The events of the last month have just been pure insanity. Like mind boggling, sad, confusing, scary, and WEIRD! It seems most of us are trying to do whatever we can to not only make it through this, but also help those we love via distance. We're going to get through this. I know it's been said many times, but we are! We've got to keep that mindset in place. We may see some more drastic measures taken/changes happen, but most of the time things get worse before they get better. And that is O K as long as the better happens! So don't give up hope.
Now let me distract you a bit from the regularly scheduled program with some encouragement!
Though the solitude is killing me slowly (lol) I am STILL finding things to be grateful for everyday. With all of this downtime I have been able to pull out some hobbies I haven't worked on in while. I've been focussing a lot on building skills like piano playing and cooking/baking. I'm writing a lot more. I have started all the marvel movies from the beginning, watching them in order of the years they take place in the movies. I'm also working on a new business adventure to hopefully be up in the next coming weeks... you'll get the sneak peek right here! 😉
But one of the things I really felt I needed to pull out and focus on in this down time was painting. I'm not great, let's definitely preface with that lol, but its true therapy for me. Not to mention I usually only paint when I feel something in my heart from the Lord and I was definitely feeling something this week!
These scriptures kept coming to mind every time I would think about what is happening right now: Matthew 5:14-16
“Your lives light up the world. Let others see your light from a distance,
for how can you hide a city that stands on a hilltop?
And who would light a lamp and then hide it in an obscure place?
Instead, it’s placed where everyone in the house can benefit from its light.
So don’t hide your light! Let it shine brightly before others, so that the commendable
things you do will shine as light upon them, and then they will give their
praise to your Father in heaven.”
And this is what I felt in my heart from this verse...
Now is the PERFECT time for the church (the people, not the buildings) to shine so brightly. But how do we shine? How do we illuminate a world that is feeling very dark and heavy at the moment? We have to make the choice to walk in hope, peace, and joy. The enemy is trying to rob us of those specific things right now, but because we know the Giver of hope, peace, and joy we have an answer.
Walk closely with Him and His amazing attributes will begin to reflect in us. When people are living in fear for tomorrow, we speak peace. When people are feeling destitute, we offer hope. And when sorrow overwhelms the world, we declare JOY!
It is not time for the church to hide (*see disclaimer below), but a time for us to use the resources at our fingertips to shine light. If we know the truth and don't share it, how neglectful that would be. To watch people suffer and not offer up the solution. But if we will climb that hill and allow our lamps to be lit brightly then the eyes of man will be turned to the Father! I know it because His word is truth!
(*Disclaimer: it is VERY important that we keep physical distance from each other right now as we try to snuff out this virus from being passed to those it can be very harmful to. So please use wisdom... you can use social media, phones, letters, literally anything besides physical contact to reach out.)
I'm so grateful that the Lord speaks to us. I'm thankful His word is alive and still breathes life with whomever it comes in contact. I'm also grateful that as His children we know His voice and can trust Him... because even the faintest whisper from Him could calm 1,000 raging seas. So let Him speak to you in this chaos and watch Him change the tone of what is happening... and then share that peace with the world around you!
So, with all that being said I'm going to show you the painting that came out of these thoughts, words, heart processings... be gentle with me lol it's not the best thing I've ever painted, but it means something...
Things I was grateful for this week:
- A home to social distance myself in
- H O P E
- Art
"Grateful: (adjective)
warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful" - Dictionary.com
No comments:
Post a Comment