Here is some exciting news!
This week I’m giving you a preview of my book The Artistry of God, Devotional Beach Walks to Inspire Your Soul. It is now available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can also order it from your local bookstore through Lightning Source.
Proceeds from the book go to Samaritan’s Purse.
There are three versions of the book. One has the accompanying watercolor paintings in color, the other in black and white, and the third choice is an eBook. They are priced accordingly. (If you want the black and white, you need to click on “other formats.” ).
I’m calling this new edition a devotional because so many readers used it that way in its first printing. But you can read it as a series of walks or journeys. Once you read the first two chapters to get you onto Nantucket Island, you can read the other chapters in any order.
The information below is from the back cover of the book and the beginning of the first chapter.
Enjoy!
Escape to the island of Nantucket, where you can experience the beauty of God’s creation.
Journey to a place of pristine beauty and discover the key that unlocks this sanctuary of refreshment and peace.
In this beach devotional book that combines the beauty of Nantucket with the spiritual truths of Scripture, you’ll marvel at the astounding glory of God’s creation as you enter into this tiny sanctuary in the Atlantic.
The Artistry of God will help you discover how the God who created these natural surroundings opens His heart to you. Through lush descriptions that tie Nantucket’s scenery to biblical insights, you’ll be transported to a place that reflects God’s glory.
The Artistry of God is designed to help you:
- Discover the beauty of God’s creation on the island of Nantucket
- Draw toward a majestic God who desires an intimate relationship with you
- Rest in the gifts God gives you while bringing healing and restoration to your life
- Ponder life’s questions and blessings in a setting that encourages reflection
- Learn how this island sanctuary speaks to you about your Creator
As you turn these pages and learn of God’s character and love, you will find the relationship you are longing for and a joy that never fades.
By the time you turn the last page of this captivating devotional book, you won’t be the same.
Rebecca S. Parkinson is a writer and an artist who has traveled extensively around the world. Before setting out to write full-time, Rebecca won many awards in the corporate communications world. Now she gets to share about what she loves the most, the Lord God and Nantucket Island. Find out more at nature-reflections.com.
Kay Withington is an accomplished watercolor artist who has painted the island scenes while walking these paths with the author. Her paintings reflect a freedom of style amidst a variety of landscapes and a brush that can create a still life of some of nature’s tiniest jewels.
Chapter One
Restoration
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
1 Peter 5:10
The ferry pulls away from its slip. As the thick hemp ropes lie curled up in neat piles, my troubles and responsibilities lie fallow until the ferry returns me to them.
The shore slips away, and I leave behind all that holds me. Mentally I begin to chart my course across that familiar passage. With impatient expectation, I await those few moments when the mainland is but a whisper of gray, and the island yet lies beyond the horizon. This is my cue to go forward to the bow and wait. Softly and mysteriously, Nantucket appears out of the fog like Brigadoon. Muskeget and Tuckernuck Islands, Great Point, and the white face of the dunes at Dionis welcome me home once more.
I belong here — like a seed carried on the wind, dropped from somewhere in the gray sky onto a high moor. There, reaching my feet into the soil, I put my face to the sun and find my home. Later, however, being uprooted and replanted, my soul longs for its home. Like the determination of the monarch butterflies and the homing instinct of the little birds that brave thousand-mile journeys, wherever I go, the soul of the island deep within beckons me back.
For many, there are other places. For me, all have lost their permanence, but one. Here I return to drink in the ever-present beauty and reflect on the intricacy of our Creator, His “invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature . . . being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20). Nowhere is my spirit at peace except here. Nowhere is home except Nantucket.
Later, standing at the high-water mark on the beach, the soft sand slips through my toes like an hourglass. The wind touches my cheeks, and the warm fragrance of Rosa rugosa fills my senses. My soul sets down to rest. I am at peace.
To Order in color, B/W or eBook:
