my baby dream…. October 19, 2009

Last night I had a really interesting dream. I don’t always have dreams that seem meaningful or spiritual, but this one most certainly is. I wanted to share this in the hopes that any of you who are currently pursuing a life dream or who soon will be, or who want to but might be scared, will find comfort and hope and promise in my dream. What I’ve been shown can be yours too!

I dreamed that I had previously given birth to a baby, but it was really small, like “UH OH small.” I was in some sort of a community building holding my baby. I am not sure what the building was, but there were a lot of people present. I saw mostly women, but a few men were there. All types of people from ultra funky to super “straight-laced” individuals were in the room. There were some chairs lined up in rows with people sitting in them, but some people were moving around the room as if they were working or busy.

I was holding my baby in a bowl and tightly wrapped my arms around her as if trying to protect her, walking through all the people praying for my baby — like GOING FOR IT prayer — like, “IN THE NAME OF JESUS this baby is healed prayer,” Gradually while I prayed, my baby started growing right there in front of my eyes!! And once the baby had grown a little, I noticed the head of the baby had holes in it. I know — it was kinda freaky. But, I kept praying and believing and sometimes I’d fall on the floor weeping, and people were shocked. People just looking at me -like- “Oh, that poor woman.” Or, “What is that lady doing??” Some people were believers and prayed with me. As I walked up the room I heard a guy say, “Now that’s a woman who knows how to pray!”

I just continued watching the baby grow as I walked and prayed and declared health over my child, and at the end of the dream, my baby’s head was healed and she looked healthy and whole.

The meaning seems pretty clear to me. God is confirming that I gave birth to my dream that He had placed in my heart years ago. I am to remain strong in Him, keep walking in faith and prayer and He will bring it to wholeness, health. Another thing that I thought of is, a baby is ALIVE. By placing my baby in a bowl, I think that means I was sheltering her from harm. I knew I had to protect the life that I had given birth to. Same with my Asheville dream. I have to protect it. When a dream is new, it is fragile. It must be cultivated and protected.

How relieving and peace-giving it was to be able to see a picture that confirms God is growing my dream into wholeness! It is so exciting!

So, protect your dreams, my friends! And know that if God has placed something in your spirit, He will make it happen!

<3

Sow into service November 24, 2008

I’ve been trying to write this blog for about a week, but couldn’t seem to focus enough to get it down. So, I’m determined to make it happen now….

The revelation that I’ve been working through lately is all about service. I have learned to appreciate and value the act of service for the past few years, but I haven’t really given it as much thought as I have recently. Why is service so valuable? What power is created when one person serves God and other people? 

“A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” – Galatians 6:7-10

From this passage, I find a curiously magical blessing: sowing into the Spirit of God unlocks eternal life. When we persevere in doing good deeds, we plant seeds that we can harvest later. When we serve others, we are pleasing the Spirit! How beautiful is this?! Service precedes abundance and creates a garden of life. 

I have come to embrace the bigness of the word “ALL” in scripture. Here, the command is to do good to ALL people as we have opportunity. I know I am guilty of seeing dozens of opportunities to bless and serve people throughout any given day, and more often than not, I feel like I have the right to pick and choose which opportunities I feel like taking. But, this passage urges me to do good to ALL. If I see a need that I am able to sow into, I am asked to do so. 

It has been made aware to me that service is healing for both the server and the one(s) being served. As I serve a person, I reap joy and peace and blessing just as the person I am helping does. Service causes the people on either side to get out of their circumstances and look up and out. We look up to the God who provides what is needed to accomplish the service, and we look out beyond ourselves to others around us.

If we are looking inward at our circumstances and issues for too long, we only have a very small frame of reference. I believe this is a major cause for depression, anxiety and fear. The Bible urges us to keep our gaze on Christ. Why is that? Because He is bigger than our circumstances. When we take our eyes off of ourselves, we see a bigger picture. We see a God who is Sovereign, a God who loves, a God who is the Source of all we need. We see people who are in need, people who are hurting, people who need love. And we realize that God is able to meet the needs of His people. And, then we become empassioned to be a vehicle for the Spirit of God to help those around us. 

