Called to speak out

Called to speak out...


I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be - (Psalm 139:14-15, NIV).

My grandson Zachary born 12 weeks early along with his twin brother Luke. They both suffer from cerebral palsy.

Zach and Luke

I have not written a post here for awhile, I have not been able to blog like I had planned, it just takes time I haven't had.

But the Lord spoke to me this morning and put it on my heart to write this post. It concerns a topic I would rather not address because of it's controversial nature and it is laced with much pain.

Abortion

Because I have been praying lately to be faithful in whatever the Lord asks of me, I am writing this post.

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.  On October tenth, he wrote, “All God’s revelations are sealed until they are opened to us by obedience. You will never get them open them through philosophy or thinking.  But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. ...Obey God in the thing He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up…God will never reveal more truth about himself until you have obeyed what you already know."

I want to be faithful to the calling I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. I would like to start out by saying there isn't a problem, situation or need in our lives that you won't find a solution to in the Word of God. The Bible addresses every need known to mankind. If I have a question I go to the word and pray, if it is a crisis I get on my knees. I spend time with God to know His heart, so when problems rise I know what to do.  It is in the inner work that gets you through the trials that come.

I must realize that my obedience even in the smallest detail of life has all the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it” (O. Chambers June 15). “If I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God” (O. Chambers November 2).

It is with that knowledge of who God is that I must stand and be counted even when it is not the popular choice. It has become a popular thought today not to have a strong opinion on any given subject... live and let live, of course unless you are an unborn fetus.
I am not here to discuss the issues, I have heard them on both sides and everyone thinks they have the right answer. I am only looking at this subject in the light of scripture, as I do in every detail of my life. I do not consider myself to be a political person, I am not involved with any specific party. But I do have strong convictions based on the Holy Spirit in me and I do stand on those convictions. If you do not believe in something and stand on those beliefs then you will be swayed in all directions and become a double minded person.
James 1:8 
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

I do want to add that I was involved with the pro-life movement when Roe vs Wade was before the supreme court and I did march in protest to try and overturn the decision... that was back a few years! I just want to be upfront here and lay before you where I am coming from.
I do want to add a few facts based on independent studies

• Nearly half of all pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these end in abortion.[1]

• About half of American women will have an unintended pregnancy, [2] and nearly one-third will have an abortion, by age 45.[3]

• Some 1.21 million abortions were performed in 2008, down from 1.31 million abortions in 2000.[4]

It’s estimated that around one million abortions take place annually and more than 49 million abortions have been performed in the U.S. since 1973 (based on accumulative data from the two primary sources of U.S. abortion statistics – Centers for Disease Control and Alan Guttmacher Institute).

http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_OAL.pdf

As you can see the most dangerous place to be is intrauterine. 

Abortion is an ugly scourge that is defiling this nation. And we as a society will and are suffering the consequences. I am not here to judge anyone. I understand the deception. I understand the circumstances that lead to abortion and my heart goes out to those that have made this choice. Given the same circumstances I dare say I might have done the same and made the same choices. I only know God is a God of love and forgiveness and my sin is no less than anyone else. The bible teaches, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The God I know is bigger then abortion, the God I know takes away the sin of the world... yes, I said the world that includes the concept of sin. 

I am not here to condemn those that have committed any sin, David was the apple of God's eye and he committed murder so that he could take another mans wife. God loves you just as you are but He wants you to make good choices. Choices that will not have years of harmful affects on your life. Abortion is a bad choice, two wrongs do not make a right and eventually your bad choice in life will have to be dealt with. We are all responsible for our actions.Taking the very life you have given life to will have a tole to pay eventually, even though you might be able to reason it out in your mind today. When we make bad choices they have consequences and sometimes we don't realize the impact of those choices until years later.

It stays in us on a cellular level, it stays in our  subconscious and in our heart, the only way to rid sin is through the inner work  of Jesus Christ. 

As a society to allow babies to be killed on a daily basis just baffles my mind. 

I think of all those potential little wonders cut down before they could take their first breath, all the artists, teachers, scientists and doctors that might have had the answer in their DNA to cure cancer or maybe to paint another Mona Lisa.  I had a vision of all these babies dancing around the throne of God and climbing on the lap of Jesus... so loved, so cared for. 

