Open Rebuke is Better than Secret Love~ Bible Journaling~ Proverbs 27:5

 Open Rebuke is better than secret love.  

You've heard the scripture, and so have I.  

Do I believe it?  Absolutely!  

 When I was a baby Christian I thought it was all about correction.  

If sin was mentioned in a sermon I was the loudest Amen.     

"How can they DO such a thing?" 

"Don't they know that they are WRONG?"

How could those 'so called' Christians do that? 

Let me tell you, friends, my motives were NOT pure.  

I was rejoicing that they were being corrected.   

I was gloating in my pharasaical righteousness.

I was so concerned with the business of other saints that I couldn't pay attention to my own needs.  

I cringe.

 God has helped me to throw my pitchfork religion out the window and focus on my own shortcomings.    

And believe me, there are many.  

Thank the Good Lord for grace, growth and wisdom! 

The motive of correction should always be restoration.  

Correction should not be done simply because it can. 

Paul corrected the Galatian church, but his heart was made known to them when he said he wanted Christ to be formed in them. 

It was as if he was giving birth to them.  

Giving.  Birth.  

He wanted the best for them.  

Growth. 

A Vibrant Faith. 

He wanted the Living Christ being formed in them, abiding with them.  

What a wonderful heart of a Pastor!  

The truth spoken in love should leave the heart of the person being corrected challenged and desirous to change.  

That's not to say it doesn't hurt.  

Oh, it does!  

But the heart of a pastor who is called by the Lord always wants to see their flock growing and thriving in their Christianity.   

What a wonderful God we serve and thank the Lord His desire for us is only for our benefit! 

If you'd like to get updates from my facebook page please click HERE to follow and get notifications.  I'd love to hear from you here on the blog as well so please leave a comment!
Have a Lovely Day!!!

         

Till Now the Lord has Helped Us~ 1 Samuel 7:12~ Bible Journaling

It's been 3 years and 3 months since that day when my world started to spin off its axis.  I watched my husband, the man whom I had loved for 23 years, collapse into my arms and go unconscious.  It took over 24 hours for the results to come back as the doctors in Korea scrambled to find out what was wrong with my him. 

 The diagnosis was three brain aneurysms, one of which hemmoraghed.      I'm still amazed at the process of what transpired.  He spent 2 weeks in the Neurological ICU and I watched a miracle occur.  There is/was no brain damage or memory loss.  There are some people who die of one brain aneurysm which makes it even more astounding.  
Miracles are what happen to OTHER people but I watched the Lord do wonderful things for us.  It was amazing.  After two surgeries were done to coil the aneurysms in Korea, we moved back to America.   
A few weeks ago, Dave had a CT scan to see how things are going.  Dr Ashley gave us a wonderful report today!!!  There is no occlusion on any of the three coils and everything looks great.   We don't have to have another follow up for another 5 years.  
It's music to my ears!!!!
I can't tell you how much I breathed a sigh of relief this afternoon.   
The scripture that I have journaled today was one that helped me during my husband's hospitalization and afterwards. 
1 Samuel 7:12 says,   Then Samuel took a stone,  and set it betwen Mizpeh and Shen,  and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.  

When my husband survived the aneurysms,  God was helping us.   When he had complications in the hospital, God was still helping us.   When he occasionally has headaches,  God is still helping us
No matter what happens,  God is still helping us.   He is still with us.   
I'm sure you can understand why this verse is such a sweet truth to me.   It continues to keep me grounded in God's truth.  

 The Lord can keep us in times of great trial and hardship!

Up until this very moment he has helped us and been so good to us!

Have a Lovely Day~!

This drawing was inspired by the work of Heather Stillufsen.

If you'd like to get updates from my facebook page please click HERE to follow and get notifications.  I'd love to hear from you here on the blog as well so please leave a comment!
Have a Lovely Day!!!
These are some of the great blogs I follow/link up with:

         

Envy is like Rottenness to the Bones~Proverbs 14:30~Bible Journaling

Envy. 

It's like poison.  

It will eat you up from the inside, weakening your bones until you don't have the strength to stand.   It weakens you to the core. In Proverbs 14:30 it says that  envy is like rottenness to the bones.   That's quite a vivid picture.  

