Announce: To Say (Something) In a Loud or Definite Way {Giveaway Announcement Today!}

See, the former things have taken place,

and new things I declare;

before they spring into being

I announce them to you.

(Isaiah 42:9 NIV)

I couldn't wait. Last night I put all your lovely names in a bowl, those who commented here and on Facebook for the Giveaway. Our winner is Jennifer P! I will contact her and get her the goods: my book and a collage kit based on my recent souldare class, "YOU ARE HERE". Enjoy!

As September ends, I am ready for something NEW! Earlier in the summer, I was pondering what I might focus on for The Nester's challenge: 31 Days Of...

So without further ado, here is my theme:

As autumn gradually leads us to Advent Season, I continue to spend my days with ordinary times. I want to fill these days with quiet reflection and refreshing, new ways to enjoy God's presence, to listen to His voice and to be filled with His desires. 

So I dusted off a little book called 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Quiet Time by Pam Farrel, who graciously gave me permission to use the contents to share with you this month of October. The book is out of print, but you can still find used copies on amazon. 

© Pam Farrel from 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Quiet Time (IVP). 

For more devotional books by Pam www.Love-wise.com

Pam and her husband, Bill Farrel have a vibrant ministry that offers encouragement for marriages. I bought this little book several years back, and found the quiet time suggestions spiced up my relationship with God. As many of you know this girl loves VARIETY!

Won't you join me for the next 31 days for some quiet and possibly some LOUD times? And some definite ways to know and love God more deeply?

Special Guest Saturday: Jeanie Kelley

See, I have written your name on my hand.

(Isaiah 49:16a NLT)

Join me today, as special guest, Jeanie Kelley answers the question: "What makes God smile, when He thinks of you?"

Here's her answer:

Isn't it exciting to know that Jesus knows us by name? It is so comforting to know this and I love him for it. What makes God smile with me would be how much of an encourager I am. I love the idea of encouraging other women on their walks of life. This road can be long and hard, but we have people who encourage and give hope to them. I can see God smiling at me for this.

Click over to Jeanie's blog to read more and to watch a creative music video of the hymn, I Need Thee Every Hour.

Where: At or In What Place

But the LORD God called to the man, 

"Where are you?" 

(Genesis 3:9 NIV)

YOU ARE HERE

YOU EXIST

YOU ARE HERE

YOU HAVE VALUE

YOU ARE SACRED AND DISTINCT

YOU ARE HERE

AT THIS TIME

IN THIS PLACE

FOR THIS REASON

The voice of love is calling out: "Where are you?"

I believe that the Creator is asking each individual this question everyday. It may even be a question you ask yourself: Where am I? How did I get here? Do I want to be here? Where do I want to be? 

Where is a question of proximity . . . nearness. Are you close to where you were created to be? Are you near to the Creator?

YOU ARE HERE. 

Is that answer enough? I think so. 

YOU, exist as an individual, a distinct entity. YOU ARE part of a whole. It's not "You is here," but "You are here." YOU, the plural. YOU, the collective, the communal that exists in community. YOU ARE HERE. HERE, where every other human being exists, part of the whole human experience. 

The dictionary says that the universe is "a systematic whole held to arise by and persist through the direct intervention of divine power."

YOU ARE HERE. 

And the same one who asks "Where are you?"

Also knows that YOU ARE HERE.

And He likes it that way.

Where are YOU?

Daring: Venturesomely Bold in Action or Thought {and a Giveaway}

Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past. 

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert

and streams in the wasteland. 

(Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV)

Earlier this summer, I planned to have a big celebration as I launched a new venture called souldare. Instead, I mentioned it in passing while business cards were being created and I prepared for my first ever collage workshop at a local gallery. Also in the background, I was developing the website. Over the past few weeks, I have been slowly thinking more about what this dare means for me. 

I wondered about closing out Nourishment for the Soul and just diving into souldare or combining the two in some manner. But further thought has led me to maintain both. This place has a special spot in my heart. I believe it's a space where people come to feed on words. Over at souldare, there will still be words, but also experiences to consider. 

Click on over and see what God has been inspiring during the deep summer, explore the pages and check out the photo gallery. The inspiration tab will be another blog, where I muse about art and the created self. I believe God has created us to express our lives creatively. I want everyone to get the chance to learn more about their God created identities and how to live fully from that perspective.

