In Everything Give Thanks

 

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

in everything give thanks;

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

1 Thess. 5:16-18

This simple painted canvas 

with napkin leaves was done in fall 2006.

The hand-lettered Scripture verse with a Sharpie

was the prayer verse that held our 

family together in some very rough seas.

Every fall it comes out to hang on

 the wall as a reminder of the 

blessing of God's faithfulness.

The lettering had faded 

and a few years ago I wrote over it again.

Every time I walk by it, 

I stop and see a part of the verse

 to whisper in a heart prayer.

Pray...

rejoice without ceasing,

in everything give thanks,

pray without ceasing.

The right landing spot for each Spirit-led Breath.

I give thanks for the experiences we never 

wanted, but were allowed in our lives, 

so that we stand sixteen years later-

 still giving thanks to God.

Prayers for Hadley

 Siblings and cousins in a prayer time

 for Hadley Grace.

 DOT paints and Scripture.

Right onto the back of a cereal box.

 Teaching them to pray Scripture 

in time of need.

Because there are days and times 

we just don't have a lot of words of our own.

 The prayer can be pretty simple- 

Heal Hadley.

 Trying to understand just what a hospital is ...

 Gathered together to pray.

We thank God for simple ways to bring requests

 and praise to our Heavenly favor.

Praying in Color with children- 

 these tools and resources

bless our family.

And we give thanks to God 

that little Hadley is out of intensive care.

And we keep praying...

Scripture Doodles- May

 Scripture Doodles for May 2020.

Daily reflections from the Devotional-

Habits of the Heart. 

Each week has a listed topic for the devotions.

This month they were:

Practicing Generosity 

Keeping an Eternal Perspective

Being Steadfast

Unplugging

Being Present

Sometimes a month has more than four topics-

 depending on how the days fall in the month.

In these days of turmoil, unrest and Covid19,

there are words of centering in God's Word.

This is such a gift.

Thank you, Lord.

Lenten Journaling in Community- #12

                                               When From Death I'm Free

Hymn Journal - #12

We Will Rise UP!

Paper Collage

 Page to meditate with the words of the song.

Hope is such a theme for me

 in these readings and devotion.

Paper collage

 Coloring mediation page.

Watercolors and washi tape.

Art Design by Karen Hunter.

 Found the perfect page 

to go with this lesson in my stash.

 Thinking through the contrast of death

 and Victory in this two page layout.

Bulletin cover from Visual Faith Ministry.

 From the grave with the rolled away stone

 is the image of butterflies- 

the NEW LIFE symbol- Rising Up.

 Thinking about the NEW CREATION.

Visual Faith Experiment-

create the garden of those I love.

The Holy Spirit is working to create 

dimensional spiritual lives-

 transformed.

Napkin collage base.

Sizzix cut flowers for growing the garden.

Come Holy Spirit Come!

Make us NEW!

It has been a blessing to complete

 this Hymn Study and I look forward

 to the next collaboration 

between Next Step Press

 and Justin Rossow

 and the Visua Faith community.

Lenten Journaling in Community- #8

 When from Death I'm Free- 

Lenten Hymn Journal- #8

The Dignity of the Cross 

Reflection time with the hymn words

 Mixed media reflection page-

Hard to see dignity in this image-

 but that he gave up all dignity for ME.

 There is a DEBT your love has paid-

FOR ME

(watercolors)

 Mixed media reflection page

 Seeing how the section of Phil. 4:4-9

wraps around what he endured on the cross.

Think of these these things-

 Whatever you have learned or received 

or seen in me- put it into practice.-

because He sits on the throne of God.
(Katie Helmreich image for Visual Faith Ministry)
hebrews-122-

 Scripture Study-

 The treasure and the pearl-

(Sally Beck image)
sally-beck-matthew-13-kingdoms-treasures-

Then - what we see when we look to Jesus

 as the founder and perfecter of our faith.

 Hymn reflection- 

pulling the words and phrases out of the hymn.

Visual Faith experiment- 

a glimpse  of the Father's heart for me-

a moving experience when you see
 just a small portion of it all laid out together.

The resource we are using this COVID 19 Lent is:
When-Death-Im-Free-Journal

Lenten Journaling in Community- #9

 This is sort of my introduction page to this section-

#9 Stricken Smitten and Afflicted

(thanks to the Lutheran Witness magazine)

                                      Hymn page study-

I JUST KEPT COMING BACK 

TO GRACE UPON GRACE UPON GRACE.

 Mixed Media Reflection page

 Image reflection page-

 Design by Valerie Matyas

                                             Mixed Media Reflection page

 for 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

 Cover image for Scripture page

 Time to read and pray this Scripture-

 What does this mean for me- a new Creation? 

Word Study for the Hymn Stanzas

 Confounded-

 realizing that I may not have EVER

 used this word in a  sentence in my life.

But, I have often been mixed up and confused.

Visual Faith Experiment-

Mapping out the Great Exchange.

From this- to THIS.

Loving seeing where each of these pages

 takes me in my  

very special time to DIG IN- 

in this COVID19 Season of life.

This Lenten journey is using this Resource-
When-Death-Im-Free-Journal

Lenten Journaling in Community- #4

As I share these journal pages I must tell you that

 we are doing them in the order that the leaders

 in our group have designated them for our time together.

This may not necessarily be in numerical order. 

(in case you thought you missed #3- that is still coming)

  The numbers corresponds to the Hymn section in the book.

The Hymn for this section is: 

#4 -The King is Calling by Kip Fox

Mixed media - Reflection page

Theme journaling page- Watercolor

 Image by Katie Helmreich

Mixed Media page

Acrylic and magazine tear out

Scripture Meditation page

2 page layout with stickers 

Acrylic paint and 

printable from Concordia Publishing

Lyric meditation page

Lyric meditation page 2

Visual Faith Experiment-

Prayer page 

In this journal I am demonstrating

  that it isn't necessary

 to be able to "draw images"

 to participate in a Visual Faith experience.

 I am most comfortable in mixed media processes

 and putting things together collage style.

I look for ways to cement ideas together 

and create the place for learnings and gleanings -

adding the depth of the music,

 image and kinesthetic all together.

Maybe that makes sense to you too?

This is the book we are using:
When-Death-Im-Free-Journal

Music can be found Here-
findmynextstep.org/music

Lenten Journaling in Community- #2

 Hymn Reflection for #2 

is On That Morning by Kip Fox.

 Mixed Media Journal page

 Coloring Reflection page-

 Image by Pat Maier

 Mixed Media Scripture Reflection- 

Genesis 3:12-15

Sally Beck Graphic from her library

 at Visual Faith Ministry-
sally-beck-old-testament/genesis-313-

 Scripture Reflection page

 Devotion by Justin Rossow

 Hymn stanza Reflection and prayer time

Mixed media- magazine cutouts

 Continuation of Hymn study

Visual Faith Experiment-
(image by Pat Maier).

 We were asked to write our failures

 that burden us on the cross part.

We could then color over them- 

confident that Jesus is alive

 and these failures are not permanent.

I used the journaling technique 

of layered journaling for this part.
Thankful for this refrain humming in my head- 
I was Saved.

This Lent journal study is found here:
When-Death-Im-Free-Journal
Music to add to this can be found Here: #2
https://www.findmynextstep.org/music