Thrilling Guest Thursday: Jeannie Kelley

Take delight in the Lord, 

and he will give you your heart’s desires.

(Psalm 37:4 NLT)

Please welcome my friend and fellow dreamer, Jeanie Kelley, as she contemplates her dreams, the lost ones and the ones hoped for. Brave woman!

Here's Jeanie...

If money and time were not an issue, what would I want to do ? The problem is that it is an issue. It has and always will be. I will be plagued from now on,but that is not where I am at. Today I am day dreaming of what could have been.

What could have been are the times of travel. I would love to visit Ireland, Scotland and Israel, but not in that order. To learn about the culture and to see some breath taking scenery. Since my favorite music is Celtic, I would like to see some of the places and towns that the music really brings out. Israel, for me, would be the best trip of all to see Jerusalem and The Mount of Olives.

Click here to see what else Jeanie dreams of...

Confidence: A Relation of Trust or Intimacy {Where I Reveal My Dream Come True}

 

But know that the LORD has set apart the faithful for himself;

the LORD hears when I call to him.

(Psalm 4:3 NRSV)

When I was a teenager, during a youth retreat we were encouraged to choose a name that would describe who we wanted to become. I chose the word, "confidence." I drew a key and wrote the word across it. Probably the first time I ever used a concordance to look up Scriptures. Under the listing, I remember reading: "The LORD is my confidence." (Proverbs 3:26a)

At that retreat was one of the first times I asked God for something for myself. I wanted Him to be my confidence, but also to make me more confident.

For many years I have been growing into that name. As I  was getting ready for a new venture today, God reminded me of that act of faith so many years ago. Back in May, through a series of God events, I took a step towards fulfilling a dream. This dream came to life today! I am calling this dream:

 

 

 

(Logo design created by Jessie Flori)

Souldare will be a place where people gather together to discover their created self through journaling, collage art and eventually, nature hikes accompanied by times of contemplative prayer.

What does this post have to do with my recent series on prayer? God hears when we call to him. And sometimes, the answer is revealed in stages, over the years. And sometimes, He uses that very request to increase our faith and confidence.

When I look at the word confidence, I think "with faith" or "with fidelity," which when applied to my life humbles me. To think that God would call me one of his faithful ones exalts his faithfulness. It indicates a depth of intimacy with God that has grown sweeter over the years.

What a joy it was today to witness others exploring and discovering their created selves through collage art and journaling. God was in our midst. I can't wait until next week to see how God reveals himself to us again.

 

A poem I read before I left to facilitate the workshop became another prayer for confidence:

Where fear imprisons, faith liberates;
Where fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Where fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Where fear sickens, faith heals;
Where fear makes useless, faith makes beautiful;
Where fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life,
faith opens the windows on a new world,
a new life that knows no end.
(Father Philip Chester, as qtd by Jonathan Aitken in Prayers for People Under Pressure)

 

How is faith enabling you to overcome fears?What long forgotten request

is God answering today?

 

Idea: A Plan for Action; Design

 

"I have ideas I haven't thought of yet"

 

God spoke to Moses: “See what I’ve done; I’ve personally chosen Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. I’ve filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him skill and know-how and expertise in every kind of craft to create designs and work in gold, silver, and bronze; to cut and set gemstones; to carve wood—

he’s an all-around craftsman.

(Exodus 31:1-3 The Message)

 

 

Moses told the Israelites, “See, God has selected Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He’s filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and know-how for making all sorts of things, to design and work in gold, silver, and bronze; to carve stones and set them; to carve wood, working in every kind of skilled craft. And he’s also made him a teacher, he and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He’s gifted them with the know-how needed for carving, designing, weaving, and embroidering in blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics, and in fine linen. They can make anything and design anything.”

(Exodus 35:30-35 The Message)

 

 

 

I dare you to think about your God-created self. Look at all the wonderful ways He uniquely gifted you. And He fills us with His very Spirit, when we surrender our hearts, minds, souls and very beings to His love and salvation, demonstrated in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

 

And then He gives us work to do. To creatively use our skills, strengths and "know-hows" to serve and encourage others to "live out their God-created identities, generously and graciously, just like God lives towards us!" (Matthew 5:48 The Message)

 

God is on the move over here. He created me as an "ideas generator." And the ideas are flowing. He has opened a door for me to put one of my ideas into action. I want to inspire others to discover their God-created selves and express their creative desires.

Today, when I discovered that one meaning of an idea is "a plan of action," I smiled. God doesn't just give us ideas to dream about, He gives us ideas to live out!

 

I have found collage and art journaling to be a fun, safe place to discover truths about myself and to dream about God's design for my life.

And apparently, He is also making me a teacher. I will be teaching a collage workshop in July at a local art gallery. God dared me, and so here I go!

Please pray for me. I will  be sure to tell you more as the adventure unfolds. Next step: website and the unveiling of the awesome name and tagline God gave me for this "dream."

 

 

What plan of action has God inspired you to take this week?

 



Potential: Expressing Possibiiity

 

 

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

(Hebrews 12:1-3 The Message)

 

 

"Living deep in God's "good" ness, I will seek to travel with others toward peace and deep joy while diligently tending to my own garden." (Juniper Gillian)

 

 

 

 

This week as I have been contemplating potential, exciting things have been expressing themselves in my soul. I cannot explain how the good news grows from a seedling of faith into a full blooming flower of joy. I have been on a journey with Jesus as my central love, sometimes ardent, sometimes wavering for more than four decades now. He never ceases to surprise me with joy and hope and peace and things sprouting and flourishing in my soul that I don't even remember being planted there.

 

Over the last twelve years, I have been dreaming about what I want to be when I "grow up." When our boys were in high school, my husband and I spent three days with a couple to look at our lives, to see where we had been and where we were going. Here is the statement, which I wrote about my personal significance in the summer of 2005:

 

Personal Significance is…

 

Minimum of a two year college degree

Written and published at least one book

Created and maintained a website for spiritual encouragement

 

In many ways, God has exceeded the desires of my heart. In December 2011, I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in English and we self-published a book of devotions, titled Defining Moments: Overflowing with Living Words. And since 2008, I have maintained this blog, Nourishment for the Soul: A Place to Feed on Words.

 

This journey has proved to me the value of writing down our dreams, capturing them in a visual medium and sharing them with others. Through learning to lean close into God's goodness everyday, He is leading me in ways I never thought possible.

 

And now, He is opening doors for me to experience more impossibilities. By the end of the summer, I plan to have a website that hosts the blog, promotes creative soul workshops and potentially the unveiling of spiritual adventures. Please pray for me as I branch out and take steps of faith to bring this possibility into actuality.

 

For now, I'm going to keep the name of this enterprise a surprise to unveil with the website. So stay tuned!

 

(Many others besides, Don and Sherie Zimmer, who we met with in 2005, have been influential in this dream becoming a reality including my husband, who defies enough superlatives to ever express my true heart towards him, our two sons who have grown up into renaissance men, my mom, who gave me life and confidence, my sisters, Juniper Gillian, Michelle and Dani, who love me and cheer me on, my Magnificent Friends (you know who you are),  my journaling friends and mentors, Lynn D. Morrissey and Mary Ann Kuechler, my writing friends and journaling friends (hugs) and my friend and life coach, Tracy Flori! And now I feel like I'm at the Oscars and I just know I've forgotten to thank someone...I am thankful for all the friends and teachers over the years who formed who I am today. Dreams take a lot of work and support and I so appreciate God bringing each one of you into my life.)

 

May God enable each of us to express our possibilities (and impossibilities) in order to create space for His goodness to flourish as we each, "Live out our God-created identities, living generously and graciously toward one another, as God lives toward us!" (Matthew 5:48 The Message)

 



When's the last time you recalled the good news alongside the goodness of God?

 

 

Linking up with...

 

 

 

 

Potential: Existing in Possibility

Jesus looked at them intently and said, 

"Humanly speaking, it is impossible. 

But not with God. Everything is possible with God."

(Mark 10:27 NLT)

Gardening offers many opportunities to observe potential. Like the other day, I noticed a rose pushing itself open, while myriad others appeared to be standing at attention awaiting their turn to bloom. Potential is beauty waiting to exist. Flowers don't really push themselves open or even stand at attention, but as a striving human being, I personify the beauty surrounding me, rather than just absorbing their lesson. Rose buds become roses in their Creator's perfect timing, wafting their sweet perfume across my secluded porch behind the rose-covered lattice.

Look at all that potential!

Gardens come in several varieties: the large family farm, the urban community plot or maybe a personal garden contained in various shaped pots. Being a suburbanite, my gardening feats happen around the yard and on the front porch. This year I had several options for my empty pots. I could plant flowers, herbs and even a few vegetables. My choices were as vast as the flora and fauna at our local plant nursery. The potential for combinations for the containers seemed infinite. I chose some vegetables, herbs and a few flowers. 

When I think of our human potential, especially as being created in the image of God, the options to impact this world appear infinite. I am a dreamer. So I like to dream and muse about what life would be like if we each had the time, energy and help to live out our God-created identities to the fullest, living generously and graciously toward each other, just as God lives toward us! (Matthew 5:48 The Message) This Scripture gives me a vision and informs my purpose as I understand the dream God is defining for this season of my life.

Last Friday, I made a vision board. Its inspiration came from the idea of plotting and marking off sections of a garden. I taped white strings across my piece of cardboard, wondering what God would inspire me to plant in each square. After the vision board was complete, I wrote some reflections:

I like to think of these vision boards as discovery collage. I gather images, some from my stash and others from a Better Homes and Garden magazine. I am drawn to the garden scenes in the magazine. Three phrases embody actions that speak to my dream: "a passion for planting," and "corralling creativity," and "pooling their resources." These phrases resonate with my desire to help others discover what they can plant in the small spaces of their lives that will flourish and nourish their souls. My dream is to plant ideas and encourage creative approaches to live life collaboratively with Jesus always in sight. I add two images of Jesus, one is the Good Shepherd and Jesus with Arms Open in Blessing. I want to listen for His voice. I long for Him to lead me out the gate into His blessings to share with others.

Both with dreams and gardens, one must remain attentive. After I planted the container garden, the squirrels arrived to dig and play in the dirt. For a couple days, I would reset the plants that the squirrels displaced with their digging. I found a roll of screening in our garage, so I formed little tents around the plants to keep the squirrels out, while allowing the plants a place to flourish in the sun and rain. Since I took those measures, I have been able to enjoy two fresh salads from my lettuce pot. And I look forward to the celery, beets and peas later in the season. 

My dream for you, my friends, is that you will measure off some time and space to cultivate your relationship with God. I know that at certain times of life this is so difficult. However, God wants this time as much as you and I do. In love, He inspires creative ways to make it happen.

What will you plant in a small space 

of your life today to nourish your soul?

Comfort: Contented Well-Being

You got me when I was an unformed youth,
God, and taught me everything I know.
Now I’m telling the world your wonders;
I’ll keep at it until I’m old and gray.

God, don’t walk off and leave me
until I get out the news
Of your strong right arm to this world,
news of your power to the world yet to come,
Your famous and righteous
ways, O God.
God, you’ve done it all!

    Who is quite like you?
You, who made me stare trouble in the face,
Turn me around;
Now let me look life in the face.

    I’ve been to the bottom;
Bring me up, streaming with honors;
turn to me, be tender to me,
And I’ll take up the lute [or fiddle] 

and thank you
to the tune of your faithfulness, God.

(Psalm 71: 17-22 The Message)

Comfort comes in the company of good people. Like today, my friend Kelly and I gathered on her screened porch with collage supplies. She invited me. I accepted her invitation. We made room for our magazines, glue and dreams.

Early in the week, she told me about the Facebook study hosted by the Winsome Woman. We are reading through and discussing You're Made For a God-Sized Dream by Holley Gerth. In the book, we were invited to make a vision board that visualizes our dream. (By the way, this is an open invitaion, click here to join the study.)

From the comfort of our chairs, with warm conversation and comfortable silences, we thumbed through magazines, ripped out images. One of us would say, "Look at this!" or "I think this fits your dream." Each of us looking out contentedly for the other's well-being. Wanting deeply to make sure we don't lose sight of God or his dreams.

