I am back from Australia and have a whole week off. See?
That means I’ll take lots of walks in these country woods that I pined for while I was away. If we could walk these woods together, you and I, this is what we’d do:
We might first take one of these…
…since bright yellow flecks of smiling sun are blanketing every surface in sight. Negative people might call it pollen but let’s try to be positive. It makes it easier if you will simply agree to see sneezing as cathartic. Use it to get some stuff out of your system. Go ahead and yell out from the gutter of your soul while you sneeze and make yourself heard. Scare somebody. It will do you some good.
We’d then put on our snake boots. What basic black pumps are in the city, snake boots are in the country. A must, and you wear them with everything including shorts. Before we put them on, let’s have a quick tutorial on which snakes out here are poisonous:
This is a Coral Snake. A bad mama but she’s a pretty thing, isn’t she? Sometimes we find one curled up on our front porch, a fact that I find somewhat unsettling.
This is a Water Moccasin. That’s a bad dude right there and an ugly one at that. We’ll be most careful to watch for him when we’re near the creek.
While our black snakes are not poisonous, they tend to score high on the creepy meter. You sort of have to talk yourself out of a panic attack when you see one because they tend to be impressively large. They’re often right on the dirt road or up the side of an oak tree.
As a bonus for still agreeing to go on our walk, I’ll let you choose which pair of boots you want to wear and I’ll put on the other ones. The camos are most comfortable but let’s just say that no pair of fangs on earth is getting through that steel mesh on the other pair. Those are my rattlesnake boots for the cactus land in West Texas. You can breathe a sigh of relief that we do not have rattlers here in the country. So, which pair do you want?
The dogs have already spied us putting on our boots so they are yelping to high heaven at the iron gate in the back yard, begging to be set free. They will race down the path toward the creek like their tails are on fire but Queen Esther, my Border Collie, will come in a distant second to Geli (short for Angelina), Keith’s bird dog. She soars like a greyhound. They love the unabashed joy of the wild as long as they get to come home to the air conditioner, eat a fine supper peppered with people-food, and sleep on giant pillows. A few weeks ago I had them on a walk and nearly fainted dead-into-the-dirt when Geli ran through the brush back onto the path with a coyote right behind her. I’m not making this up. It’s almost like we live in the African bush surrounded by hyenas.
I yelled and waved my arms like a crazy woman. It might have been a good time for cursing which Keith has tried diligently to teach me to do but, as it was, the coyote sauntered off, probably out of embarrassment for me. I have yet to capture a good picture of Queen Esther and Geli romping the path so you’ll have to confine the image to your imagination. Sometimes, however, we have to wait to go outside until a rabbit finishes its breakfast. Why? Because Geli is also hungry for breakfast.
We’ll walk on down the path and talk about all sorts of things. These woods are good for that. Trees don’t tattle. If you tend to be bigger on manners than honesty, you’ll probably try to tell me it’s beautiful out here but that might be a stretch except to us. We chose not to manicure these acres so it’s mostly wild and bushy and viney right at eye level but if you’d lift your chin, you’d see oak and pine and sycamore limbs stretching out like everlasting arms over your head. This time of year, you’d also catch a tease of wild dogwoods peeking out like they don’t want anybody but you to know they’re there.
You’d have to come soon to catch this little glimpse of Texas Spring because they’ll disappear with the late April heat. We have a little meadow on our walk that sprouts a tiny patch of wild bluebonnets this time of year. Nobody but God planted these. Keith and I discover a few more every year and it delights us to no end.
If you’ll stay alert and wide-eyed, you might get to see a pileated woodpecker swoop overhead like I did yesterday, then you’ll hear all manner of hammering.
Think Woody.
We’d probably pass by Jackson and Annabeth’s swing set on our walk.
They love it so much and, when they’re on it, I’m usually somewhere on it with them. If you haven’t been on a swing set in a long time and swung as high as you could, you don’t know what you’re missing. It makes me laugh really hard which makes Annabeth laugh really hard.
