Music Monday

I came across this on Facebook and investigated.  Hope you enjoy it.

And the story behind it.

In what way are you blessed?

Decluttering Diary pt 1

An interesting conversation took place on my Facebook page during the week.

I had written: 'My plan today is to start decluttering. Thankfully some lovely ladies have been willing to help me by buying some of my stamps.

Stamps & Magazines parcelled up to take to MyHermes and the Post Office

My problem with tidying in general and decluttering is that I seem to get the house in a bigger mess in the process and lose the will to do it once I get to that point.'

There were various comments from people about how they coped with throwing stuff away and generally tidying up but one comment started me thinking.  Part of the comment was this: 'I let God step in and take control of the situation. He told me what areas to work on and in what order. People thought I was crazy jumping from room to room, but he was getting me to clean up access to all my closets and shelving that was blocked, so I would have a space to actually put away the things I was keeping.'

Let God step in!  Well there's a thought.  Do you ever have those moments in a meeting where the person at the front talks about letting God into every area of your life and you rack your brain to think of any area you've left out.  Well here's one of them.   It had not occurred to me to ask God for help in clearing up my house.

We started decluttering the house in 2012 and managed to half sort 2 rooms and get them decorated.   Then my Dad was ill and we were travelling 200 miles each way to see him and living half the week at our house and half at his. Then when he died in February 2013 we cleared his house so I couldn't face doing my own as well.

Interestingly, it was much easier to clear Dad's house than my own.  I was not emotionally attached to any of the stuff in his house and so it was easy to do the 'this goes to the charity shop', this goes to the recycling' etc.  Even having the furniture taken away last week wasn't a problem.   Maybe the fact that the house had to cleared for the new owners was a greater motivation than just needing somewhere to be tidy.

Of course the two rooms that we half sorted are as bad as ever!
The spare room

The stuff on the bed is out of a cupboard in the room and is on the way to the charity shop.

The study.

 

See the empty(ish) shelf on the bookcase.   I cleared all of this from the bookcase.

 A friend is going to sell it all on eBay.

So I have started.  I have been flitting from room to room but not because I asked God about it but because that's my tendency.  Facing a whole room at a time is too much.  A shelf here and there when I think about it seems much easier.  But I'm impatient and I want it all done yesterday.

One suggestion the lady made was to read the Beth Moore book 'Breaking Free'.  Fortunately I already have it - unread of course! - on my Kindle app.   So off to read that and have have a chat to God about this area of my life I had not included him in.

Any decluttering ideas would be very welcome.

Thanks
Bernice







 

Music Monday

I have loved this song for a very long time.  It really speaks to me.  If you haven't ever heard it before please really listen to the lyrics.

I did this scrapbook layout using this song as inspiration.

What creative response have you made to a song?

See you soon.
Bernice

Music Monday

This is a beautiful acoustic version by Hillsong United of Oceans

Joel Houston, Matt Crocker, Salomon Lighthelm

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

Isaiah 43:2

When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.

Music Monday

In last week's song, Mandisa mentions listening to TMac on the radio.  And I am assuming she means Toby Mac.

This was also on the radio everyday in Florida.  Speak Life.

Proverbs 18:21
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Who can you speak life to this week?

Music Monday

Another musician I was introduced to on Z88.3 was Mandisa.

This is Overcomer.

At the recent KLove contemporary Christian music awards  Mandisa 'was the fan-voted queen of the evening, picking up both Female Artist of the Year, and Song of the Year for “Overcomer.” The K-LOVE Fan Award-winning song was inspired by Mandisa’s friend who is battling breast cancer. “An overcomer is not someone who has arrived, but someone who has Jesus and chooses to fight every day,” she told the audience.'

Romans 8:31

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?   He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?   It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns?   No one. Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.   Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?    As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Which Christian songs are you enjoying at the moment?

Tears

This verse has come up several times in my life.
Psalm 56:8 (CEV)
You have kept record
    of my days of wandering.
You have stored my tears
in your bottle
    and counted each of them.

It was prayed over me at a meeting of regional leaders.

And I have used it at various times in art work that I have done.  This was part of a workshop that I did at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC some years ago.

This scrapbook layout was done whilst I was a member of Scrapbooking From the Inside Out.

I really like hidden journaling and this was hidden under the torn papers.

And this my most recent version of the verse using acrylic paint in my art journal.   I wrote with a waterproof pen my feelings about a life event.   I scraped a thin layer of modelling paste through a stencil.  Because I don't clean my stencils the pink ink I had used previously spread onto the teardrops.  I used a thin layer of blue acrylic paint over the whole page painting round the teardrops.  I added another layer of modelling paste and dry brushed the butterscotch acrylic paint over the top.  I used a Thermofax screen and black and white paint to add the grasses.  I printed the verse and coloured the paper with Distress Inks before cutting the words up and gluing them to the page.

This journal page has been chosen for inclusion in a book provisionally called Art Journal Kickstarter to be published at the end of the year.

Do you have a particular Bible verse that crops up on a regular basis?

See you soon
Bernice

Music Monday

I thought that on Mondays I would share a song that speaks to me.  Today's song: 'Hello, My Name Is' was on the radio everyday while I was in Florida in April.

When I visit my friends in Florida I love to turn the hire car radio to Z88.3.  That is of course zee88.3!  I find it really easy to remember because Radio 2 here is 88.3FM.

I hadn't heard it before but I felt it really sealed all that I had heard in the Identity series we had finished shortly before my visit.  The series is still available if you would like to work through it.

Are you a child of the one true King?   I am.

See you soon
Bernice

Creatively glorifying God

I borrowed the title of this post from the new blog by Simon Clay who is a member of my church.  He wrote about Bezalel & Oholiab and the creative skills that God had given them.

Simon mentions that we are creative beings because we are made in the image of God and he is the 'Ultimate Creator'.

Don't believe that you are creative!?!  Look at these Bible verses.

Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 9:6
for in the image of God has God made mankind.

So we were all made in the image of God - therefore we have the characteristics of God.
Deuteronomy 32:6
Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?

Isaiah 40:28
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

We are made in the image of a Creator God - he is creative. Therefore we are creative.

And God gives creative skills to us
Exodus 35:35
He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.

Read Exodus 35:4-35 and Exodus 36

But creativity doesn't just mean arts and crafts.  It means graphic design, cookery, home-making, writing - in fact anything where you start with nothing or some bits and pieces and make something else entirely new.

You can find the verses above quoted in the MadeTribe Prompt 2.

I made this piece of textile art some years ago.  I called it The Prophet's Mantle.

It was inspired by these verses: Exodus 39:24-26

They made pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen around the hem of the robe. And they made bells of pure gold and attached them around the hem between the pomegranates. The bells and pomegranates alternated around the hem of the robe to be worn for ministering, as the Lord commanded Moses.

How can you respond to the gifting that God has given you?

See you soon
Bernice

Introducing Made

Made 2014 is the second year of a great line up of teacher exploring various themes from a Christian perspective and encouraging a creative response.

To quote the Made website:

Made is an e-course created by Christian creatives for Christian creatives, exploring what it means to be a person who makes things who believes she or he was, in turn, made by God.

It's a 13 week course starting on September 1st.  Registration is now open.  Why not click through to register.  You can see who the Christian Creatives are and find out about the classes.

You will find that I am one of the teachers and here is a sneak peek at a journal in the making for one of my two classes.  I do hope you'll come and join in.

The cost is $80 or around £48.  Just £3.70 per class.  Bargain!

And if you can't wait until September to get started then come and join us in the Made Tribe where journal prompts are posted twice a month - on the 1st & 15th.

See you soon,
Bernice

A New Adventure

Welcome to my new adventure.  A place to share my art and my faith.  And a place to challenge you to share your art and faith.

I recently did this page in my journal for a series on Identity.  It's a mixture of scrapbooking, collage and art journaling techniques.

The links on the tabs will take you to sites where you can find Christian journaling prompts.  You can work through them as and when you wish.  You can respond through any media that you love to use.

I would love you to join me in expressing our faith and our art.  To be sure of following along please sign up for emails - you will only get them when I add a blog post.  Use the Subscribe Me box at the bottom of the page.

See you soon.
Bernice