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Precious friend, I am reminding myself that no matter the season I find myself in, I can find rest, comfort and even happiness in the precious promises from Psalm 23. A sweet sigh of relief washes over me when I read the words, “Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me ALL the days of my life”.
HE is The Good Shepherd.
I am His beloved sheep and HE is my beloved Shepherd. I pray you can find comfort, rest and reassurance from this Psalm. And that you can find JOY in knowing that His sheep, no matter the season, have the secret of happy life, death and eternity.
I have been blessed to share beauty with truth-filled words of encouragement through my artwork for more than twenty years. But in all honesty, this monthly Encouragement Kit — Lemonade Reminders — was born out of a stress-filled big batch of lemons!
The Kit became the beautiful result of a big stack of misprinted calendar art pages + a LOT of prayer + a calling to encourage women with scripture reminders + an open heart to try something new!
When I asked Pam about this design, she recalled painting the bird first, then searching for a hymn to go with it. The black and white bird resembles a black-capped chickadee, which is in fact a songbird.
She then researched the backstory of this particular hymn and after reading about it, just soaked in the fact that suffering and sorrow is not new! People have been walking through it since the Garden. There have been countless people who God has worked through in the midst of great sorrow as they used words and songs to process their pain and write of His faithfulness in the midst of their storm... and there are countless more people who have come after them and are continuing to receive the blessing of their honesty and obedience. God continues to use their stories for our good and His glory! This gives tremendous HOPE!
Just like the bird keeps singing with hopes of his future days, and just like Bridgers wrote in his hymn, we can keep singing knowing Jesus is always with us! In all of life's ebb and flows!
