Adore HIM Creations

Praying in Color April 2012

Another month of transformation!   I am finding that keeping my right hand occupied while praying has revolutionized my prayer life.  My prayer time before was more about a dialogue - me talking to God- lifting up  family, friends and issues.  There wasn't a time for HIM to speak to me.  Or I would fall asleep, or think about a thousand other things while I was praying.

This is different.  Prayer is not something that I have been good at. I would tell people that I will pray for you, but found that after I said that it never entered my mind again, until I would see them and then feel guilty that I hadn't prayed for them!   This is a tool to help me keep my word, and actually pray for the person/issue! It is a way to concentrate, to re-frame my life, to have it flow through me to the page.

At our workshop "Living Life as Prayer" with Connie, she talked about the reasons we don't pray:

1.  the distractions of life

2.  the fight of my will

Living a life of Thanksliving ( yes, I didn't spell it wrong) is a new way of living life and complements my prayer life.  My Thanksliving book is set up the left page is my list of my 1000 gifts ( Ann Voskamp) and the right is my praying.   God wants more than 10 minutes a day, He wants me to see the cross and live a life of redemption, to not turn from Him daily through my life interruptions.   To live a life of mental dialogue with God all day and quiet time with him where the Holy spirit is allowed to indwell in me and speak to me through my hand to the page. 

The first picture is what I began with back in January.   The second is how I started with using watercolors to color the leaves at the beginning of April.  Then God gave me this verse

John 17:15,17  "....protect them from the evil one. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."

I decided to print that and add to my page. This month I just wrote names/words and then said that verse over the person.  It was very powerful!

 

I want to encourage you to try new ways of prayer, to allow yourself to be transformed by new tools that can draw you closer to God.  Don't reject my work because you say- "she is a good artist, she is so creative and I AM NOT."   You are creative, God created you and gave you the gift of creativity, use it in your way to come closer to HIM.   He will meet you wherever you are!

May God bless you this week and draw you closer to HIM.

 

Watching Wednesday- Living Life as Prayer workshop

Well, I have so much to share today.

Last weekend at my home studio we had a Guest artist Connie Denninger who led 8 women in a special workshop titled " Living Life as Prayer".  It was a spirit time and great opportunity to look at the ways we can actually make every moment of our lives prayer to God.

Connie demonstrated lots of techniques to use in our prayer time, so keep a record of time spent in prayer, who we are praying for and responses to prayer.  It was such a good workshop, and I am working on putting it together as an online class so stay tuned.

Here are pictures of the books Connie brought and recommended.

 

 

 

 

Some of the participants.



Preparing our prayer journals.

  Thanks Connie for your honest sharing from your heart and for helping us to understand how to live a life as prayer.

Check out Connie's blog Vintage Grace here. Connie is available for Christian retreat speaking engagements.  She is an avid Pinterest user, here is her Pinterest address Connie Denninger Pinterest link. 

My new friend Paula Parkison was able to attend from FL, and it was wonderful to spend 4 days crafting with her.  She makes wonderful Scripture Snippets and we created a Etsy site for her on Friday. Here is the link for her Etsy site and for her blog  Remember the Promise.

Here is a picture of her Scripture Snippets, small custom made scrapbooks full of Bible verses, embellishments and lots of prayer!  If you are looking for a great gift for Mother's day, graduation, anniversary present, you can have one custom made for you if you go to her Etsy site.

 

Technique Tuesday- Psalms faithart journal & video

So today I am going to demo how I create a faithart bible study.

My bible study that I began, is a project that may take me a long time as there are 150 psalms. I am not holding myself to any time frame when it "must" be done, just enjoying the journey.  I am learning a lot and here are my bible study reference links.

Christ in the Psalms- book

ScriptureStudies- online

I have learned so much about the Psalms.

This is from the intro:

"The Church's full format of prayer includes, among many other components, the weekly recitation of the entire Book of Psalms.  Indeed, "among" is scarcely an adequate preposition in this case because of the very special place psalmody hold in the Christian life of prayer. From the very beginning of her history, when the Church of God turns to Him in love and dovotion, the words of the Psalter form the expressions that spontaneously, as by an impulse of nature, rise from her heart and take shape in her mouth. The psalms find their truest context in the heart and on the lips of the Church. Those whose lips constantly move with the syllables of the Psalter give living expression to the deepest being of the Church."

When we pray the Psalms, we are faced with a particular challenge not usually found in other prayers. This challenge arises from the Psalter's diversity of voices, or faces. 

"Conversation" is especially a trait of the Psalms, where we discover, not only ourselves speaking to God about Christ, but also Christ speaking to His Father about us and so on.  The voices will vary, not only from psalm to psalm but also during the course of a single psalm. "

You will see my book as I have completed faithart journaling  for Psalm 1-3. I hope you enjoy and will love to hear comments or questions. I would love to have any of you join me in this bible study!

 

Psalms study- faithart journaling

I wanted to share my update on my faithart journaling of the Psalms.  I was able to study and complete Psalm 1 and 2. I am using two sources.  One is the book "Christ in the Psalms"  by Patrick Henry Reardon and the other is an online source that is excellent and free .  Scripture Studies- Psalms

Here are some pictures and I will make a video tomorrow for Technique Tuesday and tell you more about my faithart journey!

Enjoy the pictures.  I am loving the study and learning so much. I have loved the Psalms for years, and thought I knew what they were saying, but now realize that first you must identify whose voice is speaking and to whom. 

The tool I used to solve the problem of adding the entire Psalm to each faithart page was to make a tag. Then I had to figure out how to add it.  My daughter was so clever to help me use the tools I have ( and forget to use- but just had to have!).  It is a puncher from Staples -ARC . It is used to create your own wire bound journals.  I bought it thinking I could use it for my faithart journals, but, it doesn't cut through thick pages, so, didn't work the way I thought it would. However, it is perfect for punching the side of a tag to add to a wire bound art journal book!

 

Technique Tuesday- new faithart journal and video!

I made a video about the challenge of white pages when journaling. I show you how I use spray inks and do the positive and negative for each stencil. I am creating a faithart journal that I will be using as I walk through the book  "Christ in the Psalms "( Patrick Henry Reardon).

 

 

You can get  the book here at Amazon.   I purchased this book when I attended a weekend seminar about praying, and am loving reading it. I am learning so much, and as the Psalms were the first place I began to read in the Bible, it was the perfect book for me.

Here is a review of  I totally agree with.

"In a time when many Christian traditions are opting to negate the Christological nature of the Pslams, Fr. Patrick argues persuasively that the Psalms are the backbone to a proper understanding of the human condition, the heart of God, and the nature of Christ's incarnation. Following the traditional exegetical method of understanding the Old Testament in light of the resurrection, Fr. Patrick illuminates the psalter in a manner both academic and devotional. Apart of Lewis's book on the psalms, there is really not much else out there of this quality in both regards.

No previous knowledge of Greek or Hebrew is needed. It is not an intimidating read at all and it is the type of book that you will want to read over and over through the seasons. Very highly recommended!"   Matt

"This book is a great way to begin to identify those Psalms (which are many) in which the Messiah is either directly speaking, is spoken of, or is inferred. It also points out many practical applications of the Psalms to the life of the church." Meadowhaven

I am slowing reading, absorbing and taking notes. I am such a project person, that I immediately wanted to do a complete faithart journal of all 150 psalms!.  Then it hit me - it  would take me so long, so I  pushed that thought away and stopped pursuing the journal idea. ( of course it was God's prompting, not my idea)

 Last week I was talking to my friend Connie, she mentioned a study she is doing about the names of Jesus and her comment " it may take me the rest of my life to finish it"  really hit home with me. So what if it takes me years to complete this. It is not the finished project  but the journey and the heart change in me that is the most important. So, I begin.

Hope this encourages you to find a book that you can dig into and create your own faithart journal.

Stay tuned for follow up stories and pictures!

Testimony Thursday

So long since I posted my testimony and so much to share!

My friend Connie has been such a gift and inspiration to me. God brought us together last year, when I was published in a online Scrapbooking site.  She was on a trip to Chicago at the time when one of her art friends said check out this woman online. She lives near you. Connie emailed me and we talked on the phone while she was waiting in the airport to come back to Northern VA.  We connected via our faith and then through art. She has given so much support, love and spiritual mentoring to me over the past year. She named me as her resident artist for her church  Prince of Peace.  I have attended many of her Keep the Faith events and have been blessed by the women of her church who are interested in faithart.

One of Connies' gifts is mentoring and teaching- basically sharing her faith walk. She has kept a blessing journal for over 6 months ( from the book 1000 gifts) and for the past 2 years has kept a journal of her faith walk.  She practices praying in color (  Praying in Color ), which is where I got the inspiration to begin my praying in color journal in Jan of this year. ( see pictures and posts here). 

Connie will be teaching "Living Life as Prayer" here at the studio on April 28 and we have 4 seats left. Here is the Download AHC 2012 Guest Series Denninger v3.  You won't want to miss this!

God has given me this platform ( my blog) to spread His word and His creativity!  Another new friend from this blog is Paula Parkison.  She found me last month and we have been corresponding and I am so happy that she is coming from FL to the studio in 2 weeks for the Living Life as Prayer workshop.  Paula's story is fascinating, please check her blog   and read her faith journey!  She is a widow and a former pastors wife ( as is Connie). She has such talent in expressing faith in beautiful scripture snippets and other craft items. 

Today we received a huge box from Paula and I wept when I saw the gifts she sent us.  She custom made a name frame for each of my daughters and how did she know their color schemes???   She is amazing and the detail and love is so evident!  God has blessed me with her friendship and our love of God drew us together!

I shared my one little word for 2012 in Jan here.   I set some goals for myself and have been "steadfast" in doing them.  One of my goals was my weight. I have been struggling for the past few years with weight. I did not grow up with weight issues, weight became an issue for me when I became hypothyroid  about 12 years ago.  I  have lost 22 lbs on my "simple diet" plan . God has given me the strength to lean on Him instead of food, to exercise daily and taken away my cravings for food! This is a new habit of health I am trying to live. 

I started keeping my 1000 gifts book and praying in color journal and have kept up with it consistently- being steadfast!

God is watching over my children and blessing them and  I will be receiving a wonderful gift of a 2nd grandchild in October.

Life is good because of my relationship with Jesus and being steadfast in my habits.

My prayer  for my friends and family in April is found in John 17:15,17 

".... protect them from the evil one.  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." 

Praying in Color- examples

Wanted to share my daughter Natalya's progress on her Praying in Color journal. She has the same format as I do, 1000 gifts on the left and her praying in color on the right.

She uses a combination of stencils and mostly drawing shapes and using colored pencils. 

" I take my gifts for granted, so it has been a blessing to have them on paper and to remember them and how they affect my life."

Natalya does her gifts list each day and colors a little bit each day.

 

Guest Artist Series 2012- Living Life as Prayer

If you are in the area, please join us April 28 9-5 pm for a great workshop by guest artist Connie Denninger.

Download AHC 2012 Guest Series Denninger v3  for the flyer. Here is the info

Living Life as Prayer

Adore HIM Creations is pleased to invite you to the 2nd workshop in the 2012 Guest Artist Series! 

Connie Denninger is a Woman of Faith on a Journey. She is a Home Economist educator who loves to bring beauty to the sacred space of home– where we learn to live Full Eye to God's Faithfulness. She encourages others to live as Families in Faith at Prince of Peace Church in Springfield, VA.  She is an Indiana farm girl moved to the Washington, D.C. suburbs. Her and her husband John are in parish ministry and have been blessed to have lived in Northern VA for over 20 years. Connie and John have been married nearly 30 years and have 3 adult daughters- all Lutheran educators. They have recently added 2 sons-in-laws to their family. Connie enjoys walking beside women in their spiritual journeys and bringing together tools to document the story of God's faithfulness in our lives. Her blog is constancedenninger.blogspot.com and she is active on Pinterest.

Looking for encouragement to live life as prayer? Join Connie as she shares her personal experiences, Bible References and tools to help us all live life as prayer.

Visual prayers give you a path to see God’s faithfulness in your life. This journey of grace builds faith in His promises for your future, and a written legacy of hope.

Connie will demonstrate many tool box options that you can adopt for your life of prayer.

 

•  To SEE God’s Handiwork – charting HIS story in our life
•  To SEE and understand – The mystery of belief and trust
• To SEE with a grateful heart – Living EUCHARISTEO

 

This workshop does not require any art skills or experiences.

Please bring your Bible. All materials and tools will be provided including a gourmet lunch.

April 28, 2012  

 9:00 am to 5:00 pm $50

Gourmet lunch included

Limited to 12 participants 

50% deposit due  by 4/1/12

 To register email diane@adorehimcreations.com

 

 

 

 

 

blooming gift from God!

this is March, and this is my indoor Hibiscus. What a blessing that it continues to bloom all winter!  I didn't want to through it away after last summer, but didn't think it would live inside without the best sunlight. But what a Gift from God it turned out to be. It has red blooms on one side and a pink/orange one on the other side. Looking forward to the summer when I can set it out again and watch it turn into a tree!  The first picture is from today and the second from a few weeks ago.  the last picture is the original picture from May 2011 when I first planted it.

 

Makoto Fujimura- inspiration

Makoto Fujimura is a renowned Christian artist working from New York's art scene.  He has begun  a monumental project- illustrating the 4 Holy Gospels.

The Four Holy Gospels is an exquisitely designed and produced edition of the four canonical Gospels in the English Standard Version, published in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Version (KJV) Bible in 1611.

 

“[H]aving Mako’s art, which is non-representational, next to the words of scripture invites the reader to take the words of scripture and sort of see what they see in the art and how that connects with the words that they’re reading, because the words are transcendent. And the art, in a lot of ways, reflects that transcendence.”

– Alissa Wilkinson

I love the first comment from Valerie Dillon- Art Gallery owner

".... there is  a line in the contemporary art world...  this is the line....you can paint AND you can worship...  but don't do them together.. and if you step over that line you are in essence....  setting yourself up for Crucifixion...."

Makoto Fujimura - The Art of "The Four Holy Gospels" from Crossway on Vimeo.

 He is able to take his craft, his experience, his creativity and his FAITH and say " this is who I am" in his art.

May I be so blessed by God to take my craft, experience, creativity and faith and create faithart at Adore HIM Creations.