I think of all the mother's who made this choice and missed out on the blessing and love that these children would have brought them, it is heartbreaking.

Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee Jer. 1

You see it started this morning

 when I started reading the comments on a facebook entry (680), on a picture of a 12 week  fetus. There was a great debate on whether this is a 12 week fetus or 15 week, which in my mind what difference does it make!!! What is the difference if the child has formed fingernails yet or not before he or she is killed.
Some of the comments haunt my soul, a generation brought up with the knowledge that the law says it is acceptable to kill.  The cold calculating comments of young girls that rationalize taking a human life because "you can't afford a child or there are too many people in the world anyway." 
This is the attitude of a society that makes it easier and easier to rationalize sin. It hardens the heart and we all will be at the mercy of what we have allowed.

Hebrews 3:10  Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Sin doesn't enter our hearts with one big swoop but little by little, the breaking down of our thoughts. The allowing of one small disobedience of God's law to the next until it seems normal. When you first smell a stench it is offensive but if you stay in it after awhile you cannot smell it. The same with sin. 

I do not preach on the law normally, Jesus came to fulfill the law because we could not keep it. It is only through Christ and what He did for us on the cross that we are able to stand blameless before the throne of God.

He gave us one law to keep through His grace and that is first to love the Lord your God and then to one another as He loved us. 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not be lost but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

It is through love that I come to you today to admonish you

 to choose love. To also extend love to those that are hurting and to those that have made bad choices. God's grace is sufficient for you, it covers all our selfish acts. No matter what you have done or think God loves you and knows your name, He is forever calling to you to come into a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. 

I don't know why God called me to write on this subject today but I trust the spirit of God to speak to you through my inadequacy and touch your heart with love and healing.

I would be glad to discuss any questions further that you might have through my email

alxfreedom@aol.com 

Please know God loves you and so do I

Blessings

Rebecca

Spirit of the Mind

Hello

I am starting a series of teachings my father had put together. He had such a gift from the Lord and was faithful to the Holy Spirit by listening and delving into the scriptures.  He dug into the Greek to find the original meaning of words that are often mistranslated from the Hebrew to the Greek to English, especially in the King James version.

I hope this message clears up any questions you might be struggling with in this area. If this presents any questions I would be glad to help clarify by email.

I have added and taken away from the original message, as it was taped and often the way we talk doesn't always translate well to writing. I hope this message sinks into your understanding by His Spirit and gives you a little more insight on what God did for us through His son Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:22     You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

In the beginning of that paragraph Paul says you should not live any longer as the gentiles or the nations walk. As Christians God expects us to walk in a different way than the world around us. 

Because it says, "they live in the futility of their minds."

We have been made new through the work of Jesus Christ in the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. When you believe in Jesus Christ, you are regenerated by the Holy Spirit,

that is different then the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

To be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, is the life of God implanted within us and that life is incorruptible, it has no death in it, it cannot die.

People sometimes have an argument that you can loose your salvation, that is an exposure of our ignorance's on what it's all about.

Because salvation is not something that is given to us, what is given to us in salvation is a new life. It is a union with God Himself, a spiritual union with God Himself where He puts His life within us and that's what it means to be born again. To be born again doesn't mean it's to change your way of living. To be born again means you have received spiritual life. You have been born from above, that is what it really says in John 3... we are born from above more than again. Being born from above is being born again in the spirit--being born spiritually. 

And Jesus made it clear it is a spiritual birth He is talking about or a begotten of God in a spiritual way. So if we understand that really, it is foolish to say "that we can loose our salvation".

Salvation is not something dependent on anything that we do!

Salvation is dependent on the work of God, who has unilaterally with Himself and His son (and the son was God manifested in the flesh).  So without any help from the world or you or me or anyone, God did on behalf of the human race in Christ all that He requires of the human race. He died for the sins of the human race and He raised the human race with Christ into newness of life...

 And then this is the importation of that work that Jesus did in a general way and legally for humanity that comes to individuals, one at a time. And that work is what Jesus referred to as being born from above or being born again. The whole world isn't born again but there are those in the world who Christ died for and redeemed and reconciled to God that received that single touch from God called being born again or born from above. It is the importation of the life of God into you the believer. Just as when you have a child as a human being, it is the life of the father and the mother that is imparted into the life of the child. So when you are born of God it is the same thing. It is the life of God the father that is imparted in the object of His purpose at that particular time, so that not everyone comes into the experience of being begotten except one at a time.

