Bible Journaling – Page 4 – The Jesus Chick

Posted in Bible Journaling, Christian Service, Evangelism, Life Inspiration

Then Sings my Soul

Written by talk2shari Published June 7, 2016June 7, 2016 Discussion Leave a Comment

Singing ~ it seems to be where my focus of late has been and I have to be very careful, because the flesh can rise up within me, and the very gift that God gave me to glorify Him can become an instrument of distraction. It’s such an enjoyable experience in its own right but couple that with the praises of men and it’s suddenly missing the point. The point being that God gave us our voices to vocalize Him to a lost world. It’s not that I don’t think singers are worth their hire or that they shouldn’t be encouraged through complimentary remarks, because I think anyone who serves the Lord in any capacity is worth their hire and deserve encouragement. It speaks of that in the book of Nehemiah 13:10 when it was said “And I perceived that the portions of the Levite had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field.” The singers went home… that would be a sad day. But I don’t write of being worth my hire, I write of being worthy of my calling and that comes with an accountability factor for having been given the gift of song, or any gift we’re given (insert yours here, you’ve got one.)

David wrote in

Psalm 33: 1-5

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

²Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

³Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

⁴For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.

⁵He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Have Gift Will Travel

David obviously was a talented musician and people enjoyed him. When Saul was troubled in soul after being disobedient to God and losing the protection of his position as King, David was summoned to play music.

1 Samuel 16:23

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

David’s anointing in music brought peace to Saul’s troubled soul. And for me that’s what music is about and why so many people are drawn to it. But in the same manner that I’m drawn to perform and others are drawn to listen, the music should edify the soul and encourage the listener. I’m not one to sing “the blues.” And I don’t mean the genre, I speak of the mentality or spirit of being blue. If I’m singing I want it to take the listener to a place of comfort. That’s what gospel music does for me. Secular music is fine, and I like singing a silly song or two or a love song, but I want to leave the listener happy and I want my life to always point others to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. A dark song takes people to a dark place… and God’s not in the darkness.

Having a Gift takes Time

David said to play skillfully. Well, let me tell you… that takes time! As well as a tolerance of joint pain and calloused fingers. But if the musician/singer is going to be worth their hire, God expects an investment. And with the blessing of God upon me with opportunities to sing His praises I’ve been putting more and more time into song. But that’s not to take away from my gift of words which can happen so easily because the music is a finished product that springs immediate joy up in my soul. The words require creation… and study and must be formed from the ground up. But they have the same effect on the soul… encouragement. And they have the same accountability factor. Both are labor, but are labors of love.

Having a gift is Good

David wrote that the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. And one of His things of goodness is the gifts that He grants. Are you using yours for His glory? Are you using it to its fullest potential? That’s the questions that I ponder myself today…

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Posted in Bible Journaling, Life Inspiration, Life's Failures

Stop Building Towers

Written by talk2shari Published May 28, 2016 Discussion Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered why life is full of confusion? Confusion abounds with constant decisions, constant noise and frustration ensues, at least in my world. Once upon a time there was simpler world and it seems to me that it was just yesterday. Growing up in the hills of West Virginia was a blessing. I know that there are a lot of folks who poke fun at hillbillies and can’t possibly understand why anyone would want to live in such an economically depressed area with little opportunity but it’s the place I call home.

Now back to my point on confusion and all this will hopefully come together to bless you and I both with a little reasoning from God this sunny Saturday morning in the hills.

Why is decision making so hard and so frequent. It seems that I just get out of one decision and I’m onto the next. And we’re not talking about breakfast… which I haven’t even got around to today and that’s a pretty important decision. But I’m talking about decisions that can have life altering effects. Career, money, health, kids, and that’s just the beginning. The spiritual side of life is a whole other realm and more important than those mentioned before. So why is there confusion?

In the beginning is a good place to start. I’ve been journaling through Genesis this week and yesterday happed upon the tower of Babel in Chapter 11. Three things caught my eye about why God confounded the builders and why we have confusion today.

