Camping in Yellowstone - Be Still My Soul

This summer my hubby went camping in Yellowstone National Park in an area with no electrical hookups, etc. It's the area close to the bear population so he decided not to take any food of any type so he wouldn't attract attention from hungry bears.  Before he left I started reading a Kindle book, The 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake. I thought he might want to read it since it was in the area where he planned to stay and since this there were nearly 900 earthquakes in the area from June 12 to the end of the month. There was even a larger earthquake in early July on the Montana side. Of course, none of those details impressed him like they did me. I was the one who took two geology classes in college and visited Alaska to see the results of their biggest earthquake in 1964. I think hubby was mainly concerned about bears.

Bears, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters, like the flooding this week in Houston, can certainly steal our joy in this life. I'm thankful that I can lean on God and His Word when worries or fears threaten my peace. I frequently lean on the verse that says, " You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3. I chose the card sentiment, be still my soul, which echoes the words of a lovely old hymn, because it simply expresses this truth. In addition, in the woods I always found a sense of calm and being close to God in His lovely creation.

The Heart 2 Heart Challenge initially inspired me to make a card depicting camping. I used the new CTMH Cricut You Are Here cartridge. If you have that cartridge, you may use my cut file here. I sized the images to fit a 5.5" x 4.25" card so I could use a sizzix embossing folder that was that size.  I used a brayer and juniper ink to thoroughly ink the side where the spaces between the trees is raised. When you emboss, the trees stand out and stay white, like aspens, although the proportion to my cricut elements is not realistic since aspens are thinner, smaller trees. I embossed the sentiment from the new CTMH stamp set, Inspired Words. I matted the finished scene on black then mounted it on a 6.5" x 5" card base. I plan to send it tomorrow to Jerry and Judy Worthley, an evangelist and former missionaries, who've had a camping ministry across the country and at their own place in the Colorado Rockies.

I'm also sharing this card with the challenge at Dragonfly Dreams (animals), Challenge Up Your Life (summer), Craft for the Craic ( include triangle shape), and Cards 4 Guys (beginning with a D-deer)

Thank you for visiting! When outward circumstances come to steal your peace, may the knowledge of God's presence and His working for your benefit bring you confidence, calmness,  and joy during your trials.

I must end my post with the words of the sentiment's hymn because I've been humming it the entire time I made the card and wrote this post.

1 Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide,
who through all changes faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2 Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
to guide the future surely as the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.