Sunday Thoughts - Blue, Red, Yellow

Stitch Meditations Done in Blue, Red, and Yellow

I am still working on my Stitch Meditations. I occasionally get behind but then I catch up only to get behind again.

I worked a series of red and white for valentines and then worked a series of white, cream, and beige. Then I went back to color.

I did an all blue one. Then I decided to do an all yellow one. Since those are primary colors I decided to do another red one. And then the thought came to me: isn’t it amazing that God took just three colors and from them created all the other colors we so enjoy today. That just blew my mind. And then I thought wow – Blue for heaven where God’s throne is, Red for His blood that was shed for our redemption, and Yellow for His Spirit, the light of the world. And really that’s all the color we need.

That’s my Sunday thought for this week.

Enjoy living in such a colorful world!

Rose

Today ...

Today …

Love One Another

Today I prayed for Margie. I don’t know Margie’s story. I met her on the streets of midtown New York City. I had joined a team from the New York Relief group and we were just walking the streets of NYC looking for people we could help. Margie came walking toward us. Well really she was shuffling, she was bent way over as though she carried a heavy load and her feet and legs could barely move. She is homeless. Her friends on the street call her Speedy but we found out her real name was Margie. That is how I think of her – Margie. 

Today wasn’t the only time I prayed for her. She’s been in my thoughts ever since I met her so every day I pray for her.

Today though I thought I would share with you my experience. As the team leader begin to converse with Margie and see how they could help her. Other team members helped Zan set up an easel, blank canvas, paints and brushes. Zan does worship painting and the Lord has led her to take it to the streets of NYC. Zan and I began to add some paint to the canvas and as people came up we invited them to join in the painting. Some held back and watch, some eventually came forward and painted. 

We waved to the team leader to bring Margie over to join us. She came but held back saying she wouldn’t be able to reach the canvas. But we convinced her that she could just paint in one corner.

Margie made her way to the canvas and started. Soon she was a little straighter and could reach higher. There was a delightful smile on her face. She was enjoying it. We talked a little as she painted. She’s in her late 60’s, not much younger than me. We talked about abstract painting. There was a wonderful smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye as she painted next to a five year old girl who had also been invited to paint. 

Another New Yorker, a stranger to the two painting, stooped to help and encourage the young painter whose mom and dad were also enjoying the scene and taping their daughter painting on the streets of NYC. It was an amazing experience I will never forget.

We had to leave Margie to the streets that night because the shelter bed had been given to another lady one of the other teams had met. So I pray for Margie, for her needs, for her protection, and in gratitude that I was able to share a few hours with her.

To learn more about the New York City relief project visit http://www.newyorkcityrelief.org/. To learn more about Zen and her worship paintings which she sells to support herself and her ministry check out her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/worshippaintingsbyzan/ or her Etsy shop http://www.PaintingsbyZan.etsy.com.

When was the last time you stopped to look in the eyes of a stranger and smile?

Rose

My 2015 Word

Embroidered Card - Every Day Is A New Creation

Last year I chose a word for the year - Celebrate! I didn't really pursue the word or even try to live it daily. This year I have decided to be a member of His Kingdom Come and follow along with the Logos365 group. No promises now but I hope to be more consistent and will post now and again about my progress. So here goes!

Originally my word for 2015 was going to be discipline. Or to be more specific - self-discipline. I felt that would help be get more organized and orderly. But today in service the guest pastor spoke about getting one word for the year. The word she chose at least for the church was contentment. I thought that was a good word and one that I could certainly work on but as she developed the message she mentioned James 3:16:

Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil.

Something hit me; I had been a very jealous and selfish person. The LORD helped me to see the root of my jealousy (it was aimed at a certain type of people who I saw as better than myself) which stemmed from a traumatic childhood experience. With HIS help I overcame that jealousy but still live in a world of disorder. I began to wonder during that service if that was the direction my thoughts and my word should take me. It was still dealing with the area of my life that I felt I needed to work on but it put it in a different perspective for me. Could my disorder be a remnant of my past where jealousy and selfishness ruled?

Originally I thought it was just a lack of discipline and I think a part of it is still related to that area but sometimes we need to dig a little deeper and find the cause or root of the problem. So I have decided to make order (the opposite of disorder) my word for 2015. My desire is by the end of 2015 to have disorder removed from my life and order restored.

