Continue To Shout Praise!

2010-11-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke at 5am with a severe migraine. This is not unusual. I took some migraine medication and waited for it to take effect. Thankfully today, the medicine began to work quickly, within a half an hour. Longing to hear what God wanted to say to me this morning, I turned to my iPhone app, Tecarta Bible. Currently, I have really been enjoying reading from The Message translation, by Eugene Peterson. The language is current and poetic, speaking to me with new life in the words.

The Tecarta Bible App is so cool, in that you can stream many different translations of the Bible, take notes, highlight passages, copy & paste, email verses, and shake your phone to have a verse randomly appear on your screen.

Today, as I felt the all too familiar knife in my left temple, I shook my iPhone to see where God was leading me. I have so much fun doing this, as it feels like some kind of treasure hunt where I will soon find a precious nugget of God's character as he speaks to me. The iPhone Bible app landed on......

Romans 5:1-11

^1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

^3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

^6-8Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

^9-11Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!

Beginning Blog

2010-11-08T23:29:00.000-08:00

This blog is about my experience with chronic daily migraines and God's process as He leads me toward healing. I am a Marriage & Family Therapist and Art Therapist. I will display the healing art that I have produced and provide art ideas for others experiencing chronic pain. Many great speakers, books, and products are available to help guide people through healing from migraines and other physical or emotional pain. God has already healed me, emotionally, in so many ways on this journey. Additionally I have started to create multicultural, practical, and inexpensive miniatures for sandplay & sandtray therapists to purchase. Because I have been unable to practice therapy since my migraines became a daily occurrence, I enjoy the process of creating miniatures for others to use in therapy. Though my journey is extremely difficult and painful, I am grateful for Jesus drawing so near to me during this time that I am forever changed.

A friend who has guided me on my road to hearing God and receiving His healing, wrote a book called May I See the King, by Vince & Julie Daubenspeck. This book is great for children & adults, and a must for any therapist's library.

If you are a therapist who is interested in Sandplay Therapy, read Sandplay, by Dora Kalff

GodArtHealing

Continue To Shout Praise!

Beginning Blog