HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

I know I haven’t written in my blog in what seems like forever.  I was much too sick for a time to do much more than pray and work at staying alive.  I have been in the hospital 3 times this year and now I finally believe that things are looking up.  Even though I’m hooked up to an IV 24x7. I am coming back.  No more Life Vest which I wore for 3 months that was supposed to shock me if I was knocked out by cardiac arrest or arrhythmia.  How am I so calm about everything?  Because of Jesus!  What’s the worst that could happen?  If I died tomorrow I’d wake up with Jesus!  I have no doubt!  So, I will focus on the task at hand…THANKSGIVING!

A few days ago I was drawn to looking through my various Bibles and devotionals.  I saw this “Jesus Calling” devotional subtitled “Living a Life of Worship” by Sarah Young and thought to leaf through it. To my pleasant surprise that was a section entitled “A Life of Thankfulness” which fit right in!  I decided to journal this along with working on this chapter.  I also used it to try out different pens, my own cursive writing, some lettering, etc…

  

The first page was I journaled with different Gelatos for the background just using the rubbing in method with my fingers and then used a brush with a little water to paint around the dove along with various cut-outs and stickers from the ByTheWell4God - From Above Journaling Kit .

I am including several pages here that I hope you will also read along with seeing my journaling.  I know that lettering was a focus for this Holy Week but I am not really into trying to do someone else’s lettering but I am more inclined to figuring out my own style.  I actually have a sketch book especially for this and my favorite so far is not available right now.

This final page I journaled using a stencil with Gelatos and colored pencils for the leaves with colored pencils for the trunk.  The background was done with Gelatos written on a baby wipe and rubbed around in soft swirls.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

I want to acknowledge some amazing people who go above and beyond the call from when I was admitted at Largo Medical Center .  Dr. Worth, Dr. McCoy and the many other doctors, interns, felows, medical students who so readily attended to my care.  The amazing nursing staff in ICU, CSU, and the 2nd floor.  Techs: Molly, Vu, Alex, & Alexandria...and so many other people who I haven't named here.  You have made my 3 hospital visits this year much more tolerable!  

ay God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Up-tweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!

He Told Me to Pray - Inspiration

And, here I am up writing again.  Just love the peace in the early morning hours.  Sun not up yet and it appears that no one else is awake in the building.  The last couple of days have been too busy to get this all down both with Bible Journaling and with my husband since it was the weekend.  I find myself sharing more and more about God's strength through so many health issues.  I guess maybe that is why they are happening.  He did show me several years back that a major reason why so much happens in my life is because I will run to Him.  I know where to go.  Where someone else doesn’t.  Others who don’t know Him have no clue who to run to.  We hear many people who know Him contemplating why many who don’t, don’t have as many problems.  Yet life is not about all of these things.  Life is meant to Glorify God and prepare us for a heavenly eternity with Him, not to have an awesome play time on earth!  Yet, prayer is where it’s at.  A relationship with Jesus is where it’s at!  And He is so much better than anything on this earth!

  

Encaustic Mixed Media Art - "My Momma's Home with digital artwork.

 I am also still working on the second part of the Bible Journaling that goes along with this blog post.  I am doing more of my own art now, or adding to their art also.  I just keep seeing it in my mind’s eye and I have this “fearlessness” bubbling up within me.  I have to do more.  It is what is fulfilling me right now.  Yet prior to Saturday morning the inspiration in my heart was at a rare low and I felt numb and unsettled.

To share more of what God has been showing me about my physical issues right now.  (By the way, this morning my hands are feeling relatively good so that I am able to type, which is the way my life seems to go.) When my limitations keep me from something it is usually because I am not supposed to do it.  I had already made a decision to not drive up to an outlet mall on Saturday morning and so very thankful that I did.  I awoke in the most pain that I think I have ever had when not in bed with a morphine pump.    After only three hours of sleep and my hands were curled half way into a fist.  I could barely straighten them or do much more than to sit in my dining room chair and push buttons with my thumb and/or holler to our Echo, “Alexa play Christian Rock Music”.  This song was playing in my mind,  Oh My Soul by Casting Crowns again.  It is the song that played on our Echo the night of that first day when my hands started to fail on my iPad keyboard and I truly had a meltdown.  Please see past posts relating to this.  Since I have purchased it and listened to it many times.  The echo played it again.

  

So profound and I don’t think that if God were audibly speaking to me that it would be any more recognizeable to me as Him.  Not long after I ran into this Bible Journaling video on 1 Samuel 1:15 and He continued to speak and I have been pouring my heart out to Him since and awesomely inspired to my Bible Journaling.

1 Samuel 1:15 Bible Journaling video Inspiration  Done by Monica on her channel Because Jesus Bible Journaling which I love and keep watching previous videos.

And I have done some Bible Journaling of my own.

My Holman NKJV Single Column Journaling Bible.

My Inspire Praise Journaling Bible.

