The Palette not the Painting?

While doing a study in Sunday school there was an excerpt talking about artists.
And how paintings or other works of art are beautiful but we don't know what goes into them.
Made me think....we never look at the painters palette and say..."oh my isn't that beautiful!" Or the huge piece of stone and say "what a glorious statue"
A painters palette...an artist's...For example...ewww!  What a mess.  Can you see a great work of art in that?  Can you see daVinci's Mona Lisa or any of Van Gogh's in that mess of color???

I personally am a fan of Norman Rockwell...not just because I enjoy his portrayal of people and their personalities, he also captured some of my relatives!  Namely my great great grandmother Amelia Harrington.  Now looking at his palette I would never have seen her likeness, but Mr.Rockwell, being the artist he is, took those colors and on canvas recreated my Amelia for all of history and time...or at least as long as art work survives.  I have reproductions and as long as I have them and display them...there she is!

Where am I going with this??  Not critiquing art!
We, our lives are that palette....can you relate?   Do you feel like you are a mess?  Your life is a mess?  Maybe you can see no rhyme or reason to what is happening. Or why you can't seem to "straighten yourself out".   Because WE are not the Master Artist!  We need to let God have the palette ...let Him be in control and trust that the final product will be EXACTLY what He intended.  What looks like just a mess of "colors",  a confused pile of what seems to be yuck  He knows what to do with each of part of it...when and how to use it....apply it to the canvas that is your life.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:10 (NKJ)
or the New Living Translation
 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

He sees the full, completed painting.....He knows how it is going to turn out!
For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes[b] and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place I deported you from.
Even if we feel we are a mess, beyond repair, beyond hope....HE can restore us!
In Him we are a new creation....a new masterpiece.
 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSV)

His Masterpiece ...YOU....are created for His glory! We don't have to be the artist....we just have display His work!  We have to display Christ in us...His love, mercy, compassion.  

Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:7

My prayer for you today is that you allow God to create His greatest Masterpiece....YOU....
And all He creates is beautiful and that means YOU!  Let His love be displayed through you today!

and just a reminder....all great works of art take TIME!  So do not be discouraged if you don't feel like a Masterpiece today...through the love and blood of Jesus Christ...God sees His work completed!
I pray you take heart in that!

Your Own Moses Basket

I was watching Prince of Egypt...DreamWorks animated story from the book of Exodus. It follows the life of Moses and the mass exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and slavery under Pharaoh
*as a side note:  A very good movie, and as they explain at the very beginning, some artistic license has been taken, filling in gaps.  BUT it is fairly true to the scriptural account. I would encourage you to read all about Moses (Exodus 2 - Deuteronomy 34) before or after you watch and decide for yourself.

Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” Exodus 1:22

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.  His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Exodus 2:1-4

As I watched the scene where Moses's mother places him in the basket  and then into the Nile river, with all of it's dangers, my mind began to work!  (stay with me here!)

I thought "isn't that like God...and what He has done for us?"  He has provided a way for us....salvation from death, from eternal separation from Him!

Just as his mother lovingly made the basket....and made it as safe as possible.  She placed him in the river not knowing what his fate may be but, I believe, trusting God.

God created us, loves us, but sin came into the world, evil, death.  So God provided a way for salvation, our "Moses basket", so to speak, to carry us to safety.

Moses's mother didn't know what Moses's fate might be when she laid him in his basket.  God ultimately does know ours....but He allows us the freedom to choose.  Unlike baby Moses we have the choice to get into our "basket" or not.  

The route the basket takes was not necessarily easy or the water calm.  There were dangers all around....as is with us!  There is sin which can tempt, our emotions and our actions.  BUT safe in our "basket", safe in our Saviors love, we can navigate and survive the waters.

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 

John 15:5

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love." John 15:9

IF we remain in Christ, in our Moses basket, we will be able to navigate through the rough waters of life and safely arrive where God intends for us....our heavenly home!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17

Just as God had a plan for Moses once his basket was found....and Moses grew up in Pharaoh's house, he was the one God intended to take the captive Israelites to freedom, God has a plan for our lives too!  We just need to trust and know that God is guiding, steering  our basket!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

I am not sure if this was too much of a stretch for you....but my prayer for you is that you have jumped into your Moses basket and enjoy the ride of (for) your life!