Being an artist and a writer blends well for me, and now apparently I am an entrepreneur! I have a business card, a website and workshops with paying participants. I never dreamed this; it is all truly something God birthed in and through me. Amazingly my next workshop is sold out and the third one is well on its way to being full. I praise God for this new season that has arrived just as autumn sings her song of release and abundant, rich joy.

In honor of this big day here, I want to give you an opportunity to win a free copy of my book (Defining Moments: Overflowing with Living Words) and a collage kit. Leave a comment and I will randomly select a winner by next Monday.

What daring feats has God been nudging

 you to embrace this season of life?

Linking up with  Multitudes on Monday, Soli Deo Gloria Party and #TellHisStory.

Recount: To Relate in Detail; Narrate

Many, O LORD my God,

are the wonders you have done.

The things you planned for us

no one can recount to you;

were I to speak and tell of them,

they would be too many to declare. 

(Psalm 40:5 NIV)

As I put together a page recounting our recent adventures on the Erie Canal, I thought about how wonderful it is to relate in detail God's faithfulness. To write down God's blessings, to speak grace to one another, to retell the story of Calvary, these are just a few ways to recount God's wonderful deeds in our life. To read the narratives of Moses, David and Daniel or to immerse ourselves in the account of the gospels, these, too are ways to reflect upon the goodness of God. 

If you didn't get a chance to read about our adventures or want to find them all in one place, now you can by clicking on the header or here.

Where do you see God at work, 

 accomplishing wonderful 

things these days?

Radical: Very Basic and Important

Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God, he did not demand 

and cling to his rights as God. 

He made himself nothing; he took the humble position 

of a slave and appeared in human form. 

(Philippians 2:5-7 NLT)

To live an incarnational life is to live a missional life. 

The words radical and missional are current adjectives to describe Christian discipleship. As always, I find it difficult to take words at face value. I am compelled to find richer meaning to common catch phrases.

In my inbox today, Kevin Scott at Sustainable Christianity referred to this post: Subterranean Life:Re-Imagining Radical. The author, Dan White, Jr. digs deep to the roots of radical. Literally, he mentions that the word radical, comes from the Latin word, radix, which means root. His post made me want to shout: Yes! Someone else gets it! Living out the gospel right where we are rooted makes so much sense. Read his post and you'll get it, too.

Speaking of doing radical things, I have started a online study called Prayers for a Woman's Soul, hosted by Julie K. Gillies. We are praying for ourselves. It's a very basic and important practice that I neglect often. Last week, we asked God to show us any negative mindset that may be hindering our growth and relationship with God and others. This week we are tackling the topic of attitude. Yikes! 

But here's the good news: we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and we can ask for our attitudes to be made new. (Ephesians 4:23)

Missional is a fairly new word to me, but the goal is to live intentionally in a way that demonstrates the grace and love of God to others. Jesus continues to be our best example because He took on human flesh. Who better to make God known to us than God's own Son.

I sometimes resent the discipline that it takes to live a missional life, but when I read God's word, He infuses me with hope and courage to pursue His ways.

The apostle Paul describes "missional" living this way: "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering." (Romans 12:1 The Message)

This directive takes the pressure off of me. It reminds me that when I am rooted in Christ's love then my mind, my attitude and my will become pleasing in His sight.

I leave you with an article that opened my mind to why I resent or even resist discipline sometimes. Check out Artful Obedience by Margaret Manning.

How does the definition of radical 

change your perspective 

on missional living?

Linking with Soli Deo Gloria Party

Part Two: The Poem {Guest Post: Lynn D. Morrissey}

source

O Say, Can You See America?

(Lynn D. Morrissey)

O say, can you see by the dawn’s early light

a true-blue-welkin-dream:

streaming sun,

gleaming chrome,

flashing steel—

the city’s stellar towers rise—

peopled to the stars,

to the far-flung skies.

O say, can you see by the dawn’s early night

men’s blackguard schemes,

Gehenna’s teeming store unleashed:

vile venom, jeering jihad genocide—

soaring jets collide,

a city’s shattered pride.

By the towers’ red glare,

the planes bursting in air

gave proof at the sight that evil was there.

O say, can you see by the dawn’s early blight

the rabble’s rebel blow—

hell’s incineration

of unsuspecting “infidels,”

            bodies vivisecting,

massive desecration.

Twin towers twining,

rumbling,

babeling,

crumbling

                                                 like sandcastles.

O say, can you see by the dawn’s early might

on Ground Zero’s shores, men’s fortitude—

multitudes of “heroes proved in liberating strife;

who more than self their country loved,

and mercy more than life!”

