Abundant eating.
Always Jesus. "Glory to God in the highest..."
Perpetual motion, hilarity, and teaching moments.
Snowshoeing.
Making Art, the snowman.
Crafting orange pomanders.
Snuggling with Grandpa and delighting in kitties.
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Sunday, December 29, 2024
Rejoicing
We rejoice that Hannah's increasing strength meant she was able to cut our Christmas tree this year.
We rejoice that Dad and Mom were spared in a car accident last month, even though it meant that Dad was not able to cut down our Christmas tree while his ribs recover from seat belt injury.
We rejoice that our Savior was born.
"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
- Luke 2:10-11 -
Monday, February 26, 2024
Treasures Mined
Have you ever worked so hard for something that it becomes much more precious than had it just been handed to you? The toil and maybe a pint or two of blood, sweat, and tears makes the end result more special to you, don't you think?
That is the way it is with the verses I have chosen for my stickers. Each piece of Scripture was extracted from reading the Word through days, no, years of brain fog and deep need. The verses were scribbled down into notebooks, poignant truths that touched my heart in the midst of the storm.
My hope is that these treasures mined from the depths will extend their glittering beauty and worth into your life as well.
That is the way it is with the verses I have chosen for my stickers. Each piece of Scripture was extracted from reading the Word through days, no, years of brain fog and deep need. The verses were scribbled down into notebooks, poignant truths that touched my heart in the midst of the storm.
My hope is that these treasures mined from the depths will extend their glittering beauty and worth into your life as well.
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
In the Shop
If you love watercolors, inspiring Bible verses, and stickers, you may want to check out my Etsy shop.
Monday, October 2, 2023
Life is Uppermost
As I watch lemony yellow leaves flutter from our magnificent cottonwood tree while a light breeze shakes its aging leaves, words I seem to remember reading in the past float through my mind. "IN DEATH I LIVE." Was it a quote from Lilias Trotter? A remnant of the verse, "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him" (Romans 6:8)? As I ponder these words, I think of the deaths I have experienced.
My life has seen its share of death. I have been by the blessed bedsides of dear family members as they were lifted out of their used-up bodies into the arms of Jesus. I count these experiences of watching a LIFE TRANSFORMED from a broken world into the awesome presence of our loving Creator as some of my most precious gifts.
Another kind of death I have experienced is the death of dreams. While painful at the time, these experiences too I count as gifts. As I have been compelled to give up personal plans for my life, I HAVE RECIEVED SOMETHING SO MUCH BETTER - the perfect will of God in my life. In the death of my plans, I have received the peace of knowing that the One who loves me beyond comprehension and knows what the future holds orders my days.
There is another death that has brought life that I have been blessed beyond blessed to experience. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; BUT IF IT DIES, IT BEARS MUCH FRUIT" (John 12:23, emphasis added). Just as Jesus died and rose again in order to raise many more to eternal life, so I too, because of His substitutionary death, have died and risen again in a spiritual sense. On the day many years ago that I repented of my sin (sin is the lasting death which brings no life in its wake) and accepted the love of God, Jesus raised my soul out of the groveling pit of sin to eternal life. The life I now have is fruitful as I surrender my faulty human will to His perfect will. Yes, it is a death of sorts to give up my own will. But just as the death of a flower is what leads to abundance of life through its seed or as the death of the leaves of my giant cottonwood provides life giving nutrients to future plants through their decomposition, so my surrendered life can now produce the fruit for which it was originally made. Praise God for this death to eternal death that leads to life, a life of fruitfulness and multiplication in the Kingdom of God! And this life isn't such a bad deal for me either. While I will experience pain and loss on earth, I know that these troubles are light and momentary in comparison with the eternal glory of heaven (see Romans 8:18).
In her book, Parables of the Cross, Lilias Trotter wrote these words beside her detailed painting of a bed of lush and colorful moss atop a decomposing mound of brown plant matter. "This bit of sphagnum shows the process in miniature: stage after stage of dying has been gone through, and each has been all the while crowned with life... YES, LIFE IS THE UPPERMOST, resurrection life, radiant and joyful and strong, for we represent down here Him who liveth and was dead and is alive for evermore" (Lilias Trotter, "Parables of the Cross", emphasis added).
My life has seen its share of death. I have been by the blessed bedsides of dear family members as they were lifted out of their used-up bodies into the arms of Jesus. I count these experiences of watching a LIFE TRANSFORMED from a broken world into the awesome presence of our loving Creator as some of my most precious gifts.
Another kind of death I have experienced is the death of dreams. While painful at the time, these experiences too I count as gifts. As I have been compelled to give up personal plans for my life, I HAVE RECIEVED SOMETHING SO MUCH BETTER - the perfect will of God in my life. In the death of my plans, I have received the peace of knowing that the One who loves me beyond comprehension and knows what the future holds orders my days.
