Good and glorious Autumn morning to you, my sweet Siestas! Would you believe that it is actually under 112 degrees here in Houston? Everyone in the city is in such a great mood. Even at a four-way stop, drivers wave for you to go right ahead and turn in front of them. No one even tried to run me – the leading cause of road rage in America – off the road for my slow driving. The first few days of cool after a long, hot, humid summer in Houston are like Heaven on earth. All 3 million of us are so happy.
I’ve been on an excursion since I last talked to you. My man and I had planned a four-day getaway to our favorite place on the planet for this past weekend but the evening before our flight out, he had to cancel over a work issue. I was heartsick. My son-in-law Curtis felt so sorry for me that he told Amanda he wanted her to book a flight and join me. We couldn’t find available seats on Thursday so I went ahead and she joined me on Friday.
The Teton Mountains are my happy place. Years ago a group contacted the ministry and said that if I’d come and speak, they couldn’t provide an honorarium but they’d put me up in a modest condo for a week. I’d never been to Wyoming before and I asked a well-traveled friend about whether or not he thought I should go and he answered me with one question, “Are you out of your mind?” So I went. I had one of the strangest sensations of my life when I stepped off that plane for the first time. I felt the word “home.” I still can’t explain the feeling but I get it every time I go and those visits are now way more than I can count. I wasn’t raised in the mountains so it doesn’t make sense. Don’t get me wrong. I know what beautiful looks like. I was raised in the rolling hills of Arkansas in a home perched amid the piny woods. My older sister and little brother and I practically lived in a tree house built between two tall pines by our Dad and our Papaw. When our feet touched the ground, we shaped rooms out of pine needles in our imaginary house. We never played in doors in those days. Such good memories of bag swings and beetles. I love my home State. But for some reason I have the soul of a mountain girl.
So do my daughters. As my plane began its final descent into Jackson Hole on Thursday afternoon, I – a consummate rule-keeper – longed so much for Amanda and Melissa to be with me and feel the thrill that I – yes, I – slipped out my I-phone and clicked a picture (on airplane mode) from my window seat. It was this:
Michelle had made my flight and rental car arrangements. I’m not much of a car person and usually don’t know one make from another but it was so much fun to walk out to the designated spot down the Avis aisle and discover a cobalt blue mini hummer. I didn’t get a picture of it but AJ did later in our trip. Maybe she’ll insert it here later.
I drove straight to Albertsons and got a few necessities then drove out to Teton Village and checked into a hotel. Things can be really fancy out there and art work is a pretty big deal. For some reason, though, this piece of fine art in our hotel lobby amused Amanda and me. Sorry it’s not centered better. I was getting ugly looks while taking it.
Hmmmm. A fine piece indeed.
You don’t go to the Tetons to sit in your room so as soon as I dropped my stuff off, I headed straight into Teton Park. God was so sweet to me. I was sad that our plans to spend a long weekend in the mountains together (Keith and I) had not worked out but God went out of His way to tell me He was there. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that within 20 minutes I’d seen a juvenile bear, a female moose, and several bull elk. I tried to get pictures with my cell phone but it was nearly dark and, needless to say, I couldn’t get close enough to get them to say “Cheese!”
The next morning I headed to my favorite bagel place in the area. It’s in Wilson, Wyoming and they make their bagels and stir up the cream cheese right there on the premises. They scorn toasters and hang a hand written sign on a chalkboard that says “We don’t toast our bagels. We serve them (all caps like this) FRESH.” OK then. I won’t have mine toasted. I love to get a Honey Sunflower bagel with Honey Walnut cream cheese and sit out at one of the picnic tables in the back to eat it. I took this from that spot:
I kept an eye on my watch while I ate my bagel and drank my dark roast and gave myself plenty of time to head to the airport to pick up Amanda around noon. I was the kind of happy to see her that you are when you haven’t seen your loved one for a year. It had been one day. We were hungry so we headed into town to eat at one of our favorite little restaurants. It’s called “Sweetwater” and the cranberry chicken salad sandwich on toasted raisin bread could almost give you a lump in your throat. We paid out then walked the square but weren’t really in shopping moods. The woods were calling. But, we did see these in one store and reflected on them for quite some time. There are times when the only word that comes to you is “Why?” The hand model is AJ.
