At Lakeside Church’s Women’s Retreat at Zephhyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center I took and adventure on a “Nature Walk With God” at Spooner Lake in Glenbrook NV. I’ve included the instructions here. This is my journal entry I felt God impress upon my heart as I asked Him questions about my snapshots. This was transformational and inspirational. I encourage you to challenge your self to hear God speak to you through the nature He surrounds you in. Listen for His whispers everywhere you go. May you be blessed.
Nature Walk With God
Spooner Lake ~ Glenbrook NV
Stay on My path. For it is smooth clear and easily traveled — but it’s narrow. If you get off there will be many distractions, cumbersome to walk through and you will have to dodge many things. So please child look for My path I’ve provided and don’t choose to go your own way.
There will be times on My path that are steep, exhausting and contain corners you will not be able to see around. Keep going. Be strong. Endure. Trust Me.
Along the way I will have things that fence you in and make you feel bound, trapped and not free, but this is for your protection. Though that barrier makes you “feel” secluded, hindered, limited, isolated, like a wall that restrains you from experiencing all you want and desire, 
those feelings are lies. The presence of that barrier is keeping you from a dangerous area that you are unaware of. BUT I see it and I am protecting you. Do not follow the temptation to go around or climb over for there’s a steep treacherous hill you will roll down. Stay on the clear path I’ve provided. Even on the other side though you can jump off to explore, there will be stickers, rocks, weeds and uncomfortable things to endure and stumble on or stub your feet on. Stay the course, focused on My path. Trust Me.
Daughter even while you’re on My path you must keep your eyes attentive, you must be of sober mind. There will be logs(issues) that enter in, struggles with yourself, your husband and marriage, your children and your ministry areas. These all arise because of the influence from the world, your flesh and the enemy. Stay focused on My path placed directly in front of you. If you get distracted and look to the right, to the left, behind, or way ahead for too long you will encounter the upcoming problem without noticing it and most definitely trip and fall. Pay attention. Stay focused on directly in front of you, so you may step over each issue and continue on.
Oh my child…there will be times when you feel like everything has been cut off — just annihilated. You thought things were going good and the direction you were heading was right.
However in My wisdom and omniscience I know what needs to be cut away. I know what needs to be cleared to make the path safer and healthier. You will need to trust Me. My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. The absence of what was will be painful, but cling to knowing that I know what’s best.
There are going to be times that you walk on your path that you feel like everything around you is barren, dead, ugly, no beauty to be seen. But don’t be fooled ~ this is a lie. Be wise and understand things are not as they seem. Your marriage is not dead, your children’s faith is not dead, your small 
group is not destroyed and dead. You are walking through a season where the leaves in those situations are supposed to fall off. This is how I’ve designed it. Understand this truth! Look forward to the season ahead of new growth where the leaves will fill your land abundantly.
Hold on to HOPE!
Listen, there’s still beauty in this season. You must look for it. Look at how my light dances among the trees, look at the shapes of each intimate area for the 
intricacies are revealed during the time of stripping down. These things you would never notice if a laying bare had never occurred. Yet, be careful and watchful for even among healthy trees disease can enter and kill and choke you out. Be wise and know the difference. Seek Me for guidance. Don’t let parasites from outside come in and attack you. Be vigilant. Be wise to the world and the dark army against you and yours. Make sure to come to Me for refreshment and cleansing by the washing of water by my word — use My word as food to feed properly so you can remain healthy and not rot away and die.
Each barren season is different. Some times 
you will feel like you’re surrounded in all areas of your life like above. Everything appears dead and void all at once. You’ll exit that season into a green section full of luscious evergreen growth, only to enter another season of barrenness. This next dry season might only be on one side, in one area, but don’t get confused. This will only be for a time. Hold on. Let the process work. Let the leaves fall as designed and eagerly anticipate the new growth and beauty that is yet to come. During these times you will feel that these moments in time are never ending. Persevere. Only in hindsight will you be able to understand.
Along your path you’re going to realize you’ve been collecting and stacking up grievances, problems you’ve superficially dealt with but still hold on to, only you haven’t handled yet, but stacked it in the pile to deal with later. This is very dangerous! Each one of these issues whether big or small, long or short, thick or skinny from yourself, husband, marriage, children, parents, friends, ministries is a piece of kindling. Though stacking up “feels” like cleaning up the debris in your life, it’s merely providing a fertile place where dead dried debris gathers waiting for a spark to come in and ignite a huge forest fire! Deal with each of these issues individually; don’t stack them and save them for later. Pick it up, address it and discard it quickly never to be addressed again.
Remember, in hard 
times, you are walking through a season where it doesn’t look so beautiful or bountiful. It looks bare, void of color, you feel isolated, cold, abandoned, forgotten, so small in the midst of it all. But stay on My path; it’s only a season. Remember that when you finish walking through this time of emptiness, you will see My beauty. Colors will begin to show up again and different life will be present. Keep moving. You will end up in a new place with a new song to sing. Keep moving ahead.
Those times in the stripped areas, where you felt you couldn’t see, feel, or sense My presence. Places where you felt I’ve left you and do not see your pain…Listen, for that little whisper of wind through the rustling of the leaves I sent that to remind you . . . I’M HERE. I hear you. I see you. I’m with you. Don’t let the external view deceive you in your circumstance. I’m with you always and forever. I walk with you through these painful and empty times.
