My Daughter has done a wonderful job of writing her blog. Her entries are interesting, informative and humorous, her language is poetic, her heart devoted to her children and husband, and of course her photos of my grandchildren are superb. She adds stories, and photos on a regular basis. Lori has inspired me to get my blog in gear, and my mind dusted off, and my typing fingers limbered up and ready to write. I would like to start being a regular contributor to my own blog that I started last year, so here goes:
My heart belongs to God my Savior, my family and my passion for painting and poetry. I want to proclaim God's handiwork through my art work, and if someone can be encouraged to follow Christ at a deeper more spiritual level, I would feel my purpose for life would be accomplished.
My story starts when I was 5 years old and felt the divine pull of my heartstrings to accept the truth that I had been taught in my home and Sunday School class, that God loved me and wanted me to accept his precious gift to me, his Son Jesus. After many years of faith and doubt being interespersed with obedience and sinful disobedience and distance from God, I turned 50 years old. It was then that I had an epiphany, while spending 2 hours on my knees, pleading with God to show His face. All the verses, chapters, the entire book of the Bible is true. So many times I would read God's Holy Words and try to dissect it, root out the negative, and discredit what was the truth, and it only led to frustration. Once my mind was devoted to reading God's Word looking for looking for treasures and nuggets of knowledge that could be used in my daily walk, it became a delight to read the Bible, a passion to seek His words of wisdom, a challenge to try to be obedient to His will for my life. I was praying in earnest about my love for watercolor painting becoming an obsession, and I needed to know if it is God's will that I continue to paint and someday earn a living doing it. I can truly say God gave me a sense of confirmation that I should continue to pursue my love for art and poetry. So since it is God's will, he will provide as I start my new journey as a Heart fully created artist for the Lord.
Let me start by giving you some Bible verses from God's Word that deal with hearts, fully created by God.
Colossians 2:2-3 (New International Version)
My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
1 Kings 8:61
But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Psalm 106:2
Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise?
Later I will go on to some of my paintings and explain why I painted, and wrote the poetry behind them. We will see if anyone has read this far.
Thanks for reading,
DJ Bates
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