I encourage you today to take your eyes off of yourself and look up at God, and then out to the world around you. Who needs a touch of God today? How can you be the tangible heart of God for those people? A hug, an errand, a word of hope, a task completed, a ride, a promise lived out, a random act of love…. these are all seeds that will create a harvest of abundant life if you commit to endurance.

Remember the words we all long to hear when our life on earth is finished: 
“Well done, my good and faithful servant.” 

Serve well! Serve now! And here you will find your peace and joy and abundance.

unlocked creativity October 16, 2008

I have found a whole other level in my creativity. It started with a prayer. And then the Holy Spirit must have gone completely bezerk in my spirit and soul. And then the colors came. And the visions, and passion got all wrapped up in there, and now I can’t stop painting and drawing. My art table literally has layers of glitter and paint. I can’t bring myself to wash it off. 

I had this amazing prayer experience where I went straight into the realm of God and I found Him all over again in a fresh way. He showed me how deeply I need Him and how deeply He loves me. I loved Him with all of my heart, soul, and mind. I communicated with the very heart of God. And art was the only way I could express what happened to me. 

I know this sounds so dramatic, and it was dramatic. There was a drastic shift in my spirit. I opened up a part of me that I think I closed 10 years ago. I remember in my childhood being able to paint freely and I’d paint for hours and talk to God while I painted. And then the devil successfully tried to steal my joy. And I listened to him and shut down the part of my creativity that was most freeing. I still did art, but it was different.

Finally, I surrendered and asked God to knock down the walls and open up my creativity again. And He was faithful. And I’m in love all over again. There is so much for me to say through my art. So much love and desire for God. So much gratitude for Christ and what He is doing through me. I see all of my dreams beginning to come true. Everything in my heart that I thought was forgotten, I now know God sees it all and cares about my heart down to the very last fragment and He is giving me the freedom to do it all for His Kingdom. It’s all for the glory of God.

I’ll post some artwork up as soon as I can, I’d really love to share it with you all.

Be aware of discouraged people August 8, 2008

Today I had the privilege of bringing some sunshine into a person’s life. I am writing this blog not to boast about what I did, because it had very little to do with me. I want to write this in hopes that you, too, will open your eyes to those around you and to ask the Holy Spirit to help put it on your heart to help encourage people who seem down, even if it seems like a small matter.

The truth is, we may never know how badly someone is hurting, and this is precisely what the lady at a Duluth Publix bakery counter reminded me today.

Earlier today a co-worker who works in the classroom next to mine walked down the hallway and she was in tears. I didn’t get the whole story, but I think another co-worker must have spoken some hurtful words to her. My co-worker had stayed a few minutes later to cover my shift yesterday when I had a horrible migraine headache and had to go home early. So, I felt like she needed to know she was appreciated.

The devil does a lot of nasty work in the hearts of us who feel rejected and unappreciated. He must not be allowed to win in that pursuit. We, as disciples of Christ should have super-sensitive vision to spot those people who are down and in need of a positive word or deed. Dare I say it would be almost a sin for us to pass by one of these people? That is a bold statement, but I won’t shy away from it.

Remember the story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10? Here is a refresher:
——–
30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36″Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
——

I don’t know about you, but “Go and do likewise” sounds like a command to me.

Back to the story about my co-worker:

So, I decided to go to Publix and get my co-worker a little treat to cheer her up. I had originally had the idea to get her a doughnut and have the bakery ice it with icing of her favorite color (pink) and put sprinkles on it. But, when I got to the counter I noticed a big chocolate chip cookie, and I asked the lady if she could ice it with pink icing, but she didn’t have any pink available. So, I told the lady that a co-worker was feeling down and I wanted to cheer her up. The lady commended me for my decision and suggested that perhaps she could draw a smiley face with icing on the cookie and then top it with sprinkles. I told her that was a great idea, so as she was working on the smiley face design she commented about how we never know what could set a person on the edge, and that there aren’t enough of us helping them. I agreed.

I thought back to a message I heard a Christian leader speaking about a few years ago. He spoke about a man who was working in some type of a business office and had planned on committing suicide that night. He had it all planned out — the music he would play, the way he would harm himself, the last meal he would eat. But, no one would have known it because he didn’t appear to be overly depressed. I’m embarrased to admit I don’t remember exactly what happened, but a co-worker for some reason had asked the man if he would have dinner with him or something, and the man shared with him that night that he had planned on killing himself. So, obviously this co-worker had saved his life!.

