Thessalonians Words ~ Day 5: Lord

Day 5: Lord

Jesus is Lord. This is the confession that makes us Christ-followers. It is the expression that declares our belief in, and allegiance to, Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Jesus is Lord exalts Him to His Divine place as the Son of God, and as God Himself.

Let's look at what that word would have meant to Paul's Jewish and Gentile believers in the church of Thessalonica.

Lord in Greek is kurios (Strong's #2962). It's basic meaning is master, owner, one who possesses authority over another. Biblically it means the Supreme One who possesses absolute authority. The word "Lord" is used over 9000 times in the Septuagint, which is the earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. In the Septuagint it is the Greek word used for the occasions in the Old Testament where God is called Jehovah or Yahweh. In the New Testament kurios is used over 700 times and Jesus is referred to as Lord more frequently than any other title. Lord signifies Jesus' divine nature.

When the Jews heard Paul use the title Lord Jesus Christ, they were hearing literally that Jesus is God and the Christ, the promised Messiah. When the Gentiles heard Paul use the title Lord Jesus Christ, they heard that Jesus is King. In both cases, the title Lord given to Jesus, was meant to call the hearers to action:

Bow down and exalt Him.

Worship and obey Him.

Here is a quick rundown of just some of what the Thessalonian letters say about the Lord:

• The church is established in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1TH 1:1; 2 TH 1:2
• Hope is found in the Lord. 1 TH 1:3
• His people are to imitate the Lord. 1 TH 1:6
• Jesus, the Lord, is Savior. 1 TH 1:10; 5:9
• The Lord is the substance of the Gospel message. 1 TH 1:8; 2:8; 3:2; 2 TH 1:8; 3:8
• The Lord enables us to love (1 TH 3:12); to grow in holiness (1 TH 3:13; 5:23), to live in pleasing ways to God (1TH 4:1-2). 
• The Lord strengthens our hearts and encourages us (1 TH 3:13; 2 TH 3:16-17
• The Lord will punish those who are in sin. 1 TH 4:6, 2 TH 1:8
• The Lord is faithful. 1 TH 5:24; 2 TH 3:3
• The Lord is the Lord of peace. 2TH 3:16
• The Lord's name will be glorified in His people when He returns. 2 TH 1:12, 2:14 He is coming again! We will dig into this more on Sunday.

Jesus is Lord!

Today I have posted a chart on the Bible Study Techniques page called Internet Bible Study Tools. This is the chart of the Bible study tools I use most often online. It will tell you what each site offers and what I use on that particular site most often. In the days ahead I will show you how I use some of those online tools.

Thessalonians Words ~ Day 4: Spirit

Day 4: Spirit

We saw yesterday that the gospel was received by the Thessalonians with power and deep conviction. When they heard the gospel message they knew they were hearing the very words of God. The ability they had in receiving the gospel in this manner came as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit.

"For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction."  

(1 TH 1:4-5)

In this opening passage (1:4-10) Paul's shows us just a few of the Holy Spirits many works.

The Holy Spirit is the agent by which the gospel message is received with power and deep conviction. He empowers the messengers, he empowers the message, and he opens the hearts and minds of those who will receive it. We see a similar message from Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians.

"But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14

The work of salvation - having our peace restored with God - takes place through the work of the Spirit and the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit's work is sanctification - a very religious sounding word that simply means to be set apart for God and His purposes. When we accept the message of the gospel by faith, then the Holy Spirit begins the work of sanctification in us. A work that will be ongoing throughout our lives.

Another thing we see about the Spirit's work is found in verse 6 of this passage in 1 Thessalonians 1. 

"You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit." (1 TH 1:6)

The Spirit gave the Thessalonians a joy that could not be shaken despite severe suffering. They learned a lesson that all Christ-followers need: Happiness is fleeting; it comes and goes based on the circumstances of life. Joy, however, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit produces it in us. We aid the Spirit by standing firm in our faith, helping us to remain unshakable in the power of the Spirit with joy. A joy that Peter calls "inexpressible and glorious" (1 Peter 1:8).

"Receiving the Word is receiving Christ, receiving Christ is receiving the Holy Spirit, and He brings joy and gladness." ~Bruce Hurt

No new skills today. Continue working through doing a Word Study and through practicing walking through a passage. I will, instead, leave you with a quote that points out the value of learning how to use these Bible study tools and methods:

“If you long to know God, if you yearn for a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ, if you want to live the Christian life faithfully and know what God requires of you, you must do more than merely read the Bible and study what someone else has said about it. You must interact with God’s word personally, absorbing its message and letting God engrave His truth on your heart and mind and life. That is the very heart of inductive study: seeing truth for yourself, discerning what it means, and applying that truth to your life.” Kay Arthur

Thessalonians Words ~ Day 3: Gospel

Day 3: Gospel

"For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere."              

1 Thessalonians 1:4-8

Paul's words to the Thessalonians about their faith in 1 Thessalonians 1:4 echo that of Moses in Deuteronomy:

"The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you..." Deuteronomy 7:7-8

God chooses His people because of His great love for them, and this has not changed from the Old Testament to the New. What has changed is the manner by which He calls them to Him. In the New Testament that manner is summed up in one word; the gospel.

The gospel, known by various terms in the Thessalonian letters (the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, the Lord's message, the word of God), is "the good news of God's action to bring salvation to sinners" (Leon Morris). That good news is that we "receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 TH 5:9). Receive is key here. God'd gift of salvation through Christ is a gift of love, but it must be received.

Paul is confident that these Thessalonians are loved by God and have been chosen by Him because of the effect that the gospel had on them: They received it and they shared it.

Paul describes how they received the gospel in verse 5.

• Not simply with words
• But also with power
• With the Holy Spirit
• And with deep conviction

They had an intimate connection with the gospel that made it more than simply words. Verse 2:13 says  they "accepted it as the word of God". They "welcomed" (verse 6) it and took it to heart with the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit. They received it and embraced it wholeheartedly so that it changed their way of life.

The gospel they received impacted them so much that they became imitators of those who shared it with them and then became sharers of it themselves. Paul says of the Thessalonians that the message rang out from you". The Greek word used here for "rang out" is the word we get our English word echo from. It is literally that the Gospel message trumpeted or thundered from them.

We get a glimpse possibly of why the Thessalonians were so open to receive and embrace the Gospel message with such conviction and transformation. In verses 1:6 and 2:8 we see that Paul and his disciples did not simply come to town, share a message, and then move on. They lived among them, they shared their lives with them, and they showed them what life as Christ-followers looked like. They invested in the Thessalonians by building relationships with them, and thus, the gospel message was not just words they heard, but lives they witnesses and were able to imitate and share.The message of the gospel was visible.

"For the gospel to flourish people must share their own lives." ~John Piper

Let's make the gospel more than information we share. Be a living example of it in your home, your neighborhood, at your work or school. Love people, let them see God's love through you, and share the Good News.

Try "walking" through a passage again today. Getting the hang of this the tools used in this process can help you quickly see your way to understanding.

"You can see a lot just by looking." ~Yogi Berra

You just need to know how to look! 

I believe that we miss a lot in God's Word because we read too quickly, and then we simply rely on others - teachers, leaders, pastors, commentaries - to tell us what it means. Learning simple observation tools will enable us to see our way through a passage and provide us with more understanding. We then can turn to others when we come to the things we do not understand. Check out the new document on how to walk through a passage on the Bible Study Techniques page.

Thessalonians Words ~ Day 2: Hope

Day 2: Hope

I hope you tried a Word Study, or if you have not yet, that you plan to this week. Use any of the words in the challenge. Word studies are a great way to better grasp an author's meaning for the words he uses. Although, my notes for how to do a Word Study are long, they are actually a quick and enjoyable way to study Scripture. As with anything else in life, it just takes practice!

Today's word is hope. This is a word that our culture has watered down to simply something you hope will happen, a wish that might come true. But biblical hope is something much deeper.  It is an assurance of future good. John Piper says, "Biblical hope not only desires something good for the future - it expects it to happen".

We saw yesterday that Paul uses a lived out faith in Christ as an indicator that one's faith is genuine. In 1 Thessalonians 1:3, Paul thanks God that one of the visible signs of their relationship with God, is that their hope has produced endurance. In fact, we get a pretty good picture of what hope looks like in the first chapter of this letter. It may be helpful to pause and read 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 real quick.

"1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace to you.

2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath."

Here's a very easy way to walk through a passage. It's much like the work of an investigative reporter. Look at your verbs and the connectors (connectives, prepositions, and conjunctions) and ask questions, letting those verbs and connectors lead you through like markers on a map. Remember our focus here is on verse 3 which uses the word hope.

Who is speaking here? "We", which we see back in verse 1 is Paul, Silas and Timothy.

What do they do? Remember (the verb). Who do they remember? Look at verse 2, those in the church at Thessalonica. ("The church" gives us an indicator that this letter is written to Christ-followers.)

When do they remember them? Look back at verse two where it shows that the context of their remembering is prayer.

Who do they direct their remembering to? Both verses 2 and 3 point out that it is God the Father.

Now the meat: What do they remember about the Thessalonians when in prayer to God?

• Their work produced by faith,
• Their labor prompted  by love,
• Their endurance inspired by hope.

Notice what is repeated in each phrase: "by". This shows us that each of these things, work, labor, and endurance comes about or is produced by the means of something else So we could ask a "how" question here. How did the Thessalonians do the work and labor and get the endurance for which Paul remembers them? BY faith , love and hope. And these, we are told in Galatians 5:22-23, that these are fruit of the Spirit, produced in us by our relationship and walk with Jesus Christ. 

So, focusing on the word hope, we see that the Thessalonians endurance is visible. What clues tell us what they are enduring? Take a look at verse 6 where Paul says they are experiencing severe suffering. At this point we don't know what that suffering consists of, we just know that it is true of them. 

So, what is their hope in and how does it inspire them to endure severe suffering? This is at the heart of what we need to know, both for understanding this letter, and for understanding how we can endure in times of pandemic, financial hardships, racial injustice, and any other types of trials and suffering we may face as Christ-followers.

What is their hope in? The short answer is found in verse 3, "in our Lord Jesus Christ". But a deeper look at verses 9 and 10 reveal the story of how the Thessalonians gained their hope. Again, look at the verbs. They turned to God. They made a mid-turn correction in life. And what did they turn away from? Verse 9 says idols. This tells us that many of those in the Thessalonian church were Gentiles who had served the gods of their culture. What was significant about this change in life? They turned away from idols, from their old way of life, to serve the living and true God. The word serve carries with it a weight of wholehearted devotion. Note Paul's description of God as living and true, as opposed to idols which are dead and false. 

In addition to turning to God and serving Him, they are also waiting, verse 10. What are they waiting for? God's Son in heaven. What are we told about God's Son here? That God raised Him from the dead. Who is the Son spoken of here? Jesus. What will Jesus do when He comes from heaven? He will rescue His followers from the coming wrath of God. THIS is what they look forward to in hope. And this hope is what enables them in this present age to endure trials and suffering.

Let me give you two other passages that help fill out our understanding of this hope. 

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:3-9

The Thessalonians turned to the living and true God and received a living hope in Christ Jesus.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Romans 5:1-5

Our peace with God through Jesus Christ gives us the hope of the glory of God . That hope enables us to persevere, to endure, to press on as the Thessalonians did. Hope puts our focus on the future and the promises of God to enable us to live in this present age. Praise be to God!

Here's a sample of walking through this passage:

Try walking through 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10 before tomorrow's post and see what you find out about the gospel.

You can "walk" through most Bible passages using these simple investigate questions, using verbs and connectors to guide you to understanding. By week's end I will have a document on the Bible Study Techniques page that will fill this our more.

Thessalonians Words ~ Day 1: Faith

Day 1:Faith

Today we begin a new Words Challenge which will carry us through 1 & 2 Thessalonians over the next 31 days. Earlier this past week I was making a page about how to do a Word Study for the new Bible Study Techniques page here on my site. As I was putting it together and explaining how much I enjoy word studies, it dawned on me that it may be my passion for doing word studies and understanding words that was probably the catalyst for these Word Challenges. Words help us interpret life. They give meaning to everything from our emotions to relationships to theology. I pray that as these words guide us through Paul's letters to the Thessalonians that we all will have a deeper understanding of these books, but more importantly, that we will find that we have drawn closer to the Lord. Over the past months as we have faced the trials and challenges of a global pandemic, I have continually been drawn to a quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was killed for opposing and resisting the Nazi's. He said,

May God in His mercy lead us through these times; above all may He lead us to Himself."

The letters to the Thessalonians can help us in our current age, as we face many challenges, to remind us of who we are in Christ Jesus. It can help us have a right perspective in the midst of trials and suffering, and help us have hope. And it all starts with faith.

Today's post will be a bit longer as we include some of the story behind the letters to the Thessalonians. The story begins with Paul's second missionary journey. On that journey he was accompanied by Silas and Timothy. The journey began in Jerusalem and went through Phrygia and Galatia (modern day Turkey). The purpose of this journey was to visit the churches Paul had planted on his first missionary journey and share with them the results of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-29). As Paul is preparing to leave the Galatian region and head to Asia he has a dream, a vision from God of a man in Macedonia pleading with him to come there. So Paul concludes that God has called them to share the Gospel in Macedonia (modern day Greece). You can read about Paul's vision in Acts 16:6-10. 

In Acts 17:1-10 we come to the story of Paul in Thessalonica. Paul had stopped there because there was a Jewish synagogue. It was there that Paul began to share the prophecies from Scripture about the promised Messiah (the Christ). He showed them through the Scriptures that the Christ would have to suffer and rise from the dead, declaring that, "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ." (Acts 17:3). The story goes on to tell us that some Jews, a large number of God-fearing Greeks, and some prominent women believed in Jesus as the Christ, and so the church of Thessalonica was established! But it immediately met with opposition. The Jews there had heard of the message Paul was spreading, they had heard of the riot surrounding the events in Philippi and Paul's imprisonment (Acts 16:11-40), and the Scriptures tell us that "the Jews were jealous". They began a riot and went to the home where Paul was staying. When they did not find Paul and Silas there, they took some of the converted Christ-followers before the city officials to proclaim that they were "defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus" (Acts 17:7). Paul and Silas are able to flee the city unharmed, but so begins the life of this young church which will be defined by persecution and suffering.

Months later Paul sends Timothy back to Thessalonica to see how these young believers are faring. I Thessalonians is Paul's response to the church after hearing Timothy's report. And it all starts with faith.

The word faith, pistis (S4102) in Greek, is used 13 times in the two letters to the Thessalonians; 8 times in the first letter, and 5 times in the second. Faith refers to belief, trust, confidence, conviction of the truth. In the New Testament, faith is mainly used to refer to belief in the Gospel message: The good news that God provided a way for man to be freed from the penalty of sin through Jesus Christ.

Reading through these two letters and the instances in which Paul uses the word faith, I have come to two conclusions. 1. Faith is active and visible. And 2. Faith is like a muscle. Let's look a bit deeper at each of these.

Faith is active and visible. 

Paul begins both letters expressing that his prayers are full of thanksgiving to God for the faith the Thessalonians have. He hears from Timothy that their faith has stood up against the trials and suffering they continually face (1 TH 3:1-8). In fact their faith is enabling them to stand firm in the midst of those trials, and as a result "the Lord's message rang out" from them and was known everywhere (1 TH 1:8). Their faith was visible, it was evident and visible in their works  and in their labors of love (1 TH 1:3). To Paul, one's faith is proven genuine by the work or deeds one does as a result of their faith. We may even wonder, as a result of this, if a hidden faith is even true faith at all.

Faith is like a muscle.

Muscles need activity and exercise if they are to grow and stay healthy. Unused muscles often end up in a state of atrophy, they shrivel up, waste away and become useless. According to the words Paul uses alongside faith, the same is true of faith. Our faith can grow, strengthen, and increase or it can decrease, be tempted away, and be found lacking. Read some of the verses that describe these conditions: 1 TH 3:2, 5, 6, 7, 10: 2 TH 1:3. We are saved by grace through faith as a gift from God, and not as the result of anything we do (Ephesians 2:8). But Paul makes it clear that the faith that results in our conversion must continue to grow and be strengthened and, ultimately, be proven genuine. God gives us the gift of others in our life who pray for us, encourage us, and help strengthen our faith. He gives us His Spirit to help build our faith. And despite, how we feel about it, He gifts us with trials that test and refine our faith, that reveal our faith to others, and that ultimately show God's glory through us.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:8 Paul says to "put on faith and love as a breastplate". A breastplate is the metal armor used in ancient days to protect a soldier's vitals organs. Faith and love are the breastplate that protects our heart in the midst of spiritual battles and the trials and suffering we face in life.

I am using my Leuchtturm journal for my creative responses to this study. I decided to continue in this journal that I have been using for my word of the year, rather than starting a new journal. I am going to keep my art more on the simple side this time and mainly get creative with study notes. Plus a bit of cut paper here and there!

Today I would like to encourage you to try a Word Study with any of the words from Thessalonians. Hop over to the Bible Study Techniques page where you will find a document on how to do a word study. All the resources you need are a Bible and the internet.

Share your creative response, in in the conversation, and ask questions about Bible study or creative response in the Words Challenge Facebook group. Share your response on Instagram using #thessalonianwords.

Thessalonians Words Challenge

July 6 - August 5, 2020

It's been a while since I did a summer Words Challenge and the time just felt right to take one on. A friend at church asked me to do a Bible study with her this summer to help refresh her memory on study methods as well as to keep her accountable in the Word. So, since I am doing that study I thought I would turn it into a Words Challenge as well!

We will use 31 significant words to guide us through 1 & 2 Thessalonians from July 6 - August 5. In these two letters Paul writes to Christ-followers who are struggling to hold onto their faith in a time of great trial and suffering. He uses these letters to help encourage them to focus on Jesus and the hope of His return as an anchor during the trials they face. He calls them to a right perspective about how to live life as Christ-followers while holding onto the hope of Christ. Fitting topics for us in our current times while we live through a pandemic. May we also find encouragement for our faith from Paul's letters to the Thessalonians.

Click on image for a badge to download

The words of this challenge will provide us with opportunities to dig deeper into these books and inspiration to express what we discover through art journaling or other creative practices. That's my whole desire for Words Challenges. Daily devotions will be posted here on my blog and you can share your art and insights in a private Facebook group, while building community with others who enjoy Bible study and art. To join the Facebook community click the link here or on the button in the side bar.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wordschallengegroup/

With this Words Challenge I would also like to challenge anyone who is up for it to go deeper than simply reading my Bible Study Devotions. I have created a page with my Bible study tips and techniques. I would love it if you joined me in studying these letters as we go through the challenge. I have morphed together my own style of doing an inductive style discovery study and I will post different tools I use as the challenge progresses. Why not follow along! The Bible Study Tips and Techniques page can be found here or you can access it through the menu at the top of the page. I love to study the Bible and to teach others to study it as well. True spiritual transformation comes as we intimately connect with God through His Word and His Spirit, yet many Christ-followers are intimidated by study skills or feel they need seminary degrees to wade through study resources. This was not God's plan! We need to know how to study the Word of God for ourselves. How else can we grow deeply and understand how to live as a Christ-follower? How else can we know how to identify false teaching?  I have already loaded the first two pages of tips and techniques to get you started in advance. You may already know how to use the inductive study method, if so, join me in this study with your preferred method and give my techniques a try as well if you like.

Below is the calendar for the Words Challenge. Each word has a theme verse. Use these verses or content from your study to help you respond creatively. Creative responses can be anything you choose - art journal, collage, photography, poetry, Bible journaling, visual study pages...anything you choose! Taking what we have read or studied and adding a creative response is a way to meditate on the word - we take it from our minds to our hearts and our hands and visually express it to the world!

Click on photo to download a pdf to print

Use #thessalonianswords on Instagram.

It's Been A While...

It's been so long since I posted here on my blog. I've missed it, but the time of silence has been good. I have been in a place of drought creatively and it has impacted art journaling as well as my words. My words are such a big part of my creativity. 

This creative slump has been building over much of this year. It's not as if I haven't made art, it's just that I seem to have been on something like auto-pilot. I want to make art and write blog posts and interact on social media, and in my art groups. I have the urge and the desire to be creative, but the spark is just not there. I find myself losing focus and interest soon after I begin to make art or write. I sit and stare blankly at the page. So, I pushed through my Lent Words challenge, making pages for the words, but not really feeling connected to it. And I almost made it...but in mid-April even auto-pilot stopped.

It's frustrating when creativity - art and writing - is the thing that gives you energy, yet it is the very thing that eludes you. I've done the things that usually jumpstart my creativity: I've made a journal, made a bunch of background pages, tried painting papers, even tried cleaning my studio. And now it's May. May is always busy with the end of the school year. And busy is usually the enemy of my creative energy. So as I was writing in my journal the other day I was reminded of a word I explored a number of years ago. Liminal Space. (I wrote about it back in 2013: Here)

I have this habit I do periodically called "looking back in order to move forward". It's one of the benefits I find from writing regularly in journals. I look back over a few months and try to see if there are any patterns. Is there something that keeps popping up that may be an indicator that God wants to use it to form me in a deeper way. I tend to think of the spiritual life, and God's formation of us, like an onion. The layers are peeled back and the growth and the forming goes deeper and deeper as we mature spiritually. So while I may get frustrated at first when it seems like I'm going through something I thought I got through, it helps to remember it may just be a time that this particular issue or life lesson is forming deeper within me, enabling me to grow more in Christ's likeness.

This is where liminla space comes into the picture. From my blog post back in 2013:

"Most of us have not had much training in waiting...Richard Rohr calls this waiting place "liminal space"; liminal comes from the Latin word limina, which means threshhold." (Ruth Haley Barton) Quoting Richard Rohr:

"Liminal space, the place of waiting, is a unique spiritual position where human beings hate to be but where the Biblical God is always leading them. It is when you have left the tried and true, but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are finally out of the way. It is when you are between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer..."

Late last month I simply decided to embrace the liminal space, knowing that this too shall pass. I won't always be in this place of silence in between the comfortable and the not knowing. Embracing it allows it to become sacred space. It is in the silence that we can best hear God's voice.

And you know, as I have released struggling against the silence over the past few weeks, I'm feeling creative again - the words are returning and finding their way back onto my art pages and this blog.

Due to this creative slump I fell behind on a few letters in our A - Z inspiration challenge in the Living Your Word group. Here are my H and I pages. Bernice, Valerie and I all chose to use the word "how" for our H word and explore how we are doing with our journey with our Word of the Year. My word this year is sacred, and the main focus for me this year is restoring health ~ eating better, losing weight, and moving more ~ seeing my body as sacred as well as my heart, mind and soul. 

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group: Living Your Word of the Year

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I facilitate a Facebook group about Living your Word of the Year. In it we share insights through blog posts and connect with other like-hearted and like-minded people who want to live out a word focus throughout the year. We offer participants a bi-weekly A-Z Inspiration to help prompt reflection and creativity. as well as other inspirational ways to connect with your word of the year. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word throughout the year, explore new ideas, record thoughts, prayers, and events, you are invited to join our Facebook group.

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

Please use #livingyourword2019 on social media.

Check out the other blogs:
Bernice: www.newlycreative.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog