BE LIFTED WITH GOD

 

 

God’s love for us is divine and unrelentless.  He is quick to forgive us when we are truly repentant of our sins.  It is our responsibility to learn from them so as not to repeat them and use the “I’m only human” card each time.  God knows your heart, He knows if you are truly sorry.  Nevertheless, we are forgiven because God’s love for us is unconditional and by showing us how unconditional it is, He also teaches us to practice that same type of love for each other.

 

 

When someone wrongs us as humans, we focus too much on how we were treated with injustice, thrown accusations and arguments at which caused us pain and suffering.  The key to forgiving the wrongdoer is to focus on the fact that the dimensions of God’s forgiveness towards us are far greater than our frustrations. 

 

Our relationship toward each other was not motivated by God, so in order to really forgive, God cannot do it for us, and we have to do it ourselves.  In doing this, we will have practiced forgiveness the way God forgives us.  Consequently, the forgiven wrongdoer will realize this and pass that same forgiveness on their wrongdoers, and so on and so forth.  God gave us free will and will never interfere without our own permission.  So if you were done wrong and ask God to forgive them, you have to realize that YOU have to do the forgiving, not by God, but through God.  Not only does God lift you up, but you are able to lift others up as well.

 

 

Until my next rant…..LOVE ONE ANOTHER!



SALAD ALA CARLEY'S

 At our stopover in Toronto, this salad was the bomb!  I listed all of the ingredients included and recreated it at home.  The result was awesome.  I would like to share it with you.  There's really no recipe, just put together the following:

Spinach salad mix (got it at WINCO)
Mandarin orange slices
grilled shrimps (4 in each plate)
bacon (1 each per plate) crumbled
walnuts
chinese fried noodles - for crunch
french fried onions
Poppy seed dressing

That's it!  Hope you enjoy it just as much as I did!

Until the next rant (or recipe).... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

CHERRY BLOSSOMS

This week was a very busy week.  I usually just do work in the studio, unwilling to go anywhere.  However, appointments have to be kept, errands have to be made and the worse part for me is that I don't own my time meaning I function on other people's schedule.  We all know what that's like.  So, I decided to do everything in one fell swoop, but again, mistakes made, follow ups and returns happen.  I am hoping to get a good full week upcoming. 

This painting was commissioned with a request of teal and pink cherry blossoms.  I made a decision to incorporate texture to make it interesting since flower paintings, I find, are a little mundane.  But to each its own.  In doing so, I had to interject my style in mixed media using rich medium bold color but casted a sheen to counteract the boldness.  Here is the result.

ABUSED - POSTED ON POETRY|ART PAGE - READ THE POEM I WROTE BEHIND IT!

In you I gave all my trust
In you I offered all my love
My safety in mind to you was a must
To protect me from the evils of life

But why with you I feel the vile?
Away from you is my only desire,
Forget the bruised and pained outer shell
It's deep inside my heart that is my hell

In this wide world I disappear
distrusting all, engulfed in fear
when i grow up, gain all my strength
with all my might I must hold back revenge

I was just a child who trusted you
Protection and love to me was due
My innocence will never be restored
God said I deserved to be treated like gold.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poetry-Art/202532989877965

THIS WEEK'S FOCUS

Until next time.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

A Little Addition to the Boho Chic Living Room that Gave It an Additional Punch of Color for Practically Nothing

    In my quest to continue to transform my living room into a Boho Chic theme, intermittently phasing out the predominance of the earth tones.  So here's "before".

The inspiration was sparked by a trip to World Market and spotting a bottle of reisling wine shown below.

   Suffice it to say that it sat in my fridge for quite sometime before it was opened simply because I am not a drinker but fyi, it was good reisling wine.  Sweet.  Still, it wasn't enough to make a difference, actually.

   In one of our walks, I knew there would be some treasure in the piles of trash people just toss willy nilly.  So, Scott was gracious enough to carry it for 3 miles (isn't he sweet?) back.

Bottle of Skyy

  This next bottle was saved from one of the juice my sister brought for one of my parties which I saved because I could "use it one day for something, I don't know what but something".  Well, that something did come. It is a very plain but the raised design was interesting, so with a little Martha Stewart glitter paint outside and plain old acrylic paint inside, this is what I came up with.

    So off to Michaels for some accessories.  Matching flowers!

   For the final result (drum roll please...)

   Hope this inspired you!  (The mask is from Scott from our trip in Mexico.)  Until my next crazy whims.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER...



HYPOCRISY

Voltura Griselda Grotesqua

Ahhh, the wiles and woes of being human!  Hypocrisy is perhaps one of the most inherent traits of human beings.  It is one of the vilest traits of human imperfection.  Not to worry, even the best of us was labeled a hypocrite at one time or another.  One example was David, the king.  He was revered by many in his day but his human desire for Bethsheba, who was married, compelled him to kill her husband.   A number of preachers, pastors and priests commit horrific crimes against their wives and/or churches because of their uncontrollable weaknesses.

Being good is much more difficult than being bad, but we sometimes take it to another level and make more of an effort to LOOK good but with bad intent deep inside, instead of just having integrity.  We are all guilty of this as sinners.  We are so worried about looking pristine to the world that covering up the dirt or sweeping it under the rug makes more sense.  Let me tell you for sure that it doesn’t. 

Integrity lives a lonely life.  Integrity is adherence to a code of values: utter sincerity, honesty, and candor; completeness.  My personal definition of integrity is conducting myself in the same way whether alone or around everyone.  WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get).  Integrity is achieved by learning and becoming aware every minute of the day that God is watching your every move.  It is an ongoing practice into a habit of self-awareness.  It is not achieved in one day, but we can start today to just watch our own actions, our own tongues, our own thoughts instead of watching the actions, thoughts and words of the other person.  Jesus said it best.  It is better to be true to the ONE who has the power to throw you into hell after you die than the one who can physically kill you and can do nothing else after that. (Luke 12:4)  Personally, I am afraid… very afraid!  Why? Because one, eternity is a very long time and two, the heat in hell doesn’t even compare to the hottest day you have ever experienced.  Just the realization about the fact that God doesn’t lie, even if I haven’t seen hell, I’m not taking any chances.  So, no thank you.

This artwork depicts not the outside appearance of a hypocrite, but what it looks like inside.  It is a vulture that has evil intentions and its ugliness preys upon and kills our soul.  It is also hideous, but if it evokes fear, shouldn’t we just get rid of it and ask God to help us along the way?  Why not try?

Until my next rant…. Practice integrity daily and LOVE ONE ANOTHER!