After that beautiful Saturday playing in the sand at Lone Rock, learning at Glen Canyon dam, enjoying Horseshoe Bend, and talking while we enjoyed that most amazing moon rise….. Sunday morning we hitched up and headed to Navajo land to check out Antelope Canyon.

At Antelope Canyon, you can only go in with a guide and some tour companies book months in advance. As soon as the Lord gifted us this unexpected weekend to the Glen Canyon area, I was telling a friend about our change of direction and she mentioned that we needed to book a tour to Antelope Canyon ahead of time! Oh there’s so much to learn about every different area we visit. It actually gets exhausting and it’s too time consuming trying to research every area before we get there so I’ve been relying on interactions like this one to find the scoop and what I need to know! I’m so glad she told us to book the tour or we would have missed our chance. Another gift from the Lord.

Before I show you from down inside, I have to show you this ant climbing out of his colony B coming out at the end of our tour. His face says it all doesn’t it!?

Doesn’t look like much from up here does it? It was such a cloudy day but our tour guide said the colors inside wouldn’t disappoint…..

And boy was he right!

From the moment we stepped down into it, we were all just wide-eyed and “woah”.

Antelope Canyon is actually 2 sections/canyons – referred to as the upper and lower. We chose to do the lower canyon tour because it was the one we found an open spot for first. You have to have a tour guide to go in. Though it’s only 1400 feet long – it took about an hour to meander through. Our guide was so great to take pics of us!

My peeps were so captivated by our surroundings that apparently nobody looked at me the whole time because when I finally saw myself I realized I had a huge patch of hair sticking out on the side of my head and a seed from my breakfast bar stuck in my front tooth! Haha 😂 Who cares when you’re surrounded by this beauty right!?

Our guide also pointed out many fun popular photos like….

The half pipe:

The Seahawk:

The lion’s paw:

The fish:

The mountain range:

And the seahorse:

Can you see each of those???

We saw a lot in an hour! But I bet we didn’t even touch the tip of the iceberg as far as exploring, seeing details, watching the light change the shades and shadows, and maybe even making up some games of tag (knowing the Rooks kids).

Everywhere you looked there were different textures and colors and formations. All carved from water and sand! This area looked like pieces of wood to me :

This was my favorite part and I caught it on a rare moment of bright sun coming in. It looked like silk or the girl’s hair when we really shampoo and condition it good: 😊

What stands out to you !?

This part was amazing too. Everything was so circular but I couldn’t quite capture it. You can picture the water just whirling through here. Scary:

It’s just another example of captivating beauty that comes directly from a storm and “destruction”.

Just like this canyon, I feel the Lord molding and carving and creating in us a beautiful masterpiece. But even when I don’t feel it… I know it to be true because He says so.

The masterpiece! Of all the things He created. Wow! When I try to picture every beautifully-created thing we’ve seen on this trip alone…. there’s just so much amazing artwork everywhere!!! America is sooo beautiful! The landscapes, sunsets, moon, the flowers, animals just wow!!!! But He says His people are His masterpiece.

I pray that as He continues to mold and shape our family, we will always know where our beauty and value come from and that we will rest in the fact that He promises His work in us will be finished! Resting in that promise, we are freed up to spend our time living well-loved by Him and then loving others well for Him.

God chooses some to be grand and some to be hidden underground. Some are very well known, some are for only a handful to see, experience, and be blessed by.

We can’t make that choice of which we will be anymore than a canyon can. However He decides to use us or what He does with us while we are in His hands…. He deserves the praise for. We’re just in His hands. He’s the one who created us and it’s His power that lifts us up and gets anything eternally important completed.

I think it’s worth reminding myself that however we’re used is not an indicator of how valuable we are to Him. His value system is so different than our American one 😊. The truth is that each of His pieces are of equal value to Him as we are being built up together into His Masterpiece. I’m so grateful His love for us is based on His love for us. Period! And He loves us more than we can fathom!!!

I want to remind myself constantly that success will always be found in being content in God through the person and work of Christ Jesus. When we are focused on the Lord and knowing Him more intimately, we will be content. When we are content, we have rest and a heart of peace not striving straining pushing. When we rest in His hands, He has a piece of clay that isn’t wrestling and wiggling but is surrendered to be molded more like Him.

Some people don’t have the same temptation to idolize “usefulness” or “impactfulness” like I do. We’re all different with different idols. But I tend to be ambitious, a striver, and an initiator… and I know He needs to work into me more humility, rest, and a true security that I am valuable in HIS eyes no.matter.what …. a security so deep and true that I don’t need any other praise, accolade, or reassurance from any eyes but His.

The Lord has been speaking this same message to me over and over again on this adventure. Work hard and give your best to the work right in front of you, get out of your head 😊, rest, listen, wait, and trust.

Perhaps I needed to get away from the roles I was in and the spheres of influence I had so I could be hidden away with Him where He could work these things out in me more and more. As I reflected on this I realized that after every season of visible ministry I’ve been involved in, He has done this for me. Pulled me back, slowed me down, and hidden me away for awhile. Maybe His best carving work is done in secret and quiet seasons.

I’m not sure exactly what’s ahead for us as a family or me individually…but I love that it doesn’t matter right now. I know the work in front of me right now (my fave work ever!) and I know the end result of it all is that we’re part of His masterpiece. I am content. 😊