Praying in Color

A number of years ago I came across a book entitled Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth.  It caught my attention as I am always interested in reading books on prayer.  

This book was different.  It was not a “how-to” book on prayer on what to say and do during ones prayer time.

The idea behind Praying in Color is when you are burdened about someone or something to get out your markers or colored pencils and a clean sheet of paper and basically start doodling.    You ever notice when you are praying how your mind tends to wander.  Every new idea/thought/worry can pop into your mind and distract you.   Having a marker or pencil in hand helps to keep you focused on your prayer time.  Praying in color usually does not involve spoken words.  It’s a time of quiet before God when words fail us.  You pour out your heart on paper.

I encourage you to visit the Praying in Color Website and learn more about this prayer concept and see illustrations of others prayers.    You do not have to be an artist to Pray in Color.

After the earthquake in Haiti, I had many concerns weighing on my heart that I wanted to pray for the people in Haiti and the relief workers going into Haiti.  I finally decided to sit down and Pray in Color. As you can see I am no artist, but it helped to put my burdens down on paper and offer them as prayer to God.

I drew with colored pencils so it didn’t scan very well, but it gives you the idea of one of this prayer concept.

So check out the website to see more prayer samples and maybe pick up the book and start Drawing a New Path to God as Sybil MacBeth says.

P.S.  This is also a great way to pray with your kids.   She has a children’s edition of the book also.

Fetch - A - Prayer

Have you prayed today? So many times we get busy with our lives and forget to take the time to pray for ourselves and others. Sometimes prayer seems overwhelming and we just don't know what to say.

God gave us a promise in Romans 8:26.... that His Holy Spirit will help us in our weaknesses, because sometimes we don't know what to pray, but his Spirit interceeds for us. (Remember in our weakness He is strong.)


I have a new widget on my sidebar from Prayer Central

It is called Fetch-a-Prayer.

You just fill in the information on the spaces provided and it searchs out a scripture and composes a prayer for you to pray. The photos that are included with the prayers are beautiful and reflective.

Give it a try.



Prayer Central is a great prayer resource. Go have a look around.

See You at the Pole

Today all around the world students gathered around flagpoles in front of their school to pray. Here are some pictures from my daughters intermediate school. It was so sweet to hear some of them pray.


This is a picture of Leah with Eric, the Children's Pastor from our church. One of her school teachers came out and prayed too with her daughter. I'm so thankful that my daughter has these godly people in her life.





A picture of some of the kids praying around the flagpole. Another area children's pastor and quite a few parents were also there to support the kids.

********

Last Sunday Leah went with other 5th and 6th graders from church to deliver these beautiful plants to an area nursing home. The kids brought the plants in and decorated the pots and made cards. They walked into the rooms at the nursing home and talked with the residents and prayed and left each of them with a pretty plant for their room. This was part of September Serve at our church.

The theme verse for See You at the Pole this year was:

I Timothy 4:12 Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young. Instead be an example to the believers with your words, your actions, your love, your faith, and your pure life.

I witnessed so many kids being great examples by their faith and actions this week. They are such a blessing.

September Memories

Last September we experienced our first major hurricane. It was quite an event for me even though I grew up on the west coast of Florida. Hurricane Ike came ashore in Texas and boy did things look different around here after he left. Thankfully, we were only without power four days at our house. A little cool front came and kept us cool. Each night we had 12-15 people at our house to eat. I had a generator keeping one of our refrigerators going so neighbors would bring me food from their freezers. We all ate really good.

This is how things normally look around here:

After Ike this is what we saw when we walked out side:

The park near our house looked like this:

Another Memory:

I know we all thought back to the day of September 11, 2001...where we were and what were were doing. I remember seeing something briefly on the TV about the World Trade Center being hit by the first plane. I turned off the TV so it wouldn't scare my daughter and we rushed on out the door to go to school. I drove across the street to pick up my neighbor's son who carpooled with us. She walked out and asked me if I saw the Pentagon had been hit by a plane. I told her "No, it was the WTC. Not the Pentagon." Sadly we were both right.

Speaking of Memory:

I received this from our Community Association Office last week.

They forwarded this man's picture. He has amnesia. He was found beaten up and left for dead in Richmond, Georgia. He has very little recollection of his past and no idea who he is. Linguist have determined from his accent that he could possibly be from Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana or Colorado. Someone out there has to be looking for him. I felt sad for him and decided to post him on my blog. You never know.

