Within Your temple, O God, we meditate on Your unfailing love. Like Your name, O God, Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness…For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end. Psalm 48:9-10, 14.

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Genesis 28:16.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV.

When you make that decision to walk with Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, you choose to be with the One who was from the beginning of all of us and who is with us still. And learning from Him brings peace because the outcome for all that we are and will be is in His hands. And this final chapter of Hosea, Hosea 14, first Hosea speaks, Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in You the fatherless find compassion.” v. 1-3. And then God answers, “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine – Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from Me.” v. 4-8. And this that pulls everything together…Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. v. 9.

Yesterday as I was sitting and looking outside at the tall trees swaying with the breeze, my husband put 3 containers of young tomato plants on an outside table. He had been preparing the ground to receive the young plants. And I realized everything starts small. Planted in prepared soil, receiving the warmth of the sun and the rain to water, those plants will grow and bear the fruit of lucious tomatoes. Those mature trees I had been watching, began as a seed as did the giant redwoods and sequoias. Everything starts small. Even our faith sprung from countless encounters with Creator God we were not aware of began as tiny seeds from Him. And when I stop to consider everything that has been created, the vastness of it demands praise! And from the Garden of Eden to today to forever, our God is here.