Isaiah 43:1-2  But now, this is what the Lord says- He Who created you, O Jacob, He Who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Read Isaiah 43. A love letter to His people.
             
It seems recently, that there is an increasing attack on God’s people. The enemy of our souls is trying to separate us from the Savior of our souls. God, however, has promised that nothing can separate us from His love. We can trust that He will stand by His word. He cannot lie. We can rest assured that what He has promised, He will fulfill.
             
When we walk through the flood waters of trials and struggle against the river of constant stress, we can rest on the fact that He, the God Who loves us, has our back. While we may sometimes wonder why things happen and can’t always see our way ahead, we know that our Lord and Savior has already set our path straight. He has a plan in place for us. That plan is set on an eternal time frame and not our time frame. We see things from a human point of view. It is rarely easy to see where we are going, and very difficult to develop the patience to wait on the Lord.
             
We can trust that the Lord is with us in the refining fires. While He is making us as pure gold, and while He is allowing the dross to be burned away, He stands beside us. He is with us when He allows the pruning in our lives. He desires us to bear a higher quality fruit and we can only do that if we allow Him to trim away the excess limbs and the dead branches in our lives.

There is nothing easy about living the life of service to the Redeemer and Lover of our souls. Jesus walked a lonely and difficult path in obedience to His Father. He did not have it easy but He felt we were worth the price He had to pay. Isaiah 43:4 tells us that we are precious and honored in His sight and that He loves us. He, God, paid a high price for us so that He could give us an eternity of beauty and joy. While serving the Lord is never easy, His love and wisdom and guidance can make it easier. Remembering that we are His people and that He calls us by name shows how much He loves us. He knows the number of hairs on our head and the thoughts and dreams in our hearts. He is ours and we are His. He loves us.

Psalm 19:1-4a The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
             
Whether you prefer the brilliance of the sunrise or the glorious colors of the sunset, there is no doubt that God has blessed us with His gift of beauty. The sun rises above the horizon and shoots beams of light across the sky. The shadows of night are chased away by the brightness of dawn. When our nights bring on fears of the unknown, God has given us the greater light to calm those fears.
             
The night skies display the vastness of our universe. The stars slowly reveal themselves to us and display the diversity of God’s creation. In the depths of winter, the stars appear like crystal shards, glittering in the darkness. In the Artic, the northern lights show forth waves of refracted light. Their undulating colors amaze the observers.
             
I have watched a tornado form and touch down. I have seen the explosion of light and sound in the midst of a storm. I have seen the soft, white clouds drift across a warm summer sky. I have watched the skies threaten with black clouds, only to see them disperse and once more reveal blue skies. God’s creation will always amaze and humble me. Whether He sends a soft rain to water the earth or a hard, driving rain to cleanse and wash clean the pavement, His handiwork is awe inspiring.
             
I don’t need to understand how it all works. I only know that none of the perfection that is displayed could have been an accident or a random event. The Lord, our God, formed it all by speaking it into being. He could have given us a bland and boring world but He chose to bless us with such a wide range of colors and textures. Whatever language we speak, we cannot deny the beauty and expanse of the heavens. The heavens declare the glory of God. We need to declare to Him how much we appreciate His gift of beauty to us.