A project of people, growth and faith

Faith is not the power of positive thinking; it is believing in God and trusting that His will is always best even when you cannot understand why.
~Shari Howerton

One of my art shows gave the vendors tulip bulbs last year and this is one of my favorites. 

Summer is underway  and for most of us that means hot weather, vacations and outdoor activities.   I still have appointments with my family member to tend to, but thankfully they have slowed down a little, so I can get some painting done.  The project I am working on right now are a series of three paintings.  I am calling them "A People Project"  a series of three paintings from photos that I love of people in quite different settings.  Two are almost finished and the third I haven't found which photo to use yet.  I am trying to paint what I truly love and would like to see painted myself.  Painting people can be most fascinating and the most challenging also.  Hopefully, in my next post I will share some progress. 

Progress

Day one

Halfway

Today

I was in charge of our tiny garden this year.  Gardening is actually similar to art and to anything in life.  It takes a step of faith to plant, paint or do anything on a bare canvas, a sheet of blank paper or a plot of dirt. Moving forward with faith allows growth.  Hope in miracles from an unchanging God with a trusting and fearless heart.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Where hope grows miracles bloom.~ Elna Rae

     

Valley of hope

And so the project begins! 

A project of people, growth and faith.  

More to come... 

Open your hearts to the love God instills... God loves you tenderly. What He gives you is not to be kept under lock and key, but to be shared.

~Mother Teresa

Grow and bloom

🎕💗🎕

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love.

Ephesians 3:16-17

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

Lessons from a prayer plant.

One ounce of prayer is worth many ounces of good intentions.

Calatheas (prayer plant)

This plant has been crushed by a grandchild, hit with a dog toy and moved around by a not so plant loving husband, yet still it never ceases to remind me to pray more everyday. It is so easy to get too busy or distracted (like me) and not pray as we should.

“The way you keep your house, the way you organize your time, the care you take in your personal appearance, the things you spend your money on, all speak loudly about what you believe. The beauty of thy peace shines forth in an ordered life. A disordered life speaks loudly of disorder in the soul.”   ~ Elisabeth Elliot

This Sunday is the Global Day of Prayer to end famine.

Hunger is sweeping across East Africa. May 21st Churches are gathering to pray worldwide. 

#praytoendfamine

Prayer makes your heart bigger, until it is capable of containing the gift of God himself. Prayer begets faith, faith begets love, and love begets service on behalf of the poor.

~Mother Teresa

This is a little sketch I did with a book on prayer that I got at a World Vision conference. "For the least of these" by Laurie Delgatto

“God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil …” E.M. Bounds

I do need more growth in the area of prayer.  Distraction is my largest enemy!

When I don't have words to pray,
I just say Jesus.

My daughter gave me some heirloom seeds for Mother's Day so I planted a garden. 

A garden always represents hope for me.  A belief that tomorrow can bring beauty from ashes and dirt.  I planted sunflowers , bush beans, peas, pumpkins, lettuce, cucumbers and wildflowers this year in this small space. Hopefully something will grow!

My garden that I just planted for this year is going to need a little prayer!

Wish me luck!

This sunflower above was one of our own from our tiny garden last year.

"You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed."
~A.J. Gordon  
                                    

                                                                                            

“There is no other activity in life so important as that of prayer. Every other activity depends upon prayer for its best efficiency.” 
~M.E. Andross

Fact notes...

Prayer plants have big, oval leaves that turn upward at night and bloom little white flowers every Spring.


For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.
Matthew 25:35

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 
Phil 4:6-7