P is for Prayer, Philippians and Preaching

This summer I ended up taking some unplanned sabbatical time in a few areas of my life. This blog ended up being one of those areas. It was unintentional, as were the other areas I took a break from, but all of them were good. As summer draws to a close and school starts, I find I have a good energy.

This year has been a year of ups and downs creatively, and it feels like there is change on the horizon. The problem is that I don't know what it looks like yet. What I do know is I simply need to be patient and trust in God. He will lead me and reveal what is ahead in His perfect timing.

Taking these unintended sabbaticals freed up time for a few things I had not planned on and ended up enjoying. All summer I have met weekly with a friend who wants to learn inductive style Bible study in order to lead women's studies in this manner. It's been quite a while since I have taught Bible study skills and I have been reminded of how much I enjoy teaching these skills to others. That may be a part of the change that is coming. I'm thinking about ways to incorporate some of these Bible study lessons in my blogging.

Our Living Your Word Facebook group is doing an A-Z Inspirational Challenge this year as a way to stay connected with our word for the year. My word for 2019 is sacred. Throughout this year I am exploring what it means to live a sacred life as God calls us to in His Word.

For N I chose nature, as any time spent outside enjoying what God has created always nurtures my soul.

For O I chose obedience and then came across a quote that Kathy Shaull had posted on Instagram. It fit this word perfectly!

For the letter P I selected prayer. There has been a passage in the book of Philippians that I have been memorizing and studying over the past six months. After I made this page for P I realized I had used the same passage on my J page back in early June. But then I have been on a journey with it so it makes sense that it would continually pop up!

 Immersing myself in memorizing and studying this Philippians passage opened up an opportunity for me to share my journey this past Sunday at my church. We are in a series on prayer and my pastor gave me the privilege of preaching through this passage and sharing about the experience of memorizing it and how that has changed my prayer life. If you are interested you can listen to me here.

I have had a few adventures over the summer, but those will wait for another post. My sabbaticals are over and school began this week. This school year is the start of my 14th year leading our church's ministry in adopting a public school. My passion for this ministry has not waned. There have been seasons of burn-out over that time, but my passion for it has increased. Last year we added the high school in our neighborhood to our ministry and this year we increase the number of schools that are served through our school supply pantry to seven. God has taken what a few churches began and He has created a  movement in this city of churches adopting public schools and serving the community with His love. We ended last school year with 33 of our 53 public schools having church partners. I am so blessed to be a part of it!

So, as I end my sabbatical from blogging and look ahead at how it may change in the coming months, I welcome feedback in the comment section below from those of you who have followed this blog. Would the addition of Bible study tool/skills posts be a benefit to you? If so, what are some skills you would be interested in reading/learning more about? 

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

June in Review

Summer is here and the busyness of the school year winds down for just a bit. It amazes me when I think about the fact that my daughter graduated from high school 18 years ago! The first year after she graduated it felt strange not to have the school year dictating our schedules and our calendar. We got past that - along with numerous other empty nest transitions! But then our church began a ministry to the elementary school nearby, and I soon became the leader of that ministry, and over the past 11 years I find that the school year once again has the greatest impact on my schedule and calendar! So, while I am not a teacher or a school employee, I find I release a huge sigh in June when the calendar and the schedule slows down for a while.

The Battle Within

I am both a passionate person and a person who gets discouraged easily. At times it is very difficult to live with both of these qualities within me at the same time. They war within me, battling to see which one can keep the forefront of my mind. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? But you know what, I think you resonate with what I'm saying. We all have a battle within us between who God made us to be and who we struggle with being in our human reality. This is the nature of sin. This is the fallen world. Last week the discouraged me won out. I had some let-downs and I was still worn-out from the flu. To make matters worse, I let that voice of discouragement within me leak into the visible, audible world. I put that discouragement and doubt and disappointment to words - out loud.,I sometimes wonder if what I/we are doing in life and in ministry is worth it. I struggle sometimes with the loneliness that comes from people not getting involved in the world around them outside of their own family or their church friends. I struggle because when I read God's Word and see Jesus' examples I read and see a call to get outside of ourselves, outside of our comfort zones, and give ourselves away - radically and sacrificially to people who are not like us, to people who live in a world that is without God and without hope(Ephesians 2:12-13). And that's how I felt last week and that's how I ended up in discouragement; how I ended up in letting discouragement win out over the passion God has placed within me. And then yesterday God gave me a gift - He let me have some insight into the world He sees. 

