Here is Where My Story Begins

I've been thinking a lot lately about Soul Care 2015, whether I will be able to "keep up" with my plans to grow spiritually and blog and share ideas with others. To hopefully inspire others to take the first step on a new journey. I'm plotting out the course for January. Please do not feel you are "behind" if you haven't thought much about it. There is no way to be behind in building your relationship with God. It is what it is and your spiritual path is right there before you. I just needed to plan a bit because otherwise how can I blog and post and be ready?  I have to be just a little prepared!

I've been thinking about those half weeks that sometimes fall at the beginning or end of a month and I decided we would just use them as bonus days! Glorious time to regroup, to plan, to rejoice in our journey of soul care.

As you can see from my calendar page week one is prayer, week two is bible verse (I've already picked mine but that week I will post several you can chose from or chose your own personal favorite!) week three is silence and solitude (more details that week) and week four is the express it week.

January is Beginnings and as life unfolds there are always plenty of beginnings to pray about. Some are positive like starting a new job, getting married, having a baby or even beginning to move toward a healthy living lifestyle. Soul Care is a beginning. Then there are beginnings that are more difficult like learning to live without a loved one or readjusting after a divorce. You might pick one beginning to focus on or perhaps you will include several in your focus.

This is going to be an interesting journey. I wonder what we will discover along the way?  Here is where my story begins.

Soul Care 2015 Idea

If you have been reading previous posts, you know we are about to embark on a Soul Care journey in 2015.  It's as new for me as it is for you, so we will tread these waters together....you know... "Get out of the boat."

One of the weeks is an Express It week, where we look at our focus, our conversations with God and our own lives and express them in some creative endeavor.  I was planning to start an art journal devoted to just the express it weeks but I never managed to get to Hobby Lobby and pick up the art journal. They have ones I have used before and I really like them. I will tell you with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season I was a bit frustrated at not being able to pick one up....but lo and behold of course God had another plan.

This morning while wandering around Walmart, picking up a few things...I came upon the planner section.  I need a new daily planner for 2015 so I stopped to take a look. Hmmm...I saw an inspirational weekly planner with a floral cover... it was cute but the cover just wasn't "me". (I know I'm far too picky.) Wait...right above it...I saw this ....

 

Now God knows me...right!  Then my mind started churning and I thought...this could be my Soul Care planner, with sections for journaling and my Express It week's project all in one. I'm not expecting everyone to journal/create daily as for some people that's just not their thing. God knows that but He also knows me and I honestly feel like He lead me to this.  I think he is nudging me or well, maybe even pushing me to extend myself a little bit more, to really delve into this Soul Care project.  Planner cost is 7.98 at our Walmart and so it would be close to that at most Walmarts. There is the floral version also for the same price.

 

 

There are monthly calendars where I can plot out our Soul Care journey, write random thoughts, remind myself to pray, etc.  It becomes an Express It project when I add little doodles, paint the page or whatever creative idea pops into my head. Do not expect great art work... I will use this only for Soul Care so my daily tasks  do not clutter the page or my thoughts.

There are individual sections where I can write down the Bible verse for the week/month, or journal my thoughts or conversations with God. Again I can use these pages during Express It week to add some art and creativity to the study.  Each daily planner page comes with a Bible verse at the top of the right page so it's another nice way to reflect on God's word.

Now PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE....do not feel like you have to buy a planner to do the Soul Care for 2015. You most certainly do not. I just wanted to share the idea in case someone wants to.  You could do the same thing with a journal, index cards or an old spiral notebook.
Or perhaps you will go a whole other direction. No matter how little or how much you do...Soul Care is about taking little baby steps in our relationship with God. Even if all you do is read the blog posts and think....you have taken a little step toward a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God and our Savior.

Hugs to all....I will be back in January to start our journey together.

Art Journaling Your Faith

I wanted to share some of the fabulous ideas out there for art journaling your faith or for a spiritual art journal. This might be something you choose to use doing the Express week if you are joining us for Soul Care 2015.  I have been keeping a spiritual art journal for quite some time although I don't get to work in it as much as I'd like!

