Merry Christmas

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." 

John 1:14

Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The One who is our Savior and Lord, full of grace and truth. We celebrate that in Christ God became visible. God chose to dwell on earth among His people. Emmanuel ~ God with us ~ in this we celebrate!

"The invisible becomes visible. God becomes touchable, reachable, knowable."

 ~Doug Rumschlag

"If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: 'God with us.' We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth."

~John MacArthur

"The Son of God became man to enable men to become sons of God."

~C. S. Lewis

"Christ is born to us today, in order that He might appear to the whole world through us."

~Thomas Merton

Merry Christmas to you and your families.

 May you know true joy and peace in Christ today.

January Sneak Peak

For the past month I have been busy getting ready for the start of Take Me Deeper, a free weekly devotion and art challenge being offered for 2015 in out new faith art community His Kingdom Come (HKC). We begin on January 2 and I had the privilege to write the devotions for January in partnership with Diane Marra. In all honesty, I don't often read devotions. I lean toward more in-depth Bible study and reading and don't normally let other things, like devotions, cut in on that time. But since our theme is "Take Me Deeper" I found that I really enjoyed writing devotions that utilized my love for Bible Study. I hope you'll join us in January and journey with us through the year. We will have a variety of people writing devotions and offering art challenges, plus we will have a year long journey with choosing and using a word called logos365.

Anyway, all of this prep for the devotions and getting my art journal pages ready has used most of my art time. And since we are launching in January, I can't share with you until then. This has presented a new challenge for me since I blog about my art and my faith and I have had no art to post! But I can tease you with some sneak peaks from my January pages!

I enjoyed writing the devotions so much that I believe you will see more of them here on my blog in the future. On Christmas day we begin a new series at church working our way through the Gospel of John. I am excited about this on a number of levels. First, I love when we go though an entire book of the Bible. God always shows us things we didn't expect when we journey through a book. Second, John is one of my favorite books of the Bible. John uses some words repeatedly that will be interesting to explore - believe, world, sent, life - just to name a few. We have no idea how long we will be in this book.You can expect some devotions and some art from this book during our time in John's gospel. :)

It is Christmas weekend at camp. We brought 10 kids and two teen leaders to camp this weekend. I love the experience they have here for Christmas. The staff at Youth Haven really makes a meaningful and joyful experience for kids who come from families who are struggling in a variety of ways. Tonight they will be served a Christmas dinner as though they are in a fancy restaurant. We have 11 adults from our church traveling up to camp who will serve as waiters for the kids. If the weather cooperates we may go Christmas caroling tonight. Then tomorrow they will see a skit of the Christmas story, celebrate Jesus' birthday and receive presents. A room full of 50 kids and a dozen teens full of excitement is a joy to experience! I am so thankful to be a part of it and to have these kids in my life.

I'm also thankful for good Internet connection this weekend so I can post this! It isn't always the case here at camp. Have a great weekend!

November Documented

About the only art I've done this past month was keeping up with the Documented Life Project. Well, I have done art behind the scenes getting ready for the His Kingdom Come Community projects that will launch on January 2, but I'll have to wait to share those. Are you curious? Join us here. I'm pretty pumped up about the projects we have created so I will keep making shameless plugs!

On to Documented Life:

Week 45

Week 46

Week 47

It's time to return to work today and leave vacation mode. :)

Monday Meandering 12.1.14

I am in shock that today is December 1st!

I've been absent for a few weeks. First trying to meet some deadlines before vacation, then getting ready for vacation, and then, actually going on vacation! We spent Thanksgiving week in Charleston, SC with our oldest daughter and her husband. On the way down we spent a day going through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Besides spending time with our daughter, we also connected with family d friends. We had brunch in Charlotte with my husbands cousins, had dinner one night with our nephew, brother-in-law and others, and on Monday we met my online friend Bernice Hopper for coffee. Bernice and her husband happened to be in the states for vacation and in Charleston at the same time we were. It is Bernice who invited me to participate in the development of the His Kingdom Come faith art community and it was great meeting her in person!

We had perfect weather in the park and, despite three days of rain, we managed to take in the sites of Charleston and the beach.

We had a good trip.

I have selected my word for 2015:

In my last post I introduced Logos365. You can read more about it here or at His-kingdom-come.com. I usually will spend time between Christmas and New Year's Day reviewing the past year and looking ahead and in this process determine my word for the year ahead. But this year I did that early in preparation for the Logos365 launch in January. Picking a word and living with it for a year has been a great practice keeping me focused and open for God's transforming work.I hope you'll join us!

Anna Pasquale has a great post on her blog today about artsy gifts. She was kind enough to include links to shops of her artist friends. Thanks Anna! Anna is the coordinator of the 2014 Made course.