There is another death that has brought life that I have been blessed beyond blessed to experience. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; BUT IF IT DIES, IT BEARS MUCH FRUIT" (John 12:23, emphasis added). Just as Jesus died and rose again in order to raise many more to eternal life, so I too, because of His substitutionary death, have died and risen again in a spiritual sense. On the day many years ago that I repented of my sin (sin is the lasting death which brings no life in its wake) and accepted the love of God, Jesus raised my soul out of the groveling pit of sin to eternal life. The life I now have is fruitful as I surrender my faulty human will to His perfect will. Yes, it is a death of sorts to give up my own will. But just as the death of a flower is what leads to abundance of life through its seed or as the death of the leaves of my giant cottonwood provides life giving nutrients to future plants through their decomposition, so my surrendered life can now produce the fruit for which it was originally made. Praise God for this death to eternal death that leads to life, a life of fruitfulness and multiplication in the Kingdom of God! And this life isn't such a bad deal for me either. While I will experience pain and loss on earth, I know that these troubles are light and momentary in comparison with the eternal glory of heaven (see Romans 8:18).
In her book, Parables of the Cross, Lilias Trotter wrote these words beside her detailed painting of a bed of lush and colorful moss atop a decomposing mound of brown plant matter. "This bit of sphagnum shows the process in miniature: stage after stage of dying has been gone through, and each has been all the while crowned with life... YES, LIFE IS THE UPPERMOST, resurrection life, radiant and joyful and strong, for we represent down here Him who liveth and was dead and is alive for evermore" (Lilias Trotter, "Parables of the Cross", emphasis added).
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Merry Christmas!
"It will be said on that day,
'Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.'"
- Isaiah 25:9 -
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Yet Not I
Challenged. That's how I feel when I attempt painting leaves. Yet I am determined to learn. And so I keep trying.
It seems as though leaves should be the easiest of subjects to paint. Their simplicity fools me into believing them within my skill level. And yet my hard efforts come up short. Perhaps I'm overthinking them. After all, my best paintings are not those that I labor over but those created in the moments I get lost in the beauty of my subject and the joy of pigment and water.
So it is in the life of many a Christ follower. We carefully think through whether we are able to do the task before us - forgiving a false accusation, returning evil with good, showing compassion, sharing the hope that is in us... The more we dig into ourselves for strength, the more we realize we are completely unable. But when we gaze at Jesus and "the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe," the formerly impossible deed is effortless (Ephesians 1:19).
Yet not I, but Christ in me.
Thursday, March 31, 2022
I can't choose just one...
...because both photos display the beauty of the Creator.
(Yes, we did just have another snowfall.)
Monday, February 28, 2022
Look Forward
"By faith [Abraham] went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:9-10).
Illness clearly shows the flaws of our bodies. Rather than being a palace of luxury, our bodies display all the inconveniences and discomforts of a tent.
Even for one who likes a good tent camping vacation, the glamor and novelty will eventually wear off. Bones begin to ache from hard ground. Skin ages from exposure. Hair grows hopelessly tangled from wind. Face is scorched from cooking over a fire. We begin to dream of a luxury hotel.
Has the novelty of illness (or whatever your trial may be) worn off? If you (as I have done) focus on the discomfort, you will become disheartened. You will want to give up, and you will cry for an end to it. And while crying out to God in our pain is good, God wishes us to not only turn our hearts to understand our utter helplessness (What a gift to be given true vision!), but also to turn our eyes to hope in and expectancy of the promise. Eternal life. Life made beautiful through the Spirit now. Life more beautiful and grand than we are able to imagine in "the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God."
So in the trial, let's not only cry out, but lift our gaze to the One who has promised a home in His palace.
Illness clearly shows the flaws of our bodies. Rather than being a palace of luxury, our bodies display all the inconveniences and discomforts of a tent.
Even for one who likes a good tent camping vacation, the glamor and novelty will eventually wear off. Bones begin to ache from hard ground. Skin ages from exposure. Hair grows hopelessly tangled from wind. Face is scorched from cooking over a fire. We begin to dream of a luxury hotel.
Has the novelty of illness (or whatever your trial may be) worn off? If you (as I have done) focus on the discomfort, you will become disheartened. You will want to give up, and you will cry for an end to it. And while crying out to God in our pain is good, God wishes us to not only turn our hearts to understand our utter helplessness (What a gift to be given true vision!), but also to turn our eyes to hope in and expectancy of the promise. Eternal life. Life made beautiful through the Spirit now. Life more beautiful and grand than we are able to imagine in "the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God."
So in the trial, let's not only cry out, but lift our gaze to the One who has promised a home in His palace.
