Prayer Art

New Beginnings and Old Art

Wow! What a great week this has been! 

Welcome, Fellow Traveler. Let me tell you about my fantastic week:

• We didn't get too much ice last Monday, but we still got the day off work.
• Work on our ramp started.
• We had Parent/Teacher Conferences at work, and so we got Friday off, too.
• The bathroom remodel is complete. Done. Finished.
• The ramp got to the point where we were able to move my mother-in-law in with us! Welcome, Gram!
• I've passed the mid-point in the online grief course that I'm teaching. I have over 70 members!
• And...I learned how to make a video! (Thus proving that you CAN teach old dogs new tricks!)

We've spent February here at 13Prayers talking about prayer resources and the prayer art cards that I make and use now. Last week we saw Diane Marra's prayer cards, too. As a grand finale to this month on prayer, I made this short video that lets you take a quick flip through my art journal that primarily focuses on spending time with God.

As I worked on these pages, my thoughts turned to my Heavenly Father, and I invariably ended up in worship and prayer. I love that I can take these quotes and turn them into time with God and end up with a visual reminder of our time together.

And I love that I can now share that time with you! This is my Prayer Art Journal 1.

Next month (March) is traditionally under watch for the whole lion/lamb thing. What WILL the weather be? Well, we're going to look closer at the lion/lamb thing in a different way. Please join us for an exciting study.

Prayer: Precious Father, thank you for the blessings of this week! Your love for me just leaves me speechless. Thank you for mentors who encourage me to leave my comfort zone and learn new skills. Your faithfulness to provide just what I need - just when I need it - is something I know I can ALWAYS count on. Be with us as we have this new beginning. In Jesus' name.

Prayer Cards

Diane Marra's Prayer Cards

Diane Marra is a new friend of mine and one of the foundation team members at His Kingdom Come, a wonderful community of Christian artists here. She has become a dear sister and fabulous resource as I grow in the art and blogging world.

Since I have been discussing prayer this month, I wanted to share Diane's practice that originated from the book Praying in Color.

You can read her post on her blog here. Thank you, Diane!

If you enjoy Diane's blog, be sure to follow her. She also has a class or two available at His Kingdom Come. Come by and check them out!

Prayer: Father, I praise You and thank You for new Christian sister-friends who love You and seek Your face. Regardless of what our prayers look like, help us to always remember to spend more time with You. In Jesus' name.

Stand Guard

If an enemy attacked your home through the front door, would you just unlock it and let him in?

I worry that is exactly what will happen this weekend in many Christian homes.

This weekend the movie Fifty Shades of Grey opens, and many Christian women are unaware of the danger within it.

I have not read the books. Nor do I intend to. It is pornography. It depicts a woman being drawn into a violent relationship outside of marriage.

Please, please do not bring these images into your mind. If you read the book, you cannot unread it, but you can choose not to support the disturbing trend that glorifies violence toward women in the film industry.

God intended sex between husband and wife in a gentle and caring manner. Please do not bring the ideas from the film into your marriage bed.

If you've seen anything about the movie, you may have noticed that the title character's name is 'Christian.' Do you see how subtle that is? Christians should be up in arms against this movie, and the main character is named the very thing we call ourselves! As if he is one of us.

Do NOT be fooled! This is not the stuff you want in your mind, heart and imagination.

Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. 

Stand guard!

My Prayer Tags

My Colorful Prayers

I've enjoyed looking back at some of my favorite prayer resources these past weeks. Today I want to give you a look at the tags I use for my prayers these days.

I started this art session with some blank tags and a few I'd gelli printed.

Take Me Deeper - Feb. Week 1

If you haven't checked out the Take Me Deeper Bible Study on His Kingdom Come, you need to sign up! #tmd2015

Our focus for the month is Love.

The first week's lesson is God's Love. I have never had a problem believing that God loves people - other people. I just never thought He could love me.

My page centers around a "blackboard" of comments. These are a combination of MY thoughts and actual comments from family - those who were supposed to love me. Sadly, I didn't have room to include them all.

Prayer Resources, Part 4 - The Finale

 I'm concluding my look at some of my favorite prayer resources today.

6.Praying in Color

Sybil MacBeth wrote a wonderful book called, Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God. In it, she describes how staying focused in prayer was a challenge for her. Then she began doing art as she prayed. The art cards she made became a visual reminder of the prayers. She starts with the person's name and draws a circle around them. Then, as she prays, she doodles around the name. Like this prayer for my hubby, the football coach:

I think this is a great idea. I love doing art as I pray. Worship art! But I had one big problem with this method: