A Friend Loves At All Times



My new piece "Friendship" The verse on this piece means a lot to me, it truly describes how real friendships should be; they should love at all times; they should be there for you at the beginning, middle and end of your troubles; you should be confident in knowing that your friend would lay down their lives for you. God's idea of real friendship, someone who will be there no matter the circumstances.

 

Friendship is loving someone and it goes very well with 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

⁴ Love is PATIENT, love is KIND. It does NOT ENVY, it does NOT BOAST, it is NOT PROUD. ⁵ It does NOT DISHONER OTHERS, it is NOT SELF SEEKING, it is NOT EASILY ANGERED, it keeps NO RECORD OF WRONGS. ⁶ Love does NOT DELIGHT IN EVIL but REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH. ⁷ It  ALWAYS PROTECTS, ALWAYS TRUSTS, ALWAYS HOPES, ALWAYS PERSEVERES.  ⁸ Love NEVER FAILS.

 

In all my friendships I try to be all these things; patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not dishonoring them, not self seeking, not easily angered (forgiving), not remembering wrongs they have done.  Not delighting in evil, so letting my light shine always and making our friendship based on pure truth.  I protect my friends and trust goes both ways, I hope for my friend and believe for them that they are under God's protection, I also pray for them.  I persevere with them in all circumstances... and by doing these things my love for them never fails.

 

Sometimes a friend comes a long that does not do all the things I try to do for them... I continue to let my light shine and am all those things to them regardless.  However, sometimes you have to determine if a friend is a real 'friend' or they are an acquaintance... if you have done all that you can do for them and still they are not there for you... then maybe it is time to dust your feet off at the door and leave your friendship to God.  If it is meant to be then it will be and they will come back ready to build a true friendship based on the foundation of God.  Continue to pray for them if they do not.

 

I have had to set up many boundaries in my friendships in order to protect myself from painful emotions that arise from 'friends' using me.  I believe this is important so that you do not have an emotional burn out and so that you realize that the friendship is not good for you to maintain.  Never stop believing that one day they will SEE, and never stop praying for them.

 

Remember, FRIENDSHIP takes two people loving from both ends to blossom.

 

I pray that all of your friendships are blessed.

 

Many hugs and blessings to you.

 

What I have Been Thinking about lately

 

 

There are a lot of hurting people in the world, I am one of them.  I have physical pain every day, I have gone through years and years of hard, deep, dark depression... but I know without a doubt that God is in control.  I know without a doubt that there is a reason I am the way I am and I know it is because of God's intense love for me, His daughter.

 

This world teaches us to think that God is a hateful God that loves to just watch us suffer in this world... that is so far from the truth. 

 

You just need to look at the beauty in the world to see how much God loves His creation. 

 

One of my favorite things to do is to sit out on our back deck and watch the birds twitter from one tree to another... I watch the Robins pecking for worms in the grass... the butterflies flittering here and there... the bunnies being born in the spring and then making their home underneath our deck...

 

It is all because of God that I am allowed to see the beauty of His nature.

 

Whatever happens in this life, whatever circumstance I may find myself in... well... I am content.  My God will sustain me.  He will sustain you through whatever you are going through to, you are HIS beloved.  Reach out for Him and He will be there.

 

I place my trust in HIM the maker of Heaven and Earth.

 

Hugs and blessings my Dear Friends... you are in my thoughts.

Up To Date With My Blog Pages To Share

Hello my lovely friends here.  Thanks so much for coming by.  I have had an extremely busy summer (as you can probably tell from me not posting since August 1 :0)

I do not usually let things go like that!

On another more lovely thought... the above page was done for my big Sister Kathy.  She has requested from me a piece with an Angel using iced blue colors.  The scan really does not do this page justice, it looks so much better in person!

