Walk With me on Our Journey: Where do you go when you want to find solace, peace, and renewal? I go into my heart home, look to the hills and ocean. Smelling the sea air is incense for my soul!

Dear Family of Love,

This afternoon I took a spur of the moment jaunt up to the beach to take pictures and spend time being with Margie, Mom, Steve, and Eileen. Their ashes where scattered in the pacific ocean. It's nice to be able to visit them where there is great beauty. I felt at peace this afternoon and believe it or not I felt the presence of God and my loved ones. This was my Christmas or should I say our Christmas. This is afternoon I felt loved and whole again and my equilibrium restored. I remembered the words in the Psalm 95 or the Venite as it is sometimes called. The one verse with these words particularly stood out was this "The sea is his and he made it, and his hands prepared the dry land"

Venite

O come, let us sing unto the Lord; *
let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, *
and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth, *
and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his and he made it, *
and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God, *
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; *
let the whole earth stand in awe of him.
For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth, *
and with righteousness to judge the world
and the peoples with his truth.

It was a beautiful afternoon. We all need to find places where we can find solace and be energized. In the coming year I hope that you all will be able to identify such places and give us feed back from time to time. Where do you go to find solace and peace? Please place in the comment section and we will keep a list in a special blog. Here are a few of mine:

My heart filled with love, hope, joy,and peace (My inner being)
The beach as I look at the Pacific Ocean.
Walking
The Getty Center and The Getty Villa
The Performing Arts Center -San Luis Obispo
The Pacific Conservatory Theater
Solvang Festival Theater
Churches of any kind
The Wine Country Inn
California Missions
Big Cities (They really do)
Retreat Centers

God always wants us to find solace, peace ,and renewal, that can energize us for service in God's kingdom and on the journey we call life. A very necessary part of walking with him on his and our journey. Jesus and God took time for this all the time and in times of great peril and stress. Jesus knew that gardens and deserted places across the lake offered the best places to do this. Our challenge tonight is to pray and meditate on where we find these places and I do hope that your hearts will also be a part of this list. As I have said recently our hearts need to be mangers of hope, peace, joy, and love. We all need to find solace, peace, and renewal within ourselves. Yes, ourselves! Let us not gloss over the fact that "Peace begins with me'.
Let us take time to meditate and pray on these things using Mannheim Steamroller Fresh Aire 7 for our meditation music.

Gracious God and Holy Jesus you knew how important it was to find solace, peace, and renewal as you walked in the garden and went over to the other side of the lake to rest and pray. Show us these places and lead us to find solace, peace, and renewal.

God we pray this night for all of our family members who cannot find peace, solace, and renewal. We pray that they may find help and healing of their minds, hearts, and spirits.

God we pray that we ourselves may find peace in our heart homes so that we may feel your presence within our hearts and listen with your still small voice.

God we pray for all who are traveling they may have peaceful and safe journeys home.

God we pray that this world may be a place of peace, solace, and renewal and that all peoples of the earth may be united as one.

God we pray for Baby Sophia that she continues to make steady progress in healing.

God we pray for the loved ones of Asia Air and the family members who are awaiting word.

God we pray for all those who are afflicted with mental illness, depression, and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) may they receive help and find peace.

God we pray for our family members who are mourning any loss. May we step up and help them find peace and give them a soft place in which to fall.

God we pray for ourselves and on behalf of our family members who have asked us to pray for them remembering _______________.

God we pray these prayers in the name of Jesus your Only Son . Amen.

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Good Night Dear family of Love, May you find solace, peace, and renewal as you rest gentle in God's arms and feel God's loving presence enfolding you! I love you and Give thanks to God always for you this day and always!

Blessings, peace, and love to the brim, and overflowing!

Sara