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.

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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.

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Check out the other blogs:

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

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

Retreat and Surrender

Isaiah 30:15

Rest. 

Repentance - or "returning".

Quietness.

Trust....

Last weekend I attended a retreat called Refine. It wasn't what I expected. Most retreats I have attended in the past had sessions and workshops throughout the day and we were filled with information to process in our downtime. This retreat had limited information or content and was filled with downtime, a two-hour art journaling session, worship and some guided reflection time. At first I was a bit put off by the lack of content - isn't that what we pay for on a retreat, after all? But as it turned out, the way of this retreat was just what I needed. It was just what God had in store for me.

I have been in a slump, a dry place, especially creatively, since late January. We dealt with a family crisis throughout the month of February which drained me emotionally. Add to that a week of illness in the midst of it and I have struggled to regain any sort of creative energy. And then the time for this retreat came along. On Friday evening Kris Camealy, our retreat host, laid out the weekend and shared her heart for our time. Using Psalm 66:1-12, and especially verse 12, Kris laid out the theme for our weekend as "a place of abundance".

"For you, God, tested us;

    you refined us like silver....

we went through fire and water,

    but you brought us to a place of abundance."

Psalm 66:10 & 12

She called us to open our hands and release whatever we are holding onto that is holding us back from experiencing the abundance and freedom God has for us. On Friday evening and early Saturday morning I spent a good amount of time reflecting and journaling about this passage and the state of my mind and heart. And slowly I began to feel filled and rested. And then came the art journaling session led by Christine Hiester. 

Oh, the art journaling session.....Christine started  in a time of prayer and reflection to lead us into our art journaling time continuing the theme of open hands. My creative slump began to lift as ideas and images began to fill my mind. We filled our journal page, writing down the things that are holding us back, keeping us stuck, not allowing us to move in God's freedom. Then we covered our writing with paint and paper and and let the art flow! I felt so released and filled with creative energy! When the two hour session ended I quickly ate lunch and returned to the art room to keep going. When the afternoon art session began I simply switched rooms and made art until dinner time, feeling so refreshed by the creativity that filled my heart and my mind. I felt restored!

Over the past months, as I felt lost in this emotionally draining time, I didn't do the things I normally do to process life - journaling, art, blogging - I even had to miss scheduled times with my mentor during this time. I felt stuck and couldn't focus for long on these things that usually bring me life and energy. But this weekend in the midst of pine trees and the sacred surroundings of a retreat center that was once a convent; in the midst of a community of women, times of reflection, worship and downtime, God pulled me out of my slump and restored me. I am refreshed. My ability to journal and make art and blog has been renewed and I feel like...Me. A rested and restored me.

Since early January the word surrender, or synonyms such as let go or release, have been popping up everywhere. In songs, in books or blog posts I read, in Sunday morning messages. It popped up again at the retreat and became a theme for my weekend. 

On Friday night Kris said:

"The way to a place of abundance is through surrender."

My word for this year is "whole", and I have had a sense through the first few months of the year that "surrender" is going to play a big part in living out this word.

Through this past week as I have reflected on the retreat, I have had a deeper awareness of things I have known about myself. Sometimes God has to tell me things a few times before they sink into my heart. Repeated, gentle, loving reminders. My creative slunps are usually not about a lack of creativity. They are usually an indicator of a deeper draining within me. I have become aware of how intricately connected my spiritual, emotional and creative health and energy are. When I'm drained emotionally I find it difficult to write in my journal and read the Bible, and even at times to pray. When I'm not writing in my journal and connecting to God through His Word and prayer, I find that my emotional and creative energy are impacted. So, the best prescription for me to remain healthy is to keep my heart and mind connected to God through His Word and prayer and writing in my journal, and then processing it all through art.

"Come and hear, all who fear God,
And I will tell of what He has done for my soul." Psalm 66:16

We did a great exercise while at the retreat. We were asked to write down the baggage we brought with us onto pebbles. Things that were holding us back, things we didn't want to take back home with us, We were then told to leave them somewhere in the retreat grounds...leave them and don't take them back home.

Rest

Repentance

Quietness

Trust

Salvation

Strength

Surrender

Whole

Time Between the Old and the New

I really love this time of year. For two weeks life slows down for me. I enjoy taking time to look back over the past year and reflect on the happenings of my life, while at the same time looking for the direction God is pulling me in for the new year. I love the crisp, clean edges of a fresh new year, a chance for a fresh start. A year full of empty and clean white spaces on the new calendar.