Black-helmeted men wielding axes,

shielding fleeing masses,

mounting countless flights,

rising like incense with the flames—

consumed—

live sacrifice.

Black-robed men yielding crucifixes,

requiems,

extreme unction—last rights.

O say, can you see by the dawn’s early light

through heaven’s beaming sun—

streaming tears,

and hear stained-glass prayers’ recitation:

“Vene sancte Spiritus”—

bells’ tintinnabulation,

vaulted voices’ singing: “Kyrie eleison,”

vaulted voices winging,

soaring,

swelling,

imploring God:

“O say, can You see America—

heaven’s veil torn asunder,

frail skyline’s gaping wound—

festering dust-debris, the plunder

of humankind?

Are You sequestered—blind?

O say, can You weep?

Can You agonize?

Can You hear death’s thunder—

mens’ anguished cries?”

O say, can you see, America,

by dawn’s early light,

the empty cave—a blood-stained tomb—

forsaken graveclothes

of the One Who came to save?

He lives!

Can you see His nail-fresh wounds,

torn veil of flesh

rent for man?

Can you glimpse Golgatha wrath,

God’s fury spent on Innocence—

payment due culpability—extreme sacrifice—

to gain man’s liberty?

God loves.

He saw hell’s battle, Calvary,

heard curdling crowds shriek,

“CRUCIFY!”

and heard His Son’s death-rattled cry:

“My God! Why?

Why have You

Forsaken

Me?”

O say, can you see by the dawn’s early light

through malice’s maelstrom

and blighted tower’s dross

in roiling remains,

two beams stand erect like a cross.

O say, can you see man’s gain?

Can you feel God’s loss?

(Copyright 2013. Lynn D. Morrissey. All Rights Reserved.)

Lynn D. Morrissey, is a Certified Journal Facilitator (CJF), founder of Heartsight Journaling, a ministry for reflective journal-writing, author of Love Letters to God: Deeper Intimacy through Written Prayer and other books, contributor to numerous bestsellers, an AWSA and CLASS speaker, and professional soloist. She and her beloved husband, Michael, have been married since 1975 and have a college-age daughter, Sheridan. They live in St. Louis, Missouri.

You may contact Lynn at words@brick.net.

Please feel free leave your comments for Lynn on this post.

Linking up with #Tell His Story, A Holy Experience and Hear it On Sunday, Use it On Monday

Part One:Writing through Tragedy {Guest Post: Lynn D. Morrissey}

The God of all Hope

—In Remembrance of Those Who Lost Their Lives on 911

​May we never forget them …

As an author, I make sense of my life—its trials and triumphs, its conundrums and convictions—by writing about them. Writing helps clarify my thoughts and allows cathartic healing when wounds are deep. Yet, somehow the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. in 2001 defied my feeble attempts to explain, examine, or exorcize them. Countless times I tried to journal my emotions, but I was at a complete loss, overcome by the evil of man. While I am a committed Christian and believe with all my heart in a loving, just God, it was difficult to understand why He had allowed such atrocities and the destruction of so many innocent lives.

As I often do when self-expression comes haltingly in prose, I began writing a poem. By permitting the music of language to pulse through my heart, a cataract of emotions spilled forth with a reeling rhythm all its own. My feelings crashed like cymbals onto the page in “O Say, Can You See America?”

As I grieved over the strident discord of 911's mass mutilation—over evil’s blaring blast—the soft melody of hope began to sound, then crescendo like a clarion call: Never, never, never abandon hope! Hope never dies. It is no gossamer specter, but a mighty victor that conquers despair.

Despite the malevolence of a wicked few, countless courageous men and women rose to unimagined heights of bravery. Hope! For love of America and total strangers, heros plunged headlong into the towering infernos. Hope! Priests, clergymen, firefighters, medics, Red Cross and Salvation Army workers, and nameless, numberless volunteers trudged Ground Zero’s molten miles, in search of the dead and dying to offer last rights, medical aid, physical labor, food, clothing, Scripture tracts, prayers, encouragement, comfort . . . Hope! Americans gave blood and donated money to the injured and orphans.Hope! Many nations, some formerly our worst enemies, rallied as allies in the fight against terrorism, in the quest for peace. Hope! People of all persuasions, ages, races, and religions—even agnostics and atheists—gathered in churches, synagogues, stadiums, schools, and along the streets bowing their heads and lifting their hearts to God Almighty. Hope!

Hope never dies because God, Himself—the one, true, eternal God—is the God of hope (Romans 15:13).  He promises: “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).” God makes this promise because He is love (I John 4:16), and because He is good (Psalm 34:8; 119:68).

