Beth Moore Cruise, Part Three

Okay, friends!  I have 45 minutes before I need to leave for Dad's Birthday dinner, and I'm attempting to finish three blog posts in that time.  This post = Alaska - Part 3, then Canada and Seattle will get their own separate posts. =)

Pic with Beth Moore and Travis Cottrell - Friday, July 31, 2026 ❤

I had room service delivery twice for breakfast on the balcony, but most days, I went down and grabbed a table for one - it felt pretty awkward to me at first, but there were so many others doing the same thing that I leaned into it and started to enjoy it - I adore breakfast foods and fantastic ocean views, and that morning, I stayed at the table a bit longer to write this card I'd bought for Beth.  (I failed to get a photo of the back side of it, and there were two more verses I included on the insert).

Verse for the day - I was feeling the renewed strength this verse speaks about, and the reference to eagles made me happy after seeing a few of them in the wild! ❤

We had morning devotions with Curtis, Beth's son-in-law.  He taught on Matthew 16, and my notes include "Be responsible with the responsibility God assigns you" and "Never stop asking God for more understanding of Jesus."

Standing in line for the photos with Amy Switzer, my new friend from Ontario, Canada - yay, God for connecting me with her and Megan!!

Cool painting of our ship =)

"To Lindsey - Jesus is life - Love, Beth" ❤

I've been a fan of Beth for almost 20 years, and I feel like I know Travis thanks to Melanie and Sophie's podcast, where they've both made guest appearances!  So much love and respect for both of them - and I'm very grateful to have these photos!!

The Dive In is an obscure little poolside restaurant that I found out about on our second to last day on the ship - they serve great cheeseburgers, fries, and hot dogs.. yay!  I grabbed that, along with a slice of cookies-n-cream cake at the random "Cake Me Away" party - you know I'm in for that invite! lol  

Ran into Megan and Theresa and joined them for lunch before my 1:30 hot stone aromatherapy massage at the Greenhouse Spa!  I very much enjoyed my massage and my mani/pedi, BUT Holland America needs to back all the way off on the aggressive sales pitch!!!  Gracious - I bought (and then returned!!) over $300 worth of spa products I knew I didn't want bc I couldn't say no to them for the 15th time.  Didn't love that - we're paying enough for the spa treatment, thanks.  But yay for easy returns!

My view of the canoe shore excursion coming back to shore -- on the Sitka tour bus, I sat by a woman named Joyce who was also there to see Beth Moore.  She was in her 70s and came with a friend who was 83, and they did the canoeing excursion!!  Impressive and inspiring to me - I so applaud that activity level and sense of adventure!  Zero interest in white water rafting, but I could try this next time on calm waters!

This and the above pic are out of order in this post, but whatever.  I was in the ice cream line right behind Beth and the Cottrell family, and I got the pineapple sorbet in a cone, same as Beth. lol  Yay! 

I finished the Bourne Trilogy (love it!) over the first 4-5 days, then watched this gem (About Time) while I packed all my things back up!  Such a good movie!

Travis sang a solo - the lyrics were about the wonders of God's creation, and they included several pictures of things we'd just seen in Alaska - very well done and powerful!

Amy saved me a seat near her up front for Beth's final teaching - and I was also able to grab a free copy of her Aligned: 31 Days of Prayer devotional.  Grateful for this chance to unplug and hear from Beth and hear more clearly from Jesus - it really was a gift!  And I'm excited to get started on that study soon!

Our final worship song together was In Christ Alone, one of my all-time favorites.

"No guilt in life, no fear in death.

This is the power of Christ in me.

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

Till He returns or calls me home, 

Here in the power of Christ, I'll stand!"

Final dinner that Friday with Amy and Megan and the Table 316 crew!!

I was the outsider they invited in, and by that last night, I felt comfortable enough to ask for a group pic! =)  We had an 8pm shore excursion, and the three-course meal was slow, so I asked our waiter to bring my banana pudding dessert at the same time he brought my eggplant parmigiana (technically my first time trying that - yum!)  Anyway, he misunderstood and brought everyone's desserts along with their dinner, and some of them had ordered ice cream. lol  My bad, but I'm sure they brought them another one after Megan and Theresa and I got off the boat in Canada... more on that next!

❤ ❤ ❤

A-Lindsey in A-laska!

Greetings from Sitka, Alaska (home of the fictional Paxton family and Kevin, the world's cutest lil' white puppy in The Proposal).

We have 30 more minutes at this port stop, so I'm going to attempt to write a blog on part one of my Alaska cruise trip!!  This = last night's whale watching cruise, which was epic and very much a "Be still and know" moment with God for me! ❤

All packed and ready for my flight to Seattle with my new rose gold suitcase + carry-on + backpack!

My new friend, Sarah!  She and her husband, Ron, were staying at the same Seattle hotel and taking the shuttle to the same cruise - this is her first cruise celebrating her 65th birthday - she gave her life to Jesus after hearing Beth Moore speak in the late 1990s, and she's been a big fan ever since!  It was great meeting her and Ron on my way to the ship and knowing I would at least have a couple friends on board! =)

My cruise stateroom - I'm sitting at that desk right now - and may I just say the balcony was an incredibly solid choice - I'm LOVING that view everyday!

Not shockingly, it's also been really great to hear Beth teaching and to worship with Travis and her team!!

I line danced with a couple songs during the set-sail celebration party, then took this video when they played The Wobble thinking of Jeffrey Edward! lol

Just a little light reading on my balcony porch! lol  Mostly, I've been enjoying the view and journaling by hand - making this a bit of a writing retreat to seek God and unplug - it's been fantastic!

