Esther Filbrun

A Well of Life

March 22, 2019 // Esther Filbrun 2 Comments

Work mornings often find me sitting at the kitchen table, gulping down my breakfast and hot cup of coffee while I read a couple chapters of the Bible for a little spiritual refreshment before the day begins. Today was one of those days, and even though I might not get the chance to sit and savour the Word like I would like to, I was blessed by several precious minutes before I had to head out for work.

One of today’s chapters was Proverbs 10. I appreciate the wisdom in Proverbs so much, but sometimes I feel like I can read a lot and not glean anything. Other times, like this morning and even with the limited time, the Lord blessed me with several verses:

“The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.” (Prov. 10:11)

“The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.” (Prov. 10:16)

“The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.” (Prov. 10:21)

And as I finished off my apricot refrigerator oatmeal (highly recommended, by the way!) and started my coffee, I asked myself a few questions.

Is my mouth a well of life to others—do my words breathe life and hope into their souls?

Does my daily work bring life—hope, healing, relief, strength—to those around me?

Do my words feed others’ souls? Are they refreshed by my conversation, or fatigued?

I’m reminded of the apostle James’ words, how great a difference can be made by the use of our tongues—either good or bad. “Can a fountain send out both salty water and fresh?” (Esther’s paraphrase; Jas. 3:11)

My prayer is that I can be a well of life to others. In Christ, I know I can be. Let us draw our strength and inspiration from Him!

“The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.” (Prov. 10:28)

Courage vs. Fear

March 18, 2019 // Esther Filbrun 2 Comments

I read a quote last night that really struck me: “Living unafraid doesn’t mean that we don’t feel fear but that we don’t obey it.” (from the Our Daily Bread devotional)

As one who has had to deal with fear a lot, especially with regards to the aftermath of my brother’s death, this encouraged me to see another angle. Or at least hear the truth put in another way.

We were never called to obey fear—that is far removed from what Jesus called us to! He called us to walk and live out of love, loving God first and foremost, knowing His abundant, unreserved love, and that affecting every other area in our lives.

I recently read through Deuteronomy, Joshua, and 1 & 2 Samuel. Over and over, the phrase is repeated, “be strong and of good courage, do not fear…” Courage and strength are incompatible with fear.

Act out of love and courage today—He has called you, and He has also equipped you, so you have no reason to obey fear.

Tasmania 2019, pt. 5: Detention River, Dip Falls, and Unique Rocks

March 15, 2019 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

And here is part five and the final instalment of my trip’s pictures! It was so hard to choose which ones to share, and which not to. I’ve delighted in looking through the ones I was able to print, but seeing them here is special, too.

We took a walk down to the Detention River one warm afternoon, so the children could enjoy cooling off in the water. It was a beautiful setting, and I enjoyed seeing the little “peek” out to the ocean across the river flat! This particular river, at least near the sea, is a tidal river, and it was nearing high tide when we were down there.

Sometimes I wonder what makes one place stand out to you as being extra-special, and what makes another one just, well, ordinary. I think it has a lot to do with where one feels loved and accepted (such as my family home, for example), but I’m convinced there’s more to it that I don’t see, too. Perhaps it’s spiritual, or some other sort of tie like that that resonates with me—I don’t know. But whatever it is, when I am able to connect with others and share in the joys and struggles of walking this walk of faith with them, even for just a short time, I come away feeling very enriched.

Our last evening there, my “family” and a few other additions to the crew drove about half an hour inland to Dip Falls. It was a beautiful, fascinating place. I’ve never seen rocks quite like these before!

During the winter, the water flows over the entire expanse of the falls, from bank to bank, but since it was mid-summer when we visited, there was only a little bit coming over. Even that amount was pretty, and I loved the rock’s colors on the upper portion of the falls, especially!

Tasmania 2019, pt. 5 05 — You can see how high the first level of the waterfall is by the two girls in this picture. (And yes, those are good-sized logs leaning against the rocks that were brought over the falls during the winter.)

And, of course, since the rocks looked like pretty easy stepping stones, most of us decided to climb up to get a different perspective.

The most intriguing part about this particular waterfall, for me, were the rocks. They were like pillars, all jammed up against each other vertically, and seemed to go straight all the way down to the rock underneath (wherever and whatever that was) in this pillar formation. There was no vertical distortion that I could see—it was all at a 90° angle in reference to the earth.

They were also sliced cleanly horizontally, some in slightly larger than 1 ft/30 cm slices, others more like 5-6 ft/1-2 metre slices.

And then, I counted the “sides” on the pillars, and a lot of them (the ones that weren’t round) were five-sided, or pentagons. I did see a couple hexagons, but they all definitely were made with a similar pattern!

I did not end up going on the upper level of the falls, but they seemed to be made of similar stone, lots of rocks stacked and packed together in the same sort of regular symmetry, but with smaller “columns” and more were four sided instead of the five sides further down. These were also warped and twisted more, as if they had been laid down, pushed up at a different angle, and tweaked some as they were going up. I wondered how two similar, but very different rock formations ended up right next to each other—and how, scientifically, their appearance can be explained! Fascinating to study, anyway. Shows how great our God is! (If you have any information on why these rocks might be like this, I’d be interested to know!)