We lingered all morning into lunch (Black bean and sweet potato burritos, apple slices and cornbread slathered with peach preserves--comfort food.)




Kel's Dream



Kelly's Dream



With visions of our dream before us, we poured over the images and words, asking each other what they meant. And the comfort of knowing we were together made the difference today. Gave us the courage to take one more step toward God's dream for each of us and for both of us.

Linking up with:

Gate: A Means of Entrance or Exit

I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

(John 10:9-10 The Message)

See the freedom Jesus has provided?

 To enter and exit

as He watches over you and me.

He is the gate from death unto life.

Cemeteries are for the dead.

Come and live the incredible life

that surpasses the grave.

This gate reminds me of the night Jennifer Dukes Lee bravely stood before us to share her dream journey, to bolster our courage in order to remove the obstacles of sin and fear from our path.

She said, "Gates are made to pass through." As I look back over my notes, I can't remember if the invitation to write our sins on the rock came before or after the gate illustration, but now it doesn't seem to matter. I just remember the hard struggle I had to identify my sin or at least the one I was willing to write on the rock. And as I struggled, I realized I had to write the word that was keeping me from passing through the gate or I would never get to those green, lush pastures that Jesus promised.

I didn't want to write my word because it didn't seem as important as other sins (comparison points out my sin).  I thought my sin was more difficult to overcome. Fear and self-doubt seemed easier to release in light of God's love. (I'm not saying that it is, it just felt that way to me in the moment.)

My struggle to even write the word on the rock indicated my sin. I was afraid I might get the wrong word or that I might make the wrong choice. Most of my life I have been afraid of getting it wrong. And in that moment, clear as the glass pebble, we would receieve Sunday morning, I knew I had to write PRIDE on my rock.

Both fear of failure and fear of success are rooted in pride, in the belief that I control my accomplishments and in the doubt that if I don't get it right, I somehow don't measure up to God's standards. Pride in my life has often worn two faces: self-sufficiency and self-pity. Two sides of the same sin.

Placing the rock in the basket was a simple, physical act that released a rush of joy into my soul. And to see Jennifer's daughters throw them into the bottom of the lake is a visual reminder of how God has triumphed over and over again in all of our struggles, and that we are not alone.

But I know whom I have believed,

and am persuaded that He is ABLE 

to keep that which I've committed

unto Him against that day.

(I Know Whom I Have Believed David Whittle, 1883)

Revisiting the Dream Retreat

In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

 

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

 

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work [the dream] of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.  (1 Corinthians 15:53-58  The Message)

 

 

As I strolled through the historic Key West cemetery, I was looking for some metaphor of life overcoming death. Mostly I saw rusted gates and concrete angels. Row upon row of family plots and cement boxes stacked on top of each other memoralizing lives now gone. Some were topped with crosses and others with plastic beads and silk flowers.

 

Then I came upon this plot, where the cement beds looked quite worn, the names of the deceased long eroded. Yet grass was growing up through the cracks. How can life flourish in the midst of death? That is the miracle of resurrection and Easter.

 

And that is the mystery of dreams.

 

Just about the time you believe your dream has died and been long buried, growth appears. An idea pushes up through the cracks.

 

I checked the church calendar today. It's the sixth week of Easter. Most of the candy is gone, the palm branch is drying out and the fancy clothes have been pushed to the back of the closet, but the pulsing life of Jesus still runs through my soul. It calls me to live and to dream big. To embrace the resurrection power. To claim a mind that is not daunted by fear, but filled with Spirit strength and love and sound thinking.

The dreamer's retreat has faded to the back of my mind, but I still pull out the notes I scribbled in my notebook, looking for those words that moved me and affirmed that I should keep moving ahead.

 

I appreciated how Holley Gerth  invited us to explore practical, tangible ways to handle our dreams: Write your dream on a card. Draw three intersecting circles and list your skills, your strengths and those people you want to serve. What connections do you discover?

