Where now the horse and the rider?

Storm rolling in

John Ryan Hebert

🌙 🌾

Oil on canvas

Etretat, France (by Ihor)

There are days when heaven feels silent. Prayers seem to rise, but the answers fall quiet. You wonder if He hears you, if He sees you, if maybe you’ve done something wrong. But distance is a feeling, not a reality. God has not moved He is nearer than the air in your lungs. When you feel nothing, He is still holding you. When you see nothing, He is still working. Sometimes He allows silence so your faith can grow roots. Sometimes He steps back just enough so you’ll take a step closer. And sometimes the quiet is mercy—keeping you from rushing ahead before the right time. Don’t measure His presence by your emotions. Your heartbeat is proof enough: He’s still sustaining you. Even when you can’t sense Him, He’s loving you with the same intensity. So if today feels quiet, don’t give up. Whisper anyway. Pray anyway. Sing anyway. Because faith is not built only in the warmth of His voice, but in the trust that even in the silence, He is God, and He is near. ♥

Walter Crane (1845-1915), ‘St.George and the Dragon’, 1914

Mont Saint-Michel, France (by Jonas Denil)

Audre Lorde, Seasoning

Holger Drachmann (Danish, 1846–1908), "Sunset at the Beach of Skagen", 1906