In history we see in the book of Acts at the day of Pentecost three thousand were saved but they weren't all converted and received Christ that day, the next day some more were added. We find eventually in the early chapters of Acts where there were five thousand. It says daily they were added to the church, such as were being saved, that is a present tense.

 The first step of being saved is to be born from above, you have to get the life from God before anything can be saved. What does it mean to be saved? It means to be delivered from your sins and from your old self, your old ways, your old ideas and your old habits into the new life in God. And you haven't been saved until that new life of God is manifested into your flesh. So it isn't really accurate to say I was saved in 1966 or whenever, it was started for you then. You were being saved and you are being saved today because you are being renewed by the Holy Spirit as we cooperate with Him in the life that He gave us. 

Now the work of God is dependent upon our cooperation in us after He has begotten us. Now you don't do anything to be begotten, anymore than your son or daughter did to get born. It's not the act of the child to bring them into the world, it was the act of the father and mother. You didn't do anything to get born again either. You were begotten not by the will of man, not by the will of the flesh but by the will of God. God alone begot you sovereignly. And if He hadn't done that you would still be in your old self, the old self of Adam and you would not be living in the realm of the Spirit.

That is a gift from God - He does it! It is His work!

Now after He puts His life into you, then He starts child training you and now you start having a responsibility for Him and the first responsibility is one of faith... Where you begin to believe what He says and what His way is and what is best for you. Not what you think but what He thinks. 

That is faith.

 Faith is your way of thinking, faith is your attitude, faith is your openness to God. That is all a part of faith, it is not just a simple believing, a mental acceptance of what God said. 

It is the recognition that what He has for you is better than

anything you have for yourself. That His will is best for you, better than your own ideas of what is good. It is all apart of this concept called faith. And this occurs in the realm of the Spirit, in the realm of mind.

 Now until you have been born of God your mind is set into the ways of the world, you have a mindset or attitude concerning the things of the flesh. When you are born again from God there is a change in your mindedness. There is a change in your mind. 

Now the mind is a part of spirit. 

Your mind and memory is perfect. We often say, oh I have a bad memory. No you don't. There is nothing in your life that isn't in your memory but it is another matter to recall it to consciousness. In the realm of your spirit and your mind you haven't forgotten anything but the brain is an instrument of recollection of what happens of your spirit into your consciousness. Your brain is involved in bringing things in your spirit into conscious existence in you. 

That is, the brain is the intermediatory between the flesh and the spirit in you. It is the mechanism that is utilized in the creation of the human being to bring what is in the spirit into your conscious realm. Your daily life, your flesh. Now that is the reason some of us Christians continue to walk in the flesh instead of the spirit even though we are made new. We haven't quite got the grasp to be spiritually minded. 

To be spiritually minded means that I walk after the Spirit.

 How do you walk in the Spirit? 

The superficial answer is when you walk in the Spirit you are not sinning and living under the appetites of the lower nature. That is not really what it is talking about when it says to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. When 

you are walking in the flesh it basically means you are walking in the energy of your ability as a human being. Do you see the difference? 

When you're walking in the Spirit you are not walking in your ability but walking in who you are in the Spirit and that is Christ in you the hope of glory. You are a new creation by the work of God and to walk in that means you have to be spiritually minded. Your mind has to be centered on that which is true of you in spirit and that is as I said, mind is a part of spirit, it is not total spirit but is a part of that which is spirit. 

I am not talking about the brain when I say mind. We tend to think of the brain when we say mind but that is not your real mind. Your brain is the mechanical instrument of recollection of what is in your spirit/mind. 

Your mind is a wonderful thing, it is complete in everybody. But in this world where there is sickness and imperfection many times the mind is affected in a physical way, so that what is in the spirit of that person cannot be expressed in the flesh. So therefore we cannot walk after the mindedness of the Spirit. We are a complex creation but we are not only spirit right now, we are also flesh. 

The soul is the combination of the two.

