Travel with Us to Turkey

 

TRAVEL WITH US TO TURKEY

In October 2025, my sister Ava and I took a cruise that included a port stop in Kusadasi Turkey. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had the whole day to explore this exotic city along waterfront. We spent about 45 minutes wandering the grounds of this fascinating island with an ancient fort.  We walked across the causeway to get onto Pigeon island.  You can see a cruise ship behind the island -- it's not our ship, but that's where our Azamara ship was docked.

We walked all along the sidewalks you can see in the picture above, admiring the wonderful views of the sea and surrounding town.  There were monuments here and there, exotic trees, and the fortified walls surrounding this rugged island fort.  The large building is also a museum with interesting exhibits inside.  We had a guide who led us around -- rather led Ava, because I kind of went my own way, taking pictures and soaking in the surroundings.  She enjoys listening to guides - I like to do my own thing.

We really enjoyed our time at the Byzantine Castle/Fort on Pigeon Island (ca 13th century).  I wish I could have spent another hour there soaking in the beauty and going at a slower pace.  But, we had to go to a carpet store (it's always expected).  I always feel bad, because I'm not going to buy anything in these stores - even though their carpets are beautiful and finely made.  They costs thousands of dollars!

After viewing many beautiful carpets and drinking some delicious apple juice, we left the carpet store and walked into the "bazaar" area of shops and restaurants.  We also were able to go inside Kaleichi mosque - which was quite exciting.  It is the oldest mosque (ca 1618) in Turkey, built in classical Ottoman architecture.  There is a fountain with many spigots outside where the men must wash up before they come inside to worship.

We got to hear the chanting during their call to worship and it was very interesting.

One of the famous colorful stairs leading up to a higher level of the city.  If you lived here, you would get a workout every day you left your home.  Lots of motorcycles everywhere, although not as many as in Italy, which must be the motorcycle capital of Europe!

Let It Go!

 

This is a devotional I wrote that appeared this month in Arise Daily, a publication of AWSA, a professional writers' group I belong to:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3: 5–6

One of my favorite T-shirts is printed on the front with a silhouette of Elsa and Anna from the movie Frozen, and they’re surrounded by the words, “Trust your journey.”

I enjoy visiting the Disney parks, especially with my grandkids! I don’t agree with all of Disney’s policies, but there is one phrase in one song that I’m in total agreement with: “Let it go!”

Before you cringe and cover your ears, hear me out. There is great value in the meaning of those three words (not to mention, I happen to love hearing them sung!).

The wisdom in those words is far-reaching. There are many struggles, dilemmas and obstacles in life that can be overcome if you just let go of your fear, your bitterness, your anger, your sorrow, your pride, your hatred—whatever it is that you’re holding onto that’s causing internal and/or external damage to your peace, purpose and power. The truth is you need to let it go!

The negative issues we hold onto can be like a tiny pebble in a shoe that irritates with each step and makes serious walking almost impossible. The pebble needs to be removed before you can make significant progress in your life journey.

Like getting rid of an annoying pebble, we can hold our issue up to the light of God’s love and ask Him to take it away. You may need to forgive someone, and God is there to help. Then—here’s where that famous phrase comes into play—let it go! Throw that now-resolved issue out into the cosmos and watch it disappear.

It doesn’t mean that issue never happened; it doesn’t mean someone was not in the wrong for hurting you; it doesn’t mean your heart wasn’t broken. In no way does it negate whatever happened to you, but it does allow you to heal and move on with your life, freed from that nagging burden. Let it go and wave a joyous “good-bye and good riddance!” Praise God! The freedom you will feel after letting go is amazing!

When we trust our journey to God as we’re told in Proverbs, the joy, freedom, peace, power, purpose and direction we’ll enjoy in our lives will be so much greater.  We need to trust our journey to our Heavenly Father - who knows the end from the beginning and everything in between!

