This & That

 We have been in a series at church about relational prayer and have tried to make it very practical. Sometimes we just make prayer too difficult. We think it needs to be a certain way in order for God to hear it or answer it. We think it has to have holy or fancy language, when instead God is looking for us to simply talk with him and get to know him better. Two weeks ago we had a panel of people from the congregation share the different ways they connect with God in prayer and other spiritual practices. I got to share about how art journaling has become a spiritual practice for me and shared some of my pages.

This past weekend our Equipping and Communication pastor spoke on the challenges we face when it comes to prayer. He and his wife lost their 4 year old son in March to Batten's Disease. And Andy shared very personally about unanswered prayer and about how God connects to us in our suffering. It was very powerful and moving. (You can listen here if you are interested Here) Andy wrote a great prayer which he shared with us at the end of his message and I wanted to share it with all of you:

"God, if your will is to remove this suffering, that would be a tremendous relief to me; but if your will is to redeem this suffering, then empower me by your Spirit to endure it, so that faith, hope, love and Christlikeness may result in and through me."

What I appreciate about this prayer is that, not only is it relational, but it also helps align our perspective with God's.

I have had little time for art lately. My little Etsy shop has been quite busy over the past few weeks. And last week at church we had vacation Bible school. I volunteered. It exhausted me! But it was good. I love spending time with kids and I helped with the 4-6 year olds, which is my favorite age group. Our next door neighbors have 5 year old twin girls who went with me all week. We had a great time, along with my 5 year old god-grand daughter, Christanay. She loves hanging out with the twins. Below is a picture of them at VBS and then some Documented Life Project pages.

Christanay is in the center with a twin on each side

That's all for today!