I don't know why I haven't spoken much on this blog about the ministry work I am involved in. It is, after-all, my blog. And it dawned on me last night that I can write about whatever I want here. I may offend some, but then, hey, you the reader, can choose not to read it. You see, the purpose for me blogging is not for you the reader. (Sorry!) I blog because it is another creative outlet for me.. I blog because there is often a lot of things floating around up in my head and writing on my blog helps me formulate it all and make it cohesive. I blog for me. And so last night as I was pondering my day and my week I was struck with the thought that I want to blog about it.

I sat in church surrounded by a bunch of kids who I call my god-grandchildren, hugging them and loving on them. I looked around me and saw single moms and teachers and kids who all come to our church now because we stepped out of our comfort zone ten years ago and adopted a public school. They are a part of my family now because we heard God call us to get outside of ourselves and serve and love people who are different than us. I saw a young lady who is struggling with addiction and felt God compel me to tell her from Him that it is time for her to be free. And I did and we talked and hugged and cried together. I helped a young man with a homework project after church and shared my love for photography with him and taught him some things. When I took him home I saw one of the teens I haven't seen in a while and gave him a ride to his job. He shared how well he is doing in high school, being on the honor roll, doing well in his job, his plans for his life. I saw his mom who just got a part time job (I think her first) and has stopped drinking and is getting life together at last for both of them. All these things were a glimpse of God giving me encouragement that getting outside of yourself, beyond your own family, outside of your comfort zone is exactly what He has called His people to do - and it is worthwhile. God gave me a glimpse of the impact sacrificing and loving and serving has had on a group of moms and kids and school staff. He showed me that lives have been changed because we were obedient to His call and took the Kingdom of God to the world around us.

Jesus said:

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

If you call yourself a Christ-follower then this is your call: to follow the Jesus way, to embrace His truth and to live His life. How?

He also said: ",,and anyone who does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:38-39. Friends, we have to live as Jesus did, sacrificially giving our lives away for Him and for the sake of those who are far from Him. There is an economic principle at work in God's kingdom that doesn't make sense to those who don't follow God. When you give away your money, your time, yourself for God's work then He makes sure your family, your provision and your life are taken care of. So many people tell me they can't get involved in what God is calling us to because they have to take care of kids, homeschool, take care of people in the church family - It's all self-focused and self-centered. Sure we have to have things in place to take care of ourselves, our family and our church family, but that's not the end-run. God's ways are the end-run. When we do what God has called us to do then He provides what is needed to take care of His own. Step out of your comfort zone for God.

Because Jesus also said: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself." Mark 12:30-31

And He said: "As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

How will "all people" know that we love one another and that we are Jesus' disciples if we never get outside of ourselves, our comfort zones, our families, our church family? How will they see it?

Well, that's the good, the bad, and the ugly of my life this weekend. I am so grateful that despite my struggle with discouragement and despite how often I fail at loving and forgiving those in my church family and in my biological family, that God graces me with a glimpse of how He is using my willingness to get outside myself to help Him impact and change the lives of others. I am blessed with His free gifts of love and grace.

If I have offended anyone reading my blog I apologize. It's my blog. If you don't like what I have to say then, by all means, close the screen. Don't read it. But if you are a Christ-follower then I ask you to read God's Word and pray about how He is calling you to give up your life, follow Him and His ways and get outside of your comfort zone. Serve the people around you who do not know Christ and allow Him to use YOU in their lives for God's glory.

And guess what? You'll see a lot more about ministry here in the future...along with art and photography, kids and birds.

Another gift this weekend was seeing an Eagle on my sunrise beach walk!

We had our staff retreat this weekend on Lake Erie. Saturday morning I went for a sunrise walk on the beach. Even though it was 33 degrees and brisk, the sky was clear and the sun was out and it was so refreshing! All photos in this post are from that walk.

Frost 

Change and Advent Day 9

For the past year I have been a part of the foundation team for the His Kingdom Come faith art community. Helping to start this community has been a great experience and I have gained many wonderful friends all over the world. I discovered through coordinating the weekly devotional studies for the Take Me Deeper group that I really enjoy writing. However, in the past few months my job responsibilities in  my full time ministry job have changed and require more creative energy. One thing that I have found to be true of myself over the past few years is that, while I totally love being creative, it requires energy. Energy that I can't dig down and manufacture when I get overly tired and stressed out. So I have had to make the hard decision to step back from a few things in order to maintain that creative energy and keep myself from burnout. As you can imagine keeping up the weekly devotions and other duties I have for HKC, along with trying to maintain my own blog and Etsy shop, along with a full time job in ministry that generally will go far beyond a standard work week, has been difficult to juggle. My new responsibilities at my job will require creativity and writing as I take on keeping our church website and blog up-to-date. I have made the hard decision to step down from the HKC foundation team in order to be able to devote more time and energy on my own blog and shop and on the church blog and website. 