Disney doesn’t always get it right and neither do we, but we know who does. If we’ll seek the Lord and His ways, He tells us that He will be found by us. He’ll help us to let go what we need to let go of and grasp onto what we need to hold onto—and that would be Him, our Lord Jesus, who loves us with an everlasting love! Now that’s something we must never let go of!

Prayer: O Lord, help me to be kind and forgiving in all my relationships, even as you have loved and forgiven me.

Flowers From Our Father

 

    Have you ever wondered what the flowers might have been like in the Garden of Eden?  I'm sure they were the most beautiful flowers ever to appear on this earth.  Our loving Father would have filled the Garden with beauty and color and variety to thrill his beloved children, Adam and Eve.

    I hope they appreciated the perfect flowers He would have provided -- with delicate petals and rich color, and the sweetest fragrance imaginable.

    Alas, perfection is no longer within our grasp on this ole earth, but nonetheless, flowers still abound and their beauty is still amazing and glorious, thank you very much, our Father!!

    The beautiful color of the hydrangea above is delightful.  It sat in a pot in the shade on the boardwalk in Duck, North Carolina, along with some other beauties that brought a smile to my face.

    "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights," James 1:17.

    These delicate blossoms grow on a vine that adorns a white picket fence in Colonial Williamsburg.  I don't know what they are (maybe you do?), but they are so pretty!

    I know what these lovely blossoms are since Virginia is abloom with azaleas in the Spring.  My mother loved azaleas and had many bushes full of white and fuschia blossoms crowded together on each limb.  They only last a few weeks, but they are magnificent during that time.  I can well-imagine that azaleas will bloom year-round up in Heaven.

    Another hydrangea - this one in a pretty shade of pink.  The bush is in a pot on my patio and it has stayed bright and beautiful for several weeks!  Hydrangeas are one of my very favorite flowers - and in all colors, although I think lavender might be my favorite.

    

     This is a flower in my backyard that came up on a vine that appeared out of nowhere.  I imagine a bird or some other animal planted or dropped seeds for the plant and God gave me the free gift of an exotic passion flower.  This flower is not a "lily," but the following Bible verse pertains to all the flowers of the field.

     "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these," Matthew 6:28-29.

    I'll end our visit to flower fields with this picture of tulips and a few other blooms that graced the garden of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg this spring.  The sunshine was full-out that day and you can almost feel it's warmth in the bright green leaves surrounding the flowers.

   "O LORD, how manifold are Your works!  In wisdom You have made them all.  The earth is full of Your possessions," Psalm 104:24.

Morning Tea

     Each morning, I enjoy two cups of hot tea to go along with my whole grain cereal and blueberries.  It's a breakfast that's healthy and filling - and tasty too.  While I was sipping my hot tea this morning, I was thanking God for blessing me with this abundance of good food and I began thinking of the many people who were involved in getting this food to my table - especially the tea.

    As I enjoyed the smooth, rich taste of the Darjeeling tea in my cup, I imagine a woman walking along the rows of Camellia sinensis bushes grown on steep hillsides of the Eastern Himalayas in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal India.  I've seen pictures such as the one below (from Wikipedia) of women working on the tea plantations there.

    I picture this woman plucking the top two leaves and a bud from each bush and placing them in her basket.  The woman is most likely a Gorkha Indian and a Hindu (70% of the people there are Hindu, 27% are Muslim, with less than 1% claiming Christianity).

    Hand-picking tea leaves is far superior to machine picking.  Each tea picker's careful selection of leaves adds a personal touch to the final product.  And so, I thought about the young woman who  plucked the leaves that made up my lovely cup of Darjeeling tea.

    I wonder, what are the needs of this woman?  What about her family life and her dreams of the future?  Part of her work and the leaves she touched traveled many thousands of miles to America, ending up adding flavor and enjoyment to my cup of Darjeeling tea.  What an amazing journey for those tiny little leaves that grew on the hillside of the Himalayas, basking in the sunshine and rain of that faraway place.  

