A Time to Heal

A Time to Heal

I am slowly making my way through Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 this month. I'm using the contrasts found in those verses as a way to reflect on the season of life I am in at the moment. In a weekly newsletter I receive from Shelly Miller about Sabbath, she is slowly working through the 23rd Psalm. This morning I opened her email and read these words: 

"He restores my soul." Psalm 23:3

Did those words stop you in your tracks and make you catch your breath, as they did for me? God restores my soul. He restores me. Those are comforting, encouraging, hope-filled words.

I was planning on just skipping over the next line in Ecclesiastes 3:3 - "A time to kill and a time to heal." In my initial reading of it there just seemed to be so much that is similar to what I wrote about verse 2 "a time to be born and a time to die", that I simply thought it would be redundant. That is, until I read the words above from Psalm 23:3. How can I skip over a verse about healing and restoration, topics that are dear to my heart?

Last weekend my church held our annual leader's retreat. We began our day with a passage of Scripture to reflect on with the practice of lectio divina (a way to reflect and meditate slowly on Scripture). The passage used was Luke 9:23-25, a very familiar passage about denying self and following Jesus. But the leader of this session used an unfamiliar version, The New English Bible.

"And to all he said, 'If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, he must leave self behind; day after day he must take up his cross and come with me. Whoever cares for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake, that man is safe. What will a man gain by winning the whole world, at the cost of his true self." NEB

It can be a good practice to read passages of Scripture, especially familiar ones, in different versions. Many times we hear or see something in a different light. In Jesus' day, to take up a cross was equivalent to a death march. The cross in those days was a manner of execution. In this passage the thing being executed is self. As I reflected on this passage at the retreat I thought about another passage where Jesus says we "cannot serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24). There Jesus was contrasting the love of money and the love of God, but I think it can also be applied to anything that takes our focus and devotion off of God. So, here in this passage, it seems to be a question of mastery - who has control of your life, you or God? 

The next thing I notice is that Jesus says, "if a man will let himself be lost for my sake...". The words "let himself be" indicate two things to me. First, Jesus will not force us to give Him control of our lives. He prefers a voluntary sacrifice; an intentional devotion. Then I notice that these words also convey rest and trust - let yourself be - let go of control, loosen your grasp, release. Then lean on Jesus, depend on His control of your life. What do you gain by loosening your grasp on controlling your own self and turning control over to Jesus? Your true self. It is a burdensome weight carrying the yoke of our false self - the one trying to please the whole world, trying to gain more and more, trying to be more and more - more powerful, more successful, more beautiful, more accomplished, more _______ - you fill in the blank. Jesus gave us a glimpse of what life is like when we give Him control.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

When we release the burden of carrying around our false self and give up control of our life to Jesus, our load is light and we find rest. So, while we do need to die to self, as I wrote about a few days ago, we can take the steps necessary to do so knowing that God promises rest and restoration. Healing of our self comes as we place our-self before God and let our-self be lost in Him. He will heal and restore your soul.

Ask God to examine your heart and life and reflect on these questions:

• Ask God to reveal areas of your life where you may be clinging to control. Pray for His enabling power to help you let go and release control to Him.
• What needs to be put to death? What habits or attitudes?
• Where do you need healing and restoration?
• Where do you need to experience rest?
• What practices help you rest?
• Maybe you need to remind yourself today of places you have already released control and remember God's faithfulness in carrying you. What are those places? Celebrate them today.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

This Week

This past week I went on a personal retreat. I spent a few days in a cottage at Beulah Beach Camp on Lake Erie. I love being near the water but didn't actually spend any time on the beach. I mainly stayed inside and read and journaled, and of course did some art.

I made a small journal out of watercolor paper for the retreat as a way to practice what I am learning from Valerie Sjodin. Learning to shape the edges and embellish and paint them. The start of my journal:

The quote reads, "In the broadest sense of the word, contemplation means creating sacred space to be still, to rest in God, to reflect, to look inward, to attend to the inner life, and simply to be with God in solitude, silence, and stillness. Solitude, silence and stillness are in fact the qualities of contemplative prayer...a lifestyle of contemplation fosters personal and communal transformation." Phileena Heuertz.

My intention for this retreat was to take some time to process the information from the conference I attended last month. What I learned was that I already do a pretty good job of engaging in reflection on my down-day. I had an expectation going into the retreat that my time would be different because I was away from home...and that did happen in the early years when I first started taking retreats. But now I find that the practices I have established for down-time and being intentional with spiritual practices such as journaling and reflection are providing "retreat-like" time on a regular basis. Taking small amounts of time and a longer amount on my Friday down-day is helping me pay attention to my heart. It was a good discovery and will help me continue to stay focused on the spiritual practices that feed my soul, and will help me continue to be diligent about protecting my "white space" on Fridays.

Over the past few weeks I have enjoyed making some painted and collaged background pages for my journals. This continues to be such a therapeutic activity for me!

And added a few art journal pages to an altered book art journal

The last page is the prayer we used at the start of each of our small group sessions at the conference. It was a good way to slow down, listen and focus on God.

This one graduated from Kindergarten yesterday. I love being an adopted grandma to these kid!

That was my week. How was yours?

Restoration

Restoration. Transformation. Renewal. Renovation. It's all about change. Heart change. Soul change. Life change. It's a constant throughout life. The season right now is such a wonderful visual example of change. The gray, barren landscape changes each day as flowers bloom and leaves appear and the world becomes a green and colorful place once again. As difficult as it is at times, I actually like change. It's uncomfortable. It's a journey into the previously unknown. But passing years and a faithful God have shown time and time again that change generally brings about something better, something more authentic, something new and more colorful. Change often feels like winter ~ dark, cold, barren, but just around the corner is a fresh, new, colorful season. I'm art journaling as I go.

My Nest, My Heart, My Soul, My House

Back in March (see this post http://mewithmyheadintheclouds.blogspot.com/2013/03/heart-journey.html) I journaled and blogged about the many paths of my journey that are converging. This continues to happen to me and it feels like God is speaking to me and leading me to a place that has the potential to bring healing. Where God leads will always bring healing. I say "potential" because I must be willing to follow where He leads me and to let what He has for me transform me.

What continues to converge?I continue to read Dallas Willard's "Renovation of the Heart". Our current staff book study is an excellent book by Ruth Haley Barton called "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership". In the online art journaling course I am working through, Soul Restoration, the metaphor for our soul is a house. This month's theme for "The Art Journaler" community is nest. What God is showing me through all of this is that I have allowed the state of my heart and soul to become cluttered and messy by not paying attention to some areas. To continue the metaphor, I've swept some things under the rug rather than fully dealing with the mess. The above things are all serving to open my eyes to see the state of my house/nest.

I love God's humor and that He knows us so well. Using metaphors such as house and nest resonate with me and draw me in to what He wants to show me. I have always loved houses, even as a very young girl I was drawn to architecture. Restoring old houses and decorating have been life long hobbies of mine. I have also been fascinated by birds for most of my life. so these themes of house and nest serve to nurture me rather than push me away, and enable me to hear God.

Right now it seems safer to continue to speak of this journey through the use of these metaphors, but I want to continue to blog about them and share my art journaling. It seems to be a part of the journey; a part of the healing.

As usual, to feed my love of making books, I have made a little book to collect parts of this journey...actually two books (cuz two is better than one, right?).

Restoration Altered Book Journal

Journey Art Journal Binder