Yet He gives man free choice which includes the choice to sin. “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (James 1:13-15).” The travesty that occurred on September 11th 2001 was a not a result of God’s doing, but of man’s sin—sin so grotesque that it literally spawned thousands and thousands of deaths. Yet did God care that people died? Did He feel pain?

I pored over Scripture for answers: “The Lord is not willing that any should perish . . . (II Peter 3:9)” “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalm 116:15).”  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).” He gave His Son in death—He nailed Jesus to a cross. Imagine God’s agony and grief! Yet astoundingly “it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer (vs. 10)”—to suffer the most excruciating death possible because He loved you and me so much. Jesus, God Himself, was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. . . . Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:3,4).”  

O yes, God cared. O yes, He grieved. O yes, Jesus suffered, bled, and died. Despite the horrors and tragedies  we experience, we cannot escape the reality of the Cross—that  Jesus became man and willingly suffered for us when He did not have to! God’s loss was man’s gain. Because Jesus chose to suffer and die, and because He rose again, we who receive Him have the hope of eternal life. Yet God will punish eternally those terrorists who did not repent and receive Christ.

I saw a television report shortly after the attacks, which graphically depicted Ground Zero. Amazingly, visible among the towers’ smoldering skeletal remains were two sturdy steel beams intersecting like a cross. Even newscasters did not miss its significance: They proclaimed it a sign of hope—a sign from God amid such destruction. God lost His Son on the Cross, so we could gain Heaven and eternal life. We will all die someday, whether of natural or disastrous causes. The question is: On what foundation do we base our eternal future? “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. . . . On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.”

Please come back tomorrow to read my poem called “O Say, Can You See America?” It depicts the horrors and hope of 911. May we never forget what happened, and may we ever honor the memory of those who lost their lives. They did not die in vain.

(Copyright 2013. Lynn D. Morrissey. All Rights Reserved.)

Lynn D. Morrissey, is a Certified Journal Facilitator (CJF), founder of Heartsight Journaling, a ministry for reflective journal-writing, author of Love Letters to God: Deeper Intimacy through Written Prayer and other books, contributor to numerous bestsellers, an AWSA and CLASS speaker, and professional soloist. She and her beloved husband, Michael, have been married since 1975 and have a college-age daughter, Sheridan. They live in St. Louis, Missouri.

You may contact Lynn at words@brick.net.

Please feel free leave your comments for Lynn on this post.

Linking up with Multitudes on Monday

Guest Post (Part 2): Lynn D. Morrissey {and Random Journal Day}

For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers for them in the desert! 

(Isaiah 43:19 NLT)

Join us today, for more heart insights from Lynn as she works through a life transition by using collage-journaling.

Collaging My Transition

(Lynn D. Morrissey)

Note: If you have not read my post yesterday called “Art of My Heart” about how I began collage-journaling, I’d suggest that you read it before reading this post. 

In an online journaling class I attended about life transitions, one of the assignments was to collage and write about what stage I was currently experiencing.

This was a fun and fascinating process for me. Because I am such a perfectionist and had a collage collection of forty-million magazines in the basement from which to choose, to save time and curb my perfectionism, I decided to limit myself to four used magazines I had recently purchased from the library. What intrigued me is how God used these limited resources to speak to me in a powerful way.

In a journal write, I described my current state in “butterfly”terms. At this time, I was metamorphosing (transitioning) from full-time mother, author, and speaker to journal facilitator. I explained to the class that I was still in the chrysalis, but it had split and the butterfly was ready to emerge. The butterfly, fully formed, revealed my true colors: my passion for teaching journaling. I needed finally to shed my chrysalis to which I was still clinging and to pump up my wings with God’s blessing: my skills (álà the online journaling course), courage, business savvy  etc. I also needed to shed bad habits, attitudes, and sins which were impeding my flight.

I had no idea how I would depict this phase of my transition through collage images, because I didn't expect to find butterfly life-cycle photos in the magazines. But interestingly, other pictures emerged which powerfully represented this phase of my life and informed my next steps. I have no doubt that God led me to these particular pictures and words at this particular juncture.

I found an image of what resembles a red British telephone booth. The woman had one arm and leg inside the booth, and the other arm and leg were forcefully breaking through. What a perfect image for my “emerging” mode. So I glued a big E (which stood for *emerge*) onto the booth (my chrysalis). I realized that God had revealed my purpose to facilitate journaling classes and that part of me was moving forward; yet, oppositely, part of me was lagging behind and clinging to my comfort zone and bad habits.