In the end, after a too-short two weeks in Tasmania, I left for the States with mixed feelings. I looked forward to being with my family again, but these people had showed me another side to the body of Christ, which was very special. I’m hoping that someday, I’ll be able to go back and visit again. But we’ll see what the Lord has planned!

Have you taken any memorable trips lately? What kind of unique natural formations have intrigued you before?

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4: The Nut

March 8, 2019 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

Before I ever set foot on Tasmania, the girl I was traveling with told me I needed to see the Nut. And before you think that it’s some place where there are a bunch of almond or cashew or walnut trees, no…there are trees, but it’s a mountain along the northeastern edge of Tasmania that is a wildlife reserve. Apparently one of the best times to go there, wildlife- and beauty- and amount of people-wise, is at dawn. So, one evening just a couple days before I was supposed to leave, we arranged to meet up at 5 am the next morning and drive the 30 minutes or so to the Nut.

(Need to catch up on the previous posts? Here are the links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4 01 — The Nut—the lights at the base are the little town of Stanley

I think we ended up leaving about 5:10 or 5:15, which was pretty good, since at least one person who ended up coming wasn’t even awake until 5! We had a beautiful, peaceful drive out there.

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4 02 — About two-thirds of the way up. I loved seeing the ocean coming in on both sides of the peninsula!

It really felt like we were climbing a mountain with this one! There were three (very) steep upgrades to get to the top (I believe we were climbing on the slightly more sloped face you can see in the first picture). I didn’t take it as slow as I should have, and well—let’s just say that I don’t recommend climbing a steep mountain at five in the morning without having had breakfast yet!

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4 05 — We are waiting for the dawning….

We waited at the first lookout for a while to see the sunrise. Eventually, when it became apparent that it wouldn’t be very spectacular, we moved on to the bushier part of the reserve, where we saw a bit more animal life.

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4 06 — There ended up being a layer of cloud just above the horizon, so this is about all we saw of dawn. It was a beautiful morning, anyway!

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4 07 — Mutton bird burrows—I saw several fields like this. (This is of particular significance to our family, since we love the book *Castaway* by Bill O’Brien.)

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4 08 — Likely my favorite picture from the Nut.

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4 09 — One of the first wild wallabies I saw, although I had already eaten some. I saw quite a few more before the trip was over!

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4 13 — The Nut from the west.

In all, though we were disappointed with the lack of a beautiful sunrise, it was a gorgeous morning anyway. I was really thankful to get to see a bit more of Tasmania’s scenery, and it was great to get to spend a bit more time with the folks there.

Monday Inspiration: Two Quotes

March 4, 2019 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

First, this “quote-of-the-month” for me:

“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” — Corrie ten Boom

And this verse I wrote up and have tacked on the cork board next to my desk:

“Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.” — Acts 2:28

Tasmania 2019, pt. 3: Hellyer Beach and Rocky Cape

February 28, 2019 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

I got a note in my email last evening that made me pretty happy: Pictures from my trip to Tasmania have been printed and should have been shipped out today! Having gone through the pictures again to get them ready for these posts, it made me that much more eager to be able to arrange the real pictures into some sort of a scrapbook one day soon.

(To see the previous posts in this series, go to Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

One evening, we walked down to Hellyer beach. It was about a 10-minute walk, over the Detention River, up through a residential area, along the road, through some native bush, past more houses, then out onto the tidal flat itself. Around the point was the beach itself, and I loved studying the different shells there—quite different from the other beach just 15 min. west!

Rocky Cape 04 — A Huntsman spider, the biggest I saw while I was there

Rocky Cape 05 — I saw quite a few kookaburras while I was there—and heard even more! What an unusual song!

One afternoon when we had some spare time, three other girls and I took a trip out to Rocky Cape. We first went to the boat ramp, and climbed up a cliff to see the scenery on either side of that part of the cape—pretty impressive!

Then we headed back down and walked up a track to the south cave; one of the two on the cape that the Aborigines used to camp in when they were passing through the area. I wanted to explore it, but unfortunately none of us had lights with us, and we were somewhat pressed for time.

We saw an Aboriginal painting (?) on the top of a rock near the lighthouse on the cape—I had to wonder how old it was, and, if it was fairly old, what kind of colors they used and how it managed to stay on an exposed surface so long, and also what it symbolized. Reminds me of sun-god worship, but I have no idea if it has any connection or not.

After looking at the view from the lighthouse (also beautiful), we headed down a track to see the north cave. We weren’t allowed to go into this one; apparently it’s a sacred site to some people.

The bay below the cave was pretty, anyway!

I loved getting to explore the area a little. New Zealand will probably always be the most beautiful place in the world to me, but Tasmania will probably be a close second now—or maybe third, if I’m counting my home state of Michigan during the month of June!

One thing I find sad is that we can often get used to the scenery around us—don’t even see how beautiful it is after a while. Today, go out and see the beauty around you, and thank the Lord for it. For me, the mountains across the river were a special shade of purple this afternoon, something I haven’t seen very often. It was gorgeous, and made me thankful all over again for what the Lord has made!

What are you thankful for right now in the scenery that’s surrounding you?