I rediscovered that I am an encourager who loves to use words and creativity to draw out the beauty of our God-created identities, so together we can live generously and graciously toward one another, like God lives towards us. (See Matthew 5:48b The Message)

 

And that's the point. Holley said it well, "God is the point of the God-sized dream."

 

 

Fortunate: Receiving Some Unexpected Good

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, 

we were like those who dream. 

(Psalm 126:1 ESV)

"The privilege you are experiencing as a writer . . . is

something very different: It is the privilege of the lone 

individual fortunate enough and 

brave enough to follow her dream."

(Eric Maisel, A Writer’s Paris: A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul)

To pursue one's dream without doubt or fear would be very fortunate. And I used to believe it was a possibility. But two messengers of God at the recent dreamer's retreat, spoke the truth in love. Shelly Miller told us that self-doubt is a tool, often posed as a question from God. 

And Lisa-Jo Baker asserted that fear is a constant shadow near your dream, which usually looms even larger trying to suffocate the dream just as its pushes its way into reality.  Her exact words were something like this:

"There is no cure for fear . . .Fear will come

 alongside your dream, but fear does not 

disqualify our dreams. Fear is inevitable and 

loud, but it's a liar."

Even as I try to absorb these truths, the fear and the self-doubt crowd in. Will I answer their questions? Will I courageously look fear in the eye and call it liar?

It's easy to let every day life obscure my dream, but the more I live the more I believe that the mundane things are crucial to the dreamer's life. This morning I woke up ready to sit with God and contemplate His intentions for my life. And I couldn't sit still. I puttered in the kitchen. I sorted the laundry. 

And finally, I put on my running shoes to burn off some nervous energy. Usually I run in silence, but today I scrolled through the music on my phone, and this album by Corrine Bailey Rae caught my eye, so I pushed the play button and started out for the run. I ran my heart out to the refrain of The Blackest Lily (although when I checked the lyrics later, they were totally different than what I heard), so maybe the refrain I heard was really what I needed to hear. I heard, "The cry of my heart, the cry of my heart, I wanted more than I ever knew."

(The actual lyrics are "Color my heart, color my  heart, make it restart, make it restart, color my heart, I want it more than I ever knew.")

So often I have lived my life satisfied with crumbs, but today I cried out to God, "I wanted more than I ever knew." I want all of Jesus, not just the flesh and the blood; the bread and the wine. I want His heart, soul and mind, too! I want His freedom, His creativity, His wisdom, His compassion, His forgiveness, His delight in every little thing. 

I want to be more and more like Jesus. How about you? Are you struggling with self-doubt or fear? Do you believe God wants to restore your spiritual fortunes? To make you more like Jesus?

Communion: Intimate Fellowship and Rapport

 

 

How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!

(Psalm 133:1 NIV)

 

 

 

 

I am still unpacking from the weekend, not my suitcase, but the gifts of love and encouragement that were shared between sisters and brothers, who grasp God and want others to experience His love in rich and deep and wide reaching ways.

 

I want to tell you all about it. How wonderful the retreat center was that offered us the best. The hospitality of the Jumping Tandem retreat coordinators and dreamers and courage speakers, who dreamed for and with us. Each one graciously demonstrating dependence on the biggest Dreamer of all.

 

How the love of Christ flowed over us moment by moment with each encounter . . .  in the worship sessions, in the workshops, in the wandering around the wide open spaces surrounding the conference center.

 

But most of all  love poured out through the intimate conversations around the table, in the foyer, with my roommate (my sister, Gillian) and fellow travelling companions (Kelly and Lynni) and the other dreamers in Christ, who have similiar, yet different stories that point to the redeeming love and safe haven, we each find in knowing God and loving God.

 

I leave you with a poem, as it still is National Poetry Month. And some photo highlights of the weekend.

 

Jesus

Undergirding with love

Many

Precious sisters and brothers

In

Nebraska.

Growing us . . .

 

Teaching us . . .

Affirming our dreams . . .

Nudging us closer to the BIGGEST

Dream of all:

Entering His

Marvelous presence,

 

Together . . .

Hearts

Embracing

 

Redemption.

Every moment

Trusting and

Recalling and

Enjoying and

Awakening

True love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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