We dropped Amanda’s stuff off at the hotel and headed straight to Jenny Lake. I cannot count the times I’ve hiked around that gorgeous place, often alone and other times with Amanda and Melissa (Keith is not quite as taken with hiking as we are. Maybe because I can out-last him in the altitude. He’s very athletic but I have him there. No brag. Just fact). Melissa was a dizzy mixture of happy and sad while her sister and I were in the Tetons. She’s wanted to join us so badly but couldn’t make the schedule work. She kept texting us with messages like, “Send me a pic!” with tandem feelings like, “No, don’t! Yes, do!” These spots on the hike do NOT do justice to the scene but I’ll show them to you if you’ll magnify them in your imaginations by about 100 times.
Yes, that is the Grand. She’s far more powerful in person.
It is already autumn in the Tetons.
The next day we hiked again a much longer way and had the greatest time. We love to eat at Signal Mountain Lodge after a good hike and watch the sun go down over Jackson Lake. I don’t have a picture of it because I’ve taken a thousand of them over the years but imagine it lovely. It’s main attraction is Mount Moran. On our last evening after dinner, Amanda and I decided to take a little stroll around Teton Village and see some of the houses that had been built since our last visit. We got to see a house we’d rented for Thanksgiving several years in a row way back when and also stood in front of the house where “When Godly People Do Ungodly Things” was taped. It brought back so many memories. Some good. Some painful. It’s just painful material. While we were walking (in a housing development no less) we somehow got into some mud. Amanda kind of freaked out and bolted from her shoes lest she perish in Teton quick sand. Don’t scorn her for not wearing boots at this point. We were taking a stroll through a neighborhood. Not climbing the Grand.
This is her in the aftermath before I braved the quicksand and retrieved her shoes. She looks like she did when she was about five years old in this picture.
While we were on that very walk with no expectations but to gaze upon dreamy mountain cabins, God had delights for us.
Foxes. And, yes, that close to us. It was getting really dark when I took this one and I had to enlarge it and crop it for you to get the idea. It’s not really post worthy but I might as well show it to you. They were just chillin’ at this point.
It was not the trip I had planned but it was a wonderful trip nonetheless. God was so gracious to us and the weather was spectacular, the sights restoring to our city souls. Thank you for taking a stroll back through it with us.
So, that’s my happy place. What about yours?
Sounds absolutely marvelous Beth! I can add it to the list of places I’d love to go some day.
Thank you for sharing your heart with all of us.
I really enjoy this site and the community of sisters in Christ.
Have a great day Siestas!
Janie, I love your profile picture!! I am a total cat lover…don’t tell Beth 🙂
Okay Donna, it’ll be our secret! 🙂
Welcome back, Beth, and thank you for sharing your happy place! My happy place is any getaway I can have with my husband and three sons. Last summer we hiked Sandia Peak, and it was beautiful! Although my mommy control issues made me dress the boys in red T-shirts so they would be easy to spot if they wandered off the trail, and my heartrate tripled every time they leaned over a cliff to get a better view. Someday I’m going to learn how to truly relax! 🙂
What airport do you use to get there? It’s remote but I’ve always heard such wonderful things! It’s one of my top 10 places, in the U.S., that I’d love to visit.
Oh Beth!! I KNOW why the Tetons are your happy place. I love, love, love the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone & Jackson Hole. It has been a few years since we were there, but it still is one of my favorite places, along with Ouray, Colorado. There is nothing more beautiful (besides the Tetons) than San Juan Mountains around Durango, Silverton & Ouray. I am also a mountain girl through & through. I was raised in central West Texas so why do I love the mountains? I guess because we didn’t have any…LOL. Give me big, huge, beautiful, awesome mountains any day. Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. Hmmm…wonder if I can interest my husband in a road trip?? Love you dearly, sweet Beth.
My happy place is Key West, Florida, with my hubby. I love the tropical/Bahamas feel of the city. It has become a very spiritual place for me. Last visit I found this beautiful little sanctuary at a church. It’s open 24/7, so I went and prayed in the morning before breakfast.
Our second trip there, we were at the outdoor grotto at St. Mary’s by the Sea Catholic Church. I had the overwhelming urge to light a candle. I did it but didn’t know why. When we got home, I found out my sweet cousin had passed away that same day I lit the candle. Chills…
We are making plans to go again in February. Just love it there!!
Mary Ann, Woodbury, MN
You’ve sold me on heading out to Wyoming! I love travel…especially to places I haven’t yet been.
