Easter Sunday

The Lord is my rock

Guard your heart

Soar

Heavens declare glory

Beauty

Path of righteousness

Choose life

I love this verse that a client chose for her canvas. She wanted to be surrounded by her life verses, much like me! I love the encouragement to choose life. I want that choice to impact all of the little choices I am faced with daily. I have chosen life, now to live like it today. I long to live intentionally, with meaning. 

Be Still

Such a good reminder to slow down and take time out with God. I find that my days go so much better if I fill myself up with time alone with Him first. Not that anything changes about the day, but that I handle things differently. 

I love this picture of the beautiful old trees in East Texas. So many of my photos and treasured memories come from my time at Lake Bob Sandlin.

God's beauty

This one is hanging on my mantel, in the heart of my home. I find God's beauty in nature truly inspiring. That is why I love photography so much! That is what motivated me to start Captivating Joy Photos.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CaptivatingJoyPhotos?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Sunset on the lake

This is my happy place!!!! I love everything about the lake, but my favorite is the view at sunrise or sunset. 

This verse speaks to me because I love how God is creating a new heart in me. He can and will do it for you too:)

Love the Lord

This!!! This is what I want my boys to learn more than anything else. Let's start the day by praying for our children this morning. 

Love the mountains of Colorado!!! Such a beautiful place in the summer. I keep saying I want to summer there when I get old. (Not sure if this Texas girl could handle the winters there full time:) 

Joyful

This verse has been so good for me through so many of life's ups and downs. It is amazing what clinging to hope can do for you in the tough times. 

Another photo from the Lewis and Clark trail of the Columbia River Gorge. Love the beauty found in our great country!

Gifts

I start my day each day by thanking God for specific blessings in my life. Will you join me? What a great way to start the day!

Trust

I have had so many opportunities to grow my trust in the Lord lately! I have decided to post a verse of encouragement each day this week. I hope you will join me in the journey. If you love it, please let me know and I will continue:)

This photo was taken at Multnomah Falls and has become one of my favorites. It was such a fun trip taking the boys to the mountains of Oregon on the Lewis and Clark trail just after studying it. 

My birthday verse

I chose this verse to celebrate my birthday. It has been a favorite of mine for a long time and I would love for it to be a theme for my next year. 

New Year's word

Do you have a word for the New Year? I had never even heard of the idea of having a theme word for the year until the end of 2014 was nearing. It had been the most difficult year in my life and I was glad to see it go, although not really looking forward to the new year either.

I felt the Lord placing the word “hope” on my heart. It was popping up everywhere and was just what I needed. Hope that God was in control and that things truly would get better. So that became my theme word for 2015. As I pressed into God as the only source of my hope, He came through. Hope showed up everywhere, all year long. I found it in so many verses I was reading in the Bible, in songs, and in inspirational sayings. Hope was the common thread woven throughout the entire year. I truly learned over the course of the year how to place my hope in God and not people or circumstances, both of which had been sorely disappointing. Over the course of the year, God had done amazing things in me and had truly restored my hope for the future. I was excited about 2016 and the prospect of a new “word of the year.”

As 2016 neared, I prayerfully considered a new word for the new year. However, two kept coming up and I found it too hard to choose. So I had both “future” and “grace” for the next year. Once again, I was amazed at how often they came up and how God has woven both of them so beautifully together throughout the year. I sat down the other day to write down all of the milestones of 2016 and I couldn’t believe it! I never dreamed so much could happen in just one year and sometimes in the course of one month. I love how God brought so many beautiful surprises into my life this past year. It has me truly excited for the future because I know and have seen that He will do abundantly more than I could ever ask or imagine.

So for the past few weeks, I have been praying about my new word for 2017. I can’t believe it is already here!!! I have my new word and am eagerly anticipating the new year and seeing how it unfolds. If you haven’t ever had a theme word for the year, I encourage you to consider it. It has been a blessing to me! I look forward to sharing my word for 2017 with you in just twelve short months.