Shelly Miller, of the Sabbath Society, calls this time at the end of the year, "Sabbath margin - a sacred stretch of time between what was and what is yet to be". What an apt description of wonderful time of year. As I move from a year of "Rest" - my 2016 word for the year, it seems that the word "restoration" is calling me to spend the next year journeying with it. Restoration feels like it is flowing out of my time in rest. So I'm sticking with it. Let's see what the new year holds!

"Sabbath margin - a sacred stretch of time between what was and what is yet to be."

But I'm not quite ready to leave 2016 behind. This past Monday the day was overcast but in the mid-50's -  a treat in the Midwest winter! So we decided to get out of the house a bit and went to explore our city's newest park Middlegrounds Metropark. This park is located in downtown Toledo on the banks of the Maumee River on ground that used to house the roundhouse for railroad shipyards. So while it is on the river, it is also planted in the middle of old industrial buildings, which made for some great scenery for those of us who love paint-chippy, rusty vintage things - including buildings! On our way out we passed the old Oliver House Hotel which now houses The Maumee Bay Brewing Company and a few other restaurants. They have great old-school advertisements painted on the brick exterior. Enjoy the photos and have a Happy New Year!

July Manifesto

In the One Little Word group I belong to our challenge for July is to come up with a manifesto that aligns with our intentions for the year and encourages us in our goals. My manifesto came to me easily because I immediately thought of a little saying my sister and I have been using for the past few months - "You don;t know until you try".

This year my word for the year is rest and right from the start of the year

One Little Word May

My word for 2016 is Rest. It has been both an encouraging and a challenging word. I chose this word for two main reasons: I lean toward burn-out often and I am trying to establish a rhythm or pace of life that incorporates downtime and includes the practices and things that give me energy. This is rest. And the second reason is I cannot do number one and juggle a very hectic and busy,yet satisfying, full time job in ministry without resting (depending) more on God. As I've written before, some years have been more successful than others as I have participated in Ali Edward's One Little Word. I am determined that this year I will connect with it all year. Ali's prompts and activities are really a great way to make my word an active part of my life. I did, however, skip April and am giving myself permission to be okay with that! For April I just did a quote on the divider page.

In May our challenge was to get behind the lens of our camera and take photos of things that capture our word for us. At first I thought it would be difficult to visualize rest, but then it really just became an exercise in capturing images of the things that bring me energy and help me rest.

(Photo: Church cemetery in Charleston, SC)

For me, the rest I seek most is to rest in God. Doing so brings great peace.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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

(Photo: Beulah Beach on Lake Erie)

(Photo: Church cemetery in Charleston, SC

(Photo: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge)

Not only do I enjoy birding and bird photography, but they are also a reminder to trust God - to rest in Him.

"Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26

The flip side of my May divider:

And the flip-side of my photo pocket page:

One Little Word March Review

So far this year two practices are working out well for me: participating in One Little Word and focusing on getting healthy by adding or changing a habit each month. So far this year I have focused on adding more vegetable servings in January, more fruit servings in February, and adding an exercise habit in March. My intent has been that in adding something for 30 days it would help that practice become a habit. So far it is working well! Since I was down with the flu for so long in March and didn't get started on the exercise habit until mid-month, I decided to make this my April focus as well. Plus, it's a big habit to make a regular part of my life and a big change for me, so an extra month of focus can't hurt!

I'm finding that the habit of focusing on a word for the year is very beneficial in my journey of getting healthier. My word this year is REST. I chose it for many reasons. I thought when I chose it that it would be mainly about further developing a Sabbath type rhythm of life - and that is one of my focuses for maintaining my health emotionally and spiritually. But one of the other reasons for choosing this word has actually become foundational in getting healthy. I'm choosing to rest (depend on, wait on, lean on) God as I try to become healthier physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I find that it is this habit and focus that is enabling progress and success as I try to change bad habits and add healthier ones. 

Ali Edward's prompts and exercises have really helped me, not only focus on practicing my word for the year, but also in focusing on the practices to help make healthy practices become lifestyle habits. March's prompt was to create a vision board using magazine clippings which I wrote about a few weeks ago here. I took a picture of my vision board and added it to my OLW binder as well as adding in some other pages to record my journey.

March divider 

I continued using last month's practice chart.

