Unraveled or Un-raveled

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 his past Friday as we drove several hours to the funeral of the grandfather of one of our Renewal Ranch residents and saw all the "just harvested cotton" along the roadways, I couldn't help but be reminded of the slogan and song advertisers use to stress the importance of cotton in our lives--"the touch, the feel of cotton, the fabric of our lives."

 What is the touch, the feel, the fabric of my life? A Merriam Webster search of fabric harvested this definition among others--

Fabric         1. a : structure, building  b : underlying structure : framework

I especially like the "b" definition when comparing it to the "spiritual fabric" of our lives.  What is our underlying structure, our framework?  Or maybe a better question would be:

Who is our underlying structure, our framework?

What components weave together the fabric of our lives?

Belief, faith, prayer, Bible study, worship, praise, adoration, meditation, ministry--these are some of the strands that should make up the fabric of our daily Christian lives.

When Jesus is the seed of our planting and we cultivate His spirit in our daily lives, we will produce a beautiful tapestry of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

And when the moths of destruction come, our lives will remain incorruptible--unable to be unraveled by our enemy.

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,  having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.  ! Peter 1: 22, 23

In His Sanctuary

Praise the LORD.  Praise God in his sanctuary;  praise him in his mighty heavens.  Praise him for his acts of power;   praise him for his surpassing greatness.  Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,   praise him with the harp and lyre,  praise him with tambourine and dancing,   praise him with the strings and flute,  praise him with the clash of cymbals,  praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. Psalm 150, NIV

This psalm was one that inspired the canvas above. It was done with acrylics on loose canvas.

Surrender and Praise

Last week when I was in Tulsa visiting family, my eleven year old granddaughter walked into the room and said, "Mimi, this is what I picture when I think of the word surrender."

She proceeded to fall to one knee and raise her hands instantly towards heaven. It was a beautiful posture of what should happen inside our hearts.

I grabbed my camera quickly--thinking I need to get a picture of this to use as an inspiration for a painting entitled "Surrender."

My camera was on settings from a previous night's outdoor, woodsy photo shoot--not set for indoor captures.  But I knew she was NOT doing this to be photographed by a camera--she was sharing her heart with me--a precious, once in a lifetime moment--so I went with what it was set to.

I asked her to show me what praise looks like--

She immediately stood up and reached even higher--

Today when I was reading Psalm 63 I came across this scripture and knew that I wanted to share that once in a lifetime precious moment with you.

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.  Psalm 63:3,4 NIV

Joining in with others at Spiritual Sundays--

The Battle is the Lord's

 This battlefield is empty now. Where once raged the ravages of war, there is an eerie stillness and quiet. The only sounds are those of the wildlife which now inhabit this hauntingly beautiful, bittersweet land.

We cannot liken this battlefield to the spiritual battlefields of our lives because our enemy never gives up, never surrenders, is ready to ambush when we least expect it.  However, the Bible gives us a strategic battle plan.

*We are to use the sword of the Spirit--the Word of God.  When satan tempted Jesus in the desert, Jesus said each time, "It is written".............and proceeded to quote passages from the Bible.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.  Hebrews 4:12, 13

*We are to trust and cry out to God to save us.

They cried out to God in the battle. He heeded their prayer, because they put their trust in Him. 1 Chronicles 5:20 NKJV

*We are to stand firm behind the barrel of God's faithfulness, justice and wisdom.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.   Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.    Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.     And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

We see from the scripture above that we are to take up the shield of faith and to pray. I think an element of praying is to praise.   We see the salvation of God in the twentieth chapter of II Chron. because the children of God obeyed him and went out singing and praising.

Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.”   After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:     “Give thanks to the LORD,    for his love endures forever.”   As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.  portions of 2 Chron 20

This post is much longer than I had intended for it to be.  But if even one of you has a battle in your life today and is helped by this, I am grateful.

I guess what I want to know and want you to be reminded of is this:  The battle is not ours.  We are not fighting flesh and blood but powers and principalities--our battle is spiritual and God wants to fight it for us.

Rest in Him today, dear friend, knowing that He is going out ahead of us and will conquer every enemy of ours if we let Him.

Photos:  taken at Pea Ridge National Military Park, November, 2011

For Lonesome Backroads . . . . .

For lonesome backroads

that lead to winding trails strewn with leaves more alive on former days but more brilliant now,

I am thankful.

For friends of many years whose passions have gone the direction of mine and who love to explore those backroads,

I am thankful.

May we be more brilliant and alive in the sunset of our lives than ever before.
May our passions and thanksgiving grow to new heights.
May we give back a portion of the great love we have been given.

Happy Monday, dear friends.  May your week hold special joys as mine did last week.
These scenes are from beautiful Northwest Arkansas, Pea Ridge National Military Park, a battle site of the Civil War.

He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Psalm 23:3 Thank you Lord for restoring my soul and for guiding me down these memorable paths last week.