    I prayed for this woman - living a life far different than my own in a place far different than my home -- and yet, as women, not so very different.  I prayed for her needs and for God to bless her.  You see, God knows who this mystery woman is, and He loves her.  He knows every beat of her heart and, I believe, He is pleased that someone is praying for her.

    In fact, I have added her to my prayer list and I hope someday in Heaven that I might meet her, because I'm praying for her salvation too.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will work a miracle in her heart and show her the way to eternal redemption through Jesus Christ.  God is able and I'm trusting Him to take these prayers and work a work that would blow my mind!!

"Look among the nations and watch - be utterly astounded!  For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you," Habakkuk 1:5.

"Many, O LORD, my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered," Psalm 40:5.

"This was the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes," Psalm 118:23.

 

Theo of Golden

 

    This is one of those books that has depth and message, along with a good story about people and lives.  Theo is a fascinating character - in a quiet way.  It's a bit unusual to have an 80+ man as the main character of a book, but it works well in this novel and I'm grateful for the inspiration in Theo's life.

    A dear friend of mine Greta very highly recommended the book to me and even said she bought two copies - one to share and one to keep for herself.  That is high praise for a book!

    The book is thick and it's not a mystery or thriller or romance or spy novel - or any of my normal "reads," but I'm always game for something different and I dove into the book.  I was not disappointed!  It's a delightful book   It inspires, entertains, pulls at the heart-strings - and so much more.  I gave the book the full five-stars and felt it needed more.  

    If you like to read and you care about people; if you are interested in learning about people's lives and have a desire to encourage them along -- this book will appeal to you too.

    I've included an excerpt below, but it will reveal a bit about the end which you will probably figure out as you go along anyway, but I just want to warn that it's a bit of a spoiler so you might want to stop here.  If you decide to read Theo of Golden, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

An excerpt from the book describes a bit about the kind of man Theo was.  The words are spoken by Father Lundy as a eulogy:

       "In Theo's honor, and in keeping with the hope that expressed itself so radiantly in his life, I read these words of promise from Another, a far greater One who lived obscurely among His neighbors long ago, an Artist Himself, the One who, for Theo, defined life and love and goodness.  The One who alone makes us good and wise and happy."

       After the priest read from the gospels of Matthew and John, he prayed, "...And if it is true that begging is our only wisdom, then we beg, dear Lord, that this man's presence in our lives will not have been in vain but instead that we will perpetuate the obedient faith, the cheerful hope, and the generous love that he made so beautifully visible while he was here among us.  Might the light of his countenance, how he loved, and who he loved, inspire us to follow him, even as he followed the Christ in whose name we pray.  Amen."

Our Assignments

 

"...you shall assign to each man by name the items he must carry," 

Numbers 4:32

    I only have three chapters to go before I complete another read through the Bible.  My reading this morning included Numbers 4 (yes, I saved Leviticus and Numbers for last).  

    This chapter lists duties of the Levites when the Israelites break camp and the tent tabernacle is broken down to carry to their next location.  There are many parts to this tabernacle that must be carefully packed and carefully carried since it is holy to Almighty God.

    Every task was important -- even gathering the "sockets, pegs, and cords," (4:32).  Each man had a specific job and if he failed to complete his assignment, the tabernacle transfer would be incomplete -- and God would not be honored.

    Each piece in a jigsaw puzzle is important.  If one is missing, you have a gaping hole.

    We who are saved by grace are tabernacles/temples where the Holy Spirit dwells.  He has specific jobs for each of us.  If we fail to complete our assignment something or someone will suffer for our neglect -- and God will not be honored.  Another brother or sister may be required to finish our job and that person will then receive the reward and satisfaction of a job well-done.

    God created each of us with certain abilities and He is keenly aware of both our limitations and our capabilities.  God never asks us to do something that He does not enable us to do.

