GIVEAWAY!

Make a comment on any posts. Give me your most creative comment/story, etc. and win this giveaway. It is based on my current artwork. When you look at her special eyes, she will tell you something, LOL!!!

UPDATE!

Stay tuned to this blog, make sure you sign up to get notified by email for three things: 1) for this week's giveaway!  Make a comment and I will pick from all the comments for a winner.  You can make a comment on any of the posts past or present; 2) Tutorials original and/or repurposed art techniques and 3) More inspirational messages.  Inspirational messages will always be published on Sundays.  Make comments or ask me any questions you may have and I will try to respond as best I can.  Thanks!  View the new art this week.

TRUST

It takes a great amount of self-control to ward of instant gratification.  In this day and age of new technology and the innovation of “stuff” we always want new things RIGHT NOW.  Some worse than others.  When it comes to the major issues in our lives, we pray of them.  Prayers are free but we should also realize that when you request God for something and expect him to grant your wish, it should also line up with his will for your life.  We often hear, and the bible also tells us, that when God answers our prayers, he does it in HIS time, not ours.  In our culture, we are used to instant gratification and materialistically, we fulfill those desires ourselves.  With God it’s different.   

Patience is one of God’s most valuable principle.  The reason why God wants us to wait is to protect us from self-destruction.  Psalm 27:14 It takes a strong person to face temptation for something that God has for them later and to say you are willing to wait.  Patience is this: I am willing to wait upon God and remove all the deadlines.  You cannot give God a deadline, the most sovereign of the universe.  What kind of relationship would you have with God, the one who knows what’s best for you, when you give him an ultimatum?

We gain Courage when we wait on the Lord.  There is character in a person who has the strength to wait for God’s best in their life (Psalm 25:3) If you’re afraid that if you don’t get it now then you may never get it and eventually make you look like a failure.  You never have to think about what people think or say when you are being obedient to God.  It doesn’t make a difference what they think.  When you wait for God’s timing, you are waiting for the only kind God gives you, his very best.  Don’t fight God and think you know what is best for you.  God only acts on our behalf in the best way.  We have to wait for his timing, his direction.  Psalm 37:34 NLV.  Don’t be impatient for God to act, keep steadily along his pathway and in due season, he will honor you with his blessing, because that’s what he’s planned for us, in light of his purpose.

Wait for his timing and direction.  Whatever your desire may be, if you are willing to wait for his time and direction, you will get what the will of God is in your life, most of us call it a “Blessing in disguise”  You will get something better than what you expected and deserve because that is the kind of God he is. 

What’s the reason to wait?  Why doesn’t God just give it right now? First, because he’s preparing us for it.  He may want to change certain things about you.  For example, God instructed Joshua to march around the city of Jericho seven times.  Joshua asked how are they supposed to defeat the people in Jericho by marching around it?  Here’s the wisdom of God. What is he doing? He wasn’t getting the Israelites ready, he’s getting the people in Jericho ready.  He was causing confusion, fear, frustration, anxiety by the 7^th time they had marched around, the people in Jericho were in total disarray and emotionally defeated before the walls ever came down.  You ask anyone in the military, what is the longest moment in a battle? They will say, the moments you have to wait before you pull the trigger.  What was God doing to Jericho?  He was destroying the sense of courage, self-ability, and willingness and ability to fight because all they can see is marching.  He was working on their behalf to save multitude of lives.  Otherwise, they would have had to work harder in building items necessary to wage war, instead all they did was march.  Your life may seem like a parade, like nothing is happening but really God is doing something behind the scenes. 

I wonder how many times God would have given you what you asked for if you would just wait for his timing.  Don’t step ahead of God, he already knows what’s going to happen, you can’t change his plans and you will never go wrong if you wait on the Lord.  He knows every detail of our lives, he knows what you like and whether or not it is the best for you.   He knows that you will regret the day that you disappoint him so he says, not now.  Wait.  God always has a purpose for us when he tells us to wait.  God acts on behalf of those who wait for him.  He is preparing the circumstance, he’s purifying our motives.  He has to make the circumstances right and get the motive right.  He is teaching us to trust him. God will not grant us our desires unless it matches with his will.  God will give you clear direction at this point, he’ll say, Trust me and wait.  Your unwillingness to wait for God, it’s saying I don’t trust you God.

God has another purpose for making us wait and that is to make an impact not only in our lives but also to those who watched you get the blessing and known that you chose to wait on God instead of taking their advice.  It sends an awesome testimony.  The reality, truthfulness and worthiness of God, you win and the people around you win. 

Have a blessed week and Love one another!

QUICK VIEWING OF SOME ART I'VE FINISHED

This is a wallhanging.  The background is hand dyed fabric by me and I appliqued 3 birds and edged with decorative tape.  I applied eyelets and tied it with a decorative yarn and finished with beads. 

 The charm below was also handmade with polymer clay, mica powder and resined the little charm inside the frame so it looks like it's floating, which it really is, lol!

 The painting below is 16x20 acrylic painting.  I started to post it on Etsy to sell but my neigbor purchased it before I could get the ad up.  Yay!

This past week I was busy making art and I just wanted to share some of the things I've made that are currently for sale on Etsy (under Afoxart). I have two things, LOL! However, I have been finishing some halfway, unfinished, or more embellishments for the art I have already made but sitting around waiting to be finilized.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised!  I will be having a giveaway next week, I will be working on the giveaway this week so make sure you stay tuned!  Also, please be sure to leave a comment on my blog! You may win the giveaway! Whoo Hoo!

Check out my youtube video on decorating an ordinary envelope.  The last giveaway was mailed in this envelope.  Hope you like it and may it inspire you to make your own decorated envelope.  Don't forget to spray sealant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkDWEnJ-Q1E&feature=g-all-u&context=G2945070FAAAAAAAAAAA

God bless you all and love one another!

GOD KNOWS - LOVE AND LOST

Puppy Love:  Do you remember the first time you started to get attracted to the opposite sex?  The first time you shared a toy, or even given it to him?  When you wished he would win that fake diamond ring from a cracker jack box and gives it to you?  What about the time when you just had a crush on someone and admired him from afar and stole moments alone creating scenarios of a life happily ever after?  As children, we watch fairy tales and while engulfed in our innocence, seek the perfect prince who will sweep us off our feet.

Young Love:  This usually happens in our teenage years, well into our early twenties.  The world was our oyster!  There was no stopping us.  We are free to go out, have fun, experience the world and the people that share it with us.  The young men whose eyes we caught.  We could choose anyone we wanted but at unfortunate times, we make the wrong choices.  Why?  Women are more attracted to bad boys, nice guys finish last, you know the vicious cycle…  Men, well totally different creatures.  Most are only after one thing and one thing only. 

First True Love:  As a young adults, somewhat set in our ways, we meet that special someone.  You know that one person who, just by the very sight of him makes the heart flutter.  The one whose every word sounds so deep and meaningful, someone who we think, if he ever left, would be total devastation.  We ignore the faults we see, even thinking.. oh how cute *eyes flutter*.  You let this person in with a love that is so pure and innocent. The kind love songs were written about.

Then life happens.  There are shenanigans like rent, expenses, and oops, we got pregnant, etc.  The responsibilities of reality set in and we grow up.  Depending on how conditioned we were as children, sometimes we can’t keep up.  Some even succumb to self destruction.  You know when they say, we always hurt the ones we love the most?  That happened too.

We break up.  We vow never to let anyone in as much as we’ve let the last one in.  All the fairy tale dreams shattered.  Every time we loved and lost, it hardens our hearts a little bit more.  They each take a piece of us, until what?

Here’s the harsh reality.  We all need to understand that our happiness does not depend on ANYONE.  We have to learn, each and every day, that people, whether we are  in a relationship with them or not, will hurt us in some fashion.  Why? Because innately, we are selfish beings.  We tend to think about ourselves first and others second.  God gave us that right, the gift of free will.

But you say, “No man is an island.”  Don’t get me wrong, I promote loving each other.  You’ll see that line at the end of every blog I’ve written.  It’s ok to love, and healthy love is unconditional.  You love your spouse not in the way that you become a doormat, but if he or she goes astray and tells you it’s over, let it be.  Well, you say, “easier said than done.”  I know, we’re not perfect.  I’ve had my heart broken before and it’s devastating!  I’ve never known pain as bad as a breakup or a divorce is.  But you know what?  I give myself one week.  One week to let it all out.  At the end of that week, I get into God’s loving arms because he will never turn his back on you nor forsake you.  God’s love is not like ours, His is EVERLASTING! (chew on that a little)  NO MATTER how you’ve shunned him, turned away from Him, or run away from Him, when you’re ready to go back, His arms are stretched wide open and his embrace is firm.  He is our constant.  HE will never force you to love Him but when you’re ready to do so, you can bet He will always be there. 