Envy is a feeling of discontenment or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities or luck. 
The main focus of envy is usually things that other people own.   Isn't it easy to become entranced with things that others have or own which only breeds discontent in our lives?  

Shiny new cars.  A huge diamond wedding ring.   A luxury home in a great neighborhood.   All of these things can become the object of our envy.
I really feel the need to say that I don't think it's wrong to have any of these things but it all boils down to motive. 

Do I want a new car to keep up with the Joneses who live next door?   Do I want bigger caratage in my wedding ring so people can ooh and ahhhh over it?   Will my luxury home simply be a blessing from God that helps me cultivate a wonderful family life or will it be something that I want other's to envy me for and to impress them with?
I really believe motives matter!
The Jews were commanded by the Lord to wear Phylacteries to help them remember the written word of the Lord.   God commanded it to help them keep his laws in the forefront of their minds and as a reminder that they were set apart and holy, God's chosen people.  (see Matthew 23)
The Pharisees took that wonderful, God given tool, and corrupted it with fallen motives.   They made it carnal, fleshly.
They made their phylacteries larger so they would look more holy. They wanted the tassels/borders of their garments to be wider than those of other people to stand out and look religious.  
They wanted others to envy them.   They wanted to be seen of men. 
For the past few years, part of my journey in the Lord has been focusing on my motives and keeping them holy before Him.  It sure makes decisions and battles easier when I can judge between my pure and unjust motives.  
I'd love my spiritual bones to be as strong and healthy as they possibly can!  And that includes kicking envy to the curb and replacing it with the pure motives of the Lord!  
About this jounaling: I had some bleed through from the previous page so decided to cover the page with some cheap 50 cent white acrylic paint to hide it.  After that I stenciled on the green checkerboard and used stickers for the scripture.  I've never used stickers before so it was quite the adventure in applying them.  Lastly,  I added the skeleton at left by tracing it with graphite paper. 

If you'd like to get updates from my facebook page please click HERE to follow and get notifications.  I'd love to hear from you here on the blog as well so please leave a comment!
Have a Lovely Day!!!

Here are some of the wonderful blogs I follow and participate with! 

         

Roots Run Deep~ Proverbs 12:3 Bible Journaling

This post can be found over at my new blog:

Embracing the Lovely

See you there!  

Your Mercy turns us into Grateful People

I've been thinking about gratitude lately.    

In the best of times and the worst of times,  I've found that cultivating a spirit of gratitude allows me to have peace in even the most difficult situations.  It assures my heart that God is in control.  

Psalm 86:3 

Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.  

When the mercy of God is alive in our hearts it refocuses us from being dissatisfied and self centered to giving gratitude and praise.  

We all know the account of the 9 lepers that didn't say thank you to the Lord. Perhaps the 9 ran to their families to share the wonderful news of their healing?  I sure hope so! 

The 10th leper  took the time to make his way back to Jesus to say thank you.  A simple act of thanks and courtesy.   What a great role model for us in our walk with the Lord! 

If you'd like to read the account of the leper you can click here.

There are a few things that stand out to me in that story of gratitude.  

The leper glorified God in a loud voice.  

His thanks and praise came from the depths of his soul.  

There are so many things I can thank the Lord for on a daily basis.  

When my husband was in the hospital in Korea after having 3 brain aneurysms (one of which hemmoraged) I heard the song by Laura Story called 'What a Saviour' through my streaming phone.

While driving to visit him in the hospital, I sang that song between sobs as a prayer to the Lord as loud as I could.  

I know it sounded horrible, was unintelligible and was more like wailing, 

But it was my heart's prayer and there was no one to hear me but my Lord.  God was there inhabiting my praise.

In spite of the darkness God was still good to me.

He fell down at the feet of Jesus in surrender.  

Surrender is like fresh rain to a thirsty soul.

It's like being cleansed all over again. 

A new beginning.  

He gave Thanks. 

This one's pretty simple.  

His mercy turns us into grateful people

Have you thanked Him today?  

This song by Watermark has been in my heart for the past few weeks.  Yes,  it's time that we give Him honor!  

If you'd like to get updates from my facebook page please click HERE to follow and get notifications.  I'd love to hear from you here on the blog as well so please leave a comment!
Have a Lovely Day!!!