In all honesty, I went into the HKC foundation team with some hesitation. Only because I know from past experience that when a hobby becomes work it can be difficult to continue to enjoy the hobby. I managed a cross-stitch and quilt shop for 8 years and when I left that job to go into ministry I stopped both of those hobbies and never picked them up again. I enjoy art journaling and mixed media art too much to let this happen again. They have become more than hobbies to me and finding art journaling when I did was used by God as a tool for healing when I was dealing with issues of burnout. So it seems that spending one year helping the HKC community get started has been a good thing without it becoming something I don't want it to become. 

Today I sent off the last week of Advent devotions for the community and that ends my official responsibilities with HKC for 2015. Change is always bittersweet. There is sadness in leaving something you have put so much time and energy into. There is some melancholy in having relationships that have been daily and weekly experiences change. But there is also excitement and anticipation over the new adventures and opportunities that lay ahead. 

I have selected my word for the year for 2016 as is my tradition over the past few years. This year my word was RENEW as I felt there were areas in my life that needed renewal and restoration. In many ways that has taken place in 2015 and I will write more about that in the weeks ahead. Over the past few years as I have become more connected with the realities of being an introvert, I have partaken in activities of silence and solitude before the Lord. These are activities and practices I want to spend more time in next year. At first I thought that solitude would be my word next year, but after more thought and prayer, it seems that the word REST encompasses so much more of what I am after. And it includes solitude. I don't mean rest as in needing sleep or a break from activity. I am looking at REST more in terms of Sabbath rest, spiritual rest, being still and resting in the Lord. Again, I'll explore that more and write about it in the weeks and months ahead. 

Needless-to-say, my decision to step down from the HKC foundation team is tied up in this also. Next year I have a few art groups I will be participating in and exploring more areas of art and I will stay a participant in the HKC community. But I intend to slow things down as much is possible and explore what it means to REST - body, mind and soul. I will remain open, as always, to going after whatever opportunities that God places on my path. Life is a journey and I am enjoying the process!

My Advent Rolodex art card for day 9:

Today's Advent devotion for the HKC community can be found here

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30 Day Blogging Challenge day 21.

Blessed To Be A Blessing

This morning I find myself thinking about blessings for a number of reasons:

• This is today's topic over at Bernice Hopper's challenge blog, The Art of Practising Gratitude, and I just happen to be the guest blogger today. Be A Blessing Post 
  
• The past few weeks have been very busy but, thankfully, I have spent a lot of time with kids, and kids are a blessing to me. I never felt a "call" to do ministry with children. It's never been a passion of mine. But back in 2005, when God called our church to reach out to the neighborhood surrounding the church, and adopting a public school was the way He was leading us to do this, I got connected with doing what He called us to do. And over the years, as I have tried to be faithful to serving as God has called our church to, these kids have grabbed hold of my heart and God has created a new passion and calling for my life. 
  
• Last weekend I chaperoned 12 kids, ages 7-15, for a weekend at a camp we are associated with called Youth Haven Ranch. It wasn't really an easy weekend. There was petty squabbling in the car, a trip to the ER, not much sleep, and some pouting and pre-teen drama. BUT, in the midst of all that I enjoyed what I always enjoy at camp: watching kids get loved on and told about how much God loves them. A couple of our kids were there as "Leaders in Training" and I was so proud watching them. Just five years ago they were among the first of the little kids we took up to camp, who were loved on by the team leaders, and now they spent the weekend giving themselves over to serving kids. 
  
• When I got home from camp on Sunday, my step-daughter, her husband, and her step-sons were at the house waiting to share part of Mother's Day with me. During their visit, my daughter in Charleston, SC called and it was almost like we were all together. I'm so proud of my beautiful adult daughters and the lives they have made for themselves.
• Working in full time ministry isn't always easy. Working with people isn't easy. There are many times I'm worn-out and worn-down by it. But today, I am reminded of the many blessings God has given me and many of them are a result of being in full time ministry. I am blessed.
  

Art journal pages made for The Art of Practising Gratitude challenge guest blog post:

Out With the Old..