Post by Annie F. Downs about God's direction on the day I left... Christine Caine also had a great (timely) email that day about God opening doors no one can shut and closing doors no one can open, and how we need to make sure we respond and walk through the doors God does open for us! ❤

My closet - yay - I made it a point to wear everything I'd packed at least once!

Meeting Beth for the first time on day two!!  Love her and so thankful for her influence in my life and walk with God! ❤

Breadmaking fun with Beth and Kendall Vanderslice! =)

I've been low-key obsessed with this song since I saw the new live Moana movie - Lin Manuel Miranda for the win!  This is my own personalized lyrics - that part about "the call isn't out there at all, it's inside me - it's like the tide, always falling and rising" reeeeally hits me! ❤

My room service breakfast (I ate the hot stuff first and saved the cereal and banana for later. =)  Also, I ate this whilst watching a family of humpback whales from my balcony on day three!  My first time ever seeing whales in the ocean - unexpected and AMAZING!!

Worth every penny.

My first shore excursion was the Glacier Gardens and Mendenhall Glacier... it was a rainy day, but the gardens were beautiful! 

So many trees and a very steep drive 600-feet up the mountain!

This was in their visitor's center - love it!

Mendenhall Glacier in the center behind me - another first for me!!

Yay, God!

I made the two-mile roundtrip walk to Nugget Falls with Megan and her mother, Teresa - some new friends from Houston, Texas!

Very worth the trek to see this in person!

Pic from our walk back to the shuttle bus!

I ❤ squirrels, even when they look annoyed with me! lol

My only purchase in Juneau. lol

I joined their table for dinner that night, and Megan and I stayed there talking until around 10:45 - she's a Christian counselor who is also seeking God's direction about some things while on this cruise - yay for making new friends on the ship!!

Ran into Sarah again at the port in Sitka - yay!

Jubilee, my omelette chef - she was very kind and made it a point to remember everyone's names!

I've gone to the hot tub twice and done two workouts in their fitness center one floor below me.  Taking this fake through-the-mountains bike trail while sailing through actual mountains made me happy!

Some relaxing spa time for a shellac mani/pedi with Billy (who is originally from Ghana and has worked here for five years now)

 

That was yesterday morning as we sailed through Glacier Bay.  This = the view from the spa windows.  Pretty phenomenal!

This morning's stop in Sitka included a historic highlights tour.
This = St. Michael the Archangel Russian Orthodox Cathedral

I tried to fein interest, but I couldn't care much less about totem poles. 

The National Historical Park was our last stop for that tour, then I grabbed some pizza and ice cream on the boat and headed back up to my stateroom to write this post before our next session with Beth at 4:45!

Although they pretend it's in Sitka, Alaska, The Proposal was apparently filmed in Massachusetts (lamesauce).  Sarah and I were both hoping Sitka's "history tour" would include some fun facts and highlights from that movie, but no such luck. lol  My favorite part of today was seeing this eagle at the top of a very tall tree - this is the clearest pic I could get with my phone!  We also had one fly over us, which is said to be good luck... I'll take it! =)

I haven't been seasick at all, which is a minor miracle.  I've loved having my own room and some quiet time to journal and hang out with God here.  I've gotten some extra sleep and gradually watched two of the three Bourne movies - one more to go - fun!  Beth's teaching (on the seven feasts and God's appointed timing) has been great, and I'm excited to have made a few new like-minded Christian friends on the boat!  The spa and hot tub have been fun, the food has been good, the ocean views and mountains and glaciers have been incredible.  But the best thing about this trip so far has been last night's whale watching cruise - mostly because God used it to confirm some things for me, and I am deeply grateful for that! ❤

Before we left for that whale watching excursion, the outgoing man next to me was talking about being excited to see some orcas.  The tour guide very quickly stopped that and assured him that humpback whales is what we would be seeing in this region.  ...I've been praying for clarity and going back and forth about whether to press forward with the PhD, so I prayed right then telling God that if we saw any orca whales, I would take it as a confirmation to stay with it and get my doctorate - (I clarified that I needed to see them myself, not hear from someone else that thought they might've seen one. lol)  I genuinely thought it would be a subtle confirmation that I'm free to let this all go...

...I took over 60 videos, and we don't have a strong enough internet connection to back them up or post them here yet, but in addition to seeing soooo many active humpback whales, the very first thing we saw was a family of at least five orcas.  Our tour guides were tearing up with excitement and telling us this is "the first time they've come out like that all year."  They went on and on about what a surprising rare treat this was, how it's usually raining and hard to see much, but we had perfect weather.  And I knew it was all straight from God (which is true of any blessings we receive, but this felt especially personal and helpful as I've needed some direction and clarity here).

So I don't have all the answers for what I'll do with it or how God wants to use it in the future - and I know it will involve a lot of hard work and personal growth - but I am officially getting the PhD.  Dr. Wood from CCU actually called this morning (fascinating timing) just to check in about my plans for that program, and I said I will be moving forward, starting this October!

This was on our boat ride back to the cruise ship... most of it is hidden behind the clouds (#perfectmetaphor), but there is a rainbow peeking out under them to the right just above the mountains - God's promises and His faithfulness still stand, and what a gift that is!!  

And the call isn't out there at all - it's inside me.

It's like the tide, always falling and rising.

I will carry You here in my heart

You'll remind me

That come what may, I know The Way!

❤ ❤ ❤