I saw both of these in my mind's eye.  This is how I receive my art inspiration most of the time. The fingernails are done like my own.  Of course not great yet but practice helps.  What was really awesome is when I awoke from a dream where I saw an art piece and ran out to my desk to write it down so I wouldn't forget.  My step-son was spending the night at the time.  He awoke to tell me exactly what I saw before I wrote it down.  Just too cool!

ay God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Up-tweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!

Be Good to One Another

This scripture just keeps coming to mind:

*Hebrews 13:2  "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels."

This is a very thought provoking video:

I am still on 'Cloud 9' and thanking the Lord for this day and it really wasn't that far from being a normal day, BUT, to explain...

I got up this morning feeling better physically than I have for a long, long time. I had energy. I even took a muscle relaxer before bed and normally I would be sleeping on the dining room table but I wasn't. It was early, the 6 am that I'd been shooting for to start getting up at and I was awake. No coffee before my longer trip to the Physical Therapist but I was still awake. Hallelujah! For the last 16 years, I do not remember a whole lot of these days.

I went to the Physical Therapist and was able to say that I had very little pain. Another major HALLELUJAH for me since my life has been more painful this year than in many others. 

(Although, I once again, learned something during our Sunday morning church service. I'd seen it before BUT as most of us know, we need to keep reading the Bible over and over BECAUSE it is God's Living Word!

*1 Corinthians 9:22 "to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."

I believe that God showed me several years ago that He let so much illness happen in my life because I know where to run. I know to go to Him and very often I've found that peace that passes understanding. I've found freedom from much pain. I've found my "hiding place" in Him! And, He is empowering me to share all of this with others! I have been in a long learning process and it is not always easy, yet tolerable with Him!)

There is an even longer explanation for how this art piece of mine came about but I will share it due to it being appropriate right now.  I hope you are able to read my inspired poem.:

Back to my story. Even though I had to drive into St. Pete to go to therapy, I found out it was on 4th Street and all I had to do was to hear that and I knew that Trader Joe's was on 4th Street. This is one of my favorite places to go due to all of their gorgeous yet inexpensive flowers among other things.  

PT was over and I headed for Trader Joe's.  I have to ride in an electric cart due to so many floors feeling so hard due to the metal in my back.  It took me several years of arriving at the check out in tears to give in to using them.  Now I know that I must sit and wait if one is not available.  

Now, you tell me why I experience so much more kindness in some of the stores in Florida than ever before in my life?  I have actually felt downcast in one of those electric carts.  'Am I in it because I'm so fat?' and other thoughts ran through my mind.  

This day I stopped for a sample of the Cold Brew coffee and Almond Milk.  Yummy!  As I was drinking it I conversed with the worker in the corner who was extremely pleasant.  I picked out gorgeous and inexpensive flowers. along with salads, plums, etc... and headed for the check out.   This gorgeous and appealing man checked me out and was so very sweet.  As I left the store and headed for my car, I felt tears well up.  I had no idea that I needed that kindness so much that I was in tears.  Then a gentleman came up to me and asked if he could put my cart back and tried to help with my grocery bag. If he was a worker there, he had no tag on.  He was also very pleasant and conversed with me a bit.

That was my inspiration for writing this post today.  We don't know what people are going through and I am as guilty as the next person for running through life and not paying attention to the needs of others.  Even a smile instead of a look of disgust can make or break a person's day.  In this world anymore we seem to be moving so fast in our lives and getting so cynical.  Me, too!  Yet, how can we make this world a better place?  Can't we learn to love as Jesus did/does?  So many of us thinking, "why me?"...but in the full scope of things can't we all see that there are others out there having an even worse day?  Won't it make our days better if we learn to smile at one another?  I have the ALL POWERFUL CREATOR GOD, living within me so why can't I show it?

And, I drove home listening to my worship music and thinking that I have heaven to look forward to BUT...

*Revelation 20:10 "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

And, I came home to this most appropriate song:

May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Uptweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!

Bible Journaling - Is it for you?

A friend just told me that “the Lord is most certainly moving in your heart to spread the good news!” And I replied “My life...been doing this for some time.  God is awesome and I want everyone to know it!  Rooftops!”

I just don’t know how to stop?  I love encouraging people!  

I have just recently been noticing how much more patiently I am waiting in doctor’s offices than I used to.  This, to me, is amazing.  I was so happy when I got an iPhone because it is the first one that I’ve learned to play on and it helped me to be patient waiting in places.  Yet I still did face some issues with impatience at times.  Today, a timer went off at the chiropractors office to signal the return of the technician and I just closed my eyes again, relaxing.  That is new for me!  Ah, God is working!  He is always working on me!  I am forever being blessed by Him.  And, I believe that this new found patience can actually be attributed to my newer found practice of Bible Journaling and the hours that it temps me away to spend with Jesus.

Do you need a good stress reliever?  Do you just want to find out more about it? Then check out Tracie Rollins at BibleJournalingMinistries.com  

https://www.biblejournalingministries.com/bible-journaling-classes/  You can just investigate!  Is this for you?  Do you know someone who might benefit from this?  And, if you are on Facebook you can find a whole community of Bible Journaling people in the Bible Journaling for Beginners group.