Photo: bricks torn out of our basement during professional mold remediation
Friday, February 11, 2022
Hold the Phone
Have you ever been on hold? A professionally cadenced voice answers after a few rings with a polite, "Please hold until a representative is available to assist you." Then tinny music (my family would put the word "music" in quotes) crackles loudly over miles of cable setting your leg jiggling or fingers drumming in annoyance and impatience. You try to find something to fill the time but don't want your mind to wander too far from the object of your phone call lest you be caught unready to handle business when the overworked customer service agent picks up your line.
Life sometimes has periods much like this telephone hold. Undesired times of waiting, somewhat annoying, bringing a sense of wasted time to our accomplishment oriented spirits. Yet these holds are necessary to complete the great task slated for us. As I have been reflecting on the last eight years of my life, this idea of being on hold seems an apt analogy. Life up to February of 2014 was full, bustling, full of productivity (and yes, hard, because illness was creeping up on me). Bread baking was my profession. Bringing the love of Christ to the hurting of the world was my passion. Discipling younger women was my satisfaction. Family grocery shopping and mothering my aging yet perpetually young aunt who was graced with an extra chromosome was my loved duty. And then all that came to an abrupt end with two emergency room visits, a brush with "the valley of the shadow of death," and endless diagnoses. Cue the long hold, nerves grated by the ugly realities of an illness ravaged body, impatience with a multitude of questions as yet unanswered, and uncertainty how to steward this unspecified length of time. And yet I have a deep sense that this is a critical holding period, the waiting room into a greater future. The many injunctions in the Bible calling me to wait on the Lord hold my soul secure. "I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:13-14).
Are you waiting? Waiting for an answer? Waiting for a promise to be fulfilled? Waiting for hope to dawn? Waiting...? Hold the phone. An answer is on the way. The One who can satisfy all your longings is worth waiting for.
"...wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you" (Proverbs 20:22).
Life sometimes has periods much like this telephone hold. Undesired times of waiting, somewhat annoying, bringing a sense of wasted time to our accomplishment oriented spirits. Yet these holds are necessary to complete the great task slated for us. As I have been reflecting on the last eight years of my life, this idea of being on hold seems an apt analogy. Life up to February of 2014 was full, bustling, full of productivity (and yes, hard, because illness was creeping up on me). Bread baking was my profession. Bringing the love of Christ to the hurting of the world was my passion. Discipling younger women was my satisfaction. Family grocery shopping and mothering my aging yet perpetually young aunt who was graced with an extra chromosome was my loved duty. And then all that came to an abrupt end with two emergency room visits, a brush with "the valley of the shadow of death," and endless diagnoses. Cue the long hold, nerves grated by the ugly realities of an illness ravaged body, impatience with a multitude of questions as yet unanswered, and uncertainty how to steward this unspecified length of time. And yet I have a deep sense that this is a critical holding period, the waiting room into a greater future. The many injunctions in the Bible calling me to wait on the Lord hold my soul secure. "I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:13-14).
Are you waiting? Waiting for an answer? Waiting for a promise to be fulfilled? Waiting for hope to dawn? Waiting...? Hold the phone. An answer is on the way. The One who can satisfy all your longings is worth waiting for.
"...wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you" (Proverbs 20:22).
Monday, February 7, 2022
Eight Years
As of today I have been convalescing (a gentle word for a very gritty fight for health) for eight years. Sometimes a niggling thought of "I can't do this anymore," settles over my weary being. Then God gently reminds me that in Him I can. "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). This familiar verse is becoming less cliche every year.
What promises of God do you see being proved true in your life right now?
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Christmas Day 2021
"I will exult You; I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure."
- Isaiah 25:1-2 -
Friday, December 24, 2021
The Lamb
"For the Lamb... will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water” (Revelations 7:17).
The Shepherd, yet the Lamb.
God, yet a Baby.
The Judge of our sin, yet the substitute for our punishment.
Astounding!
Merry Christmas!
The Shepherd, yet the Lamb.
God, yet a Baby.
The Judge of our sin, yet the substitute for our punishment.
Astounding!
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Joy
Lest I think the power of joy comes from within, the day of trial comes that I may learn that joy and every other good thing comes from above.
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness... Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."
- James 1:2, 3, 16, 17 -
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Fueling Up
This morning's fuel:
yellow squash
beet greens
onion
chicken
II Chronicles 20
"Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's."
- II Chronicles 20:15 -
Monday, July 12, 2021
Know Truth. Live Truth. Speak Truth.
Another Sunday. Another headache and nausea. Another two watercolor paintings under my belt.
Life doesn't feel perfect. My paintings aren't perfect. But God's will for my life is perfect.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
- Jeremiah 29:11 -
Friday, June 11, 2021
A Day for Massage
Hannah's and my wonderful massage therapist came to our house today to bring relief through her skilled hands and encouragement through conversation. At the end of my discussion filled session, Lori said how much she loves "solving the world's problems" with us. I replied that Jesus is the solution. She heartily agreed.
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