Interestingly, just days before when I had been prayer-journaling, I told God that I had met a wall of resistance in some areas of my life, and I needed a breakthrough. When I serendipitously found the telephone booth for my collage, I realized that I had found a “red wall of resistance,” which the woman was breaking through! This definitely conveyed significant spiritual symbolism and meaning for me, and confirmed to me that God was speaking.

Then, of all places, in a women’s magazine (!), I found pictures of cups labeled with words for sins referenced in the Bible: wrath, envy, pride, lust, gluttony, greed, and sloth. I realized that I had committed those sins at various times and was still struggling with some. I knew that if I were to have a “soul revolution,” I needed to ask God to help me to empty the poisonous “contents” of those cups through confession and repentance. (You’ll see in my collage that I have pasted those words above the cups). At the bottom of the page, I had fun juxtaposing the words from two different magazine ads to make my own slogan. “Let the secret” + “of passion” + “out of the box.” As I began to emerge into my purpose, I wanted to let the secret of my passion (for journaling) out of the box. I knew that “There is a side of [me] destined to be revealed.” Yes!

 

Collage 1

On the second collage, I depicted not just the emerging, but stages of what would become my flight in progress. Amazingly, I found a slogan which read, “What will happen to the emerging?”under which I included another phrase:“How do you get all the nourishing?” I was also stunned to find the nourishing phrase, because my teacher had asked our group how we would nourish and nurture ourselves during this transition. It was delightful for me to see three groupings of words about nourishment in the very magazines I was poring over. This, too, was no happenstance. You’ll see these phrases near the bottom of the collage: 1) “Nourishment is savoring every bite” (I wanted to savor my journaling coursework, bite by bite, and not just be a quick, thoughtless consumer). 2) “Nourishment is forgetting perfect” (I definitely knew that I needed to leave perfectionism behind; it was hindering every aspect of my life). 3) “Nourishment is laughing out loud” (I love to laugh, but I knew I needed to do it more; perfectionists can be far too serious). I realized that I needed to make some conscious efforts (which you’ll see in other words I captured in the collage, like: “I will live brightly”and exuberantly (I can be prone to depression, and so I wanted to focus on joy). I will “pump it up”! I can’t believe that I found those words that directly applied to “pumping up my wings”! I will “do everything I can to help my dreams come true.” I also added that “small steps take me from where I am to where I want to be.” Because I am a perfectionist, so often I won’t start needed projects because I think if I don’t have time to finish them, I’ll need to wait to start when I do—and then I never do! (Perfection + procrastination = passivity and paralysis!). So this is a very crucial reminder for me. There is really nothing small about small steps. They add up to big ones.

Finally, I created a new definition for “journal change,” all because I found words that leapt out at me from my magazines. I simply played with and rearranged them. This is not what the magazine ad said, but this is what my heart knew: “Journal change is something beautiful about to happen.” So often, I dread change. So suddenly to see a little tearing-and-pasting exercise transform a word of dread into a word of hope was nothing short of miraculous for me. I added the word “journal” to the words “change is,” because I think that “journal change” is a true transformational catalyst. Whenever I pick up my pen and/or collage pieces to seek the Lord for insight, change, self-knowledge, and guidance, I can anticipate that “something beautiful is about to happen”! Every time I journal, I change. And that’s beautiful!

As I completed my collage assignment, it was my hope that as I fully emerged from the chrysalis waiting period into my new beginning as a journal facilitator that my life and my purpose would become a work of art!You’ll note that phrase at the bottom of the collage.

Collage 2

God continues to use collage-journaling, this art of my heart, to give me insights into my soul and ways that I can grow, change, and rejoice in Him and His purposes for me.

How has He used collage to do the same for you? We’d love to hear!

(Copyright 2013. Lynn D. Morrissey. All Rights Reserved.)

Lynn D. Morrissey, is a Certified Journal Facilitator (CJF), founder of Heartsight Journaling, a ministry for reflective journal-writing, author of Love Letters to God: Deeper Intimacy through Written Prayer and other books, contributor to numerous bestsellers, an AWSA and CLASS speaker, and professional soloist. She and her beloved husband, Michael, have been married since 1975 and have a college-age daughter, Sheridan. They live in St. Louis, Missouri.

You may contact Lynn at words@brick.net.

Please feel free leave your comments for Lynn on this post.

Linking up with Random Journal Day over at Beneath the Surface: Breath of Faith with Dawn and Susie.