This may be a simple “happy place”, but it’s mine nonetheless and have had a lot of trials to get it to be just that. I love being with my little family…wherever we are altogether, is my happy place. I’m happily married and have two sons. But whenever I knew someone hurting or needing something, I was there for them. My DH always supported me on this, but it was something that made me feel guilty. It’s like the verse, where you give and give, but don’t take care of your family first and that being worse than an unbeliever? That was me. I’m so blessed! Thankful to have had the Lord’s help in opening my eyes to the needs of my own family more than just others.
I actually have 2. The first is Estes Park, CO. Many childhood memories of going there on the weekends, memories of family outtings with my Dad who is with the Lord now, and now I am making new memories there with my own kids. The beauty of that place is a constant reminder of what the Lord created and how powerful He is. My other place is DisneyWorld. I absolutely love going there and would go every 3 months if I could.
Susie
I was debating adding a comment and when I saw the words Estes Park I knew I needed to connect. I grew up in Alabama and live in Georgia, but I really think I am suppose to live in EP! I visited there in college and then my husband of 30 years and our 21 year old daughter spent a week there last October. The way Beth described her feeling about Wyoming is exactly how I feel about Estes Park. Would really consider moving there if the rest of my family and friends would come, as well! I am in love with Kind Coffee! So, how blessed you are to have spent so much time there growing up and now share it with your family.
We were there during the elk “rut” and were constantly pulling off to take just one more picture of them! They really make themselves at home in the middle of town and eating the flowers out of the hanging basket outside the front door of our cabin! What fantastic creatures.
Hope to go back one day. Until then, we pull out the pics and video every couple of months to remind ourselves that such a great place is just waiting on us.
My Happy Place in Cashiers, North Carolina. I was raised in North East Florida by the beach & Memphis, Tennessee; not themountains. But Cashiers is my favorite place to be. We spend a week at Thanksgiving there every year for the last 21 years. I love it there, the minute we start driving up those curvy mountain roads & the air gets that wonderful chill. You look out over the side of the mountains & see the fog lifting……. hhhhhh just breath taking! God’s glory! Home.
WG
I am the youngest of four children and the only girl. As a senior in college, I studied abroad in England and my mother met me in Ireland for my semester break. Her dream was always to go to Ireland with each of her children. I was the second she got to live out that dream with, and the trip was idyllic. My happy place (and my mom’s) is Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. We planned to spend the first 2 days of our trip there, and ended up staying all 8 days. We saw numerous rainbows every single day, countless shooting stars every single night, and spent our days hiking through breathtaking scenery to sit, dance, and twirl atop the cliffs. Unexpectd, but short lived, rainstorms were the norm and there is a photo my mom and I have of us huddled under the rocks of an ancient Celtic fortress, soaked through, and grinning with pure joy. It’s been 5 years since that trip, and I’m now a newlywed living 1500 miles away from my mom, but I know we’ll be back to our place. After decades outnumbered by my 3 big brothers and my dad, having those 8 days to just be women soaking in God’s glorious creation was an indescribable blessing. My mom and I hope to go back together, but until we do, I have that picture of us hanging next to my closet and she has the same one framed in her bedroom as a constant reminder of the most blissful week either of us has ever experienced.
My happy place is the “back porch” of The Broadmoor resort, sitting next to a fire, drinking one of their can’t be beat cafe mochas looking at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs. The first time that my family went there, I was like you, it felt like home. I love all of the Rocky Mountains but this spot is my favorite. Could it be that it’s the best of both worlds – at a 5 star resort with God’s magnificent creation all around?
I can see why that is your happy place! It is simply beautiful! Its good to get away for a bit and visit places that make us happy!! 🙂
Blessings,
Krista
two words: THE BEACH. Not a crowded one. One with a few people walking or running and the sun either setting or rising. I love the in and out of the waves crashing. It’s so massive, so constant, so calming………..it reminds me of God 🙂
OH……..and I love that you are a rule follower……….did it make you nervous to take that picture on the plane hahaha 🙂
I enjoy traveling to different places. I would like to visit all 50 states and see the various things they have to offer. When I make it to Wyoming I know where I would like to stop.I am also happy in libraries and museums to see what people have done or discovered.
