Strength and Joy are Found in His Dwelling Place...strength series #5

This statement really does cause a "Selah" moment!

Warrior Heart....#4 in the "strength" series

The Lord is My Strength...#1, #2 and #3 in the strength series

 A little work I did this weekend...
I've been doing a study on the strength of the Lord and all its facets...I am loving what I am finding!
The art work is really on pure white backgrounds - (Blogger must have some automatic feature that changes the color ever so slightly so that it doesn't blend into the background... )

Sojourning #10...we are meant to reign!

We are sojourners here, but we aren't meant to live as mere sight seers.  We have a purpose in this land...and the land has a purpose in us.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands...Psalm 19:1

Even the sky is a beacon; a reminder that this life is a time of preparation for that which is to come...

It is here that we learn to choose good over evil, blessing over cursing, life over death (1).  It is a daily habit we must acquire...the ability to come up against situations, and choose to see His hand, His purpose in it.  Whether it is to teach us to look beyond the surface of circumstances; to love those who act in loveless, challenging ways, or to make our souls pliable in order that they may be fashioned in His image - every encounter becomes an opportunity to allow His purposes a place of expression.  

These are the marks of a righteous judge, one that can faithfully oversee the affairs of his king, the character carved into the hearts of His royal sons and daughters.

And because this world is the place of all these tests - this land of sojourning has its purpose in us...

The trick is to not let this land - the troubles as well as the blessings - rob us of our vision, the truth that we are meant to reign in life; the life here as well as the life to come.  This time here, our lives here, are meant to be lived as a training ground - not as the final destination (2).

We are meant to reign...

We need only to look to the sky to know that this is so...

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? 

He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. 

Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 40:26 NIV

  (1) see Deuteronomy 30:15-20.
   (2) 1 Timothy 4:8

Soujourning #9...some have forgotten...

 I have been reading in the ancient texts...reviewing the story of how I came to be here; how my ancestors got here...

Processed with an iris blur and Kim Klassen's texture "heartfelt" at soft light blend mode.

Each of us came from one family, formed by the Creator Himself and "becoming" when He breathed His life into them {1}.  We all bear His image; we are all connected. 

However, it seems that some have forgotten from Whom they came; that there is a beautiful, perfect home prepared and waiting for them{2}.  They live for themselves, they deny their Creator (and therefore a very important piece of themselves, as the Creator made us with a "homing beacon" that is designed to draw us toward Him and His ways{3})  And in this, others are hurt, wounded, by the words, deeds and desires of those who have forgotten.  

To be honest, sometimes I forget too, but only for a moment.  

But the damage I can inflict on another feels the same to them as the kind of damage inflicted by those with permanent amnesia...and I am bruised and crushed as well.

I think He knew this would happen, the amnesia brought on from being away from home so long and with it, a neglecting of the writings He left for us...

I say that, because I found these words as I read in a certain passage {4}...

and my heart was greatly comforted:

He is gentle with those who are bruised and crushed,

He sees the small and insignificant,

He takes them by the hand;

He leads them into His unconditional love..

He’ll steadily and firmly set things right.

He won’t tire out and quit. 
He won’t be stopped.

****************

  He who created the cosmos, 
stretched out the skies,

    laid out the earth and all that grows from it,

Who breathes life into earth’s people,

   He makes them alive with His own life...

*************

He says: 

"I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way,

    who can’t see where they’re going.

I’ll be a personal guide to them,

    directing them through unknown country.

I’ll be right there to show them what roads to take,

    make sure they don’t fall into the ditch.

These are the things I’ll be doing for them—

    sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.”

 And then, my heart grew excited, because He had made this declaration:

“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.

    I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.

I have set you among my people to bind them to me,

    and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,

To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:

    opening blind eyes,

    releasing prisoners from dungeons,

    emptying the dark prisons.

I am God. That’s my name."

Even though wounded, even though flawed, He is still with me and giving His life to me, keeping me eternally safe and enabling me to show others the way while we are still sojourning here...

 

 Joining with other lovelies here...

  

{1} from Genesis 2

{2} John 14:2

{3}  Ecclesiastes 3:11

{4} The Message Bible:  parts of Isaiah 42

Soujourning #8...Spring is a gentle reminder ~

Spring brings gentle reminders to always have hope...

 

That God once loved a garden we learn in Holy writ.
And seeing gardens in the Spring I well can credit it.
~Winifred Mary Letts

How wonderful yellow is - 

it stands for the sun...