 The soul is the combination of flesh and spirit. The soul is the expression of the spirit in your flesh. It is what makes your flesh move and act and live. And what God is after in this day and this short time we are here is the renewing of our soul or the restoration of our soul into that kind of a life that God wants us to live in the flesh which comes from the spirit. So that if you are walking after the spirit you are minding the things of the spirit and you are trying to believe and accept and recognize and reckon upon that which you are spiritually, not the energy of yourself and the flesh and the ability as a human. 

Human beings have wonderful abilities, some people are almost supernatural in what they can do. But it is a problem when you are so capable and talented in your own because you don't need God. The whole philosophy of this present day is that we can do anything we want to if we set our mind to it. There is some truth in that but there are things you cannot do as far as God is concerned. There is that self deception that I can do anything on my own. 

We are a God unto ourselves. Our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. To walk after the flesh or our own ability does not lead to a better life, temporarily maybe for some but not as far as humanity is concerned. 

If we walk in our own energy the consequence to that is sin. As far as God is concerned you cannot please him in the flesh, no matter how righteous or capable you are.

He wants to develop this life that He has put within us, so that it expresses itself in the flesh. 

So our problem is our mind. Our mind is a facility of spirit. 

So you must be open to the things of the spirit with your mind. You have to be minded--there are several words in the Greek that are used for this thing mind. They are translated in the King James as mind but they have nothing to do with the mind. They are so translated in the King James version such as, 

set your affections on things above, 

the word there is not affections at all... it is to be minded or to have an attitude, to have a choice. Affections to us is feelings but the word is actually soul, 

set your soul on things above, not on things of the earth. 

The word that is more often and more corporately used is voo's in the Greek. Voo's is the intellect, the mind -- it is the word that is used in Eph. 4. We are to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. Notice the expression not mind but spirit of our mind. 

The mind is the faculty of the spirit. 

It is that which extends from our spirit into our consciousness and to be renewed in the spirit of the mind. This means I am to be renewed, that my mind is to be spiritually centered in what the spirit is. 

Now, I don't know what the spirit is... you can't feel it. 

You don't feel it in the spirit, if you feel it then it has gotten into the soul or your consciousness. 

Your soul is your feelings, it is the seat of your affections. 

The spirit is our unconscious - if you are unconscious you cannot feel anything, so your soul is your feelings. If you feel it, it no longer is spiritual and has come into the realm of consciousness. 

What we are in spirit is what God says is our reality. 

The spirit is another word for reality, the reality of things or the truth of things. 

Truth and reality are synonymous terms in the scriptures. 

Truth and reality as far as you are concerned is that which you are in the unconscious realm and that unconscious realm is another word for spirit. It is interesting that modern psychology have been able to detect that there is more to us that is unconscious than conscious. In fact they estimate only 10% of our abilities. That isn't much, just imagine what a human could do if you could tap into more than ten percent of who and what you are in your unconscious state. 

At one time man had almost 100% of who and what he was. There was a curtain drawn across that when man sinned. 

That curtain is called the flesh. The flesh is a curtain that keeps us from seeing into the Holy of Holy's.  In Israel the tabernacle had a curtain separating the Holy of Holy's, so that you could not see into it or go there. It was in the Holy of Holy's that God dwelt. Only once a year the high priest could go in and he had to be sprinkled with the blood before he went in. Even then they weren't sure about him because if he wasn't right before God he could die so they tied a rope around his ankle in case they had to get him out. So the Holiest place is where God dwells and you weren't allowed in there. Now in the New Testament we are told we can come boldly to the Holiest of all, not by the blood of bulls and goats but by the blood of Jesus Christ and only through Him. So through the blood of Jesus Christ you can come boldly into the living presence of God without being afraid. That is the gift of God that comes to us through the work of Jesus Christ on behalf of the human race. 

Anyone can come into the presence of God but only through the faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. God wants us to live in his presence, so He is at work making us spiritual beings by implanting

the life of God in us. Now the life of God within can stand the life of God in His presence. When you come into the presence of God through the blood of Jesus and the life of God within, you will never be rejected. And that is what God wants us to understand and to reckon upon and to walk after. That is what it is partially to be spiritually minded. That is what it means to accept the reality of what we are in spirit and to develop an attitude. 

In the Greek that is translated as mind or minded, that is really more attitude than an activity of the mind. 

What is attitude? To have an attitude means I have a bias of mindedness. 

Such as in computers, they have a default setting and if you get lost in a program you can click into the default and it will take you back to the original settings. The original attitude the computer was set to. And so in humanity it has this same thing. 

We train our mindedness along certain paths and avenues and develop certain attitudes. We are to have an attitude towards spiritual mindedness. To be spiritual minded is to have a spiritual attitude. To think of everything in terms of reality and reality is what God says it is. 

But I can't feel it. That is the problem we have, if we could just feel it we could believe it. But we are not yet freed from the flesh, the veil is still there and we are not able to look into our own hearts and spirit. We are not able to see the reality of our existence. 

 But John says that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. For we will see Him as He is. 

Because we see Him as He is, we see Him as He is in us. So when He appears we will be like Him it says. We will be absolutely for the first time the reality of who and what we are. So today we have to accept the reality of what God has declared to us and it all begins after God puts His life within us... the ability to think spiritually is given to us then. Now until we have received the life of God in us we are not able to think spiritually. The natural man the scriptures say, does not receive or understand or grasp the things of the spirit of God. But God has put His Spirit within us so that what is in His heart might be in our heart as well. 

So this is the warfare we are walking in, to receive the reality of who we are and the mind has to be in control. You have to be minded after the Spirit.

So such is our struggle  between what God says and what we see or what our true reality is. It takes practice and knowing the word. I urge you to read who you are in Christ, so that when past "tapes" play in your brain of what you've been told that is contrary and you accepted that as truth, you can arm yourself with the truth, the reality of what God says. 

I know this post is long and maybe somewhat confusing to some. But I urge you to seek God for His wisdom and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal understanding in areas of your life you need spiritual growth.

Blessings

Rebecca

Art Through God

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Batavia Women's Club this week. My message is simple but it is my passion. Here is a sample of what the beautiful women of Batavia heard.

As an artist I have a vision…

I have a message and inspiration, to encourage others to make art that glorifies the Lord. To create art that is sophisticated and collectible by the community in general and not just sold to Christian book stores. 

For the past 18 years I have owned boutique shops in Geneva, Glen Ellyn and the surrounding area. I have been involved in different aspects of retail and design. My focus has always been on Vintage décor and has evolved throughout the years but always continued to be a creative outlet.

Throughout the years I have enjoyed being published in several magazines and on HGTV .  I am still involved in that aspect with my home today. Romantic Country has just published their spring issue that has a feature of my home, I also have up coming features in Romantic Homes and my artwork in two Stampington magazines. 

I believe my path has been designed by God. I trust him to direct it in whatever I pursue. 

My last shop Vintage Living focused more on art and workshops. It was featured in the magazine 

Where Women Create which opened up new doors for my artwork. I found a way of bringing my art to life through God. 

The word Vintage is defined as “a season’s produce of grapes, wine of high quality from the year of a person’s work, a superior harvest, classic mature. I want my work to reflect that image, 

God’s image.

I have always had a love of Vintage. I use mostly vintage in my artwork. I am mostly a mixed media artist although I do paint some. I am all over the board as far as my art. I enjoy learning new techniques and trying different outlets for my creativity. 

I love to re-purpose, in my décor, in my style, in my artwork… 

My life is Re-purposed. 

God has a purpose in all of our lives and he has now re-purposed mine to tell his story through my art. 

I closed my shop and I am now doing workshops and shows.

 In my workshops I want a place where women are taught the back-story to making their art… that they don’t have to make "religious art" or have a cross in their artwork to reflect God in their art. 

The story behind the art is what is reflected in the art… 

the story behind my art is the fruit of the Holy Spirit…love, joy, peace, kindness…Spirit filled work. 

 As my good friend KC Willis said,

"If the work encourages and edifies with its message and beauty, this is Spirit filled work, then we can step into art and beyond it into a place where our back story plays a part in keeping hope and love alive in a world that needs it so desperately". 

Not only is my art a reflection of God’s goodness and love for me but it changes me as I make the art. As one student of mine once said, "it changes the way I think!"

The creative process is fashioned after the author of all creation, God is a creative God and we were made in his image. 

We are a creative people. 

My creative self dwells deep within me and when I create, new inspiration springs up and spills out. 

 I discover new things within me that has been hidden. 