Genesis 11:1-8

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Nobody asked God
They just started building.
And so life was scattered.

Sound familiar?

Prayer a priority? Sounds like such a foreign idea to most people. And while I pray over a candy bar (mostly asking God not to let the calories count), a major decision will occur and I’ll half heartedly ask God’s guidance, truthfully having made up my mind already. And then I wonder why I’m confused about life. If the tower builders had ask God His opinion He would have told them not to waste their time. But they didn’t. They wanted to see what they could accomplish for themselves and by themselves and for their glory. Nothing but bad can become of that combination.

I have to wonder what thoughts ran through their minds when they began to speak different languages. I’m sure it was somewhat like me talking with my grandsons Logan and Parker who are just beginning to form words and sentences. I’m pretty sure I know what they said, but answering yes could possible result in Izzie the Chihuahua taking a bath in the dishwasher.

God’s words are much clearer than the grandboys, but sometimes every bit as confusing. And I’m pretty sure I know why…

It’s called the flesh. I want to do and accomplish “stuff.” And if God doesn’t open an immediate door I call it confusion, rather than just sitting back and waiting to see if perhaps that door should remain closed. Maybe that tower didn’t need built, that song didn’t need written or sung and that venue didn’t need to happen.

My resent invitation to Minnesota to minister in music with my dear friend Dewey Moede happened much like that. I have a God box that my friend Sue Walker gave me at a retreat a few years ago. Inside that box are prayers that I know I have no control over. Meeting Dewey Moede is one. Another prayer on my heart is that God would open doors for me to sing. Voila! That’s my God. But a trip to Minnesota costs money… I have no money… I stopped working because God told me too. But a good friend of Dewey’s who became a good friend of mine listened to God and provided me the funds for transportation to Minnesota. That’s what happens when you wait on God.

That’s one of my success stories, I have far more failure tales. Stop building towers. Stay grounded in prayer.

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Posted in Bible Journaling, Christian Service, doodles

I hear His voice and I’m so glad!

Written by talk2shari Published May 23, 2016May 23, 2016 Discussion Leave a Comment

The past few weeks I’ve been off the grid as far as my blog posts are concerned because I was getting back in touch with the paper version of my Bible with a renewed excitement for the word of God and all because of a journaling bible, a pack of markers and a new box of colored pencils… Simple folks have simple ways, right?

I’m all about the digital version of the Bible! I love that I can read and search for scripture with the click of a button and within a second have the very word of God before my eyes. It’s amazing! But there was something about the paper version that I was missing. Nothing tops having the Holy Spirit in your heart, or having the word of God in your hand… Add to that markers and colored pencils and oh my stars! It’s like heaven came down. True story!

And so it was that I became an addict again to my Bible. Every spare second I could find I was reading the pages hoping to find an image rolling around in my mind to doodle on the pages of that precious book, bringing it even more to life and causing my mind to ponder…

David said it in Psalm 77 when he thought God had all but forgotten him… we get that way when we’re not reading and studying the word of God like we should. Listen to his words and see if they heaped conviction upon you as they did me:

¹⁰And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. ¹¹I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. ¹²I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. ¹³Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

He essentially said, “This is my problem God. You are still awesome…”

I did this, I got away from the God, I allowed the world to come into my life and upset the balance. God didn’t move nor change. He’s still as awesome as He ever was. And so I began to remember the “right hand of the most High” who lead me to where I am today, and the many things that He has brought me through. As I doodled on the sides of those pages I meditated on the Words that caused the images to come into my mind… and God would bring me into the sanctuary of His presence. Who is so great a God as our God?

There is none so great as our God! The final verse in this chapter says that “Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” And it was there that this image came into my mind of the sheep being lead through the storm… I am that sheep… and God will bring me through because “He is forever, come what may, absolutely awesome.”