Okay, that may sound like a bunch of blah si blah blah to you.  If you want to know step by step, I can only suggest it the way I do it.  When I’ve reached the lowest of the lowest point in ANY GIVEN SITUATION (not just a break up), I sit in my quiet space and tell him straight… God I am giving this all up to you, you handle it, because you are the only one who can.  I won’t and can’t look back because by doing so, I am saying, I don’t trust you.  So there.  You’re IT.  Whether you believe this or not, He takes it over.  It may be that very instant, the next day, week, month or even year. He does it in his own time.  You may say, “that’s crazy!” Well, this is what I’ve learned about God.  He won’t give you proof that may create further doubt.  When HE gives you proof…. You would definitely know it.  It may even cause you to say, PRAISE JESUS!  Think about it.

Till my next rant… Love one another!

Please vote

Click here to vote for my artwork to be on the cover of Thalo Mag. Thanks! http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/199016/voteable_entries/46870332

KEYS TO SURVIVING IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS

When you feel like your life is in a tailspin, and gets tough relationally, financially, or whatever “ly” you are going through, and it feels like something is wanting to stomp you what do you do?  Look around you, you’ll be happy to know that you’re not the only one who is going through something similar and like you no one around you is perfect.  When your integrity is tested you sometimes contemplate in risking your integrity in order to survive.  You either have to make a choice whether to keep your morality, ones which you know is right or do what maybe someone like your boss wants you to do, even though you know it’s wrong.  That’s a tough situation, but it is real life.  We all have to struggle in that but we are not alone.  One of the strongest quality the enemy possesses is the ability to convince you that you’re the only one going through it and it is farthest from the truth.

When life gets tough we seem to have some choices we tend to do one of two things. One, we want to escape it or go backwards.  However, turning back the clock is impossible.  We’re always brought back to the same situation when we don’t tackle the problem head on.  The other is denial.  We pretend that it will just go away.  Do you know that if you don’t accept the things that are happening in your life, you get stuck in that same situation, no matter the magnitude of it? 

God doesn’t want us to suffer through these types of situations, He wants us to persevere, to come out of the situation better and stronger than before.  What do we do though?

First it is very important to remember that God has a plan.  When the Israelites were complaining to Moses that the Egyptians are coming to get them, God said, don’t complain to me!  Move your butts close to the Red Sea!  The Israelites just wanted to sit there and say, whoa is me, but God wanted them to trust Him when he says He will deliver them from the Egyptians, which He did when he parted the Red Sea at the very LAST minute!

Often, we choose to ignore God.  We run the other direction when it comes to having a relationship with Him.  But do you know that no matter where you run, whether it’s to him or away from Him, his plan remains the same?  He has a perfect plan.  You can do everything in your life to mess it up, but God still has a plan and no matter what, His plan always works.  It may not always make sense to us but it always works.  I didn’t write Proverbs 3:5-12, God did, so it’s there in His book!  For example, people will ask, why do I have to tithe 10% to God? If I’m struggling, that doesn’t really equate.  God doesn’t need your money!  HE IS GOD, Hello!  But he did say do it, trust me and I will pour out the blessings of heaven in your life.  For years I fought this because one, I was a single mother of 2, I had a job that is just enough to pay my bills and expenses, so like everyone else, I was like, HUH?  But one day I said, let me just do it and see.  I did.  I had been trusting Him since and he has blessed me with his grace wherein I knew that I would never have to worry because He will always provide for me and will never forsake me.  I took that leap of faith and God hasn’t disappointed me yet.  I'm far from rolling in the dough but I'm not hungry either.  If you need me to go into more details, you can email me and I’ll tell you.