Thrilling Guest Thursday: Lynn D. Morrissey

. . . and if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding, 

and if you look for it as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure , 

then you will understand the fear of the LORD

and find the knowledge of God. 

Proverbs 2:3-5 NIV

Today, we return to the journey of finding nourishment for our souls through words, art and the practice of journaling.  

Join us today, as Lynn shares how God introduced her to collage as a catalyst for expression and transition. This is a two-part series, so come back tomorrow, to view some of her collage work and the discoveries behind her process.

Art of My Heart

(Lynn D. Morrissey)

Collage for me is art-of-my-heart, my soul made visible in living color on the journaling page. I love its vibrancy and free-wheeling whimsy, its colorful playfulness and startling juxtaposition, its generating of spiritual insights and soul surprises.

But I didn’t initially gravitate to collage. I thought it was silly at best and occult at worst. I’d heard so many Christian warnings, whether from Puritanic admonitions against idolizing images or from Bible teachers’ concerns about name-it-and-claim-it visualizing techniques, sometimes called manifesting or the Law of Attraction.

But just days after my beloved father’s death, God used the art-form of collage as a significant means of launching my healing journey from grief.

Shortly after Daddy died, I attended a poetry-and-journal intensive in Denver. One of our assignments was to collage a cover for a new journal. It was at the end of a long day, and I was physically and emotionally depleted from the pain of grief. The *last* thing I wanted to do was cut pictures out of old magazines that I never would have read in the first place, in an attempt to make (so-called) art. It seemed like just about the most ridiculous Mickey-Mouse undertaking I could imagine. Though I know now that my grief overshadowed my attitude, it still wasn’t the kind of activity that remotely appealed to me.

But because I had invested so much of myself, time, and resources into the seminar and because I knew that Daddy would want me to pursue my journaling-facilitator dream, I chose to cooperate in this learning experience. I took a stack of magazines back to my room around 5:00 p.m. and didn’t emerge until the next morning!

After eating an early dinner alone in my room and getting ready for bed, I began leafing through the magazines, page by glossy page, randomly cutting or tearing out pictures, words, and slogans that seemed to speak to me. As I underwent this rhythmic process of slowly scanning and cutting, something happened that even today I cannot fully explain. The process calmed and soothed me, and my emotional pain momentarily subsided. Words and images of hope, beauty, and comfort emerged that resonated on a deep heart-level. I had not set out to find them, but God knew just what I would need to see. As I began arranging and rearranging the extracted words and pictures that I would later glue to my journal covers, it was as if God were using them to rearrange my broken heart into a multi-layered mosaic of meaning and hope. The juxtaposition of a kaleidoscope of words, colors, shapes, and images registered somewhere deep in my soul that even journaling my angst at that time couldn’t do, because my despair was beyond articulation.

Since that time I have gone collage-crazy and consider myself a Christian-Collage Poster Girl. I want to be clear to say that God speaks through the Bible, and nothing—absolutely nothing—replaces His Word for providing direct, inerrant revelation of His character and will. But God can also speak to our imaginations (which He gave us!) through Creation, art, song lyrics, books, poetry, friends, and the circumstances of our lives. One significant way He has spoken to me is through collage. God has used collage-journaling (where I collage onto journal pages and write to Him about what He shows me) to spark my creativity, help me solve problems, teach me insights and truths about myself, help me to set goals, and implement dreams.

I am not worshiping images, but God who speaks through them, the God who speaks at times through the art of my heart.

Question: Have you ever tried to use collage as a means of artistic creation and self-expression or to explore your “inner landscape”—translation: what God is showing you about your life circumstances, thoughts, dreams, goals, memories, conflicts, etc.? What were the results? How have you made collage-journaling a part of your spiritual practice?

                                                                                               

Please come back tomorrow and read about and see my “transition” collages and my thought process behind creating them.

(Copyright 2013. Lynn D. Morrissey. All Rights Reserved.)

Lynn D. Morrissey, is a Certified Journal Facilitator (CJF), founder of Heartsight Journaling, a ministry for reflective journal-writing, author of Love Letters to God: Deeper Intimacy through Written Prayer and other books, contributor to numerous bestsellers, an AWSA and CLASS speaker, and professional soloist. She and her beloved husband, Michael, have been married since 1975 and have a college-age daughter, Sheridan. They live in St. Louis, Missouri.

You may contact Lynn at words@brick.net.

Please feel free leave your comments for Lynn on this post.