While we’re on our walk, we might stroll past our neighbor’s fence and say hi to the donkey he got to keep company with his steer. Ever since this mischievous little guy wandered up in my yard a month or so ago, I’ve been in love with him. I’ve asked Keith to buy me one but he’s been as stubborn as a mule about it. He says the next thing we knew, that donkey would be up on the couch watching TV with us. This was taken the first time I met him.
Come on, now! Just try to tell me he’s not fabulous! We’d then pass around by Big Pops’ and Memmaw’s house and visit their chickens. Big Pops and Memmaw will be sorry that Annabeth and Jackson aren’t with us but the chickens won’t.
We’d circle back around to my house by way of this bridge. It is just over a gully but, when it rains a lot as it often does in Houston, it turns into a respectable creek. Jackson and his friends love to look for frogs and tadpoles under here. This bridge is my favorite man-made thing on our property. My man built it for me long before the house went up. I sit on it often just to think about things.
We’d then make our way back to my front porch, pull our boots off, and sit on this bench, just the two of us, and talk.
We’d say that the Lord is good and that His love endures forever.
And we’d be right.
I sure love you.
This is so precious. Sometimes I like nothing more than being outside, walking and talking and taking it all in. Its the best therapy around. 😉 Enjoy your week. Goodness gracious you deserve it.
Thanks for the stroll and talk, Beth! I’m sure glad we didn’t actually see any snakes…I hate snakes!
Your tangle of trees reminded me of my walks in the East Texas woods growing up and the wind in the pine trees. There I first met God but only knew Him as my Creator. It took until some time later for me to get to know His Son and the Holy Spirit! Having a Wildlife Biology degree, I didn’t mind the snake pictures. I’m probably alone in that. All I could think of was “red and yeller, kill a feller”!
He sure is good!
Wow that large snake looks a lot like our Black Mamba, which is aggressive and its bite one of the most lethal in the world. Thankfully I have only ever seen live mambas in captivity.
I’m also longing for a weekend away in the mountains away from our coastal humidity. Autumn (fall) is my favourite season.
Enjoy your well earned break.
I sure enjoyed our walk this morning, Beth. It’s been so rainy here in Eastern NC, I almost forgot what the sun looked like. Thank you for sharing and loving us so. Enjoy your vacation.
Blessings sister:)
Beth,
This looks so beautiful and very much like our place here in Virginia, right down to the bird dog (German Short-Haired Pointer). I loved the way you brought us along on your walk. I just wanted to tell you how much I love your studies. They’ve truly been an inspiration and have made me really think about the relationship side of things. (I’m very logical.)
My mom just called me (she will be 80 this summer) and asked if I could recommend a study since she decided it’s time to really study the word. (She read through it twice, once when my father died.) Praise the Lord. I think I will pass the David study to her. It seems like a good place to start.
Thank you for all you do!
Nancy
What a lovely tour. I’m pooped! I miss the woods. We are at the beach right now. So glad you have returned safely from Australia. We love you, Bethie!
Beth
Thank you for your ministry. God has used it so much in my life. Please say a prayer for me that I will look and see God’s promiseland. I am trying to put something in my past to move ahead to what God has for me in the future. I know He will take me there but the daily getting there and the leaving are challenging :$ Thank you
Hey Beth,
I’m a brand new “Tweeter”. You and a few others are my church until I find one. Just wanted you to know how much I appreciate your being real. I love you and thank God for you.
Elaine
Mercy. I nearly cried looking at the pictures and even remotely entertaining the thought! Thanks for giving us a glimpse and letting us dream a bit. You’re my friend. We’ve done a lot of life together in the Word whether you know it or not. And yes, we’ve tasted and seen that the Lord, He is indeed very good!
Blessings,
Dori
This is great, Beth!! I would really like to go on that walk with you. Thank you very much for sharing. I would choose the boots on the right. The pictures are so inviting. 🙂 It would be a much needed reprieve and fun to visit with you. God continue to bless you richly!