Second, God can speak to you directly.  God will speak specific things into your life.  Talk directly to God and he will speak directly into your life and reveal his plans to you.  Again, not my words, Jeremiah 29:11, God’s plans are always good.  He typically answers us by handing us a map that takes us through the route we don’t want.  He’ll either ask us to go somewhere you hate or admit to something you didn’t want to admit to, because the one thing you don’t want to face is usually what gets you stuck in that place which will then require you to ask Him for His help.

Third, redirect your focus to the Greater person above all, not to minimize your struggles and problems, but take your eyes off the problem and shift it to God who is bigger and more powerful than anything or anyone on this earth.

Lastly, you must take the next step, believe in God.  Don’t wait for God to do it for you, you have to help him help you, but don’t do it on your own either without his help just because you think God is not moving fast enough.

How do faith and action fit together?  Move in the direction where God wants you to go, and do what he’s saying for you to do.  That’s what faith is.  Faith without action is dead.

Have a great week and Love one another!

MEAN PEOPLE SUCK

First off, I'd like to welcome Joanna Weinstein and Paint Girl Productions on becoming members!  Welcome!!!

You wake up in the morning, you feel so rested, (Disney new day music playing in the distance), the birdies  are singing, you take a deep breath and tell yourself, “Today will be a good day!”  Fast forward, you are at work you fire up your computer and behold! a message that you didn’t expect!  Buzz KILL!!!  Seems the completion of a certain project was not up to par, according to this ever mean person’s editorial.  Your blood pressure starts to rise, sweat beads up on your forehead, you feel your face flush, your hands start to shake.  You want to storm into this author’s office and just blurt out profanities, jump across the desk…. you know rest. 

But you don’t.

Instead, you take a deep breath, think about the birdies singing, the smell of your first morning java and the beautiful family you have still waiting for you to come home to shower you with love and affection!  Okay, I’m exaggerating!  Or am I?  I’ve had thousands of scenarios just like these throughout my life.  Just last night, as a matter of fact.

You see, no matter where you go, no matter what you do, someone somewhere will always put a wedge in your smooth flawless existence.  There are people who have good intentions, including you.  Do you know of anyone who was liked by EVERYBODY?  Newsflash! Not even Jesus Christ!  Mean people are a staple in life, they are a given, a constant.  It’s how we react to these people when they add spice into our day that will create a rubber wall shield. 

Last night I got this very email I speak about from one of my clients.  We completed a job.  This same person a year ago asked me to do a job for her and I vowed that if I ever see her name on one of my job requests, I will turn it down.  YES! It was that bad!  Well, as fate would have it, she sends me a job order last month and I had totally forgotten the name! Ughh!  Again, as luck would have it she made the completion of this job a nightmare.  In short, a month later, no payment yet.  I was so heated and had to have an outlet. In one split second, my joy was stolen from me.  But instead of calling her voicemail and giving her the riot act, I drew the art you see above.  It is Medusa.  She holds many, many snakes on her head.  Each snake tells her how to cleverly pierce pain into someone’s heart, day in and day out.  She has piercing eyes.  Eyes that reach into yours and captures your soul so she can take it and trample all over it to kill it.  Her beauty seduces you but through it all there is nothing but blackness, rage, hatred and death. 

Mean people suck!  They will always be present in our lives.  When they do try to take your joy, surrender it to God and bless them… no really, say it to God, “Please bless this person Lord, you handle him/her, because I can’t.”  You will be surprised how that person will suddenly turn around.  Oh come on!  Give it a whirl!  In case you’re wondering?  I got another email from that same person this morning, apologizing.  All I could say was “thank you God.”  That’s it.  She took away my joy last night, and today, God gave it back.

Oops!  I almost forgot… Leave a comment about the special mean people in your life.  Till my next rant.. LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

YOU ARE SPECIAL

When I say I am a Christian, I’m not shouting I’m clean livin’

I’m whispering I was lost, now, I am forgiven.

When I say I am a Christian, I don’t speak of this with pride,

I’m confessing that I stumbled and I need Christ to be my guide.

When I say I am a Christian, I’m not trying to be strong

I’m professing that I’m weak and need his strength to carry on.

When I say I am a Christian, I’m not bragging of success

I’m admitting that I’ve failed I need God to clean my mess

When I say I’m a Christian, I’m not claiming to be perfect

My flaws are far too visible but God says, I am worth it

When I say I am a Christian, I can feel the sting of pain

I have my share of heartaches so I call upon his name

When I say I’m a Christian, I’m not holier than thou

I’m just a simple sinner who received God’s grace somehow.