--Parable of Talents

    In the parable of talents (Matthew 25:14-30), the master gives each servant a task according to his abilities.  He gives five talents to one servant, two to another, and one to the last servant.  The master knew his servants abilities and did not ask for more than they were capable of handling.

    Two of the servants doubled the amount given to them to work with and they were each rewarded equally, because they performed to the full extent of their abilities.  "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required," Luke 12:48.

    The third servant, however, failed to grow his talent to honor his master.  Instead of growing his talent and using it to further his master's kingdom, he hid it and let it basically stagnate.  His master was displeased, to say the least.

--Our Talents

    Our Master did not give us talents to hide.  They are meant to grow, to spill out, to bless others as well as ourselves, and to bring glory and honor to our Master.

    "...you shall assign to each man by name the items he must carry."  God has assigned each of His children "the items he or she must carry."  Are you carrying the items (talents/abilities/jobs) He has assigned you to carry?

    God wants us to grow -- to add to His kingdom, not subtract from it by dropping our assigned items.  

    If you're not sure what your "assignment" is, ask God to reveal it to you and then, work to grow it through the power of the Holy Spirit.  "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus," Philippians 4:19.

Miracle of Music

 

                            This picture represents powerful music from the Lord God Almighty

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly 

above all that we ask or think… Ephesians 2:20 NKJV

          I usually get out of bed each morning with a positive “this is a day the Lord has made, we will be glad and rejoice in it” attitude.

One morning, I got up and felt unmotivated and a bit anxious. I attributed these unusual feelings to a program I’d watched on TV the previous night, about a dysfunctional, pill-popping, alcoholic family who led a miserable life. They were the epitome of Thoreau’s statement, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

I knew I should not have watched such a dreadful show. I felt like I’d failed God by planting the wrong thoughts in my head.

To encourage my heart and draw closer to God, I told Alexa to play the song, Let it Be a Hallelujah. As I listened to that wonderful song of praise, I was uplifted and blessed.

Since I didn’t tell Alexa to stop the music, it continued.  That’s when God took over the playlist and gave me just what I needed to hear for the next eight songs.

Heaven Changes Everything was up next and my thoughts turned to three people I’ve been praying for who need salvation and freedom. When Chain Breaker started echoing my thoughts on freedom, I had to laugh. God has such a sense of humor!

I prayed for my friends as I imagined their chains being broken. Then God sends the song, Somebody Prayed, and I just shook my head in wonder and awe at my Father’s encouragement not to give up on prayer.

The song, Desperate, began playing and I began to weep, because yes, I was desperate for God – for myself and for my three friends. I felt so unworthy and needy for God’s help. So, I wasn’t surprised when God followed up with The Truth, a tender song about God’s love for me, especially when I’m feeling unworthy. I was reminded that I need to refuse the enemies’ lies and embrace God’s truth that He surrounds me with His grace and I am His child.

He followed that with Strong, to remind me that I am strong in the Lord even when I feel weak. Then God played Still Waters (from Psalm 23) and my heart melted into the sweet embrace of my precious Lord and I felt such peace.

About this time, I was wondering when I should tell Alexa to “stop.” Would God make it clear to me?  Why, of course, He was going to let me know – and He did. When Shout to the Lord began to play, I knew that was the grand finale of this amazing playlist. It was the perfect ending of praise to Almighty God since, “Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.”

This was nothing less than a musical miracle from my loving Father. He sent me a string of nine powerful songs that formed a progression of just what I needed to speak to my soul in that moment.

“Oh, Lord, please help me to walk in your power and on your path to fulfill your purpose for me. Help me to carry a heart of praise and purity, depending on your provision and not my own pitiful pursuits. I am weak, but you are strong, Jesus keep me from all wrong.”

 

Note:  I chose pictures of fireworks to represent the wonder of God's working through the music He chose for me in my Miracle of Music.  I took these fireworks pics at Epcot in Disney World when we were there in February.  They were so beautiful!