Did David’s words speak to your heart about your time with God? David not only meditated and thought on God’s word but he said that he then talked of what God had done. And I realized again that this wonderful platform that God gave me is a powerful thing and is meant to encourage the believer to keep going, to draw the sinner to Christ and soothe the soul of the hurting. It’s my job to paint the pictures of the Holy Spirit with words and share those with people so that they too might be encouraged in the same manner I am as I write them.

God is awesome… I needed to tell you that today. Even in the storms of life He’s leading His sheep… I hear His voice… and I am so glad…

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Posted in Christian Service, Life Inspiration, Political

West Virginia Voting: Where Country Livin’ does a gal good

Written by talk2shari Published May 13, 2016 Discussion Leave a Comment

At last there is a reprieve from the political rhetoric, or so I thought. I was looking forward to a few days of no television ads or discument…. I know, it’s not word. It’s my version of what happens when you friendly argue about politics. Half discussion; half argument, and I am wholly tired of it all. I’ve seen too much political hype about why we vote like we do in West Virginia. Laying its reasoning to the cultural side of who we are. I’m fine with that. I’m proud of my Appalachian heritage and have never felt that I’ve missed out on life because I’ve not lived in the big city. But I’m most proud of my Christian heritage; which is why I vote the way I do… not because I’m a po’ little country gal who doesn’t understand the complexities of life, therefore I’m conservative. I’m not prejudiced, narrow minded nor am I misguided, and if you call me a radical that’s okay. So long as you understand that I’m radical about Jesus.

There are guns in our home, several. They’re for shooting deer, squirrel, and other critters that my husband enjoys calling fine cuisine. I call it disgusting… I’ve never been a fan of wild game. But my people are, and I’m okay with that. The guns are also handy to defend our home in case an idiot would decide that it would be a good idea to break in. It’s our right… at least for now.

I said all that to get to this. The part of my day that I love the most, and spend too little time in; is the time I take with the word of God. It’s where I know I can make sense of this world when the liberal jargon overwhelms my mind and has me questioning am I right or just weird? It’s why I vote the way I do and think the way I do.

Isaiah said it like this in Chapter 28:9

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

Who shall we teach about life and train in the ministry? Not the babies, which the political world seems to have an overabundant supply of. They profess Christianity, and yet there behavior isn’t even in the ballpark. I’ve seen T-ball games with more maturity when understanding how to lose. Name calling, carelessness with the feelings of others, lying, and that’s just the precursor for bad behavior. And we wonder why children behave the way they do! Those who scream against Christian morals and mock the foundation this country was founded on are not who we should have a problem with. They’re lost. And without Christ; we need not think they’ll have Christian principals. But what about our so called “Christian” leaders. They have no concept of the accountability factor that God is going to hold His people to, and the role that their misguided thinking plays in the flailing condition of our Nation. Of course, that’s “if” they are His people. I’m not their judge.

Isaiah continued on… 28:10-12

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

If I were to do a “state of the church” address for today, I’d say we’re in a state of unrest. Isaiah said much the same. Our country’s leadership isn’t helping to comfort the hearts of the people because they’re not following the word of God. Isaiah said the instructions for life were simple, precept (instruction) upon precept. Line upon line (just read it word for word without inserting our own version of what the scriptures say. Stop stammering on what God said! He meant it then and He means it now, God hasn’t changed.

Any psychologist worth a grain of salt will tell you that children need stability in order to feel safe. The only stability in the world for the child of God is the word of God and the church is messing that up by arguing over what God meant. It’s where country livin’ does a girl good. Because I’ve been brought up to believe and respect the simple and honest things of life. While people scoff at the culture of West Virginians, let me share a little about what makes it such special place to grow up in as a child and live in as an adult.

Homegrown West Virginians are very real. They talk and walk the way their grandfolks did and they generally think the way their grandfolks did. Some call it clannish… I call it family. They take care of one another, and other one another’s that don’t belong them.