Because of Jesus,
Cindy
Dear Mama Beth-
Sure loved reading this post, it was exactly what this mother of three who is fighting for her life against a disease that threatens my life. God is so good and when you have been in fighting a hard battle for years you get tired and weary.
It’s just exactly what this daughter of yours needed today. Something nice and refreshing from mama Beth who has poured into my life for 9 years.
It’s so good to hear from you on this blog again.
You have been missed!!
The questions I would ask you as I imagine sitting down over coffee or going on a walk.
I pray God raises up more woman like you who can minister and love in woman my age who are in the thick if life trying to raise a family and fight the good fight.
I thank God for you and your ministry. Keep telling your story and keep it real Beth.
We young moms need transparency and a good friend to turn too.
All my thanks and love-
Naomi
Oh Sweet Beth,
A walk through your woods would be divine! I’m so sick and tired of winter! But on the way out to work my little guy, who is 2 1/2, said Mom! All the snow is gone! And indeed it is…the fields are a barren brown or black right now, but how joyous it is that the snow is gone! I rejoiced and he was sad! 🙂 Thank you for sharing with us so, these are my very favorite posts, a glimpse into your haven! I love it!
Blessings,
Andrea
Beth, Glad to have you back in the States.. and so glad you have time off to rest.. I so enjoyed the walk it was awesome I went pretty fast on the walk and going to go back and do it again slow when I’m not rushed… Thanks so much for sharing..
Love you and your faith and love for our Jesus….
Pam
I love the woods (mountains too). Loved walking with you Beth. What a special time. I was actually walking a trail in the woods with Holy Spirit right before I read your blog. Saw 4 deer, 2 hawks, 1 pileated woodpecker and lots of little birds. No snakes. Thanks for sharing your walk and letting us into your private place! So blessed!
Beth, I love a good walk in the woods. As, I read your post, I literally felt like I was walking along with you. Thank you.
Well, since you are on vacation, I’ll run inside and make us a pot of coffee and we can set a spell on that bench! Thanks for sharing!
I was just making dinner and in a rush, and this calmed me right down. *smile and big breathe. Thanks.
Thank you so much for inviting us to share in your life. Glory to God for your teaching gift. It inspired me to search and study His Word when I was parched for His companionship and guidance years ago. I am a student at heart and appreciate how you have taught me to study. Love your woods! Amazing things happen when we walk in God’s creation.
Good morning from North Carolina! Just began my day with your blog and, honestly, feel like we just had the most wonderful time together.
It made me cry, though, because I so long for friendship like this – sweet, transparent, kind fellowship. You know – the kind that feels like
you’re walking together – holding spiritual hands – just in case one of you should stumble.
I’ve been a siesta for a very long time – so blessed by studies, videos, and conferences through the years. Your ministry has been significant
to me – at the ground level – right here in my heart.
Sending much love and gratitude and best blessings for your vacation week.
I’ll meet you on the porch some day –
Enjoyed the walk with you, Miss Beth. Everything except for the snakes…I can not abide snakes!
I am at home in Little Rock, AR. I loved going on your walk with you. My walk this afternoon will be through the hilly treed neighborhoods around our home in the beautiful sunny 68 degree weather. I see some hawks but no snakes to this point. Thanks you, Lord.
I’m a rocky mountain girl forced to live in the Nevada desert (Las Vegas)because of my darling husbands job. I have lived here for six years and have discovered spectacular sunsets, the biggest full moons, the fastest hummingbirds, lovely, lovely woodpeckers and interesting coyotes. I could go on and on especially about the surrounding hills and mountains. I now see the deserts secret beauty. God is good!
This was lovely. I read it right after coming home from a hike. If you had been w/ us we would have taken you up Mount Pisgah, right out my back door. No worry about snakes here, so we would just wear comfy shoes, boots today, because it has been raining like cats & dogs. We would squeeze a conversation in over heavy breathing, we are doing a decent elevation gain. We would take a couple of rest stops and & have a nice visit at the top. We would get down just before the next rain shower and head for home, sit down w/ a nice cup of coffee, check out your blog and then spend some time w/ the Lord. Wow that was great.
