Joy Prayers: What is the Purpose for All My Big Ideas?

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The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

-Psalm 28:7

God there are so many times that I feel like

 I have too many obstacles to contend with

 and they seem to be never ending.

  All I can do is rely on the words

you have spoken to my heart

 about the good work you have begun in me.

Have mercy on me Lord.

 Ease the bitterness of discouragement.

  The hope of what you have begun burns inside me,

 a consuming fire Lord.

 To the point that it makes my heart feel sick.

Remind me Lord that it is the chasing after you,

 your voice,

 your heart

 and your good pleasure

 that is ultimately

the best part of any vision

 you have put within me.

Remind me that my life belongs to you;

 however you choose to navigate it.

And Lord, help me to not look simply to outside circumstances

 to reveal my progress in life in terms of this vision.

Remind me that this life is going

according to your plan

I yield my ways to you.

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Self Portrait

I came across this podcast a few weeks ago and it is incredible.  The episode that has really stayed with me is one where Susannah Conway was interviewed.  She talked about one avenue she has used to move more into self love is to take photographs of herself.  She challenged the listeners to snap pictures of themselves until they have in their possession 100 photographs.  Can you imagine?  I for one felt the whispers of YES DO IT because this is something I want to pass over to my daughter.  She will want to see mommy seeing the beauty in herself to remind her that in times of self doubt she possesses the same within her.

Anyone want to join in with me?

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She is Finding Her Voice One Experience at a Time

These are my latest offerings from a series I started a little over a month ago titled "She Speaks."  You can see the original girl over HERE

This is a series that is incredibly personal to me.  I have all of my life struggled with being heard.  In my family of origin and in my marriage.  Many times I have thought it easier to just let my voice be muted, go along to get along.  But over the past three years I have done an incredible amount of soul work through art and, simply put, that notion is no longer an option.

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Letting Go of the Destination

 Some of the biggest issues I am needing to let go of taking this art journaling class is the format.  I would prefer someone to give me a project and help me to know which colors blend together well.  There are certain color pallets that I gravitate to which of course showed up in this first journal page.  But I want to get out of my comfort zone with this and move into colors that I would not normally bring together but know that when I see them I love the look and the feel of them.

Right now I am just fiddling with technique. And even in that I am finding out things about myself.  Things like simply having a page that I have techniques all over must be turned into SOMETHING.  The time it took to prep the book and the fight I have to battle in order to get 20 minutes to even focus on the class... well again I am reminded of something I already know about myself: I am results oriented.

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How Easy Is it to Create an Altered Book?

 

This is glimpse into my first altered book.  This is one of the activities that I wanted to take on this year.  I met up with Wendy Brightbill a couple of weeks back.  She brought along her gorgeous books and I just had to learn - it was the push I needed.  I am taking her self paced online mixed media course and so far I am completely pleased.

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February Journal Pages

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This is the Year I finally Begin Art Journalling

I have wanted for so long to begin journaling in art rather than simply in words. But for some reason I could not simply begin. For me, I have an "excuse" to begin something new. And I got it. Desire and opportunity line up sometimes. a friend of mine invited me to participate in a art journal round robin.

So here are my entries for this round.  I am participating with 4 other women and our journals will travel twice to one another worldwide in the course of 2012.  So for now my heart is being put into "other people's" journals.  But it is pushing me to have one for my own.

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