Here is the link for more information regarding him:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1007umga.html

~~~

Lastly, I wanted to share with you about Dr. Margaret Nikol. Paige and I heard her speak today and share memories of her life growing up as a Christian in Communist Bulgaria. Her mother, father and brother were all martyred for their faith. I wish you could hear her story in person. She has speaking engagements all over the U.S. Check out her website http://www.intl-impact.org/. She will be in California, Oklahoma, Texas and Illinois between now and the end of the year. You have to see her if you can.

She still has such a burden and a heart for Bulgaria. She translated the entire Bible into the Bulgarian language and in 1993 took over the first copies of the Bible that those churches have had in years. She's has since provided Bulgarian believers with over 600,000 copies of the Bible in their language. One memory that she shared touched me so much. She told of her mother's death. The Communist had poisoned her and brought her home to die. As she lay dying, Margaret and her younger brother were with her and she told them that the prayers she had prayed for them would follow them their entire lives. They did. She prayed that Margaret would be a musician and she was. By the time she was four years old she was playing organ and piano in their church. She prayed her brother would be a Pastor and he was. He was martyred two weeks before the Berlin Wall crumbled. Both of his sons are still pastors in Bulgaria. The story is incredible. I wish she would write a book. I'm glad Paige could go with me to see this Hero of the Faith and hear her memories.

Memorial Day

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people He chose for His inheritance.

From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind;

from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth -

He who forms the hearts of all,

who considers everything they do.

No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;

despite all its great strength it cannot save.

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,

on those whose hope is in His unfailing love,

to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

We wait in hope for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield.

In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.

May your unfailing love rest up on us,

O Lord, even as we put our hope in You.

Psalm 33:12~22

This Memorial Day weekend I join Americans in remembering those who gave their lives for our great nation. I also thank God for sending Jesus who gave His life for the sins of all.

Prayers for Eli

Julie and her husband Zach at My Life With Boys are facing a real trying time right now.

If you don't know her, I'd like you to take a minute and link over to her blog. Julie and Zach serve as missionaries in Hungary. Their son has developed a severe infection in his head. He has been hospitalized for several days now.
I'm not going to re-tell the story as Julie gives updates on her blog. You can read her last few post to get filled in on Eli and his diagnosis.

I just wanted to make you aware of Eli's condition and ask you to rally around Julie and support her with your prayers right now. Pray that everyone involved in this little guy's care would make the best decisions concerning him and his treatment.

Julie and her husband Zach are exhausted as you can imagine.
So please pray for Eli, Zach and Julie.

Blessings,
♥

The Word Is...

I was reading over at Penless Thoughts blog the other day and she wrote about her word and goal for 2009. I started thinking about it and praying for a word that I could use to express my desire for me this year. This morning I found it....

Deeper.

In Luke 6:46-48 (The Message) we read about builders and foundations.

Why are you so polite with me, always saying 'Yes, sir,' and 'That's Right, Sir,' but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.

"If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last.

I want the foundation of my life to be deep and built on the truths of God's word.

Ephesians 3:18 (The Message)

I ask Him to strengthen you by his Spirit - not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength. - that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite Him in. And I ask Him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love.

Reach out and experience the breadth!

Test its length!

Plumb the depths!

Rise to the heights!

Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

God can do anything, you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

So as I type I also pray these scriptures that I will plumb the depths this year and grow deeper in my relationship with Jesus.

In future post I"ll share some ways I will be digging deeper.

If you have a word for the year, please share it.

♥

Getting Back to Basics

I have been blessed to be a part of a Precepts Bible Study this Fall. I went to www.precept.org and found this note from Kay Arthur this morning. I wanted to share it with you in light of this election.

Our country has changed—now, are we headed for revival or judgment? You could be part of God’s sovereign plan for the United States of America. Join Kay Arthur and thousands of believers across our nation who are taking up the spiritual battle by getting active. Active in repentance. Active in getting back to the Truth of God’s Word. Active in reaching out to a country that needs truth, love and redemption more than ever.

Kay Arthur

This is the time for Christians to truly be Christ-followers. Our commitment to God does not change with election cycles. Let's get back to the basics of prayer, Bible Study and sharing God's love with others.

Remember......

You are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do His work and speak out for Him to tell others of the night-and-day difference He made for you - from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.

Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God's emissaries for keeping order. It is God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritiual family, Revere God. Respect the Government.

I Peter 2:9-12 (The Message)

Our Neighbors, Brothers, Sisters, Sons, Daughters, Fathers and Mothers a.k.a... Our Troops

This is a picture of my neighbor William. William is currently serving in the Army in Iraq. I try and remember to pray everyday for William and all of our troops. Recently my friend Linda let me know about this website http://www.prayercentral.net/. You can go to this website and subscribe (no charge) to get a daily one-minute prayer e-mailed to your computer. I signed up this week and my prayer assignment comes to my inbox every day.

We get busy here at home and sometimes forget to think about and pray for our men and women serving overseas. Go to the website and get your prayer assignment. You will be blessed and so glad you did.

Chris is William's Dad and he writes " I appreciate your including William’s picture in your blog and as his father and a Christian I would like to personally appeal to your friends and family for their prayers on behalf of my son and his platoon and all our brave servicemen and women carrying out the mission that they were given so far away from home."

On the website look for Baghdad Prayer Patrol click on that and sign up for the prayer assignments.