So glad you get some time off! Serving and traveling are a blast, but there’s a reason God made the Sabbath~whichever day we choose to observe it 🙂 I’m glad you didn’t outright in its our husbands along-mine would feel bad having to decline for fear of meeting up with any one of those snakes! Our God is good and His faithfulness sure does endure forever!!!
Love,
Audrey
I loved our walk together. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. God is good.
I love to walk in the woods. BUT my woods do not have snakes. They scare me to dead. I do not think I could walk in your woods.
Beth,
Hmmm.. Loved the sounds, sights and smells as we strolled along together! I live in the Davy Crockett National Forest, so am privileged to have many of the things you experience. However, our dogs (gratefully) keep the snakes and coyotes at bay. :o) When I saw the pic of the Coral Snake, I remembered a phrase we taught our little guys in Royal Rangers many years ago: Red and Black – friend of Jack; Red and Yellow – kill the fellow!
Love you, sweet Sister!
Paulette
Even though I’m a little late (okay, a lot late :)), I enjoyed the walk through the woods, Beth. I would go with the camo boots in the hope that any snakes we might run into wouldn’t notice me (well at least not notice my feet) because I would be scared stiff if I saw one. I’m glad you got some rest this past week 🙂
WOW! Thanks for the walk. Speaks beauty to me!
That sounds wonderful! I’d love to do that with you! Thank you for your diligent work! Praise the LORD!
Walking down my block where cars cannot pass through, would still be cold and windy and rainy today! Winter still has it’s grip on New Jersey. Although some of the cherry woods have barely a bud of blossoming, it’s still cold. The corners and parking lots of stores or malls are fled with dirty black snow piles so high they won’t melt. The yard was cleaned up today, which gives me a glimpse of what spring looks like. I put away my puffy coat and warm boats. Hoping to enjoy spring like weather this week. God bless you. Patty
I live in the North east corner of New York State. Just about 15 miles from the Canadian border with Ontario. We awoke to 8 or so inches of snow again this morning. Winter does not want to let us go this year. I love the beauty of a winter wonderland. Perhaps I love it more in Dec. than in late March, though. I will admit I had such fun watching my horses being all frisky in the falling snow this morning. It doesn’t seem to bother them that it is almost April 1st and snowing like crazy. My son’s dog is with us for a bit and the husky in him loved to be frolicking as well. I decided I should just enjoy this last (hopefully) snowfall of the season because come December I will be Impatiently waiting for it. I love the seasons God has gifted us with here in the North Country.
I live smack dab in the middle of the United States, Nebraska!! The lovely part of living here is that it can be 70 degrees one day (yesterday) with threats of snow today! The naked trees are just beginning to bud…hold on dear ones, you may want to wait your arrival until the weather officially decides its course! Blessings to you Beth!
My zip code shows I live in Saint Paul Minnesota but we have had so many days below zero this year under the grip of the Polar Vortex that I think we slipped north a few degrees this winter!! We had to move spring and I was praying for a house with a view….I got a berm (a high bank) behind my house instead! But honestly it has been the Lord’s canvas as He has painted a different look on that hill nearly every day – including, and I hope you can see this picture of a bird self-portrait!!!! This bird is an artist! I turned around in conversation for about 15 minutes and when I looked back out my window, a bird has tracked this image in the snow!
https://ureport.foxnews.com/report/17985791?offset=38&groupId=40105
Eugene, Oregon – lots of grape hyacinths (the color of bluebonnets I miss from Austin, TX) & many colored tulips are my favorite bloomers right now!
I’ve been begging my hubby to move to TX for years. I love the hot weather, tex mex and just that way of life. If God provides I’ll be thrilled. Until then I will live vicariously through your walk! I had to wonder if those pictures of snakes were ones you had take. It is beautiful and I would relish in that journey—especially with the snake boots!