So much of our talents we believe, come from our genetics and  from our nurturing while growing up, we give our parents credit and rightly so but I believe our Heavenly father had more of a hand in it. In Ephesians one it says, He designed us before the foundations of the earth. God gave us a creative nature as is like our creator. I believe we all are creative in some form weather we recognize our gift or not. As a creative being we all have a need to create no matter what it is. That gift you possess is to fulfill one purpose…

It is to glorify God. 

It is giving back what He has given us, that glorifies Him.

What I create is my passion and I give that up as a sacrifice to the Lord, a love gift. He then uses that gift to glorify himself. I trust him to do His work through me to see His love spread to others.

The purpose or back story is that many might know the Love of God through the work of my hands, that I may be a reflection of Him and not me.

Col 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men.

Some of my art today that I am showing you has a February theme… Love is.

This work tells of what love is and the back story is the author of love, God. 

He not only loves, He is love.

God loves us and pursues us, just as a love on Valentines day would do. 

Simon Tugwell once said, “So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart, But it is the other way about. He is looking for us”. 

He pursues us everyday with a beautiful sunset, a morning glory growing through the crack in a sidewalk, a favorite song on the radio. He is pursuing you like a love-struck beau… pay attention and enjoy His advances as He pursues you today.

"Draw me, we will run after thee; the king has brought forth me into his chambers; we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine, the upright love thee.

He brought me to His banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Sol.1:4, 2:4

Blessings,

Rebecca

Under His Wing...

Hello

This morning tucked up in my attic prayer study room I was reading and praising God for the glorious morning. Sitting at my desk, I can look out and see the morning sun reflect off all the trees lined up and down our street. There is a peaceful contentment that floods my soul and a sense of wonderment at God's creative handy work. 

I love meeting God here, it is "our" place. 

Do you make daddy-daughter dates? 

As I was reading the Psalm's and praising God for His goodness and mercy to me, Psalm 91 came to mind. Now, I know this Psalm very well as it has a special meaning to me. 

I opened the bible to read it again. It always blesses me. This Psalm has been my peace when times were not. 

A couple of years ago, when the shop was doing very poorly and I was being hit with bouts of vertigo,  I was in the back studio pouring my heart out to God reading Psalms 91. It was a time in the wilderness for me but it changed my heart. 

One evening, as I was laying in bed wrestling with the events of the day, the Holy Spirit layed Psalms 91 very strongly on my heart.  

I could see the wing of God and hear him calling to me. I climbed up and nestled into His glorious feathers and rested under His wing and that night I slept well.  Since then, when the stresses of life march before me at night, I climb up into that safe and peaceful place. 

It is much better than counting sheep! 

This spring I drove out to Washington to do the Farm Chicks show with my daughter. I loaded up the SUV and headed northwest. It was going to be a roadtrip with the Lord! I had all my inspirational cd's and music, I was expecting a wonderful time with the Lord.

It was a great trip the first day through Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. I marveled at the beautiful farmland with all its new growth, as though the Lord laid out beautiful patterns of  giant quilt patches in luscious shades of green. I laughed with the Lord at the calves jumping and playing together and  the beautiful lambs feeding on their mama's. Such sights to delight and to praise God for. 

The second day I hit Wyoming, it is a huge state with not much to look at until you hit the mountains. When I started climbing I hit some bad weather, just rain and wind. There was snow in the ditches but none on the road, I was thankful for this. As I was traveling down this seemly deserted road that would never end, my eyesight started to blur. I had been having trouble with a cataract on my left eye and needed it removed badly but I had been putting off the surgery for a better time... I depended on my right eye completely. This was my right eye that had become blotchy and I could not see, only if I looked away and back at the road again and then only for a few seconds.  I had been listening to an inspirational tape and I began to cry out to the Lord... help!

 What is going on here! I can't stop here in the middle of no where...

I started praying in the spirit against whatever was attacking me and thanking God for the victory of healing here... right now! I had been praying and driving for about 15 minutes while the CD was still playing. It was getting slowly better to see when I heard the speaker on the Cd quote Psalm 91, I started praising God for his protection under His wing! As I drove into this small town somewhere in Wyoming my eyesight was totally restored.  As I sat waiting at a red light, I noticed something floating down... a beautiful white fluffy feather had landed on the hood of my car. I quickly looked up but saw nothing... but I knew where it came from.

