levels to the highest they could be or the going would get very rough and I didn't know what to do next! These were my mountains and seas. I have to admit that there were times when I wondered where God was. Why He wasn't here taking care of my problem or why I hadn't heard from Him. Those were my deserts. However, realizing at the time or not, I see now that my faith in God was bringing me victory like a fountain. He had never ever left my side and always intervened in my situations as He saw best. Over the years my faith in God has proved victory! 

This is the life of a Christian. Just like everyone else in this universe, we go through life's events, heartbreak, and challenging situations. Our faith and trust in God being there for us as He promised, gets us through it all!

Learn more about faith in God, Salvation, God's Plan of Salvation for Man by visiting Peace With God.

Cat Photography! "Those Cat Eyes!"

"Those Cat Eyes!"
(C) 2021, Allen Pearson Photography

Cats are a challenge to photograph! They will only come to you when they think that they should. They like to hide and stay away unless they happen to like you or realize that you are alright! Capturing an image of someone's cat can be quite a challenge but it's worth it! The images can bring quite a bit of happiness to the cat's human. My love of animals often helps me to get the images the cat's human loves.

"Those Cat Eyes!" was created at a humane society that was trying to get a cat adopted. The cat was super sweet and really didn't mind me being in the room with him when he was living temporarily.

If you would like more information about my cat photography sessions, or a print of "Those Cat Eyes!," please contact me at allenpearsonphotography@gmail.com.