What about the last part of that verse? Every kind of evil. I know evil exists in the world and that it would like to take hold of us. But I believe since giving my life to Christ and being baptized in Jesus name and filled with His Spirit that evil has no hold on me. However while working on the disorder in my life I will be asking Jesus to also reveal to me any evil that may be in me or trying to inch it’s way in me.

For now though I looked up the opposite of disorder and this is what I found on wordhippo.com:

What's the opposite of disorder? Here's a list of antonyms for this word.

As a verb:

Order, arrange, calm, clarify, clear up, comfort, compose, enlighten, explain, neaten, organize, soothe, tidy, conform, regulate, systematize

As a noun:

Order, method, organization, rule, system, tidiness, arrangement, conformity, health, orderliness, calm, harmony, peace, quiet, agreement, calmness, happiness

I like that, both as a verb and a noun. I think by addressing the disorder in my life in 2015 I will find more calm, more harmony, more peace, and more happiness. 

Looking forward to what 2015 and Jesus have in store for me!
Rose

CELEBRATE!

Here we are at the beginning of another new year. 2014. A fresh start. We’ve spent the last few weeks of 2013 remembering the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. When God became man. We have the time wrong but really we should be celebrating the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God Almighty, every day not just on certain occasions. Daily. Celebrate. King of kings.

That is going to be my word for this year.Celebrate. I know people celebrate special occasions – birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, new jobs, retirements, etc. But I want to celebrate every day. Every ordinary day. By thinking on Jesus and praising Him. By honoring Him first of all in my life. By remembering and returning to my first love.

Some of the definitions given for the word celebrate are:

1. Publicly acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gathering or enjoyable activity
2. Honor or praise publicly
3. To make known publicly, to proclaim
4. To praise widely or to present to widespread and favorable public notice

That is my intent this year. As I seek to live more in His Presence. This is where I want my main focus to be. I’m going to celebrate Jesus each and every day. In different ways. But always. Sometimes in big ways, sometimes in small ways. But all ways.

I know my soul and spirit rejoice when I am in church and praising Him with song and uplifted hands. I want to feel that rejoicing every day. The intensity of it. Every day. No matter what I am doing. To celebrate. Life. Love. Peace. Joy. Daily.

I plan to delve into the book of Acts because I believe that’s what they did in the beginning. Not a solemn, quiet, controlled celebration full of ritual and routine. No a daily exuberant celebration. One full of joy and wonder. One full of gratitude and sharing. Publicly.

Social media watch out as I overcome my shyness through the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. I don’t expect a big bang or explosion. Just a slow, quiet expansion of His Presence in my life. Lord help me to be brave. Help me Lord to overcome my fear of what others may say or think. Help me Lord to focus on You and the plans You have for me.

Help me Lord to celebrate You!

Happy to be His!

Rose 

Tangled

Tangled Floss

Remember this?  I have been working on organizing my floss and came across several skeins that had become quite tangled. As I sat working out the knots and tangles I was reminded of another time I spent untangling. I was sitting in my Dad’s living room with a large skein of yarn that had become impossibly tangled. I needed it for a project I was working on and didn’t have money to buy a new skein. So I worked and worked at it all the while my dad was sitting nearby reading the newspaper and watching me. Finally after several hours I was done and now had a nice round ball of yarn ready to be used.

My Dad just looked at me and shook his head “You must have a lot of patience.” he said “If it was me I would have thrown the whole lot away after five minutes and bought some new yarn.” Well that wasn’t an option for me at that time, but I am a pretty patient person in most areas of my life. However if circumstances had been different I may well have done just that.

As I was thinking about that I thought how our lives sometimes become so tangled through bad decisions we make or even how we react to circumstances beyond our control. Some of us became so messed up and tangled that even our closest friends and family were ready to throw us away as a lost cause, beyond hope, of no value.

But thanks be to God He sees the tangled mess and says I can work this out if you’ll just let Me. And with His help slowly the tangles come out. I was so deep in sin about to give up and end it all when He heard my cry and saved my life. He’s still working on my tangles and knots.

Even when He runs into a big knot His love and grace keeps working at it until the knot is loosened and the tangle is freed. Some of us are so tangled it may take our lifetime to get it all straightened out, but as long as we rest in His hands we have the assurance that He will continue until we are perfect in Him.

Happy to be His!

Rose