Thanks for the walk Beth !! You are so special to us !! You don’t know this but we talk often, in your studies and I always have a question or two for you and you are always so kind to point me to the appropriate scripture. I so enjoyed this walk….refreshing!! I long for a renewing walk in the woods. Living in the small city of Anderson IN and coming from the back woods of West Virginia it was a lovely time !! God is good !!!
What a lovely walk, I certainly enjoyed every minute. Now that I have you all to myself I have been dying to tell you this; I saw the whole Megillah!! I saw it on Sunday when I took my soon to be college freshman daughter to the Philadelphia Art Museum. I was so excited and new EXACTLY what it was the minute I saw it because of the Esther study I did, while I was living in Great Falls, MT. I also had the great honor of being a group leader and made a Red Book and everything, I still have it and love looking through the comments and reminisce about all I learned and all we talked about during our study time. I also got to have a really good talk with Paige at dinner about Queen Esther and how it can be hard to be a woman, and told her about the one woman’s comment in your Red Book about having to wear panties, but spend the whole time trying to make it look like you aren’t wearing panties. We shared a good laugh. Next time I am in Montana, I will invite you to join me on a nice walk by the Missouri River.
You are so loved. 🙂
Forgot my ‘K’ in new. oops ^___^
Beth, I sure love you too. Thank you for sharing your sweet love of our Father.
Beth you are such a good story teller 🙂 Not being a native Texan but having lived here the past 9 years this made me smile and laugh! My husband always says an Easter peep sneezed on his car, talking of our yellow pollen snow each year, lol. Enjoy your walks and some good rest and time off!
I am new to all this stuff and have no clue how to work it.
It took a great deal of effort for me to get my own blog up and running. Check out http://www.myloveletters2god.blogspot.com. But this is absolutely wonderful!. Beth, you did a terrific job at incorporating your life (with pictures) into an environment that includes everybody. Thanks so much for being so wonderful and for making room for us all to be a part of it. Now I can hardly wait to learn about Living Proof Ministries so I can incorporate such things in my own blog and be just as much a blessing to others as you.
And just in case you haven’t guessed it … I am taking a that walk with you in the woods enjoying sharing this much with you. :0) God bless!!
Thanks for the delightful walk…did wonders for my soul…although not really counting as my cardio for the day – off to the Y instead. God Bless!
Would you believe me if I told you that I’m teary-eyed as I finish reading this post? Oh, how I’d love to curl up on that bench and soak in some wisdom from you, Mama Beth. It sure would be a fun day!
I’m late as usual… You’re so personable and sweet. Thank you for who you are.
Thank you for showing us a little glimpse of your neck of the woods! It’s beautiful! I’m so grateful for you Beth. Your teachings mean the world to me!
I’ll take the boots on the left!! If no snake fangs are getting through them then that’s good with me. Loved that wonderful tour of your walk, and I did feel like I was heading out with you. 🙂 Here in the Niagara Region of western NY we are still waiting for spring to show up. But I did see some timid looking tulip tips starting to show themselves in my garden the other day. Have a wonderful vacation and get all rested up. I’m so excited as I have just registered for your LivingProof conference in Hershey PA. My 16 year old daughter is coming with me and we will be having a girl’s weekend/road trip filled with Beth, and I’m sure shopping at the outlets that are only 1 mile away!!!! :))) Your more than welcome to join us for shopping and lunch after the conference ends on Saturday. Check your calendar and let us know.
Thinking of you and I’ll be praying for you as you talk to Daddy about all the awesome things that He wants you to share with all of us.
Blessings and hugs,
Amy
If you walked outside my apartment you can most summer evenings see a beautiful sunset. I’ve taken many photos of that sunset. Nestled in a neighborhood is where my apartment is. But, not far from me is the freeway. There are many little paths to walk and parks close by. There is one place I need to venture more into and that is that is a place called the Aboretum, a place with trails and woods. Got to check it out! Love your walk, Beth! Love, Allison
Now I want to visit you! Snakes and all!