i'm an artist ... kinda

Shameless plug I know, but I'm really excited about this. Working at this company for over 3 1/2 years, I finally had the courage to create a project for work. It was more of a push from one of my peers. I'm finally published in Somerset Apprentice, a magazine for novice artists.

see us as we are

There is meaning behind every story written in the Bible — a meaning that goes beyond just who God is, who is He talking to, and how the person (people) responds to Him. The story of God is a beautiful story, one that we can dive into and learn how God wants us to live in this world. It is also a complex story, one that challenges us to read beyond the words and to listen … and allow the Spirit to speak the story to us the way it needs to be told.

I think that many of us view the Bible in a similar lens: As we read Scripture, we tend to hurry to the meaning behind it.“Jesus, what do you mean to me?” is often a question that runs through our minds as we read verse after verse. And even though we may feel at times that we’ve reached what the meaning behind the passage, we can miss out on the whole story. As Josh stated in the beginning of the sermon, we read passages in the Bible with the intent of finding how it relates to us. And although it is not wrong for us to have that in the fore front of our minds, we also need to understand what the passage means in context, to understand the purpose of why it is written.

The story of the Samaritan woman isn’t only a story thrown into the New Testament to narrate  Jesus’ encounter with her. Her story is of relevance. Instead of reading about a woman who has been wrongfully labeled and judged by society, we see her as a woman Jesus took time teach and love. What began as a story of woman who walked a very long time to the well outside of her city to draw water, turned into her receiving the living water, as Jesus explains here:

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” -John 4:13-14

Throughout Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, He breaks many societal barriers with her. He continues to prod into her life because, without her knowing it, He’s leading her towards salvation.  Although the Samaritan woman didn’t know it at the time, her questioning of His identity and why He chose to speak to her at that time allows her to become more vulnerable to Him.

“Woman” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you — I am he.” -John 4:21-25

(A better translation of the last verse in this story: I am the one who is speaking to you.)

What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? It means to see Him standing in front of us. When we allow our hearts to be transformed by encountering the revelation of God, we are able to fully surrender ourselves to Him and truly worship Him.

How often do we find ourselves in a similar situation as the Samaritan woman?

Jesus saw her as she was. Shouldn’t we allow Him to do the same for us? We all have shame, guilt, worries, doubts, confusion, and among other things that we carry on a day-to-day basis. But God sees us through our sin, and see us as we are.

bless the Lord, oh my soul!

Growing up in a very conservative church for over 13 years, my understanding of worship was singing several hymns in a Sunday service. It wasn’t until I came to ROCKHARBOR that I saw worship in a whole different way. Loud music. Hands clapping. Arms raised. Joyful singing. And so much more. It was different—way different—from anything I had seen and experienced growing up; however, there was something so intimate about how the people were singing. They weren’t just reading words on a screen; they were singing to God. It was beautiful, and I wanted to be a part of it.

So when worship pastor Keri Fox shared her first experience worshipping God, I was glad that I wasn’t the only one that shared a similar experience.

This weekend’s sermon was about why we worship. It sounds silly to think as Christians we should be asking ourselves that question; but if we really are honest with ourselves and really want to grow intimately in our relationship with God, than I believe this is a question we need to ask ourselves to keep us in check with where our hearts lie when we worship Him. Initially I thought worship was just singing songs at a church; however, worship goes beyond the words I sing in a building; it is a lifestyle, a calling … something we were born to do.

Keri shared these verses, which fit appropriately to this series:

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” -Psalm 100:1-5

We have a strong invitation to worship God because it is His will that we should serve Him, devote ourselves to His service, and employ ourselves in it.  We do not only serve Him in everything we do, but we also come before His presence in the opportunities He appoints us. God gives us joy. We rejoice in Him. And we always give Him thanks. It’s not about how good we sing, but remembering why we sing.

How often do we place ourselves in a posture of asking God to fix our silly problems? That instead of thanking Him for everything—for the air we breathe, for good health, for loving us, etc.—we run through our list of frustrations and “concerns”? The beginning of the passage begins with “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.” It doesn’t say, “Shout your frustrations to the Lord.” He is God and He is good. Because we acknowledge that He is the one who created us, we owe ourselves to Him by thanking Him.

God desires us to draw near to Him. As Keri said, when we worship we sing to someone. We’re being heard by Him; it’s the way we talk to Him. God delights in our praises. He doesn’t need anything from us, yet He allows us to praise Him. How crazy is that?

Sometimes it’s good to ask yourself this question: Why do I worship God? It’s easy for us to know what worship is and how we need to worship. And we become content with that. But we oftentimes overlook the why, which is just as important, and perhaps even more. When we begin our day thanking Him, that kind of attitude and posture will dictate how the rest of our day will look like. And God, because He is God and is so good, will take care us.

snip. ink. paste. repeat

I've been in kinda of a crafty mood lately.

I told myself this year to start being a bit more crafty. I began with card-marking because it seemed to be the easiest of the crafts. I'm still working on a few kinks here and there, but I really enjoyed making this one and a few other variations as well. 

And no, not preggo. 

A,B,C ... it's easy as 1,2,3

It's not every day that I have the privilege to write articles for work. This is one of the magazines I enjoy reading and writing for.

Here's my article ... enjoy!

thoughts on twenty six

I'm old. I'm getting there.

Well not really. I'm still in my twenties. Mid-twenties?

I'm excited about this year, more than last year. There's going to be changes. Big changes. Some changes that I don't even know yet, but I know God has some things up His sleeve. 

Stay tuned. 

from a bitter heart

So ... I took a break ... from writing.

Words didn't come out naturally. I was staring at a blank screen waiting for an "aha moment" to be born. 

Nope, still nothing.

At first I thought I stumbled upon another writing block. One of those I-will-keep-staring-at-my-computer-screen-until-an-idea-pops-up writing blocks. But then days turned into weeks which turned into a few months ...

There was a real reason why I neglected my blog: I was bitter. 

A couple of months after my trip from Mozambique, I was not in a good place spiritually. I held a lot of anger and resentment, a familiar feeling I get after returning from an emotionally challenging yet uplifting mission trip. As much as I was passionate about sharing my trip about Moz on here and in conversations, there was a part of me that wasn't happy, holding grudges toward certain people that didn't deserve it.

And because of my bitterness, I only wrote things that came out of my bitterness. Something I heard that rubbed me the wrong way, I wrote about it. A memory of something negative from my trip...wrote it. A thought that consumed me...yep, it was blogged. What I had hoped for my blog originally had now turned into a forum where I vented when I was upset. Of course, I tried to mask my bitter and angry words by turning it into a positive post; however, when I would reread it over and over again, I can hear the hurt behind the words.

So I stopped writing on here. And it was good.

Being away from blogging, I realized two things:

One, I really missed writing. As an editor majority of my time is spent editing articles or emailing artists. The only times I get to really write is in my editor's letter. And as I wrote in my letters, I wrote about things I was passionate about ... something I was missing when I blogged.

And two, I reevaluated what I wanted my blog to portray. By all means, I want to be as honest as I can; however, writing from my bitter heart only allowed me to fester into this whirlwind of frustration and anger. Instead of just vomiting words onto a page, I want to be intentional with the words I choose to express.

So I'm excited to get back to writing ... and I'm excited for this year as well. New season filled with adventures, growth, and never knowing what to expect ... all sounds good to me!