"Garden Fruits"

Another victory with my left hand! I don't know why I get so amazed at God working a miracle through my hands! I cannot write or eat with my left hand, but for some reason, when I pick up a pastel, my hand gets steady and confident. What a mighty God we serve!

 "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:" ~Proverbs 3:9

Just a Little Nugget I Found (John 3:20-21)

"Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

I kind of stumbled on my lesson this morning. With all that I have been learning about brokenness and being transparent in my relationship with God and others, these verses really summed it up. When I am doing wrong, I don't want to be reading God's Word, listening to godly preaching or music, or even conversing with godly friends! :-D So in a sense, I "hate" the Light, or even it's reflection! (verse 20) note: the word "reproved" also means "examined".

It fits, doesn't it? But when I am open and surrendered to the Lord, I am willing for my sins to be brought to the light so God can help me take care of hem how He sees fit. Wow! I can't believe I missed these verses before! They just fit so well!

That Terrible Lie

What do you do when all the girls you know get their hair cut for the summer, and your parent's won't let you?

I have been pretty busy the past month, and didn't have a lot of time to write, but as I was going through my desk, I came across this, and laughed and cried over it. I thought you would enjoy reading it, even though it was written a long time ago. I kept the original spelling and grammar, for your amusement.

That Terrible Lie

It all began one day when I relized that every single one of my friends (girls) had shoulder length hair, while I had long brown hair that I could sit on. Just then I wanted short hair. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Can you cut my hair?"

"You will have to ask your dad, but I don't think so."

Of course dad said no too, but I wanted to have short hair real bad. Then the dredful day came.

In June, 1999, I cut my hair. It was in the morning. After I woke up I couldn't stand it anymore, I grabbed my scissors and cut half of my hair of. I did it! I was horrified.

Franticly I tried to put my hair back on. (which I couldn't, but I wasn't thinking.) I went downstairs after I hid my hair, and told mom I had a dream that I went to the barber shop and got my hair cut. She didn't notice it. Then I bent over and picked up a book and then said "Mom! Look!" and I showed her my hair. She was mad. After she finished cutting my hair she "marched" up the stairs and looked for my hair in my room and found it. I told her I didn't cut my hair. Day after day, week after week, month after month, I lied about my hair. I was Jumpy, tired, and restless. Finaly I could not stand the stress becouse every time I read or heard the Bible, it seemed to tell about lieying or telling the truth. So I asked mom to come to her room and then I flew into her arms crying and I confessed. Then I asked her to spank me becouse I knew I needed it. Then mom and I prayed together I, asking forgivness and Mom, thanking God for letting me overcome my stuborness. That night I had the best sleep I had in months.

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Posts from the Past

Every Wednesday I post something that I have written in the past. It may have been written a long time ago, or a very, very long tim ago! :-D So please forgive any mistakes!

"Before the Masterpiece"

Here is another painting done with my left hand.

This painting tells a story, but depending on who you are, the story may be different. What does the title and this painting tell you? Please comment and let me know!

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." ~Psalm 119:105

Idols of Daily Life

Most of us think of idols as something people worshiped a long time ago, but what we don't realize is there are many idols each of us have in our everyday lives!

I prayed before I opened my Bible that the Lord would teach me something from His Word. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, I just wanted to get back into reading, enjoying, and learning from God's Word again.

I read a couple chapters in 2 Timothy and received some general encouragement and instruction, then turned to where I was reading through the Old Testament. I was reading in 1 Samuel and had just gotten to the part where the Philistines had taken the Ark of the Covenant. They put it in their temple next to the god, Dagon. When they went in the next morning, Dagon was fallen with his face to the ground before the ark. The Philistines set him back up again, but when they went in the following morning, he was down again. This time, his head and hands were broken off.

The thought struck me, how mighty and amazing God is! He can not tolerate an idol in His presence, but will bring whatever it is that competes for His place crashing down. I then thought about how we often have idols in our own hearts, and how we will allow other things to take captive our time and thoughts.

After a moment's reflection, I realized that there were two things that took up a lot of my time, and the majority of my thought life - reading books and earning money. There were also some other things I saw that, if I wasn't careful, could also become idols in my life: school, exercise, crafts. It's hard to think I would allow myself to devote more time and thought to these than to God Himself and His Word. I quickly gave these things back to the Lord and committed myself anew to Him, asking Him to take first place in my heart.

When we don't stop and give our "idols" to the Lord, He will often mercifully have them "fall", and take away what we have chosen to serve other than Himself. I know from experience that these are painful times of fear, remorsefulness, and bitter repentance. But God will be first place, the Supreme Ruler. If He's not first place now, then He will be on that approaching judgment day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

How thankful we should be for "second chances." God's mercy and Christ's blood that hides our multitudes of sins.

I pray that each of us would stop just for a moment and ask the Lord if there is anything that is competing for first place in our hearts.

God bless each of you as you strive for a closer walk with Him.

"Put away the strange gods,... and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you..." -1 Samuel 7:3

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Posts from the Past

Every Wednesday I post something that I have written in the past. It may have been written a long time ago, or a very, very long tim ago! :-D So please forgive any mistakes!

"Evening Sun"

This is the first painting done with my left hand. Because of my hand injury, I originally thought that I would not be able to work on my art until it had healed. God certainly proved me wrong! I cannot write or eat with my left hand, but for some reason, when I pick up a pastel, my hand is steady and confident. God has certainly built my faith in Him in this area!

 "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." ~Romans 13:12

Yes, I'm Still Alive, Sorry for the Lull in Posts!

There are some of you out there that may be wondering where I’ve gone the past couple weeks… don’t worry, I am still here!  God has seen fit to allow me to have a little accident with my wrist, so I have been hindered from typing anything in the past few weeks. I will do my best to keep up with the art and inspiration on Mondays, and the revising and revisiting on Wednesdays, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do much else.

I have a new program that I am using where I use a microphone to type. It is taking a while to get used to it, but I think I am learning.  Word willing, I will begin to have things up again next week.