I may have botched some of the details of that story, but the message is clear… don’t overlook people when you feel led to help them in some way, whether or not they appear depressed. We just cannot know what it would take to send someone spiraling downwards. One word, one deed could literally be the difference between life and death for someone.

I don’t mean to send this blog into melodramatic territory. Far from it. It could actually be the most fun, joyful, happy thing to reach out to a hurting person. Their world could be darkness, but we bring the Light and Life to those who are in our world.

My co-worker was surprised and thankful to receive the decorated cookie. I may never know just exactly what God did in her heart today, but I hope the cookie and word of encouragement from me (by God’s guidance) was enough to make the negative word spoken over her fade into the background.

Who is down in your world? Remember, a word can change everything. And silence can speak louder than anything. So, speak up, step up and make someone’s day a little (or a lot) brighter!

I Forgot What I Was Saying June 29, 2008

This artwork is for the Altered/Collage Scrap Forums art challenge, which was to emulate the style of an artist named Eduardo Recife. He does a lot of grungy/raw artworks. I sort of merged some of his style with my own. I wanted mine to be different.

As with the previous entry, I just snapped a pic with my MacBook’s camera function because I left my digital camera in the car. So, it is a bit dark, but I thought it was kinda quirky and interesting nonetheless.

I found this image of the woman in a magazine ad for a store’s Wedding Registry. The title suggests the crazy bliss of being in love and how nothing else matters.

No / Yes. June 28, 2008

Here is the artwork I did for the Arty Girlz challenge. This is for the ongoing recycling challenge. I used a piece of recycled cardboard that came in a package with a pillowcase I bought. Also, I used small bits of salvaged decorative papers.

I left my digital camera in the car, so I just snapped a pic with my MacBook’s camera function! Silly, but it’s what I had in front of me!

The subject of this piece is sort of the battle between good and evil in my life. That is my “heart” in the middle, notice it is torn but put back together, and it is blooming as a flower. All around the piece I stamped the letters “n” and “o” (for the word “no”). I am saying no to evil, and I created a boundary all around the artwork which is protecting my heart. In the middle of the peace I say “yes” to God.. and thus is the reason for the word “yes” at the top of the artwork.

My Beauty April 6, 2008

 

This morning I am contemplating what causes me to know I am beautiful. The answer is true love. It is higher than earthly love. With all the ways the world tries to wrap up love it is no wonder women often become confused. 

The ultimate source of my beauty is The Lord, my God. The Lover of my soul. All the things on earth that can make me feel a piece of that holy beauty are gifts given to me from God Himself. The song that I am listening to right now is not in of itself a “Christian song.” But God knows what music I fall for. And so I enjoy it with Him. The way the wind moves around me in spring is yet another way God woos me with His love. Colors and textures in my art, are a way God and I enjoy each other’s creative romance. Soft kitty cat fur, watching children chase bubbles, Deep purple and rose sunsets, crisp mountain air and crunchy leaves under my feet as I climb up hills, all of these things are gifts from God. 

The warm, peaceful, confident presence of the Holy Spirit in my darkest moments and brightest victories — that is what true love is for me. The awareness that I belong to Someone and the heart knowledge that I will always be loved even when I mess up or trip up. It is like opening the door to my home every day and always finding a content, loving, happy, loyal Lover waiting for me. 

Although I am hopelessly single as single can be by the world’s definition, my status in The Kingdom is eternally married. I am in love with The Great I Am. The Savior of The World is my groom. Although my ring finger has always been without a wedding ring from an earthly lover, God Himself has chosen me and placed His own signet ring on my finger, letting the universe know that I am His. 

“For your Maker is your husband –

the Lord Almighty is his name –

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

he is called the God of all the earth.” 

- Isaiah 54:5

“The Lord Your God is with you,

he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing.” 

- Zephaniah 3:17

“I will betroth you to me forever;

I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,

in love and compassion.

I will betroth you in faithfulness,

and you will acknowledge the Lord“ 

- Hosea 2:19-20