My dove

People often ask me why I put the symbol of a bird before my name on my paintings. It is actually a dove, which is symbolic for God's Holy Spirit. I believe that when we follow Christ Jesus the Holy Spirit comes into our lives to empower us to live in this harsh world.

My paintings are a testament to the Father's love and goodness, which far out weigh the hardships. It is by His hand that I am am able to accomplish anything at all. I tend to make bad choices, and head in the wrong direction over and over again. But He is gracious. (I just learned that that means he is prone do doing favors for us. He likes to help us and do good things for us.) Psalms 145.

The dove is my way of giving God credit for all he does in me and through me.

9-11

Before I go into my selfish thoughts I must say that this is such a sad day. Say lots of prayers for the families. My heart goes out to them.

It is my birthday. It is always too sad to celebrate it today. So we will try to go out this weekend I suppose.

I used to look for some wonderful thing to happen on my birthday. An oddly placed flower in full bloom, or a rainbow in a sunny sky . . . Always something would happen that seemed to be from heaven. I always thanked God for the special thought that he had sent my way.

After the trade centers went down I stopped looking. I stopped celebrating, I stopped feeling very special at all. I know I still am special to my heavenly Father, but I just don't feel it on my birthday any more. I know He says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and he loves us far more than we could think or imagine. But, knowing and feeling are not the same. So today I must trust Him and believe Him, even though I can't feel Him.

He knew that though, and yesterday something wonderful and special happened out of the blue -- and I did thank God for the special thought for my birthday!

Higher Purpose

We are created for a higher purpose, not for the chasing after of physical desires. The heavens war over us, for our soul. It is our choice, and ours alone, who will win each battle we face. The powers of this world seek our destruction. As we bite the apple, and believe its lies, we sink farther into the wants and desires of our bodies. With self control and denial, we find freedom from its bondage.
This is not out of reach as many say. Our creator waits for the slightest prayer, hears our hearts desire for truth and helps us to find it. He provides all we need to live out His higher purpose.

Author unknown.