I have my Journaling Bible that I do more extensive Journaling in.  Then I have my “Inspire Psalms” book that I do basically coloring in (for when I don’t have the time or space for a mess).  See examples below:

Inspire Psalms Book

Inside Inspire Psalms colored by me

Inside Inspire Psalms colored by me

Inside Inspire Psalms colored by me

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My Journaling Bible embellished by me

My Journaling Bible embellished by me.

May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Uptweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!

ALL ACCORDING TO HIM

My apologies for not writing for so long. I have been in the midst of a dry spell, a walk in the desert where I never have stopped worshiping Him yet I've felt stifled, not knowing how to move forward. I have been shown in several ways that I am on His path and that He has just been telling me to "wait". This is a hard thing for me to do being ADHD. I know in many ways He has been trying to make me see something that my dad and I always had in common, that we are loved because we are His and not because of what we do.  And a lifetime of feeling this way is not easy to change but He knows that I am commited and still letting Him work on me.  I love the new tank top that I just got:  

.                                                                  

And, as we have just returned from another cruise, I am always praying and still seeing that His direction for me has just been to "wait".


*Psalm 27:14 "Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!"

*Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

I don't think all that is thought to be negative, is! This morning during the hustle and bustle of disembarkation from our cruise ship I was in some unexpected pain along with an unusual "fog-like" feeling. I can be a "dufus" (our term) when on pain pills so I refrained from taking them when going through the port of Miami. I, of course, lashed out at God wondering why He was letting me feel like this when in such a mess of people and a very uncomfortable situation. I am now several hours passed all of that & thanking God that He got me through it all with no problems AND due to that "fog-like" state I know that all of that mess at the port I will not even remember in a few days! God got me through a very unpleasant situation fully unscathed, yet I was looking to the very moment instead of just trusting God, despite this negative feeling, He was using it for my good.

*Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your heart."

He is still working on me, teaching me, and will be until the day that I join Him in heaven.

Even though I think I have shared this song twice before (at least) it comes to mind to share it again:

May God bless you through my writing. If He has especially touched you in any way, please leave a comment below. Your comments are so very encouraging to me to help me to keep writing. Also, click on the “Uptweet” button on the above right and share! I pray you will keep coming back. I fully believe that my writing is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so if I am writing, there is someone that needs to read it! Maybe it’s you? Also, please be sure to share any questions you might have with me and if you would like to keep them personal (just between you and me) please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at juliana.pace@gmail.com. If I don’t know how to answer you, I will may every attempt to refer you to someone for more information. Thanks and may God bless all your days!

God's Comfort - Psalm 27

I woke up at 2:54 am, then again at 3:21 and I gave up and got up. Lately our pastor told us that if we had trouble sleeping that we should get up and read the Bible and Satan will let us go to sleep (I loved that). So, I came to my computer to read the Bible and post a few scriptures on Facebook.

I looked up a few familiar scriptures in "The Message", a version that had been introduced to me lately by my teacher in my ladies' class on Sunday mornings before church. This version puts things in today's words. I still love the New King James Version but I like comparing scriptures. I came to my favorite Psalm, Psalm 27, which God used in me to keep me afloat in 1988 after being arrested and rededicating my life to Him. I was so distraught that I sat at my desk in tears, daily. I felt like my world was crumbling and I was going off the deep end! In the early hours of this morning, I read this and cried again! So profound considering how God has changed me so drastically in this 22 years since. I can so see it as a prayer that I prayed those 22 years ago.

*Psalm 27 (The Message)

Psalm 27
A David Psalm
1 Light, space, zest— that's God!
So, with him on my side I'm fearless,
afraid of no one and nothing.

2 When vandal hordes ride down
ready to eat me alive,
Those bullies and toughs
fall flat on their faces.

3 When besieged,
I'm calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I'm collected and cool.

4 I'm asking God for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I'll contemplate his beauty;
I'll study at his feet.

5 That's the only quiet, secure place
in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
far from the buzz of traffic.

6 God holds me head and shoulders
above all who try to pull me down.
I'm headed for his place to offer anthems
that will raise the roof!
Already I'm singing God-songs;
I'm making music to God.

7-9 Listen, God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs:
"Be good to me! Answer me!"
When my heart whispered, "Seek God,"
my whole being replied,
"I'm seeking him!"
Don't hide from me now!

9-10 You've always been right there for me;
don't turn your back on me now.
Don't throw me out, don't abandon me;
you've always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
but God took me in.

11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
direct me along a well-lighted street;
show my enemies whose side you're on.
Don't throw me to the dogs,
those liars who are out to get me,
filling the air with their threats.

13-14 I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness
in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
Take heart. Don't quit.
I'll say it again:
Stay with God.

And, the *New King James Version:

Psalm 27
A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

4 One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
5 For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
9 Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
10 When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the LORD will take care of me.

11 Teach me Your way, O LORD,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.

14 Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!

Find your favorites in all different versions at http://www.biblegateway.com/