~Vincent van Gogh 

Spring is like a promise - He won't be gone forever - even the earth practices bursting forth for His return - new life is here, already here, in this place so far from home... and I can partake of it...

Joining with the Texture Tuesday bunch here... 

Sojourning #7...Surely the lines have fallen in pleasant places for me...

He has made my time of sojourn so delightful...birds that sing in the mornings as I sip a cup of rich, dark coffee...lace, the light of the rising sun, simple wooden chairs slid up to a table ready for abundance -

Surely these things are pleasant reflections of my eternal home?  At least the bird song and coffee...
 

Processed with a Gaussian Blur layer (masked away from the handle and bird a little) and Kim Klassen's 0605 texture at soft-light.

My heart pours out to Him:

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

you make my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Psalm 37:5-6

 And to my fellow sojourners I say:

Trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart...

Psalm 37:3-4 

Other beauty here...

Sojourning #6 - collected memories

Processed with 2 layers of Kim's waterfront 7 - magic

The beauty we see in nature on this earth calls to a place in my heart -
Every created thing bears the stamp of the Creator.
Perhaps that is why we feel closer to God when we are in nature...we are surrounded by the evidence of His Presence, His love, His attention to detail...

I feel His embrace, and I know I am remembered.

And I gather these remembrances, to remind me of this feeling, this truth...to remind me of home...

Linking with the Texture Tuesday bunch here...

Sojourning #5...for the love of home...

As surely as the sun rises, He will appear, He will come to us. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  From faith to faith, from strength to strength, from glory to glory...we eagerly await His coming...

Based on Hosea 6:3, 1 John 3:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Psalm 84:7, Romans 1:17

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, 

will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Philippians 3:20-21 NIV

Other creative photographs here...

Sojourning #4...more than enough room...

Processed to look like an old, tattered postcard, looked at often, as one would if they were far from home...

There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.... 

When everything is ready, I will come and get you, 

so that you will always be with me where I am...

John 14:2-3NLT

These were words spoken by Jesus to comfort His followers close to His crucifixion...

He was leaving them behind, citizens of another world being left in this one as aliens and sojourners.  They would face adversity, persecution, ostracization, beatings, imprisonment, execution...

But they had the hope that He wouldn't leave them forever - He would come back - and there would be room...

more than enough room, 

for them, 

their families, 

their friends, 

and all who wanted a new life. 

Thank you Lord for making all the room needed and for drawing all those who come...

Sojourning #3...quiet...

I always think of "soft" and "quiet" together...

Textured with one layer of Kim Klassen's "chaos" set to soft light blend mode.

...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: 

You should mind your own business 

and work with your hands...  

so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders 

and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. 

I Thessalonians 4:11 NIV

As sojourners we are to aim towards living a quiet life, and work with our hands - I love that these two instructions point in the direction of creativity!  And in living quietly and purposefully, outsiders will respect us - and perhaps ask how they too can be citizens of our country...

More "quiet" beauty at the Texture Tuesday link up here... 

Sojourning #2 ...enjoyment...

A rare pink bluebonnet from our yard last spring...textures with Kim's 0703 at color burn blend mode and reduced to 25% opacity.  The type font is called "Petra"

I am a sojourner here on this earth (Philippians 3:20).

And it is amazing to me that, even though I am no longer "of this world" but still in it, the things in it were made for my enjoyment...

What a loving God, that before I became a citizen of His world, He created the beauty in this one for me to enjoy, and perhaps to wonder about just how much more incredible my permanent home will be...

And if He created all this beauty for me to enjoy, how it must please Him when I do take. time. to. stop. and. enjoy. it...

no frantic trying to please Him, to work at gaining what I already have (His love),
no worrying that He might withdraw it from me,
no missing the delicate intricacies of living life here because I am constantly preparing for the move "home"...

This must be why He told the Children of Israel to plant gardens and settle down, "make themselves at home", when they went into captivity in Babylon...even tho' they were no longer in their homeland, they were still in the hands of God - and could still have joy in their lives...

And here, back here in this century, this year, this moment of time - I am free in this land that is not my final home...and I can love:

warm days and cool nights

frogs singing across the field every evening

morning songbirds

wind in the oak's strong branches

the scolding chatter of the squirrel who lives above the garage

the anticipation of this year's wild flowers

a cat's purr

the smell of spring

the comfort of a worn quilt on the porch swing when it is just a tad too cool 

the way of a family

how we love one another...

Joining with other wonderful photographers at Texture Tuesday here

Sojourning #1...You know the way...

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of being at a retreat center which had a reproduction village from ancient Israel built - it is called "Capernaum".  Of course I took pictures!  And you will be seeing many of the shots during this season of Lent...