I have never been to the Tetons but it is now on my “must do” list! Your picture of the shoe, however, reminds me of a game my best friend, Shannon, and I play every time we go to DSW (which coincidentally is one of my happy places! I’m convinced there will be one in Heaven!). We love to go to the Clearance section and try to find the ugliest shoe. We also make up funky names for them that echo the sentiment. At least we entertain ourselves!
My happy place is Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. It is amazing!
Robin =)
Hilarious! I’ll try that next time.
What a wonderful happy place you have discovered. Thank you so much for sharing the photos and your tales of adventure.
My happy place is actually quite close to home. I love to lose myself on the deck watching the bluebirds eat from their feeder about 10 feet away and take care of each other and their young’uns.
Blessings to all of you at LPM!
Laurie
Thanks so much for sharing Beth! I’ve never been to Jackson Hole but talk frequently about wanting to go with my husband. Isn’t it amazing what we’ve been blessed with here in the good ‘ole USA….no passports required!! I’m going to start planning a trip right now!
Blessings to you!
I guess there are a few spots that don’t really go together that make up my happy place. Up on the hill behind my house, there is a small pond (an ex-large mud-hole) On one side of it, there is a tree that bends kind of low to the ground. It looks like something from “The Secret Garden.” I feel like I could just sit there for hours on end drinking it all in.
Then, there is a state park about 30 minutes away from me. We lease a farm pretty close to there. When I drive by the entrance to the park to get to the farm, my heart longs to go inside. There are some gorgeous places within the park, but there is this one spot that is always about 50 degrees. No matter how hot it is outside or how cold.
And, then there is Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I love to visit there. We are actually going there on vacation in about a week. I love Cades Cove. There are several old buildings within a loop (that I think is 7 miles, but I’m not positive.) Among those are a Primitive Baptist church, which is the type my husband was raised in, a Methodist church, and a Missionary Baptist church (which is what we attend now.) Although no one we know personally went to these churches, they are our heritage. You can imagine the services that went on there. The church picnics and the singing and baptizing in the nearest creek. I feel like I have touched a piece of my Christian heritage when visiting there.
My happy place is the Tetons as well. My husband and I went camping there for our honeymoon, we visited Yellowstone for a few days then spent the rest of our time in the Tetons. I love Jenny Lake, but my favorite spot there is the little church in the middle of a pasture. It is GLORIOUS! I took a picture of the Cross in the window with the Tetons in the backround, Amazing!
I am an avid horse lover and most people would envy me for living in rural America and being able to raise my favorite animals- the American Morgan horse. If you can not read your Bible at a given time you have only to gaze upon God’s handiwork to see his thumbprint on everything. One of my favorite places is riding in the Killdeer Mts in ND. No, they are not mountians like the Tetons but rugged Badlands. In ND the Badlands have a fiery red deposit of scoria. A very hard rock like deposit that crumbles like gravel but the splashes of it mixed with the gray clays and a mixture of Aspen and Poplar trees and different shrubs such as junipers and cedar make the rides a hodge podge of delights for the eye. We will be rounding a steep ledge on horse back with a 500 ft drop to the bottom of a canyon and see a panoramic view of a forested hillside. A friend and I once sang the hymn “This is My Father’s World as we rode along. It is like playing cowboy as an adult after watching Roy Rogers many years as a kid wishing I could ride in the rocks and hills like this. Praise God He has given me the privelege to do this. I have had a couple of terrifyng falls on horse back this past year but they have been an equipment problem and not a horse related thing. I am getting over the fear of getting hurt now again and have been told by a renowned clinician that I need to get back in shape. Years of a stress filled,sit down job have left me grossly out of shape with weak muscles. My Dr told me the same thing afew days go and what did I do last eve? We started your first part of Daniel the study of integrety and I made a committment at the end of the lesson to get in shape again. It will be interesting to see how the end turns out. I live in an over indulgent society alright and my over indulgence is baking up a storm. I always like to have stuff around for my hard working farmer and the boys when they come in from working cattle or field work. Do you know how far I have to walk to burn off one piece of apple pie???? Hugs from the Heartland, Betty Marschner
Thank you so much for sharing! I am in the middle of one crazy week and it was nice to just take a moment and “go somewhere else”. I dear sweet lady that I just met was in Jackson Hole this past weekend. Before she left I told her that it is one place that I would LOVE to visit.
