January Express It Week

I wanted to share with you how I am doing my Express It Week's "assignment". I am not an artist so I'm not planning on Express It Week to bring forth some earth shattering art work. Art journaling your faith or even just doodling your way through the Soul Care adventure isn't about being a great artist....it's about finding a creative outlet for your faith. Doing so allows you to access your soul and your connection to God at a totally different level.


I decided to add a little watercolor to this week of the January calendar and simple write a beautiful quotation that reminds me that God has control over all things. I've been doodling in my Soul Care Planner a lot not just during Express It Week. You challenge this week is to simply find ONE creative endeavor (no matter how big or how small) to capture your faith journey is some way. Perhaps a short poem, doodles. a whole page that you frame, or perhaps making a card that you either keep or pass on.



I also decided to add a word each day on the weekly page....these are just the start of it....I'll be adding some color and perhaps a bit of collage too....I haven't really decided yet!  In other words, this is a work in progress!



This is an earlier doodling page from Bible Verse Week....as you can see....I'm not all that artistic....so join in...nothing you do can be "wrong".  Would love to see how you access more of your spiritual self through an artistic or creative endeavor!


Hugs to all....

Week Three Silence and Solitude

Today kicks off week three of January which is Silence and Solitude. It might seem like a pretty simple week but finding silence and solitude in today's world is a pretty tough feat. The challenge is to find at least five minutes each day to spend ....alone and in silence, spend that time trying to center yourself, to touch your core and to reflect and meditate about your Soul Care journey. Don't spend the time frantically "thinking" but rather sit in silence and let your mind relax and flow.  Seek peace, quiet and a calmness.




It's in these quiet still moments that we can hear God's whispers or feel his presence. So seldom do we seek silence and solitude that we miss many an opportunity to connect to God on a deeper, spiritual level.  Sometimes I think we fear the silence because of what might be revealed to us.


Listen to your heart and to your soul during these moments of quiet stillness.




Hugs to each of you and my hope for you is that you find some times of silence and solitude to refresh your spirit and draw nearer to God.

The Armor of God

This week we are going to put on our armor of God. How? By focusing on and memorizing a Bible verse to carry with you in your heart and mind. I know, if you are like me your memory may not be as good as it used to be. But when we have a verse that becomes a part of us, it gives us strength in daily life and during troubling times. Ever have trouble falling asleep? Think about this verse. Ever in a situation where you need guidance? Think of this verse. The more verses you carry in your heart, the more prepared you are for any situation.

The goal of Bible Week is to memorize just ONE verse that resonates with you. I'll share a few that "speak" to me of beginnings. You can use one of them or find another that fits your soul.

This one is especially useful if your "beginning" has to do with breaking old habits that aren't healthy or useful, if you are seeking to start living a more authentic and faithful life or any number of other beginnings.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come. "  2 Corinthians 5:17 

 

 

I like this one a lot because I often have anxiety or worry too much. It also reminds me to talk to God.

 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God." Philippians 4:6

 

 

(Same verse, simpler language)

 

 

When we think about beginnings, we often think about something else ending.  Life is never constant, it is always changing. People come and go from our lives. Houses we loved living in become too big for us and we move to something smaller. Careers that we love turn into retirement. There are always changes. One thing never changes though....

 

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Isaiah 40:8

 

 

 

This is a powerful one but at times a frustrating one as often we feel like we are pounding on the door and it stays firmly locked. It's all a matter of perspective. Sometimes there is another door open that we fail to see because we are so intent on the one we are standing at that we can see no other.  Are you standing at the door of a beginning? If so this might be just what you need to help you find the key to the right door.

 

"Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

 



 

 

Now pick a verse and write it out on a notecard or small piece of paper. Put it somewhere you will see it every day. On the fridge, on your bathroom mirror, as a bookmark in a book you are reading. Read it several times each day and try to commit it to memory.

 

Hugs to each of you, may you find just the right verse to lift your soul and to make your heart joyful.

 

January Week One Beginnings

So it's finally here! Day one of week one. The journey really doesn't start here. This is just an artificial starting point. Your journey with God and your journey with soul care actually started long before this. If you signed up to participate in the "event" you've been finding this path for a long time, perhaps you just didn't know it!

 

Soul Care 2015 Event (all are invited! click the link and join)

 

Before we start musing about our January theme: Beginnings,  I want to do a bit of "housekeeping." There are three places I will be posting about our journey. Here on the blog, on the Facebook page and on the Soul Care 2015 event page. For some of you that is going to be a bit redundant. The reason is that different people are in different places, only people that accepted the event invitation will see what is posted on the event page and only people that "like" the Facebook page will see things posted there, so I feel a "need" at least for now to post on all three as I don't know who is reading what. I want anyone who wants to read about our journey to be able to do so.

 

 

Week One is Prayer Week. When I was setting up the framework I considered started with Bible Verse Week but to many of us Bible verses are written words that seem tangled in meaning and are more "intellectual" in nature. Delving into a deeper relationship with God doesn't involve staying in our heads, it requires us to reach into our hearts. Prayer does that.

 

This week for prayer week spend some time praying (as often as you decide) about beginnings. It can be your own beginning (this soul care journey, beginning a new job, a new phase of life whatever seems to be coming into being in your life) OR it can be a beginning for someone you know, a friend or family member with a new job, with a loss, with a new baby or marriage) OR it can be for the world in general as we begin a new year. You might decide to do all three, it's totally up to you.

 

I want to suggest (and everything here is a suggestion really, as you are in control of your own path) that you pray as in conversation. In other words, our prayer focus is not going to be us telling God what we want or hope for but rather us having a conversation with God and "listening" to what he has to tell us about this beginning.

 

During your prayer (and it can be long or short) pause at times to just be still and listen , perhaps not with your ears but with your heart. Hear God's whispers as he guides us.

 

Dear God

Please guide me as we begin our soul care journey.

That we will increase our love, faith, and joy through a deeper relationship with you.

 

Show me the way. That my light can shine, not on me, but for you. Tell me the path you want me to walk.

 

As the new year begins, I will listen for your voice.

 

Hugs to each of you as we start an adventure, I pray for each of you to have a closer walk with God in 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

One Year Slips into Another

The year is fresh.....like 10 minutes fresh. It's a beginning. There are so many things in this life that we can label beginnings. Beginnings are a human construct. They let us gauge exactly when something starts. They define it for us and yet beginnings can't really and truly be defined or measured. For example is there an exact moment a relationship begins?  Oh there might be a first meeting, a first conversation, a first glance but does that "begin" a relationship or is it something more than that?

If you are like the average person, you have started a relationship with God, forgot it, lost it, recovered it and renewed it several times already. That doesn't make you bad, it makes you human.  Sustaining a relationship with God is like any other relationship, something that needs to be nurtured.
It's unlike any other relationship because of God's unending patience, his willingness to welcome us back with open arms and his tendency to "nudge" us into remembering Him.

A deeper relationship with God means getting out of your head and into your heart. We can study, we can read the Bible, we can "know" things about our church and our belief system but until we "feel" God and his presence in our lives it is hard to sustain a relationship. Oh, don't misunderstand, there will still be times where we just go through the "actions", where we may even start to question our own sense of direction, where we just participate because it is expected. Those are rough times for sure. Times of trouble and doubt. 

Ultimately the whole purpose of Soul Care is to build a stronger relationship with God that lives in our hearts. It's too easy to uproot a relationship built in our heads, on logic and thought and "learning".  But one that's housed in the heart can endure almost anything.

 

Hugs to each one of you and may our journey through 2015 be filled with God's presence.