Pastor Appreciation Day is October 9th and runs through to October 15th. The reason I am sharing this with you is this; without them it would be near impossible to make it through life. I say near impossible because God is always with us regardless and will hold us up. But the presence of my pastor when tragedy lands on my doorstep is more than comforting, more than mere words can describe. They are there for us whether we want them there or not, which is hard to fathom I know, however, there are people who don't want anything to do with pastors or with God. I feel sorry for them. My husband and I have been attending Community Alliance Church now for four years and there's not one Sunday I've left there empty hearted or empty minded. God has a way of doing that to you, speaking to your heart and affecting how you think and feel, its a job only He can do. And pastors are just one of the vessels He uses in that process.

My pastor is my friend, he is kind, honest and caring. He tells me like it is and doesn't sugar coat it like candy so it tastes good. He's genuine, and used in a mighty way, filled with the Holy Spirit, it shows in his actions and his words. You know he loves the Lord! And he cares about each one of us in his congregation. Pastor Denny Thank you so much, you are appreciated!

I don't know if you know the Lord or not, I hope that you do. I wouldn't want to be without Him. I'm not going to go into detail but I'm sure glad and grateful that I do because He is my everything. He loves me even when I'm not so lovable. That is a love that is priceless, a love that died on a cross so that I wouldn't have to, a love that bought me with His life . . .

Here are a few of entries in my journal and Bible from Pastor Denny's sermons on the Book of Ephesians, entries that have affected me deeply.

Hi Blogging Friends! What a beautiful day it is, sun is shinning and temperature for February is warm today.

This week's Bible art journal is one of my favorite verses, Psalm 37:4.
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Well I do delight in the Lord and I know that whatever His desires are for me, those are the desires of my heart as well. For what He has to give is the ultimate, the very best. I want to be so close to Him that I can hear Him breathe! There is nothing that compares with the perfect love Jesus, who laid His life down so that I could have eternal life.

I want to share my latest Bible art journaling project with you. I was inspired by Priscilla Shirer's video series on "The Armor of God" we're doing in our ladies Thursday night Bible study. What a fantastic study. The group of girls at our table are wonderful and we get into some pretty good discussions how the study is relating to each of us.

Sweet Blogging Friends Happy New Year!

This year I've decided to try art journaling in my Bible. I have been following Rebekah Jones on Google through 2015 as she journaled through her Bible weekly. I loved it and thought what a wonderful way to spend time with God. So I undertook my first journal art today from the Scriptures I've read starting January 1, 2016. The devotion I'm reading from is "Jesus Calling" Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young.
The devotions over the past three days have been about spending time with God in His Word, to have an open and renewed mind. So what better way to depict that is a child reading the Word, seeking God. As I move along week to week I will try to post my art journaling and share Scripture.

I'm just an artist. I have a small in-home studio, nothing special, nothing unique. Not a very lucrative way of life, a starving artist so to speak, one that has to work a second job driving a school bus four days a week. Sometimes I wish I was good at something else, something more important like a teacher or a nurse, someone who helps people. But I have a built-in passion to paint . . . I love it, so I do my best to bless people with it. I know I don't make much of a difference or change another's life, I'm just an artist . . .

I want to make a difference, a significant difference, to bring a smile to someone's face, to brighten another's day, to bring joy to a sadden and broken heart, to be a pleasing aroma to God. I'm just an artist . . .

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We have the privilege of dining with friends this Thanksgiving and are really looking forward to it. I'll be making dessert; my favorite thing to do. This year I'm making a Cranberry-Walnut Pie. I have a dutch apple pie also. I'm going to surprise our friends with a little hospitality gift for having us in for the holiday.

I recently found this jpg of a painting I did as a going away gift for a friend who was moving out of state. I had totally forgotten about it and decided to get some giclées made and keep one for my set. The title of the painting is "Some Kind of Wildflower in my Heart" after a book of the same title to remind my friend of the main character in the book "Birdie."

Hi Friends! The weather here in our area has been just beautiful since last Friday, warm temperatures, very spring-like. I'm loving it. I wish it would stay like this all winter here. This is one of the reasons we would like to eventually move south. Not exactly sure where, but we're looking around the Asheville North Carolina area. There are a few other areas we're looking at also. I'll let you know when we make our choice.

Took some fall photos over the last two weeks, just looking for landscape painting ideas. I was taking a few shots of local train tracks, when I turned around to get back in my car, I was amazed by this view that had been behind me. It was just beautiful with the sun sparkling through the trees and onto the road. The photo below is a shot I took from my back porch at the onset of a severe thunderstorm, hoping to capture lightening bolts, which if you look close enough you can see two streaks near the top center of the photo. I would like to get some nice bird shots here in the near future, just haven't had too much time this week to get my camera back out.