I have been absent from this blog for almost a month. I finished up the busy Christmas season at work, got ready for the holiday and the week of Christmas recovering my energy and my soul. Downtime is so good for the soul. :)

For the past few weeks I have had a sense of anticipation for the new year ~ fresh starts, new beginnings - a new year always brings with it a sense of being able to start over and this year I just feel like I want to move beyond some things and get on with life. But more on that in a future post (hopefully this weekend). Before I get too much into looking ahead at the new year I want to finish the old.

I didn't get to participate in Advent creatively as I have done over the past few years. I just didn't have the creative energy this year. I followed an Advent devotional online and participated in the planning and conversation at church, even giving the 4th Sunday Advent message and candle lighting (it can be found here: http://gracetoledo.org/2013/12/advent-peace/). But Advent art journaling just didn't come easily this year. This is the only page I made:

The cry of Advent is my desire for the year ahead. The past few years have been rough for me on a number of levels and I'm ready to move out of that place of feeling down and stuck. I need a fresh dose of hope and it is only through the God of hope that it can be found. Again, more on that in future posts.

My current altered book art journal is so close to being complete. I have only 3 or 4 pages left to journal on and it is done. This is a great accomplishment for me. I am such a great starter, but I have numerous unfinished art journals on my shelf. Most of the time I'm okay with this. I think it goes along with just letting myself flow creatively and being okay with that. But I have also discovered a clue to my finishing a journal: no theme. For some reason I can't connect with now, when I first began art journaling I felt I needed to have themed journals. But the problem is that I carry so many things in my head that I would need too many themed journals to keep up with and that may be why they don't always get finished. I move on to the next thing that has captured my attention. (Wow, that sounds rather A.D.D.) With my current journal I didn't care about theme. It contains everything from this past year and therein lies my secret to completing journals! So as I wrap up my current journal here are some of the pages I've completed in the past month:

That pretty much wraps up 2013 for me. I am so ready for 2014 and am glad it is here! Hopefully you will hear from me again in the next few days and we can begin the next chapter!

Commonplace

My friend Jean sent me a text message last week suggesting that I google "common place books". So I did. I don't know how I've never run across this term before! Here's one definition of the practice of "commonplacing":

"Commonplacing is the act of selecting important phrases, lines, and/or passages from texts and writing them down; the commonplace book is the notebook in which a reader has collected quotations from works she or he has read. Commonplace books can also include comments and notes from the reader."  (From "Commonplaces: An Introduction" by John Hilgart and Van Hillard

Some other definitions:

• A book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.
• A notebook in which you enter memorabilia.
• The recording of words and ideas in a commonplace.

It turns out that I have been "commonplacing" all of my life. As a teenager I used to write down poems and quotes I liked and kept them in a "diary". As an adult, when I started keeping written journals, alongside my thoughts and prayers I have filled my journals with quotes and passages from books, lyrics from songs, quotes from conferences I've attended, and quotes from pastors Sunday messages. In recent years I've carried this practice into art journaling, combining what I've practiced in my written journals with art.

I'm a note-taker. I take notes during the sermon every Sunday. I take notes at conferences, during meetings, even during conversations at times. I take notes while I read books. There is something about writing something down that cements it into my mind and my heart. It is also a habit I developed through the years to help me stayed focused. I suffer from a wandering mind syndrome. The note taking during sermons and conferences keep me from getting distracted by any form of movement or noise that goes on around me. Note taking during meetings or conversations help me stay present and come back to something I want to say without interrupting (most of the time!). Note taking keeps me engaged.

And now that I art journal, taking this practice and adding color and texture and paper and ink and paint thrills me and fills me to no end!

I like the name "commonplace". I have a box full of my written journals from 20+ years. Occasionally I will re-read them. I especially like to do this at the end of the year and look back over the past year and see growth, or lack of growth, or to remind myself of where I have journeyed over the year. When re-reading my journals I often will come across the quotes I've recorded from books and usually will return to that book and read the passages again. I have a habit (good or bad will be determined by each person's opinion) of reading multiple books at the same time. I have books I'm reading that go along with whatever we're studying for our Creative Team meetings at work. I may have a book I'm reading to help me with a particular problem or interest. Our staff team does a weekly book study, so I have that book I'm reading. I usually have a book that I read along with Scripture and prayer each morning that is a part of my time with God. The downside to this habit is that many times I don't finish all the books when I have started them. But my practice of commonplacing helps me return to them when I have re-read a quote or passage.