I dreamt about you last night Beth. I am on week four of Breaking Free (have done it before and so this is just a “refresher” course but still soooo good!) and had done my homework right before bed. I guess you stuck with me throughout the night as well. LOL
Much love Siesta Mama!
Kimberly
My “happy place” is Sunshine, NC, where my MawMaw lives. She lives on the side of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Sooo many childhood memories are wrapped up in her home and the surrounding countryside. There’s even a smell – the most comforting, familiar smell. Each time I turn down her driveway (which is not often enough) it’s almost like I enter another world. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to reflect on that today.
This Hoosier girl’s happy place is Summit County, CO. There is a house in Frisco w/ a stream in the back. Somehow the air feels crisper, I’m the person who I’m supposed to be, and I feel closer to God. Crazy I know, must be the altitude.
How refreshing to go to your blog and feel the beauty of a place I know all to well. I was born and raised in Wyoming. Not Jackson of course but Jackson was always the “place” to go. It is full of marvel and beauty. Thanks for sharing your experience it has rejuvinated my soul.
Someday soon when you come to Calgary Alberta Canada to speak you will have to visit Banff…it too is much like Jackson…and there is wildlife and a hiking trail I am sure you could find excitement on!!! You can hike up the mountain to the top, read about the weather station and hike down the back side to end up at the Cave and Basin hot springs (this is one of many wonderful excursions)!!!
Glad you and Amanda had a wonderful time:)
my in-laws named their home “Sweetwater”. You see, our last name is Sweet and my father-in-law’s grandfather lived on a piece of land he called “Sweet Acres”. 🙂 Fun!
My happy places are anywhere on a ferry in Puget Sound, and on the lanai at the LaniKai condos in Kapa’a, Kauai. But we also love the Tetons and have been once–definitely in our top ten vacations!
Laurie
Love, love, love your stuff. Just finished Esther this morning at my home before work. It was a life-changing study for me. I loved your “Red Book”… and knowing that I and most women in the world are alike, just does something for my heart and soul. I hope that you are well rested and ready to carry on. My husband and I will have to go to the Grand Tetons someday! Hugs and love.
I have the exact same happy place. I have been the last 3 summers with my whole family and I absolutely LOVE it. I know all the places you mention and we actually stay in one of those houses around Teton Village. LOVE it LOVE it Love it.
My “happy place” is Glorieta, New Mexico. I have always said that is where God lives and He is kind enough to come visit us in all the other places!!! I can’t describe what it is other than to say, I have never been there that God did NOT show up in a big way in my life. My friends and I talk about retiring and going there to serve coffee to people or drive the golf cart!
I live in a rural area. We have an acre of land that backs up to the woods and we have a waterfall and pond in our back yard. I love to sit on the glider next to the pond and just “be”. There’s nothing that compares to quiet time spent with the Lord in the beauty of His creation – especially when hearing the water flowing down the rocks and the birds chirping in the background.
Looks gorgeous there! I’ve not been able to witness that magnificent creation. I was in Texas this past weekend and couldn’t believe how cool the weather was. It was my first time to be in the Lonestar state. I was a bit disappointed to not see the true weather. I stayed in Dallas seeking medical help for my daughter and then we connected through Houston. I texted my husband and said I was stopping by Beth Moore’s house for dinner. Love you ladies.
ps. my happy place is the beach. I am in awe when I stand and stare at the beach.
Never been to the Tetons, but hope to some day. Looks beautiful.
My place is walking along a beautiful beach in the early morning hours, just after sunrise. I watch sunrise from the hotel room and make sure there are at least 2 or 3 people on the beach and then take off walking for an hour or two. Ahhh…wish I was there now.
Greetings Beth, Keith, Melissa & Amanda, words cannot do justice to how I feel at this point. I have been shredded by followers of CHRIST in recent days, but if it harelips satan, the world & those folks, I am gonna serve the LORD with gladness, no matter what! Thank you so much for the Breaking Free Study. I am so there, if you know what I mean. Experienced SOZO, inner healing & PAPA has been so amazing to me, regardless.People have been apologizing & asking me for forgiveness, it’s so amazing!!! The rest I leave to HIM to untangle. So enjoyed your blog & pics about Jackson Hole, etc. My spiritual Mom & 2 girlfriends from High School visited Jackson Hole & so enjoyed it.Mimi/Jerri is 72 yrs. I plan on taking my family @ some point. There’s no way, for we are of humble means, BUT GOD will provide, for I’m trusting HIM for the ways & means of making our trip possible.GOD uses you to teach me so much about HIM, HIS love, grace & mercy, & I totally get it & understand. That is huge!!!Thank you for being obedient & sharing with us out here.Behind every successful woman, is a proud husband & surprised Mother in law.I love you so much!!! Love in CHRIST, Becki Armstrong-Vinyard Ps 343:3
Thank you so much for sharing this – it is one of my very favorite spots on this earth too. We have not been able to visit since 2003, but hope to someday make another trip. Your descriptions were so beautiful, I could picture each place and in my mind soaked in the beauty. We would get up before sunrise each day – and were rewarded in seeing incredible wild life moving about. Reading your blog today brought back some wonderful memories … thank you Beth.
My happy place is the beach at Rockport, TX. My boys and I have gone there the last two years and had the best time. I just love the ocean…the sand, the wind, the sound of the waves crashing, the birds calling, the water…all of it. Best of all though was watching my kids play together nicely for hours while they built a huge sandcastle country. I think that will be a forever kind of memory for them.
I love walking along a wooded trail. I prefer to be in the mountains with some good views along the way, but I’m pretty happy with any quiet trail. I’m equally content with the Texas night sky in the dead of winter. Or for that matter, boating on a lake or walking in the middle of one of my dad’s cotton fields.
This isn’t one of those regularly visited happy places… but if any of you ever make it to Argentina or Brazil, make every effort to visit Iguazu Falls. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been on earth. Even the pictures you’ll find when googling it aren’t 1/10000000000th as beautiful as it is in real life.
Had to laugh because my daughter had just told me, after our language arts lesson today-that happy was not a place. I had facetiously listed happy under the “place” category of nouns. I said-“what about your happy place?” then you post yours! I showed her your post title of course. You used one of our vocab words too “aftermath”. Logophiliacs to be sure. My happy place is Barnes & Noble with a coffee taller than it should be. Now if I could just get this baby to take a bottle…maybe I could get there soon!!! Grand Tetons will have to wait.
The first time I stepped on a white sand beach on the Gulf Coast I felt at home. I’m from the midwest, far from a beach, and sometimes feel misplaced. Learning to be happy where the Lord put me…life is much better that way.
Mrs.Beth,
I am finally able to follow the blog again after several crazy months. I am thrilled to hear that your family is doing wonderful:) I have the most wonderful, exciting thing to tell you. For some background, I read your book when it first came out in February and then again over the summer. Once I got home from the Philippines this summer I had an urge to read it for the third time. I have never been so insecure in the fact of “bigger” issues but there was still some under the surface things that God was dealing with me. I got off work at 1:00 yesturday and didn’t have time to go home for lunch and I had to be somewhere at 1:45. I decided I would grab a bite to eat and get it to go and sit in my car to eat. Then the thought hit me, “why in the world would you sit in the car (in florida) in the hot sun and eat when you could go into the nice air condition cafe and sit down and eat”? I continued to think about the fact that I have never done that by myself before (i.e. lunch, dinner, coffee) nothing. I started to see that it was because of my insecurity of being seen as one with no friends. It was so ridiculous I ended up getting mad at myself. So I got out of my car, walked into that cafe, ordered my lunch, and ate it. Yep, all by myself with no one at the table with me! I have overcome that insecurity in my life and I was so tickled that I wanted to pick up the phone and tell you how stinking excited and thankful I was. To make my lunch more exciting God put some very interesting characters in my ear range and in between talking to God and enjoying my lunch I got some wonderful laughs. I will be doing this more often. If I choose to read your book a fourth time there is NO telling what will happen next. I pray you have a wonderful day and rest of the week.
Thanks a million for your obedience to Christ’s calling on your life.
Love,
Courtney
Our happy place is our home, in the woods, in the dunes of Indiana. I can feel myself relax the closer to the house we get.
We are fortunate in that this little place of heaven is just 60 minutes door-to-door, so we go there as often as we can. Being in the woods means no formal lawn or landscaping, just God flowers. Others call them weeds, but I call them God flowers.
We are blessed to be able to share this place with family and friends.
How great of our Lord to give us so many places to enjoy Him and His creation!