Statistically speaking, West Virginia ranks 20^th in church attendance (Gallup Poll 2014), with approximately one third of our state attending church. Not a statistic I’m proud of… I said they were good family people… I didn’t say they were saved. But even those who don’t go to church, don’t generally mind those who do, and have been brought up to respect the church goin’ folk. That’s the problem with America as a whole. I heard an old-timer once say of someone who forsook their Appalachian heritage “I think they got above their raise’n.”

Jeremiah, just like Isaiah, said pretty much the same thing in Jeremiah 6:16 ~ Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

We won’t find rest in our nation until we get back to the foundation of the Word of God. It’s a fact.

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Posted in Life Inspiration

Is God a Journaler?

Written by talk2shari Published May 10, 2016 Discussion Leave a Comment

Psalm 139

In the darkness of my room this morning, as the sun contemplating coming out from beneath the covers, I opened my Bible app on my phone and began to read in Psalm 139. Darkness messes with my mind… I start pondering things I shouldn’t ponder, my imagination takes me down dimly lit pathways where the future is uncertain. Silence is not always golden… praise God for technology that allows me to read in the dark!

He knows me

¹O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Not the “me” that my family and friends know, God knows me. The part that He created, and the parts that I messed up. God know that me, and yet He loves me. Yet, He desires to commune with me and I trail off down dark path…

²Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

³Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

As I lie in bed this morning and read those words I smiled. How awesome God, that in this dark hour, You know my ways. You know the concerns of my heart and the troubles that beset me and You understand! You walked this earth and defeated the foes that I fight, so why am I fighting them? Because it’s a dark time we live in, and I, more often than not, am content to lie in the darkness rather than turn on the light of the glorious gospel that expels the shadows. Silly me.

⁴For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

⁵Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Nobody knows me like God, and in spite of it He laid His hand upon me and anointed me with purpose and so I understand the Psalmist when he says “Such knowledge is too wonderful.” I know that I do not deserve the blessings that God has poured upon and through me and allowed me to work in the ministry of the Lord, the very thing that I desired in my heart but feared because it was a path I could not see down. Oh, great God… “I” cannot attain to it; but through Christ Who strengthens me, I can do all things! So it says in Philippians 4:13.

He Is With Me

⁷Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

⁸If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

⁹If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

¹⁰Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

¹¹If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

¹²Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Loneliness, like the darkness, can have me feeling lost. I’m my own best friend and worst enemy all packed into one. But God knows that. There are times when the Holy Spirit of God is pushed and pushed and pushed into the recesses of my mind so that I can spend more time with me; the good, the bad, and the ugly me. But He patiently waits for me to tire of my company. It’s usually about the time that I fall to Satan’s lies that “nobody really cares about your problems, Shari, they’ve got plenty of their own,” when I feel God nudge me and say… “I’ve never left you. I’ve always cared.”

He Leads Me

I don’t know how I got into Psalm 139 this morning. I hadn’t been reading there… but it was a path that God laid out, just as He has my life.

¹³For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Oh wait… I do remember how I got to Psalm 139! I was scoping out a bible journaler on Instagram and a verse from 139 was there. Her thoughts were not mine. God had an entirely different plan for her, another path. But it was wonderfully made like mine.

He Writes of Me

¹⁵My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

¹⁸If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

I love to write. And what sweet words those were to my heart to see that God is a Journaler too! I have to wonder if on the pages of His book, in living color, is not an image of me. The word says that “all my members were written.” That sounds like pictures to me! That may or may not be stretchin’ it, but this is my blog and my thoughts… and that’s the way it went.

Search Me, O God

¹⁹Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

²⁰For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

²¹Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

²²I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

On this Election Day 2016, there has been much blaspheming of the Lord’s name. It angers me and causes me to want to travel down a dark path with a ball bat… just sayin’. I’m not violent. I hate that too, but when I think about the destruction on this world by words, my flesh rises and I want retribution for my Lord. But it’s not my fight. He won that won too. So for today, at least for this minute… I ask the Lord to search me. Those are the thoughts that I have control over.

Heaven help our nation… please.

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