Later this week I'll post my November Documented Life Project pages. It was good re-connecting with all of you!

Introducing Logos365 2015

Over the past few years I have made it a practice to select a word for the year and have entered each year anticipating what God would do in my life through the focus of that word. Some years I followed along with Ali Edwards One Little Word project or participated in other word for the year projects. For me, 2015 will be different though. The new faith art community we have begun, His Kingdom Come, will be offering an opportunity to participate with a word from God in our logos365™ project. Will you join me?

What word is God giving you in 2015?

His Kingdom Come will be leading our members in Logos365 during 2015.

His Kingdom Come believes that there is great power in the Word of God.  Many people choose one word that represents what they want to see more of in their life during a year. There are websites and books dedicated to this.  New Year resolutions come and go very quickly, but this process is allowing God to work in your life and for your focus to become His word for you that lasts an entire year in your life. People choose this word through thoughts or through a word occurring in their reading or devotion time that “speaks” to them. At His Kingdom Come we believe that God will guide us to what he wants to see more of in our lives during the year. 

The logos365™ project is our way of finding your word through prayer, bible study and reflection. What do you do with your logos365™?  You live with it, you invite it into your life, and you let it speak to you. You follow where it leads you.  Your logos365™ is not some promise you will keep for the rest of the year to be better. The intent of your word is that it will become a part of your for the rest of your life.  Your word builds upon each other each year, and springs forth from the places you feel you left off from your previous word.  Each word you choose builds upon each other as God’s heart becomes embedded in your character. So, the question is

As you consider selecting a word for yourself this year, remember there is no right or wrong choice. Words like abide, abundance, obey, expect, prayer, surrender, delight, submit and listen can be a very powerful experience as you allow God to guide you in your word.  This happens in your daily life, in prayer, relationships and bible study.  

So how do you find your logos365™?  Feel free to use the self- assessment tools posted at His Kingdom Come in the logos365™  group to help you identify your word and to set some personal goals around your word.  If you have participated in a one word program before choose the logos365™ returning student worksheet, or if you are totally new to the process use the logos365™ new student worksheet.

To make logos365™ real in your life, consider keeping a logos365™ journal, or creating a scrapbook or a photo book. Keeping a journal throughout the year is crucial to making this word project not just a new year’s resolution, but a change in your walk- a transformation!  If you are participating in the take me deeper process, then you can incorporate your logos365™ into your journal.   If you are not participating in the take me deeper process here are some logos365™ suggestions.

1.      Journaling: There are many kinds of journaling you can do. Pick one that works for you.

·         Open a word document on your computer that you write in each day

·         Get a spiral notebook, that you use to journal this process

·         Buy a blank page journal where you can do some doodling, drawing, and pasting pictures, etc

·         Create an art journal where you can write and play (can use your Take me deeper journal)

·         Create a weekly, monthly or quarterly post on your blog or at His Kingdom Come about your logos365™ journey.

2.       Accountability: share your logos365™ with your local small group.  If you don’t have a local small group, we invite you to share at His Kingdom come. Share your word and stay accountable with the online group throughout the year!   Find an accountability partner either in person or on HKC. This would be someone that you can share your deepest thoughts with and who will hold you accountable to your own goals and process. 

3.       Local small group:  Schedule specific meeting dates that you can discuss with your small group and your accountability partner during this stepping out in faith.

4.       Online group at His Kingdom Come: we will spend a few weeks in January seeking our logos365™. There are worksheets available for free to assist you in the process of spending time with God and discovering what logos365™ He provides to you.  Quarterly we will have a weekly discussion about your ongoing progress, any struggles, any praise reports and would love to see how your logos365™ has intertwined throughout your life.

5.      Create- make something to keep in your home, at your desk like a canvas, quilt, photo, poem, art journal, wooden word art that will keep your logos365™ in front of you throughout the year. See His Kingdom come for lots of creative examples.

Go deeper

Find out how logos365™ will impact your daily life

And draw you closer to the person God wants you to be

Will you walk out in faith with us in 2015 and live by your logos365™?

Come and have fun, faith and friendship for free at His Kingdom Come!

Join us at http://his-kingdom-come.com/ and sign up for the logos365™ group.

Join the Group http://his-kingdom-come.com/groups/logos365

Take Me Deeper Weekly Devotional

His Kingdom Come is so excited to announce the preparations are done and we are ready to launch

Take Me Deeper™ is a free weekly journey at His Kingdom Come beginning Friday, January 2 2015.   Take Me Deeper™ will be a weekly devotional and verse that will prompt us to spending time in His word. It is about each of us encouraging, sharing and studying the word.

Each week you will get the opportunity to translate bible study into art- mixed media, a journal, a photograph, or a digital page, poem, music. Every Friday HKC will post a verse, devotional, worship video and examples of how we interpreted the bible study in our art.  We pray that these 52 weeks will change how you approach, engage and apply God’s word in your life and art. At the end of the year regardless of how many weeks you participated, you will have created a legacy of the faith walk. This legacy will show you how God has moved in your life!

  Who can join?

We welcome anyone who wants to take their faith walk deeper into understanding God’s Word and deeper into their creativity. We will begin January 2, but you can join at any time during the year. You can’t be “behind” since this is about your personal journey with God and your creativity. The community at His Kingdom Come will walk with you, support and encourage you!

Where will the devotionals be? 

Posts will be on the HKC site and on the HKC Facebook Page.

Where can I share and discuss my preferred art medium? 

Discussions will be across all the art mediums, so feel free to check out each art group for ideas, questions, suggestions and creative ideas.

 So how do I start?  

First, become a member of His Kingdom Come. It is free and the first step in accessing all the creativity on the site.  Beginning December 2014, HKC will have suggestions for making a journal, decorating a journal, what journal to use, and supplies to gather.

 If I am doing other projects, can I incorporate them into Take Me Deeper?   

Yes, if you are part of the Journaling Bible community, or any other art community or project, you can mesh all the projects together.  Take Me Deeper will assist you in reading your bible, understanding God’s word, and helping you learn how to express your God-given creativity.

What about One Little Word or My One Word?  How does that fit into this process? 

So glad you asked!  Part of Take me deeper will be the opportunity to participate in Logos365™- finding the word God gives you to focus on for an entire year. Logos365™ will be a component of Take Me Deeper.  We will offer a worksheet for you to use to discover your logos365™, discussions about how to identify your logos365™ and how to live your logos365™ out through the year.  Then, monthly Logos365™ prompts will initiate discussions about how you are doing living your word.

Go deeper

Find out how 52 weeks will change how you

Approach

Engage

& apply God’s word

52 devotions 

  52 verses

52 art projects

Will you walk out in faith with us in 2015 and go deeper?

Come and have fun, faith and friendship for free at His Kingdom Come!

Join us at His Kingdom Come and sign up for the Take me Deeper group.

Ordinary Everyday Things

More and more I find I am enjoying techniques in art journaling that use ordinary everyday things. A few weeks ago I ran across a tutorial on Pinterest that used contact paper as a mask. So after searching a few stores and finally finding a roll of clear contact paper at Target, I gave it a try. I decided to just try it in a simple way first and cut some wavy lines from the contact paper.

Next I placed the contact paper strips onto a piece of watercolor paper which I had already prepared with text paper and gesso.

I then used Tim Holtz distressed stains and paints with stencils. 

Once the ink and paint was dry I took the contact paper strips off to reveal the gessoed text.

I then completed my art journaling with a quote, ink highlights in white and black, and some text paper scallops.

I see great potential is using contact paper in art journaling. 

What ordinary everyday things do you use in art journaling?

Meanderings

Meandering: adjective; the act of following a winding or indirect course. Ramble, roam, zigzag, circuitous.

I often struggle with what to write posts about. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, but rather that I have so many things going on inside my head. And, usually, I either can't land on just one or I haven't developed each thought enough to do a full blog post. So this morning I thought, why not simply group my meandering thoughts together in one blog post and post it occasionally.

So, some of the things on my mind this week are:

I have been reading about my personality. According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator I am an INFJ (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging). More specifically, I have been reading about how people with my personality type best deal with stress - known in the MB Type world as "in-the-grip". INFJ's can benefit greatly by engaging in regular exercise. It can be effective for regulating mood, quieting the mind and calming emotions. I've tried over the years to walk to lose weight but I struggle with consistency. There are always so many things vying for my time and honestly other things are more enjoyable. But since my retreat I've simply been trying to get outside for my emotional health. And since Fall is my favorite season it makes it a little easier for me to motivate myself. I came across a quote credited to Augustine:

Solvitur Ambulando

"It is solved by walking."

A walk can do wonders! I'm adding this to my personal mantras list.

I am actually current with my pages for The Documented Life Project!

We launched a new faith art community this past Saturday - His Kingdom Come Community. If you missed the announcement you can read about it in this post. 

Last week I got my Gelli plate out. I haven't played with it much and I want to use it more. I got a few good background pages during my play.

And last, I have a few random art journal pages.

In case you missed the announcement of the new faith art community we are launching visit this post or visit our website His Kingdom Come Community.