Living in the heart of Pennsylvania, I found my happy place on the West Coast, Monterey, California to be exact. I travel there with my husband when he goes there on business. On so many trips, we have taken breath-taking walks on the Bay, listened to the surf and had intimate times of conversation and fellowship. Riding a bike from Monterey to Carmel and back is so relaxing. I love doing it by myself so I can stop anywhere I see fit and worship the Maker of the roaring ocean. I am getting homesick for it as I write!
Thanks for sharing, Everyone.
Lisa
Interlocken Switzerland. It sounds like I am showing off, but as a newlywed, dual military couple. We visited 14 countries in Europe with a two year old on our backs and Interlocken was pure paradise. We plan to take the kids back next summer. From a glacier you can walk in, to the “two lakes” that are a breathtaking emerald green–awesome. We stayed in a hotel at the base of the Eiger and skydivers landed in our “backyard”. Amazing experience.
Sounds absolutely delightful. I’m glad you were still able to get away and Amanda was able to join you. Those are such special times too when we are able to have adventures with our children. Praying it was as restful for you both as it sounds but that you are also able to get away with your man soon!
I’m in my special place right now as I’m typing this…Gulf Shores, AL, overlooking the beautiful waves lapping the beach! Tar balls didn’t deter us from our annual pilgrimage and God has given us more dolphins than we’ve ever seen before frolicking in the surf, sting rays up close and personal and even a shark! It never ceases to amaze me….the same huge waves that roll during the storms (like Sunday night) are the same type that Jesus commanded “be still” and they were..instantly. God is so good. And here especially, I feel His presence and love in a special way every day. We’ll head home Saturday to start “Breaking Free” Sunday night. Can’t wait! Love you Siesta “Momma” Beth!
Have you been to the Adirondacks? In addition to the mountains there are tons of lakes and rivers. It is the most beautiful place I have been. When we first came here it said home to us and now it is home. We love it! Come visit.
My happy place is a place called Cave Point in Wisconsin that is pretty much a beach. It is quiet, and I love hearing the waves hit the rocks!
Hannah. 12 yrs.
Thanks so much for sharing Beth! I love it when you post the pics!
I just want to praise the LORD again today for my youngest son coming back to the LORD a little over a year ago. Just a few weeks ago we found out, through him sharing his testimony by video at our church, that at one point he had come very close to committing suicide . He had drank ALOT of alcohol and laid outside in the winter cold to die. However, he woke up and had a strong conviction to read his Bible! He could sense that God was drawing him back to HIM! From then on he consistently read his Bible everyday and a few months later returned to church. Now he has such a thirst and hunger not only to read and study but to TEACH! He absolutely loves it. He’s 24 years old and God has answered “exceedingly abundantly beyond all that I asked or even thought!” PRAISE HIM!!! PRAISE HIM!! Right now my happy place is just knowing my son has come back to the LORD and is humbly serving HIM!
If you love the Tetons, you’d also love Mammoth Lakes, California…and Yosemite, which is 15 miles from me. I’m also from the flatlands (Ohio), but fell in love with the Sierra the first time I visited…then moved across the country, just to live here!
My happy place is a small little community in georgia called cave springs…it was home to one of the first deaf schools in Ga and there is a bed and breakfast there and a little lake….not very big 🙂
Loved the story. My happy place is at the seaside. I grew up in Calgary and Denver (both with the mountains as a backdrop) but my heart is at the beach. I can just see, hear and feel God’s mighty power as I watch waves crash against a rocky shoreline or the gentle quiet waves along a soft, sandy beach. God is amazing and powerful and all around us, no matter where we are. Even as I walk through my own neighborhood I thank Him for the bunnies and squirrels that cross my pass. His creation is amazing.
Paris. And not the Texas version. There is the quintessence of all that is PRETTY–from the scrollwork on a gate to the way they wrap up pastries in little pink paper pyramids to the shopping bags!! I could go on, but I will spare you my rambling.
Also wanted to say, Miss Beth, that we are SOOOOO EXCITED for you to come on up to Autumn in New England this week!!! Even if it is not high-autumn, it has a humble beauty that I HOPE you get out into (and not just the conference center!!)
THANK YOU for trekking up here. (Those groovy boots you took the picture of should fit right in!)
My “happy place” is Los Angeles, California. I can’t quite explain it, but I love the mix of arts, entertainment, and the Pacific Ocean! The ocean does for me what the mountains do for you. Each of them boast the splendor and glory of our mighty Father!