"The way we communicate with others, and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives." -Anthony Robbins
"The windows of my soul I throw wide open to the sun(Son)" -John Greenleaf Whitter (italics mine...I want to throw the windows of my soul wide open to the SON!)
"My faith in God is the lens through which I see my life."-Kelly Ishmael
 |
| 2015...Are you ready? |
I hardly know where to begin. I just know I wanted to post about this before 2015. Time goes so fast! There never is enough is there?...yet we are all allotted the same 24 hours in a day. How we use that time is important, because we will never have that time in our grasp again. One thing I know is that time spent in the company of our Lord is never wasted time. How does my quiet time look? I wanted to have some sort of "alone time with God plan" that I could do everyday for the rest of my life. I am not an early riser. I am not like Beth Moore who can get up, and commune with God while it is still dark outside. I tried it, I would fall back to sleep. I tried at night... same problem, I'd soon fall asleep. I decided I would try something totally different. My very favorite, all time preacher is
Alistair Begg. He is spot on, and solid in his teaching. I downloaded the app, "Truth for Life". He has a daily teaching (about 20 minutes) that I listen to, then I read the daily devotion from
Morning and Evening, by Charles Spurgeon (updated by Mr. Begg), and a daily reading in the Old and New Testament. This is all on the Truth for Life app. It is a "one stop" daily- bible quiet time shopping site. When Warren gets up, I stay in bed and listen, and read. It helps me wake up slowly. If Warren doesn't have to work that day, he listens with me. This works for me. We are transformed by the Word if we do what the word tells us to do. One of the ways the word transforms me is by my meditating on it until
my THINKING, and BEHAVIOR lines up with the WORD of God. Easier said than done. For example, the TV shows I watch. One of my favorite shows is "Major Crimes." Recently, it introduced a subject line that was contrary to God's word. I so wrestled with God. "Maybe just one more episode." Can you believe, I bargained with God? Alas, God won. I have crossed "Major Crimes" off my watch list.
So the question is how to meditate on the word other than memorization, which is good too. I meditate by Bible journaling. All you need is a
Bible with wide margins, some colored pencils, an ink pen, and a heart to hear God speaking. There is a Bible journaling Facebook group where I get some of my inspiration. I have used the Home Grown Hospitality website as well. Some of my pages are original with me, some spring from inspiration from others.
 |
| For this one, I cut out the girl from one of My Mary Englebriet calendars. |
 |
| Inspiration from a FB entry... |
 |
| another inspiration from FB |
 |
| Inspiration from Homegrown hospitality |
How did I get started Bible journaling? I think when you really want to do something, God gives the answer...sometimes in the most unexpected places, or circumstances. One of my go to websites is
Home grown hospitality. This lady loves the Lord, and has such creativity. It was here that I learned about Bible journaling...you journal in your Bible your faith walk. She had a blog post on it...several in fact. I also learned about the "Documented Faith project 2015". It is a free class where you will find weekly inspiration. Just click on the tab "Documented Faith" on the Homegrown hospitality page to participate for 2015. From there, I learned about another website:
His-kingdom-come. I signed up for Bible journaling class for 2015. I am ready, maybe sort of, for 2015.
My problem is time. I need time to do this. I already have trouble getting done all the things I want to do. Alistair Begg just finished a series on the 10 commandments. I was very convicted with all of them, but one that left a big impression was "Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy." It is to be a day set aside for God, and God alone...not for cleaning, getting caught up, etc. I have decided to keep it set apart for God using this day to journal how God has spoken, and taught me that week. I have a
Moleskine notebook to keep track of it all. This is how the calendar looks when you buy it.
Here is a sampling of how creative the pages can be from
Martha Lever who is doing the Documented Life project for 2014. Her pages are amazing...
 |
| The prompt was an arrow... |
 |
| prompt...stars |
Here is my decorated 2015 Moleskine calendar ready for my first entry. I added tabs at the top for the 12 months...there are how to's at Homegrown Hospitality.
 |
| Front cover of my Moleskine calendar |
To make more room for ideas, and journaling, I added "tip ins" which are just extra pages using Washi tape. It makes the side of the calendar look so cool. "How to's" also on Homegrown Hospitality.
 |
| Side with the Washi tape "tip ins" |
It is decorated front and back. I spent too long doing my cover. The first one I did I hated, so I painted over it. I did not like the second one very much either. I painted over it again, and did it again. I liked my third attempt. Third time is a charm.
 |
| The black elastic band is to keep the book closed when not in use. |
"Let it be your business everyday, in the secrecy of the inner chamber, to meet the holy God. You will be repaid for the trouble it may cost you. The reward will be sure, and rich." -A. Murray
Make God a priority in 2015!