This one is at Lindy.

 

This one is from Shanna Noel and she is using an actually note taking Bible and using the notes part of the page to art journal.

 

Details on this page: HERE

 

Don't be intimidated and think you can't use an art journal as your Express week project because you aren't artsy....neither am I. My pages are much simpler but that's ok. The faith journal is about expressing yourself and deepening your relationship with God through the process.

 

Hugs to each of you. Enjoy your Christmas and we will move forward in 2015.

Beginnings: January 2015

I'm restless tonight with a hundred things to do. Christmas is coming and I'm behind schedule due to spending a lot of time at the hospital this week with my sister who is quite ill. I'm in a little bit of a slump from some other things that are on my mind. The "unfairness" of life. To calm and cheer myself I decided to try to "round out" our January Soul Care Journey.

 

 

 

I decided that to help us have a "framework" to work within that I would pick a "focus" for each month. The focus for January is going to be Beginnings. Furthermore we will endeavor to follow a pattern each month. January will look like this.....

 

 

January 4th-10th   Prayer Week  On the fourth we will explore beginnings and you will pick a prayer(s) focus for the week. This may seem weird or strange at first but I think after we start to muse about beginnings you will find many places this might fit into your life or the life of a loved one.

 

January 11th-17th  Scripture Week  On the 11th we will explore several different bible verses and you will choose on for your weekly "soul care" work.  If none of them seem to resonant with you, you can certainly pick another of your own choosing. Scriptures are our arsenal of soul care. Having them in our hearts and souls strengthen us in times of need.

 

January 18th -24th Silence and Solitude: We will set aside just ten minutes a day of quiet time this week to muse. I know its hard to find this time but it's only for one week! I believe it will enrich our lives.

 

January 25th- 31st : Express: We will explore options for the "express" week and you will pick one to use during this week. There are any number of ways to complete the express week and you can choose a different one each month if you desire.

 

 

Connections: January doesn't have a fifth week or a partial week (well it does on the 1-3) but I will still include some "connections" things to muse about and perhaps complete after the month has passed. I'm going to be honest I'm not exactly sure how the connections aspect is going to play out but I feel like it needs to be included so we will play around with it and see how it works. 

I'm excited to get started on this new spiritual journey. I will be doing some Facebook posts throughout each week sharing my personal thoughts, posing questions, and endeavoring to keep us motivated with our "soul care."  Therefore you might want to "like" the Facebook Soul Musings page, so they will appear in your news feed.  The page is HERE

Hugs to everyone. Have a great week!

.

Soul Care 2015

'For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?"  Mark 8:36

I'd like to invite you to join me in 2015 for a weekly "soul care" practice/assignment. Don't worry it will be simple!  Nothing complex or elaborate. I'm actually still ironing out my thoughts about this weekly "assignment. I think each month will have 4-5 weekly care "areas" and then each month we will rotate through each of the areas. I'm not sure exactly how it will "unfold" but I hope you will join me in forging ahead in 2015 as we grow in our relationship with God and with ourselves.

This is just a rough draft of how a month might unfold:

Week One: Prayer (we might have a prayer focus or not...this is something I need to think about more)

Week Two: Scripture (if we have a prayer focus our scripture week will go along with that)

Week Three: Solitude/Silence/Musing (more details later)

Week Four: Express It (journaling, art, blog posts, YOU pick the form your Express It will take) I would suggest you pick one form and use it each month...so for example perhaps you will start a faith art journal and then week four each month you will add a page to it.

Week Five (for months with 5...or maybe this might be a partial week) Connections (again this might take different forms for different people)

As I said this is all just in it's infancy...so I'll see how it works.

Hugs to each of you, may you have a blessed Christmas and hopefully join me in 2015.

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

Sometimes with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season we need to pause and recognize the magnitude of what we celebrate.


My soul, my soul magnifies the Lord
My soul magnifies the Lord
He has done great things for me
Great things for me

 

Thank you Lord for all the opportunities you are giving me to magnify you and to celebrate the season with joy and love.

 

Hugs to all of you and may you pause in this season of "rushing about" and soak in God's love.