I completed this piece while RV'ing in my girlfriends RV while they were out of town, I guess you could say I was RV-sitting;)

I finished this one also while at the RV.  You can't really call in camping as we were watching "Gilmore Girls" while I art Journaled.  Yep, that was an awesome quiet, peaceful time.



Today I have worked on a page about my Jesus, my Savior.  I just feel Him calling me closer, calling me to go deeper into Him.

I long for Him, I need Him,

He is my strength and my shield.

I pray that your strength and your shield is standing firm over you.

Have a blessed day.

The Eyes of Shame

I worked on this page last week and wasn't sure what it was going to turn into... then I went to Church and Pastor Phil was speaking on the topic of "Shame". I began to see where this piece was going as eyes poked out behind all the beautiful flowers I felt like it was depicting how we can sometimes hide in life and "Shame" is the culprit. It steals our real identity in Christ. Having experienced this and having to constantly work this out with God and give it over to Him, Pastor Phil's sermon really spoke to me.

 

When I got married I was full of shame carried over from my past ~ I had all the characteristics of someone holding onto shame.  I was shy, self-conscious, vain and passive.  I cared so much about what other people thought about me that I would spend hours getting ready just to be perfect on the outside.  I felt stupid, uneducated, not good enough.  I didn't trust my husband...

 

The shame I carried wasn't only from the things in my life that I did and regretted (of course I had those things)... but also I held onto shame that wasn't even mine.  When I was little I was sexually abused, I was left alone, I was made to feel stupid and worthless (not necessarily put on me by my parents), as I grew up again... abusive boyfriend who cheated and was a compulsive liar (feelings of low self worth grounded into me until I was so little and useless on the inside).  Many things contributed to the shame I carried with me everywhere.

 

Today, I am free of many of those things, Jesus has set me free.  I no longer believe that I am stupid nor do I have low self-esteem (at least not to the extent I had).  I can take steps on my own and am independant in things that I never used to be.  Shame is a heavy burden, one that we are not meant to carry.  Jesus died for our shame!  He took our shame and bore it on the cross that we might live lives free of it forever.   Now we just need to give it to Him and believe that He can take it from us.

For the first time in my life I can breathe a breath of fresh, fresh air.  I can hold my head up high and see the sun, the blue sky and hear the birds chirping away...

 

When you are consumed with fear you cannot see/hear or experience anything else.  Give it to Him and see the life you were meant to live.

 

I pray for you all, may you be very blessed.

2nd Edition of Motherhood Bliss

Hello my Dear Blog Friends.  I hope you are all having a fabulous summer.

Please forgive my lack of posting... it seems to take me a few weeks to get back on here and post.  I am so sorry for that.  I hope you have not lost interest.

This is the second edition of "Motherhood Bliss".  I created this for my eldest sister in colors that she requested of aquamint and burgandy.  The color choices were out of my comfort zone but I battled on through this piece.

I doodled the sides of this piece and filled in the spaces, much different than my original "Motherhood Bliss" piece as you can see in my previous post.

This doodle reminds me of an 'eye'.

And finally, the finished piece for her.  The dimensions were much wider than I usually work with of 15" and width of only 81/4". She is determined to fit it in a frame she currently has in those dimensions.

I actually enjoyed getting out of the zone I am most used to and working with new colors.  It sparks the creativity!

I pray you are all being creative in your endevours and are very blessed along the way.

Hugs and many blessings

How To Get To My Gallery

Hello everyone!  What a glorious day we are having here in Calgary! 

I just wanted to share with you that I have started a Facebook Page for people to see a gallery of photos of my work.  I would really appreciate you liking my Page, that would make my day!! 

You can go to my page here: http://www.facebook.com/KellysArtJournaling

Brokenness

How many of you are broken? How many of you have a story that would break everyone's heart? I know I do, and I know that most of you do to. Our healing is here however. 

He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds" Psalm 147:3

God is stirring up hearts, and leading them to their healing through Him.  He is the mighty healer of all of our brokenness. 

After hearing some heart wrenching testimonies of some ladies who have come from a recovery house I was blown away.  The suffering that they have endured... my heart hurts just thinking about it!  That day they were baptised for Jesus and I tell you there was great, great victory for the Lord that day!  These women came from addiction, from losing their children to foster care, from prostitution and much abuse their entire lives... and then they found Jesus.  Their smiles moved mountains that day and opened many hearts and now God will use their testimonies to heal more of the broken hearted! 

I love to think of the Angels rejoicing in Heaven for these once lost children!  It places a huge smile on my face!

Hallelujah to our God!!!

If you are lost in brokenness, contact me and I can talk with you, tell you my testimony and give you a great hope that your healing is right up ahead.  God bless you.

I Was Featured!

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to let you know that I was featured here: http://jennibelliestudio.blogspot.ca/

Please click on link to see my interview.
Hugs and blessings all!

Letting Go, Giving It Over

Hello everyone!  This week I am posting on something that has come up and has been heavily on my heart.  My Church has been praying for a teenager who has been struggling with Leukemia for a number of years... this week he was put on life support and did not think he was going to make it through the night.
My heart was so burdened and this is where this page came from.
I am happy to report he is off of life support and is actually recovering in the hospital.  He is up a bit and walking around.  Thank you God.  There is so much power in prayer!!!!
Our Church was also praying for another young man over in Africa on Mercy Ships, he has been in the hospital with Malaria type symptoms but is now back with his team and recovering!  Yet another answer to prayer! 
God is so good, He hears our prayers, especially when they come from deep within our hearts and are authentic.  What a great God we serve.
I feel so blessed to be apart of these miracles!

Hugs and blessings to all of you.

Facing Temptation

Hi everyone.  I am so sorry that I have not posted in awhile.  Last week was a bit rough for me but I was able to get some art journaling done.  This piece is called "Facing Temptation".  I think she looks like she has a lot on her mind, maybe something is tempting her to do something that she doesn't necessarily want to do.  As Christians we face temptation all the time ~ afterall Satan is out to steal, kill and destroy so of course he uses temptation to get to us.  The verse that I used on this page is "And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear".  This is a very true verse, God always provides a way out of giving into temptation.  We only have to be open to hearing His still small voice, listen... and you will hear it. 

I did this page on my lined page moleskin journal and I actually love the effects of it with the lines on her fingers and her face.  If I wanted to I could journal over her face and fingers and I LOVE doing this.  I am not one of those individuals who believes I will ruin the face with my journaling ~ it actually adds such a personal touch to the journal page.

Well I pray that you are all having an amazing beginning to this new week that we have been blessed with.  Every day is a blessing, may you find many of them through out this week.

Hugs and blessings everyone.

She's All That "Under The Sea"

I once wrote a silly little poem about mermaids under the sea... I don't know, there is just something fantasy-like appealing to me about under the sea.  I know it looks nothing like my drawings do (I went snorkelling in Hanauma Bay and saw an entirely different world down there... jury is still out if I like the real-life version or not :)  I also wrote a poem about a woman being told (by the wind) to jump off a cliff into the water where she would 'forever be under the sea' (that was in a 'dark' stage in my life obviously).  Anyway... my point is that I have fallen in love with drawing things like this piece.  I especially love drawing 'sea horses' ~ they are the cutest most funny little creatures I ever did see!  I actually got to see some live ones at our local pet store (you couldn't buy these ones, they were just on display)... I must have stared at them for about an hour and a half.  I was amazed at how these creatures move through the water, it is seriously like a dance! 

I showed my new piece to my son Ben and he said, "It doesn't look like a mermaid", and I said, "No, it's just a lady relaxing at the bottom of the sea!"  He replied, "Oh nice mom, you should call it 'Relaxing on the Bottom of The Sea While Drowning'."  Then he acted out the drowning part for me ~ yep, that's my logical little thinker for ya!

