hope beams through

It has definitely been a unique season in my life. The gallery has been steadily moving forward. Definitely exciting for this blossoming downtown community and for us as local artists.

I remember times of prayer in the past years asking the Lord what to do with all of these paintings and Him sharing that a time and place would come for them.

We do need to step up to make many things happen in our lives, but there are also seasons we need to be patient with His timing.

I pray for you today…

May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!
Psalm 20:4-5 ESV

tune ups

Spirit Dance

Psalm 103:1-5

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Praise like prayer is not a one way street. It’s one of the most amazing parts of any relationship and especially with Father, Son and Spirit.

Even a simple hymn should not just be about hitting the right notes, but hitting the genuine heart strings.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11-12

That is something to praises about!!
Let our praises each day bring a deeper tuning of our hearts to Yours Lord…

 

Jesus prays for glory

 

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. Isaiah 60:2

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ 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. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

John 17

 

crowned with glory

Do we have to receive glory before we can give glory?? I often have five more questions arise when searching out answers.

In Ezekiel, those who encountered the glory fell facedown.
How often do we “fall” before the Lord?
I don’t think this was all their choice and effort of reverence to get on their knees.

Is that like the fear of the Lord, to also fear His glory?

Hebrew – kabod: abundance, honor, glory

We are to give glory to God but if He desires to give good and perfect gifts to us, should we be saying no to them?

Psalm 8
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Thank you Lord that we can come to You and Your Word with questions and when we ask for wisdom, You are willing and generous to give it. 

embracing unknowns

Untitled

This painting still brings me more questions than answers. I started it while in our worship service and then continued as normal while at home. It did not go in the direction I had planned.

It began with the dark underlay and I was layering lots of paint with the palette knife for texture and assuming the majority of the finished piece would actually be white tones with depths of red. At home as I continued the piece and the worship – I felt led to remove more and more paint. I was also taking many pictures along the way. It would have been good to write as I was experiencing this, but words were not there.

It was a very spiritual process as if it were a war in the heavenlies. This may seem like a dark painting in some ways but I was sensing the victory side for certain. My feelings were not ones of defeat, fear or worry but of conquering, overcoming and daring to engage.

Giving this a title is another question altogether!

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:1-5, 37-39

 

finding delight

Sometimes the most beautiful moments are found in the mess of unfinished things. 

Smelling fresh cut wood under the saw.
Sampling cookie dough.
Lathering shaving cream.
Seeing a sun burst through the clouds.
(Even in a construction zone!)

Everything and everyone is in process. 

We often hold off our enjoyment of life until something is completed, corrected or accomplished.

God brings so much goodness around us begging for our attention and praise…

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Psalm 111:2

I pray your senses will be further awakened to find new joy and delight in each day!

scripture inspiration

A recent “assignment” was creating something from scripture. I had done a previous piece from Psalm 23 and as I was reading with them, another section brought a different picture to me. It was definitely impacting to let the watercolors flow and create this more abstract piece.

Psalm 23:5
You anoint my head with oil…

Also making me think of this –

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. Psalm 133:1-3

conform or transform

One of my most impacting verses…

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 NIV

I’ve prayed in these verses for years and still love how they challenge me. I kind of liked my mind before and was learning to conform well. But oh what wonderful things happen when you give up what you are comfortable with or what seems good to get God’s much better perspective!

Renewing is a continual process – not a once and done thing. And transformed – means a dramatic change in form, appearance or character. When I first “came to Jesus” my life still looked pretty conformed to the rest of the world. Now is a different kind of messy that is definitely dramatically different!!

The first circle encaustic painting (wax w/oil pigment) was later melted and transformed.

Blues

Wings

What does this speak to you today?

To me it says – “Don’t settle for a pretty puddle when God wants to give you wings!”

never the same

a different view

Each year I eagerly await the transformation of one tree in my yard. I never catch the colors the same, especially waiting for a sunny day to take photos. Last week the glorious reds were gaining on the greens, now an abundance of golden hues.

All of creation changes so differently. Plants, creatures, people and weather! Definitely something we can be grateful for and other times, steadiness would be good Lord!

I think that is why I find great comfort that God is never changing. The only thing that can always be sure for us. The Creator of all.

I beautiful day of sunshine and simplicity.
Magnifying the Great I AM!

A lyric from years ago comes to mind….
“Just one touch from The King – changes everything!”
Godfrey Birtill (I was used to Old Man Worship Band singing :D)

high above

Living Waters

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.”
Isaiah 55:8-12

May even more hear Your voice Lord!