 

...and you know the way to the place where I am going...John 14:4

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.     John 14:1-3 NIV

The theme the Lord is leading me towards for my personal Lenten explorations comes from the idea that we are simply sojourners in this world, citizens of another.  And so for this first installment, I chose an image of looking through an archway in the town of "Capernaum", towards a live oak tree...

 almost as if I am looking through a corridor from one world to the next, and the oak is the Tree of Life in the center of Paradise...

"Soon," the Spirit says.  "Soon, we will be together." 


Joining with the Texture Tuesday link up here... 

My image is processed with a vibrance adjustment and one layer of Kim's "rest" from her February trio set to "color burn" blend mode and opacity adjusted to 48%. 

My word for the year - "Finish"

Hearing my word for 2014 really happened during the regular time frame...during the month of January...it is just now that I seem to have time to write about it...

Picture source

The word whispered around the back portions of my mind - I wasn't sure if it was just my need to accomplish cleaning off my desk in my office/art studio, or gaining some sort of organization after 6 months of seeming chaotic life...(my desk is still piled, but project after project is moving off...FINISHED!)

"FINISH"!

It is a triumphant call - He calls me to "finish" because He declared "It is finished"...Everything is settled...

He will perfect that which concerns me -

He has given us everything I need for life and Godliness -

His gift and calling is irrevocable -

I looked at places where the word shows up in Scripture, and found three that leaped out to me:

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  James 1:4 NIV

Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.  2 Corinthians 8:11 NIV

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.   Acts 20:24 NIV

Picture source

 The very day I decided that the word dancing around my mind had the emphasis of the Spirit with it, this article was delivered to my inbox:

There is an "It is Finished" sound in the kingdom. Are we releasing it? 

This excerpt captures the tone of what I was hearing:  

The governmental power of 'NOW Sound" is that we know He is King, it is finished, and Father is governing through the release of the sound of His sons and we are releasing what He is revealing, right here, right NOW! 

When I read about worship, I automatically include the act of creating any art, honoring Him by releasing the creativity He has placed within us, in the context of worship...


He is saying:

Finish the race I have set before you...
I have released you into the fullness of your passions and calling!

Finish the creative explosions released within you...
Release the creativity I have placed within you to the sphere of your influence!

Finish through perseverance...
Maturity and completeness come only through the daily practice of reaching towards Me, seeking to reflect Me to the world...in all you do, keep going, experimenting, exploring, wondering, making, moving, ministering, revealing...

I hear Him cheering me on...
What will He accomplish in this coming year?  I cannot wait as I consider all the ideas, half formed, some almost complete...finished!

Blessed first day of the week...

Image source - the owners contacted me and encouraged me to use their images!

The way of the life of stillness...

More fog pictures from around our place...

nothing invites us to stillness,

to a place of quiet reflection,

as a blanket of fog tucking us in to our favorite places...

Processed with Kim Klassen's rest_magic texture - I liked how it made the picture look so aged.

Dadisho was a leader and writer of the Church in the East from the 5th century...

Joining with the rest of the Texture Tuesday bunch here...

My prayer: "Establish the work of his hands..."

The prompt over at Texture Tuesday today is "light", so I am recycling an older photo because of how the light was coming in through the window - you might have seen it before, as I believe I did this during the first "Beyond Layers" class that Kim hosted...

Processed with Kim's "Revolution" texture and a lot of fixing of the photo below!

The "before" photo:

Well, I was so excited about taking the picture that I didn't even look at the floor that needed sweeping!  And FYI, the window sill got a coat of paint after this picture too!

John Keats for Valentine's Day...a free download -

Who better than Keats can turn a phrase for love?  For today's Texture Tuesday, the theme of which is "love", I further blurred one of the fog images that I have had so many opportunities to take lately! 

Click here if you wish to download for your personal use only (Image size is 5"x5").

Click here for more inspiration from other Texture Tuesday link ups...

New collages in the works - Sneak Peek...

Hoping to have this one and two others in this series finished this weekend...

the brown novel is from 1891 - that is so amazing to me!

Fog - beautifing the existing beauties...

We've had many foggy days lately - but this particular day was last spring because the bluebonnets were blooming - and then this perfect quote inspired the poem...I do love the fog!

Fog 

A holy hush descends,

even nature whispers...

not wishing to disturb 

the majesty, kneeled to earth, 

bequeathing a crown of awe 

to mortals.

Cindy Fort - copyright 2014

Joining with other creative photos here...