Harvest of Blessings

When looking with  Biblegateway Blessed  is found 217 times

            Blessings 27  in the New International Version

Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Isn’t that what we all wish….to be called blessed, to be considered blessed?

But the praise…the blessing comes from where?  a "fear" or reverence for the Lord.

I like to read Psalm 23 with fall in mind....the peaceful still waters....with the fall leaves gently falling to the ground.  The green pastures surrounded by trees bright and beautiful with color.

Psalm of David

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
  He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
   he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

 You prepare a table before me

    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

We all want our cup to overflow….to be blessed in abundance.  But how do we do that…..is there something we CAN do about that?

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 2 Corinthians 9:10

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6

Our actions and our choices, the attitudes of our hearts are directly related to what we “harvest”. It seems that a harvest of righteousness is what is important.  

¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ¹³ “Make level paths for your feet,”^[so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Hebrews 12

To sow right living will reap a harvest of righteousness.

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  Luke 6

We must strive to give in abundance those things which are mentioned in letters in 1Peter, 2 Peter and in Jude

Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 

  Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

 We should desire to spread these things  to our sisters in Christ, our families, fellow Christians, to everyone! We can if we make sure that the attitude of our hearts starts with a reverence and love for our God and Savior.  And we allow the knowledge of God's love for us and that He has all things in His control, if we rest in that it will bring us a peace, and inner joy.  Let that overflow so that we can BE the harvest of blessings poured out on others!  and in return " A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap"

AMEN!

                                                                       

Uncertain..Half Full or Half Empty

Not sure what to blog today.... I had something come to mind several days ago....Half Full/ Half Empty...
BUT I was just sitting staring at the screen at yet another tragedy....another scene of carnage.  This one not by the storms of nature, but by an individual.  A person I do not know....and I dare say no one reading this knew him.
And I wondered if maybe I should save that for another time.
It was to talk about our perspective on things...on life.  On how we look at situations....any really, as we travel through this life.
Do we see the good, the God,  in all the things around us?
So maybe it is a good one for today, because with all the tragedies that have been happening not just in our country but in other parts of the world that have been devastated by the natural disasters lately...  we might have a tendency to say....I don't see God....He has abandon us.

The Lord said to Joshua after Moses had died and Joshua was going to be the one to lead the Israelites.
No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Joshua 1:5

Did all tragedy and hardship cease for Joshua or the Israelites with this statement  ...no of course not, BUT God was always going to be there for Joshua and the Israelite's  with guidance, wisdom and strength
As He is with us.
Sin is in this world....has been since almost the very beginning.
 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. Genesis 3:23

And the horrors of sin have continued to fester, and grow like a canker through out all of time....so there is no hope?....that would be a Half Full view.

BUT that isn't how we should look at it.  TRUTH says that God is with us and working even in all the tragedies, even if we don't see Him....He is still there, working, loving.  A HALF FULL view.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

Jesus LAST words while on the earth, to His closest friends.....and ultimately to us who believe and follow....And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”   

SO  in all that is happening around us....PRAY, knowing that God hears our prayers. DO whatever it is we are privileged to be able to do to help serve God's people, LOOK for HALF FULL....look for God in the tragedies; kindness of others, safety and protection for individuals.  Strength and courage being demonstrated. Faith carrying people through.

 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 2 Corinthians 8:2

AND  on the other side of that Half Full/Half Empty ...how can God see you?!  are you HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY.

because we are just a portion.....and until we accept Christ as our personal Savior we will never be full.  He takes what we have....no matter how empty that may seem and HE makes it full!  TO THE TOP and OVER FLOWING!

 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Filling ourselves with Christ means there is no room for other things to try to take up the empty spaces.  Bitterness, hatred, greed, lust, anger, derision, divisiveness, apathy, self centeredness, mistrust, doubt etc.

Even though we have nothing to bring Christ fills us and God sees us as FULL....not even Half Full.  He sees Christ when He looks at us!  How cool is that! 

So in light of, not just today's horrible tragedy, but all those that have been happening....do not lose heart or hope....do not look at the "glass as half empty"

Trust that God is in, around and through it all.  That for those of us who believe the "glass is not only half full....but full to overflowing!"

So do not fear, for I am with you;

    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

AMEN!!!!