-Author Unknown

What kind of God calls on these types of people with known deficiencies to carry out his plans?  Noah was a drunk, Lot gave up his daughters as sacrifices, Samson was a pyromaniac.  He didn't get the girl he desired so he captured 300 foxes, tied their tails together and then set it on fire to destroy the entire community's crops therefore their whole economy singlehandedly!  David was an adulterer and a murderer, Jonah was a racist against the Ninevites, Matthew a tax collector, the list goes on and on.  God is pure, powerful and perfect... but yet, he didn't use the pristine, instead he used the imperfect.  Why?  Simple, imperfect sinners at the hands of an extraordinary and loving God, are transformed into extraordinary chosen people to show us that our imperfections, mistakes and sins are the very thread that God uses to bring us back to Him.  Remember the poem above?  TRUE Christ-like followers are sinners too.  Our church's motto is "This is not a country club for saints, but a hospital for sinners"  

There were two midwives in the Book of Exodus named Sheprah and Puah. These two women, although stood to face death in the hands of the pharoah went against him and refused to kill the male newborns as ordered.  They were simple women whose names found their way in the bible but the name of the leader of the Egyptians who were the smartest and most powerful nation in their day, God excluded from the bible.  To Him, the pharoah's name didn't matter at all.  In our day, it would have been the Donald Trumps and Bill Gates.  As Christians, we are already called by God into a full time ministry.  Our ministry isn't necessarily confined within the four walls of the church, it could be outside the church. 

But when fear takes over our hearts, it discourages us from planting the seeds of Christian faith to the people we come in contact with on a daily basis.  Remember that to whom much is given, much is expected.  We have to fight a tough battle to overcome this fear, fight our hardest battle, after all, God is worth fighting for.  It won't be easy but as long as we have at least 55% certainty of that which we fight for, we just have to follow through till the end.  Erase doubts and fears that hold you back, it will free you up so just GO FOR IT!

Our past hurts prevent us from going for it but those are lies that tell us we are not good enough.  Then we start believing and start living it.  But God gives us the admiration, love and acceptance that we will need to conquer all doubts, and although not worthy as sinners to be loved by a PERFECT POWERFUL PURE God, He loves us anyway.  So no matter how, what, when, where you do it, share the gifts that God gave you to give to others in His name.  It's free, but most of all, your heavenly bank account will be filled.  Think about it...

Feel free to leave a comment, otherwise... Have a great day and Love one another.

I'M SORRY SELF...

Most of our regrets and pains are self-inflicted.  The hardest person to forgive is yourself.  

As you ruminate on your regrets, and let it gnaw on you day in and day out it begins to  loom larger and larger in your mind and pretty soon your perspective begins to be distorted and skewed.  Then you start to fall in to one of several traps that many of us have fallen into one or more of these internal conversations:

1)      ALL OR NOTHING THINKING:  “This was the only way to succeed and since I didn’t choose it, I’ll never be successful”

2)      OVERGENERALIZE: “Since I made the wrong decision once, then I’m doomed to ALWAYS make the wrong decision”

3)      EMOTIONALISM: “I’m finished now, I can just feel it! I’m never ever going to be happy again.”

4)      PERFECTIONISM:  Summarily rule out all the other options, there is no Plan B, you’re such a perfectionist that the only way you can see if Plan A, and if Plan A doesn’t work, you reject any other options.

5)      RE-WRITING HISTORY:  “The fact that I was never successful in what I wanted to achieve because I was never really interested or that I couldn’t afford to fund it, that shouldn’t have gotten in the way”.  You can’t change history nor rewrite it.

6)      CATASTROPHIZING: “I’ll never succeed in anything again! People will always look down on me.”  You think of the worst possible scenario and think that it will definitely happen to you no matter what it is.

ACTIVELY ASSESS YOUR SITUATION AND MAKE A PARADIGM SHIFT:

1)      Write down what it is that you do regret.  When you do this, you will be able to cut down a number of traps and will be able to see it in the right perspective.