Look back on your journey around Spooner Lake. This terrain displays how your life’s adventure truly appears. The evergreen trees cover the landscape of your life. They are painted abundantly upon the hills…the truth is there is much happiness, good and growth to see! Those grayed out patches that you can barely see are the barren places that seemed so void of life. They aren’t as big as you thought. They are reminiscent of what you are going through right now…your fiery trials. But, LOOK. They are tiny in comparison…merely a fraction of your lifetime. Don’t get confused while traveling through them — life is not horrible; these times are not “never ending”; they do not engulf your life. These lies that run through your mind are meant to steal your hope. Control your mind — hold your thoughts captive. Remember this picture. The reality is there are tiny seasons in your life that will be absent of color and the expectations you anticipated might disappear, perhaps they never appear, or things you thought were to be a certain way just didn’t work out the way you thought because other people and their wills are involved. As you continue moving forward, these times always lead you into another area, a season full of luscious greenery to discover, explore and enjoy. Focus on the abundant goodness. Don’t magnify and constantly focus on the gray patches of struggles and mistakenly think your entire life is grey. That’s a lie. Remember that in different seasons those deciduous/broken areas will sprinkle color and different texture in your lifetime. They serve a purpose that you can see when you stand back soberly evaluating the situation. In the midst of that season it will seem immense and unending, engulfing you all around, but in reality they are only a tiny dash amidst a beautiful journey.
Understand that you will be placed in the midst of things that will continually be good those are your evergreen trees, but there will also be times sprinkled within that provide various texture to your life, provide different colors during seasons, and go through times of barrenness to usher in a time of new growth. Trust Me. I have good intended for you.
When you are looking all around for the correct way to go when there are multiple routes to follow. Look for My signs. I place them along the way to guide your steps. Look also for people that are heading the same way, those who have gone before you can help you maneuver and find your way. There will be steep hills to walk even towards the end. They will make your body sore, your lungs burn, your legs quiver, but endure. At the end there will be a place to rest to catch your breath — a time to reflect on all that you have walked through and see where I have been by your side the entire time.
The previous year God gave me a vision of huge white ivory pillars standing before me. He impressed upon my heart that He was saying these women will be pillars of faith for Me. They will be My Warriors doing battle with Me. They will be strong, brave, courageous, supportive, unwavering, grounded, steadfast, established, solid, sturdy, unmovable and faithful . . . His spiritual warriors against darkness.
surrounding me with images of Lions and Tigers.
his morning I was confronted by a quote by George Mueller that was beautifully painted by a woman artist. “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.” I’ve had friends that have said “fear is the absence of faith.” I take offense to these little expressions. I believe these to be lies…lies from the enemy meant to cause even more pain than already exists in a broken body.
positive that comes from my private encounters with uncontrollable fear. This brokenness within me might have been intended to destroy, kill, disappoint, and discourage me, but instead I’ve been driven into the arms of my Savior. That’s true faith! My terror delivers me to my God. With each battle my trust in Him is strengthened. In my weakness, God is my strength!
my faith, practice courage and face my fear. They are faith workouts.
we lost our kids as they went through intense trials and warfare of their own: suicide attempt, homosexuality, drug using, stealing, arresting, NAB (Neighborhood Accountability Board) interventions, court appearances; we encountered marital conflicts over how to deal with issues. There was division in every relationship possible and simultaneously our health was attacked. I was exhausted! I wanted out! This is not what I signed up for! I loved God, read His word, fed His sheep, tried my best to follow Jesus’ ways and yet my life was filled with chaos…wasn’t life supposed to be smooth?
mourn over the many losses and grapple with understanding why He felt I could walk His children through these times graciously with unconditional love in the midst of all the judgment and stares. I don’t get His ways, I don’t like that it isn’t wrapped in a perfect beautiful box with a gorgeous bow…you know the elegant box that all are envious of. But I know in my heart that His way is better than the painting I have created…I just need to trust Him more. He has shown me that I am a prodigal. I understand prodigals and He knows exactly what He is doing by giving my children me as a mother. I am a prodigal raising prodigals. I understand them and I will love them despite of all their broken areas. It’s taken a while to get here, but He’s grown my faith immensely during these last 7 years.
making connections, showing me ways to fight, and surrounding and bombarding me in all directions on this topic of warfare. He’s been placing one verse on my heart repeatedly. Matthew 7:5 “…first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” But what He says to me is “first Denise learn how to fight My way successfully, and then you can help others do the same.” I don’t know what He has planned, but He has physically opened my eyes and everywhere I look I see brokenness, I see spiritual warfare, and I see wounded people unaware of how to fight this invisible foe that is very much present and what steps to take.
through a personal experience so that His lessons will be permanently tattooed onto my heart. Amazingly that’s what allows God’s glory to shine brightest because by doing this I can fully understand, gain compassion, drop all judgments, and become a high priest to a wounded soul during their journey that resembles mine. That’s how He brings beauty from our ashes, brings good from our pain, heals the wounds of the afflicted and helps release the captive from their prison.