I still like the relaxing lady sitting there just chilling under the water, a much happier thought!

Happy Monday to you, may this week hold many blessings for you all.

Hugs and blessings.

She's All That "Our Story"

This new drawing in the series "She's All That" is entitled "Our Story".  A great art journal page to record "Your Relationship Stories" and glue stick them into your journals, sketchbooks or scrapbooks.  The border is created with "Smash" tape I found at Michaels and I continue to use it over and over again because if you know my art, you know how much I love the 'black' borders around my work.  The polka-dots work perfect!  Again, this sheet is available by itself or in a series of 5 different drawings in the "She's All That Series" in my Etsy Shop.  www.kellysartjournaling.etsy.com

I hope you are have a wonderful week, and hopefully it is better weather where you are... we have had rain and thunderstorms and even a small tornado touched down just outside of town!!! 

Hugs and many blessings everyone!

"She's All That" - WITH ATTITUDE!

Introducing the next drawing in the series "She's All That" called "With Attitude!"   I am having a blast with these pages!  I am creating them for those individuals who want to Art Journal but do not feel they can do the "Art" aspects... so I have done all that for them, they just have to fill in the lines with their lovely journaling.  They are now available on my Etsy Shop at www.kellysartjournaling.etsy.com   You can purchase them by themselves or in a series of 5 different pages.

Have a very blessed week everyone!

Hugs and blessings to you all!

She's All That Journal Pages Tip-Ins #2

Introducing the second entry into the "She's All That" journal page for tipping-into your journals.  I love the colors of the peacock blues and greens.  The journal lines are ready to be filled with lovely words.

I am hoping to have a book full of these lovely pages for sale in my Etsy soon. 

Now they are available for $2.00 each in my shop.

www.kellysartjournaling.etsy.com

I pray you all have an amazing week full of girlie creative fun!

Hugs and blessings everyone!

Painful Venting

This past week has been a frustrating one.  I seems that I have over done it by doing too much.  I was doing just fine, the new medication was working, at least helping me to function better than I was.  However, I discovered that doing too much nullifies the effects of the medication!  I am so like that!  Once I start feeling better I see all the things around the house that are not cleaned up or I schedule a bunch of things in one week and then I crash and burn! 

This page was actually quite easy to achieve.  I drew a face, colored it in with copic markers, cut it in half.  I found a beautiful rich green piece of scrapbook paper for the background.  I used SMASHBOX tape for the dotted border at the top of the page.  I used a ligher piece of scrap paper for in between the sides of the face.  I also used the Smashbox date stamper at the top ~ it is a very creative way to track the date of each piece. 

I was trying to get to this page all week and everthing else was getting in the way.  I have now learned (hopefully) to not do too much in my week.  "Take it easy, go slow, and keep going" ~ I think that's what my physiotherapist at the Chronic Pain Clinic told me this week.  She's a very smart woman!

Well I pray that you are all having a fabulous week, I'm off to try and visit a few of my favorite blogs.

Hugs and blessings everyone, thank you for coming by.

She's All That Journal Page

Doing a little Sunday journal page making.  This journal page I sell on my Etsy shop @ www.kellysartjournaling.etsy.com and I also show what it could look like all filled out with my journaling today.  This page was so much fun to make as it brought out the girlieness in me and who doesn't like that??? 

Once the page was filled out I wrote out text in the empty white spaces surrounding the girl, they say, "God you never seize to pursue me and lead me beside still water." 

It is such a true statement.  God is always with me and everytime I need to cry out to Him, He prepares the way for me to do so.  This time it was during an amazing Church service today.  A young pastor gave his testimony about losing his wife in a car accident that he was also in, he witnessed her death.  It happened at a time in his life when everything was going so well, he called it "his jerusalem" time.
The period after losing her he called "his time in exile".  He was lost for six months in deep depression and began to drink to numb his pain.  Thankfully people at his Church loved on him and brought him back and He surrendered his life once again to Christ vowing from that moment on he would serve the Lord.  Since then he has been remarried and has two beautiful children, he is still fervently serving the Lord as a pastor.  His story reminded me very much of Job.