2)      Talk it over with a Godly individual, not someone who will tell you what you want to hear.  Yes, you messed up, but you are still a good person, someone who will tell you that your situation is not an isolated one.  You need someone like that.  Maybe a life group, people who have Christian faith in common. Someone who can speak into your life the hope of the Holy Spirit, instead of a person who doesn’t have the perception of scripture, who doesn’t know the truth that can set you free.  As long as the end connection is GOD.

3)      Stop comparing yourself to others.  One of the most important things to get over your regrets is to be yourself.  Comparisons will amplify your regrets. You only get a negative effect from good news about someone with whom rightly or wrongly you feel you’re in competition with.  Visions of competition magnify regret.  Then oftentimes, we overemphasize the other person’s accomplishments and overlook the downside of their lives, and then stand to underplay our own accomplishments and overemphasize the downside of our life.  These competitiveness is ingrained in us from an early age.  Competition is healthy but it can also crush us and break our spirits. 

There’s always going to be competitions in our lives so it is important to remember God’s attitude towards us.  It is important to know that you don’t have to compete for God’s love.  The most precious commodity in the cosmos is not some material success, or a promotion, or a job at a high tech firm.  The most precious commodity in the universe is the Love of God, and the love of God is not in short supply.  It’s not something that we have to scrape for that if you get some, I don’t get any.  That’s not the way it works. It’s available to all who open up their hearts and receive it.  Sometimes we see someone else getting blessed and we think God doesn’t have enough for me.  God’s hands are big enough to reach all of us, all at the same time and find you in a place where he will meet all of your needs from his hand.  There is not one accomplishment you can make in your life that would make God love you one aota more than he loves you right now.  His love is not based upon what you do, it is based upon the fact that you are his creation and he loves you.

In the biggest arena in the world, you’ve won and it’s not because of something you did but because you’ve accepted the free gift of God’s grace and accept his forgiveness and says, “this is yours”.  That helps diffuse the competitiveness and get beyond your regret when you understand that God loves you REGARDLESS of what you’ve done.

1)      God celebrates your uniqueness.  HE doesn’t want you to be someone else, He wants you to be fully you.  Someday, God will not hold you accountable for not being somebody else.  He will not stand there in front of you and say, I know you tried your best but you are no “so and so”.  God expect you to use the personality and gifts he gave you when he made you YOU.  You will one day stand in front of your Creator who made you and you will give an account for every breath God  gave you to draw when you got up in the morning.  For those who spit in God’s face and said, I’ll frankly do my own thing, the Bible says you are facing the fearful awesome wrath of a Creator who will be frustrated with the creation who lived outside of their potential and chose death over life. The bible further says that God is not willing that any should perish and but that all should come to repent and sent to eternal life but if you want to go to hell God will let you, if you choose life, God will give it to you just the same.  The choice is yours.  God wants you to maximize what he has given to you so you could forget about what everybody else does.  Stop comparing yourself.  The yardstick by which you need to measure your life is how can I become more of me the way God created me to be.  If you want God to work for you, get involved in working for him.  God is always on time, all the time.

2)      Confess your regrets to God and those you have hurt.  Regrets always include some person that we have hurt in our minds.  Healing will never begin and regrets will never dissipate until you first confess it to God, and if at all possibly you go and apologize to the ones that you’ve hurt.  You have to confess it to God first.  The reason why is because whenever we’re committing a sin or hurt to another person, you realize that you’re hurting God because He is their creator and is their heavenly father and they are his creation.  Every one of us is His masterpiece and you have destroyed some of the potential that he has painted on that canvas of that person’s life.  God freely forgives and forgets your sins.  Sometimes we don’t feel forgiven.  That’s because God’s forgiveness is different from human forgiveness.  The forgiveness that we give as people is often incomplete and people are often reluctant to forgive but that’s not true of God.  People will forgive but they don’t forget.  Isaiah 43 25 God remembers your sin no more. Although your sins are like scarlet, God can make them white as snow. Isaiah 55:7 it says God freely will pardon you. Lamentation 3:23 God’s compassion is new and fresh and every morning his mercy is fresh everyday.  People will forgive you but they’ll hold a grudge, Jeremiah 31:34 I will forgive their wickedness and I will remember their sins no more

3)      Being forgiven does not depend on our feelings.  When you turn over your sins to Jesus Christ you’re forgiven because God says you’re forgiven whether you feel like it or not. Your attitude can’t be “okay, I’m forgiven when I feel like I’m forgiven,” no your attitude needs to be “I’m forgiven because God says I am.”  He has the divine ability to forget what you may never be able to forget.  When you start walking in the truth about what God says about you, you will be amazed at how it changes you.  Don’t go saying Oh I’m an alcoholic.  If you ask Jesus to forgive you of the sin of drunkenness, the bible says He who the Son sets free is free indeed, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because the law of sin and death is broken by the law of grace through Jesus Christ.  You’re not an alcoholic anymore!  If you begin to celebrate who you are in Christ you will begin to see those things that had a hold on you that wouldn’t let go off before. It will amaze you how your life will change when you accept the potential of what God said is your inheritance.

4)      Live at peace with everyone.

5)      Develop a plan for the future and build it around God.  The devil will tell you that you have to pay for your sins but the Bible says Jesus already paid for it.  You don’t have to pay for your sins anymore, all you have to do is ask God to forgive you and accept his forgiveness.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND WEEK, DON'T FORGET TO SET YOUR CLOCKS FORWARD :( BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

WHAT MATTERS MORE THAN LIFE RECLAIMED AFTER DEATH

This piece I completed a couple of weeks ago. It is the first installment of a series I plan to omplete to depict the message from the Book of Revelation.  It was not planned to be shown today, however, it is being shown today in God’s terms, not mine, because today, my daughter’s father died, losing his battle against the ugliest of ugly diseases, cancer.  Up until the last I seen, I could tell he was so afraid to die.  He was only 52 years old.  He will be missed so much but no longer suffering and he has now met his maker.

At least in my mind, the word DEATH was a nasty word.  We all know we are going to die, we all know death is inevitable.  However, there is a fine line between knowing and accepting.  Death happens around us often but often too, an afterthought.  The thought of the unknown is immobilizing, unless you know, understand and love the very engineer, artist, sculptor of every cell that makes up the body that is yours.  He is the one who created you and will eventually reclaim you.

Often we push the thought of dying in the back burner but we have to realize that pushing it in the back burner doesn’t mean it will disappear.  Eventually, it will stare us square in the face again and we will have to address it. 

I’m not going to sugar coat it.  Death to me WAS scary.  The first book I read of the bible was the Book of Revelation.  At the age of 14 I tried to understand it but could not wrap my brain around it.  However, as I got older, it was something I searched for.  Until I got to know who God really was and how He was truly the center of my heart, I began to understand why that book was in there.  Its very purpose is not to scare us to come to God, instead to understand profoundly that the place we call earth is just a learning ground to reach that perfect everlasting life called HEAVEN, paradise, whatever you call it.  Suddenly, the life that we thought was IT, is not.  There is a better place.  Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has prepared for those who love Him.  How you earn residence to it is a lot less work than a job that pays the mortgage.  The bible says, it is easier for a camel to pass though the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven.  Ok, well, a camel passing through the eye of a needle is just so unthinkable, it’s not even funny.  Loving God with all your heart, accepting Jesus, His Son, as our redeemer (the one who died to pay for our sins, past present and future, there’s no confusion there, the bible said so) is more liberating than hard work, do you agree?

In my own revelation and marvel, I thought, what’s it gonna hurt? What about you? What’s it gonna hurt of you study God, love Him and seek Him out?  Nothing, except an earthly life of joy, blessings and grace and bigger bonus, an everlasting life after death.  Would you still be afraid to die after knowing that?

This poem was written last night, before my daughter called me to tell me her father is leaving this earth:

Ode to Darren

I looked at the moon tonight and I saw your face

The brightness that lit the darkness of the sky

Reminded me of God’s grace

Somehow I felt you were in the air

The memory of the life of joy we shared,

a moment so fair.

Among the despair a celebration abounds

How lovely for you everlasting life just around

For God is so close pure love is now clear.

If then there was fear, now only strength

If then there was doubt now only hope

And at the end of that hope there is salvation

Gone are they all now only peace.

And when you get there, nothing but smiles

Grandman will meet you up in the skies

Sorrow is ours but won’t be for long

For someday again we will sing our song.

THIS WEEK AT THE HAPPY COCOON STUDIO