Do you know what God responds to? 
Faith
Where does faith come from?
Faith comes by hearing the word of God. He responds to His own word mixed with faith. Oh he hears all of our prayers, even the begging but what pleases God?
Faith
Without faith we can not please God.
I did not tell you this instance of my trip to have you marvel and say what a miracle. As a child of God we are to walk in His problem solving grace every minute. We are to expect the solution, that is faith.  Life is full of problems but what is a problem? It is the opportunity to see God work! This world would be nothing without problems, without a problem there would be no solutions. If we didn't have a problem for let's say faster travel there would be no airplanes or cars... if we didn't have a problem for communication there would be no telephones or heaven forbid no computers...
Without problems how would God multiply our faith?
 I could have looked at the road trip as, here I am having a good time on the road and God let me loose my eye sight, why God... I was trying to please you and all I got was trouble. But with that attitude I would have not seen the glory of the Lord and in return my faith multiplied. Years from now, will I remember the pretty sights of that trip or will I remember the feather... you see God multiplies our faith from problem to problem or from faith to faith. We turn the word problem into opportunity.
Opportunity to see God work. When we read the word we begin to know God and understand the way He works. With understanding we know the natural laws of things. To know the laws of our land we live in makes it much easier to function, we know what side of the road to drive on and what a red light is... without this knowledge it can be dangerous. We could not walk through life with confidence and or faith in the knowledge that when the red light turns green we will be able to safely continue. The same principle applies to Kingdom living. There are certain laws set in motion by God and He does not change, if  He did nothing would be stable.  It is a learning process, through His word. He is good and He will lead you at your own pace. If you get off track, He will set your path straight. But learning the laws of the land are up to you and when you bind them on your heart you begin to walk in that confidence of faith.


This summer when I had the tent and studio problems, you might have read on my other blog. I got so focused on the problems and trying to solve it all in my timing and not just letting go and giving it to God.  I can get my mind set on a doing something the way I want it done. With frustration I finally threw up my arms one day and just gave it all to Him, instead of pushing things into place. How easy it was just to trust. As I was running from the studio to the house taking two steps at a time, telling God how sorry I was for dethroning Him and doing things my way... I looked down and what was on the step in front of me?

Blessings
Rebecca

Preparation for Christmas

It is kind of early for Christmas, you say. Well, actually it is late for me and in truth a lot of you have probably already been working on Christmas for months now. 

So, I am in my new, cleaned up, redone studio getting out all my Christmas goodies - to get inspired, so I can make something new and wonderful.  Oh, there are the old standbys, the usual things I make stars, angels, stockings... So I put on the Christmas music to get into the mood and as I prepared to work, my thoughts were not on creating... but what will bless the people that will buy this. What will my hands make to glorify the Lord this Christmas. 
As I sat this song started to play...
 Mary did you know, 
your baby boy would someday walk on water, 
Mary did you know,
that your baby boy would someday save our sons and daughters,
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new,
This child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know,
that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man and
will calm a storm with his hand,
Did you know that you baby boy has walked where angels trod.
When you kissed your little baby
Then you kissed the face of God.
Mary did you know,
the blind will see - the deaf will hear - the dead will live - the lame will leap - the dumb will speak
The praises of the lamb.

Mary did you know,

that your baby boy is Lord of all creation

and will one day rule the Nations.

Did you know that your baby boy 

was Heaven's perfect lamb

This sleeping child you're holding is the great

I AM

I started to cry... for the first time I saw this from a mother's heart, the same heart as of the Father. 

For it is a mother's heart that is the faint image of the Father's heart.

How much he loved the world to give his only son. 
I don't know if Mary understood completely but I do know the Father did. 
God of all creation to lie helpless in his mother's mortal arms and know that he will be the sacrifice for all.

That morning I was reading Psalm 22.

 Jesus quoted the psalms quite often but it is this Psalm that poured out of his soul when he hung on the cross. It is a slight window into what Jesus was thinking and feeling.

"My God, my God why have you abandoned me?"

This will take ages in heaven for us to understand, the depth of what happened here. That the Father, whom Jesus was one with, turned His back and could not look upon His son because he became sin. He took the burden of every person here on earth, every sick twisted sinful nature and every hideous disease and became that so it could die once and for all. So we could have that same relationship with the heavenly father that Jesus had. That we would become joint heirs of the Kingdom of God with Christ - Sons.  Because of what Christ did on the cross.
Psalms 22 goes on in a prophetic manner to describe the gruesome details of what Jesus was going through.
"My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs, evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones.  My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.
My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint."


The great shame is too hard to put into words, at any time he could have called down the heavens and not endured this for us... for me.
 I cannot comprehend this kind of love... 
the majesty of leaving the right hand of God to come and become sin. 
But the Psalm doesn't end there...
Jesus went from "Why have you abandoned me?" to " I will praise you in the great assembly. I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you. What starts with the rejection of Christ ends with the joyous worship of the whole earth. His passion was to do the will of his father, no matter the pain, for the greater glory that would come. He knew this Psalm and it erupted out of his heart in hope as he died for the sins of the world.
Verse 27
The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him.
I have been smitten by his love...
as I sit in my studio, knowing that I can come boldly before the throne of God because of the blood that was shed for me.
 That my heavenly father cares for me and everything I do, 
even sitting here making Christmas stars...
it is more than I can ever imagine. 
How do I accept such a gift, this pure gift of love. 
I cannot in myself.
It is only Christ in me that can do any good thing. The wonderful part about this, is Christ did return to the right hand of God and in doing that he sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. To help us know the  father. To help us glorify the father. To do the work in us and through us.
So today with the help of the Holy Spirit I do what the Lord has put in front of me,
Christmas...
 and as I work I bless each and every stitch and pray for the person that will receive this small piece of Christmas. 
Made with love from the father, knowing in part what Christmas is.  
Today I am overshadowed by His mighty love...
Rebecca

My Creative Place

My Creative place...
is not only my studio but it is the place in me where my talents and desires dwell.

 It is deep within me and very much apart of me, it is a part of who I am, it is a part of my DNA. So much of our talents we believe come from genetics and our nurturing while growing up. Some of that dictates what our talent is... such as singing, dance or some other art form. Usually we give our parents the credit, which is rightly so, but what about our father our Heavenly Father. 
The father who designed our DNA before the earth was ever formed, before the foundations of the earth, He knew you. Eph. 1:4
Some may not have had the nurturing to develop their talents or they are not even aware of the talent that lies dormant within themselves. Some may have what we call natural talent but just do not have the desire. 
I have heard many times from people, "I am not creative or I am not artistic". I think they just have not found their talent or creativity or they do not recognize their talent as a creative form. No matter what it might be such as writing or mathematics or teaching or... 
I believe we are a creative people formed after a creative God. He made us in His likeness and He is the author of all creation.  I believe we have a need to create no matter what it is and it is for one purpose...

it is to glorify God.


That gift or talent, God has given to every person and it is our responsibility to nurture it and let it grow and multiply through faith. As we trust God and reach beyond our comfort zone our faith grows and that is pleasing to the Lord.
 He is there nurturing you by His Holy Spirit and putting that desire in your heart. 
Your passion is your talent, your passion is your ministry. It comes from the Holy Spirit and it pleases God when we walk in that which He has given us in faith. It is giving back to Him what He has given us, it is glorifying God. And that is the only reason we are here on this earth...
So as I am painting my studio and preparing it for the work of my hands, I am blessing every corner and brush stroke to the glory of God. I praise and sing unto the Lord in that room and I pray for all that goes out of that room whether it be a sachet or a painting. 

I create for one purpose and that is that many might know the Love of God through the work of my hands, that I might glorify the Father.  And while I am doing this, I pray that my relationship with Him will increase so that I might know Him in a new way, an intimate way. 
You see your art doesn't have to have angels or crosses on it to be a reflection of the Holy Spirit... 
it comes from your inner being and through faith goes out to minister -
 it is up to God to do the rest. 

And whatever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men  Col. 3:23


There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. Eccl. 2:24


For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.   Eph. 2:10


Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.  Rev. 4:11


Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.   I Cor. 10:31


Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.  Proverbs 16:3


And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: And establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; Yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.    Ps. 90:17


Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might - do it while thou art able, and have time to do it. Eccl 9:10


Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.   II The. 2:17

Blessings

Rebecca