What an amazing testimony, I am certain many tears were shed but I couldn't tell because my eyes seemed to be leaking and I could not control it!  His testimony made me very aware of the brokeness I was feeling and well, let's just say I had zero make-up on after that!! :)

We all need to hear a good testimony every now and then.  God meets us in our brokeness and He never lets us go!

I pray that if you find yourself in a state of brokeness that you will turn to Him.  Cry out to Him because He is listening, actually He is waiting for you right now!  He will meet you right where you are and you will find comfort in His arms. 

John 3:16 "For God so LOVED the world that He gave up His one and only Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting love."

God bless you. 

Many hugs and blessings to you for your new week.

Decisions, Decisions...

Hi Everyone!  I am working on a piece of art for a human trafficking/sex trades recovery centre and I am trying to decide which one I like best and which one makes the most statement... I think the bottom one, with color is the better one.

I got this idea from a photo my friend (who will be running this centre) sent me via facebook so I do not know who originally took the photo but it was a very powerful one for sure.

As I was preparing to draw this piece I googled human trafficking and it sent me on an emotional rollercoaster!  My heart was so heavy burdened for all the people caught up in this awful experience(?).  I don't even know what it could be called, it's not as if these people have a choice, some are stolen as young children, some sold by their own parents to pay for food, others hooked on drugs are lured into traps...

Whatever I can do to help this cause I am going to do it!  I am getting involved with this recovery centre because I know that these women need to know that they are loved, they are worth the effort, they are people who contribute to this world... and most of them, well they just need a good hug from Jesus to start them on their way.

I pray that all of you are well and loved.

Hugs and many blessings to you.

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

Last weekend I listened to a lovely friend of mine give her testimony at a ladies breakfast.  Her testimony led me to draw this piece.  I thought of the song that she mentioned "His Eye is on the Sparrow" (I think it's called) and meditated on the images that came to my mind.

 I drew a birds nest on the top of her head and a sparrow just hanging out on the side of the nest.  I did this because I wanted to relate to the sparrow in this song, that God's eye is on the sparrow and "WE" are that sparrow; meaning, He takes care of each and every one of us, all of His creations. 

That song is a wonderful reminder of how we do not need to worry or be afraid, that God never leaves us nor forsakes us but actually 'WATCHES' over us.

May you all be very blessed this weekend.  Hugs to you all.

A Picture of Peace In Times of Fear

"For we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind" 2 Timothy 1:7

I have been really contemplating this verse this week as I concentrate on "FEAR" in my book on visual healing through God. 

Just the words, "spirit of fear" make me think.  Fear is a spirit?  I never thought about it that way, but it must be true as that is what the Word says.  Fear is a spirit, and not only that, it also says... "For we have not been given a spirit of fear".   So... to bring it all together in my understanding, fear is a spirit that we have not been given.  Then why is there so much fear in the world?  I believe it is because we ALLOW this 'spirit of fear' into our lives. 

What happens when we allow it into our lives??? We become consumed with fear! 

God does not want this for us, that is why He did not give us 'the spirit of fear', no, he gave us a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind!  Can we have love and peace when we are consumed with fear ~ I don't believe we can. 

God wants so much for us but HE does not want us to live in fear. 

So today, if you have any fear, take a look at it through God's eyes and examine it thoroughly... if fear is not from God, then it is from someone who wants to kill, steal and destroy us.  (aka - the Devil). 

Ask God to release you from the spirit of fear so that you can truly live a life of love and of a sound mind.

Hugs and many blessings to you.

Green Pastures

The Lord is my Shepherd,  I shall not want.  He maketh me to lay down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters,  He restores my soul.  (Psalm 23)   

   

Those words are so incredibly beautiful I cannot express the amount of peace the Lord has given me from them.  When I was sick and overwhelmed with depression my Hubbub would simply speak Psalm 23 to me in its entirety and I would be able to find my way back to peace with the Lord right beside me.  He is my comfort, my happiness and my hope.

In todays world it is difficult to slow down, to breathe to take a step back from the busyness of this life... now, I am taking that step.  I am so thankful to God that He has given me this time to restore my soul... to heal my body. 

I am not working so I can concentrate on Physiotherapy and working with the Doctors on my medication.  I plan to start walking on my treadmill a little bit at a time and get some strength back in this body.  This is, once again, my time of healing.  We all need that every now and again.

I pray you are all well.  I am sorry I have been so absent from all of your blogs.  I hope I will do better soon.

Hugs and many blessings to all of you.



Within The Cross

This week I was consumed with getting the results of my MRI.  I was trying so hard to trust in the Lord but I found I didn't know what to pray for... was I supposed to pray for God to completely heal me? or was I supposed to pray that they would find something in the MRI so that I could have the surgery and would be completely healed from that???  These are the questions that were hard for me. 

In this drawing it was God leading me... I never really have a plan when I start to draw, I usually start from the middle and work my way out.  It wasn't until I was completely finished my drawing that I realized what God was doing inside of me.  I placed myself in the cross ~ and then I thought, wow, yes Lord!!!  I was giving myself permission to place myself on the Cross and realize that what Jesus did on the Cross was for ME too!  His grace, His love, His devotion to US... is sufficient for me too!  I needed to place my worries and concerns on the Cross and completely hand them over to HIM.  The words surrounding the cross are from the Psalms "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path."  I further realized (upon completing this piece) that I was talking myself into fully trusting in the Lord, to acknowledge HIM in EVERYTHING and that HE will take care of me.

So, a few days later... I call the specialist to see if the results are in... they are.  After being forwarded from one place to another I am finally at the moment of truth; "what did they find?"  and "when will my surgery be?"... these are the questions going through my mind. 

After a few moments of listening to the nurse describe the results it took me a few moments to realize that they did not find what they were looking for, only a couple of bulging discs that would not need surgery!  Much more went on in the discussion but the sum of it all was that I would not need surgery... and what did I do when I got off the phone???

I cried and I freaked out!!!!  Say what????   Yep, I was very foolish.  You see I set myself up for months thinking and preparing myself for surgery and months of recovery and then suddenly everything changed!  I hate change, I can't process change and sometimes I just need a good swift kick in the butt to realize that it's not the end of the world!!!

I should have been praising God.  I WON'T NEED SURGERY - PRAISE GOD!!!  But I was so concentrating on the pain I was suffering that I thought I knew how I was going to be fixed and that was that!!!!  God however has severely humbled me and since than has slapped my hand (figuratively speaking of coarse) and has helped me realize how very foolish I was for not trusting in Him. 

HE is MY GOD, my creator, my maker, my sustainer and my provider; HE is my healer and redeemer and my shelter and MY GOD.  HE knows me so much better than anything or person in this world will ever know me and HE certainly knows how to heal me.   

It was such a GOD THING that my son was home from school when I received the results.  He prayed with me and His words were filled with wisdom that I never could have grasped had he not been with me at that moment, he prayed "God please heal my Mom, God you are the maker of it so you know how to heal it, so we just ask that you heal it in Jesus name!"  Simple prayer really and he prayed other things but those words were like a light bulb going off in my head (TRUST IN GOD - they said to me.)  Yes God, I will trust YOU.

I will continue to see the Doctors and the Chronic Pain Clinics and the Physio for my pain, but I will trust in GOD to be the healer of my body and that He will bring me to my healing whether it be by His direct hand or through the Doctors.  Oh how I love my GOD.

I hope all of you are doing well and are finding the joy that God so richly gives.

Hugs and many blessings to you all.