I have joined an online exercise community called Daily Burn which enables me to participate in an exercise program at home rather than going to a gym. I am really enjoying their True Beginner program with instructor Justin Rubin. This program is helping me build strength and mobility as I try an exercise program for the first time. Justin has a lot of sayings that he uses to encourage us so I included some of them in my binder.

The top one - "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you." - fits well for all of the areas I'm trying to get healthier in.

Hoping you all have a great week!

A Little Art Journaling 2016

I am so glad I decided to participate in Ali Edward's One Little Word group this year. Over the years that I have selected a word to focus on I have gone up and down in my experience with it. Some years engaging in activities with my word has resulted in that word having a significant impact on my life. Other years have been lackluster and my interaction with my word has been sporadic, and thus the impact has not been great. This year I find I am fully engaged and experiencing change in my life as a result of it. Now, I'm not going to say that choosing a word changes one's life, like there's something magic in the process. But I will say that the process of focusing on a word that you then connect activities and introspection to help you set yourself up for improvement and change. This month our challenge was to create a vision board connected to our word and goals and to do this by cutting out words and phrases from magazines. This project started out slow for me. I started leafing through magazines and tearing out pages with words and phrases that spoke to me, but as my stack of pages grew things just didn't seem to connect with my intentions for the year. I pressed on and started adding background papers to my canvas and then images from magazines. Then I started cutting out the words and phrases and playing around with them. I cut out many more than I actually used and in the process I discovered that it was a part of the process. As I shuffled words and phrases around things just started falling into place and the result was a vision board that really seems to fit where I'm at right now and where I want to go. (I wrote some about my word and why I chose it here.)

The thing lately that has really been challenging me is getting out of my comfort zone and challenging myself to change habits and get healthy in different areas of my life. 

My favorite magazine is Art Journaling by Somerset Studios. I look forward every month to its arrival in my mailbox and I save every issue and comb through them again and again to gather inspiration. So when I received the new issue in the mail this week the only thing out of the ordinary was that its arrival was a little early. When I opened the plastic envelope, however, is when I got the surprise.

I've had the thrill and honor to be published in this magazine twice now, but both of those times I knew about it in advance. This time it was a total surprise! They have a feature in each issue called "The Written Word" where they highlight different ways artists use hand lettering on their art journal pages. It was in this section that they used one of my pages from a previous issue. It's so exciting seeing something I made in a magazine and something I never would have imagined would happen to me.

Around here the birds are starting to sing in the mornings. We see Robins and red-winged blackbirds...all signs that Spring is just around the corner. Spring is my favorite season. Everything is fresh and new and each day brings changes to the scenery. Happy first day of Spring!

My One Little Word 2016 ~ Rest

It's the middle of March already and I haven't really shared much about my word for 2016. Selecting a word to focus on has been a valued practice for me for a number of years now. Some years my word has really impacted my life and other years my word has just kind of been in the background not doing much. I made the decision that this year I would throw myself wholeheartedly into having this be a year where my word has a big impact on my life. This means I am taking my time and letting the prompts and exercises steep like a good cup of tea and I'm not being driven by the calendar.

Flip-side of my January divider page

A good quote to start the focus this year.

So, why did I choose REST as my word this year? There's a lot encompassed in this word for me. First, and foremost, it is about resting in God and trusting Him. I want to live wholeheartedly and that can only come as we walk in step with God and what He has for our lives. I'm resting in Him to focus on getting healthy this year - changing how I eat, exercising, looking at emotional and mental health, and keeping away from things and outlooks that cause burnout for me. This year I am intentionally slowing down in order to focus. In fact, I am focusing on four areas: spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical. I'm setting goals in all of those areas. My focus this year is to try and change or add a new habit each month and then build on them for health. In January I focused on adding more servings of vegetables to our diet - I've gotten really creative with adding spinach to many dishes to increase the vegetable intake!

Definitions, synonyms and a Scripture verse to support my word.

There has been a lot happening surrounding my focus on Rest in the first few months of the year and it feels like a really good start.

February divider

Flip-side of Feb divider

My Intentions & Goals this year

Following along with Ali Edward's prompts and the OLW community help me stay focused and keep creative ~ creativity is one of my emotional ways of staying healthy! I highly recommend her class.

Tracking my February practice - eating more fruit

February begins the practice of Lent

Each year I embark on a journey, but this year the word "pilgrimage" seems to fit my direction better. A pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place ~ that holy place for me is called REST. What journey are you on this year?

New in my Etsy shop, {found on brighton}:

Have a good weekend. I am off to our staff retreat this evening and tomorrow.