So, now, thanks to Jean, I have a name for this practice I've done most of my life in one form or another. It makes me happy - the practice and the name. :)

My most recent "commonplace" art journal pages:

All of these quotes happen to be from the book we are reading for our staff book study; Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry by Ruth Haley Barton. It's a great book and one I highly recommend for anyone who is in ministry vocationally ~ paid or unpaid. I am especially appreciating her chapter on spiritual rhythms and our need to heed God's command on us to rest.

Blogging and sites like Tumbler and Pinterest seem to me to fit into the category of commonplacing in out tech age. My friend Jean uses her Tumbler blog as a commonplace space. http://jyholt.tumblr.com/

Do you have a commonplace type of practice?

One Word for 2013

Over the years I have selected a word at the beginning of the year as a word to guide my thoughts and goals for the year. I spend time praying about it. I look over my journals for the past year looking for where God may be pressing in on me, areas that need attention, areas in my life that are ready for more spiritual transformation. So, this year my word is...

It's so easy in life to drift, to slowly allow things to effect us in ways that eventually change us, whether we're aware of it or not. For me, I've battled over the past few years with drifting into negative thinking. I don't know exactly how it happened or when it began. I think there's been a thread of it within me all my life, but recently I've noticed that it's become more dominant. I think in part it's a dark side to my nature. I'm a visionary thinker. I see pictures of how things in life should be. I get pretty passionate about affecting change, especially in my job in the church. Reality often is far from the vision of how things should be and it's often very hard being instruments for change. These battles tend to make me weary, and when I am weary I'm not as good at balancing my attitudes. I've been weary for a number of years and this is where I believe the drift toward a negative outlook has crept in. I have not enjoyed noticing this drift. I've always had a fairly positive outlook, even through many years in my life of facing difficult life situations and trials. It has been a tough battle for me over the past few years to try to figure out how to change this attitude/perspective drift. It has been a constant part of my prayer life and I've spent a lot of time looking at this with my pastor/mentor over the past few years. Some of the practices I've made a part of my life have come about as ways to try to keep the weariness at bay, as I have become aware of how much the weariness/burn-out tendencies feed this negative outlook. Practices such as art journaling, making "white space" in my week, self-discovery, balancing my schedule, and doing things that re-energize me on a regular basis help keep me from drifting into weariness.

Then a few months ago I started noticing that many times in Scripture prayer and thanksgiving are connected. For example: 

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
And this study led me to looking at making gratitude a practice. This practice of gratitude and its effects on changing my perspective is what I intend to explore throughout the year.

As a way of keeping me focused and on track through the year, I have joined Ali Edward's group/class "One Little Word". It is more scrapbook based, which I'm not into, so I have made a journal to art journal my journey with this word. Ali's first challenge for the month of January was to create a list of 12 intentions that fit our word to use as guidelines through the year. It was a good practice for focusing in on areas to concentrate on for the year...to be intentional in creating a journey for growth.

The start of my Gratitude Journal ~ an altered book, of course!

First page.
The quote from Ali Edwards reads:
"A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything."

Gratitude definition and synonyms

My intentions for making gratitude a way of life.

The first few weeks of this month/year have started out very busy ~ hosted a baby shower, finishing and presenting the church budget, some draining issues to work through with some people ~ I'm ready to get back on track. Ready to re-connect with the very practices I spoke of above! 

One Picture

Through Pinterest this morning I ran across this picture:

{shaungroves.com}

 

It made my heart pause and then leap inside me. I love this verse. I dream about this verse. This verse gives passion and fuel to my life and ministry. I dream about the church here on earth reflecting this verse. As Jesus prayed, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". {Matthew 6:10}, I often pray that pictures I see in Scripture, such as this, may be realized in the here and now as they will be in heaven. This verse and pictures such as this make my heart long for racial reconciliation and for denominational lines to become blurry. It encourages me in working with families and children in low income situations. It gives me strength to push on in our ministry to public schools and their neighborhoods.

 

{classroomcollectivetumbler.com}

 

It also stirs in me to become more and more about promoting love of each other in the Body of Christ. Our unity and love for each other enables us to show the world the Incarnate Christ and helps draw people to HIM. "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given then the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one; I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." {John 17:20-23}

 

Oh, how I need to grow in love for my brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

I love how art and Scripture come together for me and encourage me in my faith! All of this from viewing a picture on Pinterest! Let me leave you with one more:

 

{shaungroves.com}

 

And my favorite picture from camp last summer: