I HAD A DREAM…

This started out with an Advent Devotional created by Sue and Christine from the Facebook group "Scripture Art and Journaling" that I've been a part of for some time.  I'm sorry but this post is a little late being that Christmas was yesterday.

..No this is not a speech, a history lesson, or even a dream of my heart’s desire…this was an actual dream. I have had many, many visitations from Jesus in my sleep. I’ve teased that it’s one of the only times I’ll shut up.

Visions and Dreams looks to give some sound information about such dreams.

    Acts 2:17-18 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.”

Most of the time these dreams are just short and sweet. I wake up knowing something or know that it was He who talked to me. Many times, I’ve known that I was to pray. Numerous times I’ve known that I was to write. (Share about writing: Writing at the beach: an angel visit) My favorite time to write and/or work on my art with Him is in the wee hours of the morning when most of the rest of the world is asleep. Most of the time I don’t even care to eat or even get a cup of coffee when I first get up. It’s me and Him, no distractions. It’s precious to me. When I’ve gone very long without these dreams it saddens me. I feel so close to Him.

Yet this night was different. This night was the most vivid dream of my life. I tried to find a photo that would mostly depict what I still see in my mind’s eye and this is one that I found online yet His head and shoulders appear obscured. yet I had no doubt that it was Jesus. I felt like I didn’t come down for several days this visitation was so real. I had to share this with my pastor at the time or I’d burst and I’m still in awe. Every time I think of it my heart melts. And He told me that my message to share with the world (those who are presented to me) was

James 4:8a “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” 

 

It’s about intimacy. More explanation from my blog archives:

Drawing Near to God

And I so overwhelmingly know that I am to be sharing this more deeply at this time. He wants you who are reading to know this. You are special and He doesn’t want you to live life any longer without knowing that He wants you to draw near to Him. I, myself, have had an intimate relationship with Him for more 30 years.

A Long Time Coming TestimonyGiven for Celebrate Recovery 

 

He is not down the road or up in heaven somewhere, He lives in your heart once you have accepted Him.

After getting this CD for several days every time that I got in my car and started the CD player this song would play. No matter where I’d left it upon exiting my vehicle, this song would play when I got into it again. I knew He was speaking to me.

Kim Walker-Smith Lyrics

"The King Is Here"

The King is here, the King is here
You're alive inside of me
The King is here, the King is here
Love will never ever leave
[x2]

We worship and we praise
We lift Your holy name
We rejoice for our King is here
We're living to proclaim
You've opened Heaven's gates
We rejoice for our King is here

You are here, You are here
You come in power and majesty
God, You are here, You are here
Every heart has been set free

We worship and we praise
We lift Your holy name
We rejoice for our King is here
We're living to proclaim
You've opened Heaven's gates
We rejoice for our King is here
[x2]

The King is here, the King is here
Hallelujah, God You're here
The King is here, the King is here
Hallelujah, God You're here

We are captured by You
Surrender to You
We'll never be same
Cause You are here
We're alive to praise You,
Give our glory to You
We'll never be same
Cause You are here
[x2]

The King is here, the King is here
Hallelujah, God You're here
The King is here, the King is here
Hallelujah, God You're here

We are captured by You
Surrender to You
We'll never be same
Cause You are here
We're alive to praise You,
Give our glory to You
We'll never be same
Cause You are here
[x2]

The King is here, the King is here
Hallelujah, God You're here
The King is here, the King is here
Hallelujah, God You're here
[x2]

The King is here, the King is here
Hallelujah, God You're here

We worship and we praise
We lift Your holy name
We rejoice for our King is here
(Thank You Jesus)
We're living to proclaim
You've opened Heaven's gates
We rejoice for our King is here
(It's Jesus, it's Jesus)

(Thank You Jesus, thank You Jesus)

Video

Draw near to Him. Don’t turn Him away. He wants to be even closer than your closest of friends. Proverbs 18:24 “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

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!

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!

It is a RELATIONSHIP

I had a bad night, one of my worst. I researched it, it was a Trapezius Muscle Spasm. This was the 2nd and lasted for 6 grueling hours. I had used tiger balm on my neck prior to bed. I slept about an hour before it started so I tossed and turned and prayed and prayed. Finally I could stand no more so I got up about 3 hours after it started to research it on the internet. I found to put ice on it and go back to bed. I finally got back to sleep yet I awoke soaking wet, the bed soaking wet, my pillow soaking wet…what now? Joe was sound asleep and needed to work later today so I just let him sleep (hoping he wouldn’t roll over on the wet). I pulled my pillow off and got up. It was now about 8:45 and I needed to let Cardiac Rehab know that I wouldn’t be making it. Not on 2 hours of sleep!

YET, I got up and was surprisingly wide awake??? I was talking to the Lord – praying as I do most mornings! I did not feel like going back to bed and after another hour or so I actually decided that I didn’t need to and got some coffee.

Bible Journaling kept coming to mind. The previous Sunday I believe that God showed me through a song in church that I was supposed to do a search in the Bible on Strength and Trust using my “His Strength”  Journal (now with pink touches! 

and my Journaling Bible. This kept coming to mind, plus the color pink. As I went on sharing with a friend in Facebook Messenger in the quiet of the morning more things came to mind and I realized that God was wanting to teach me more about Female Strength as I also had more pictures to use come to mind. I was feeling wonderful! Pain Free! High on the Magnificent, Comforting Presence of the Holy Spirit. His Peace filled our dining room as I poured through all of my Bible Journaling supplies for the pink things that I needed…as He spoke to me…

This is one of the main reasons that a relationship with Him is important! Not every thing we think is right, is. I thought I had to go to Cardiac Rehab this morning BUT He had a different plan!

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!

DECEMBER UPDATE & SHARE - IN ADDITION (Scroll down)

There is much to do in my life right now and among those things is updating this blog.  There are still just a few things left to do as soon as I have the time where I'm not distracted to read about more things I can do with this blog.  I'm trying to make it more readily accessible to you, my readers.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

I re-opened my Etsy shop that I closed in May, 2012 and I am still at work getting all of my artwork re-listed.  This shop contains my most inspirational art.  It is called "Something by Juliana - Inspirational Art" and can be seen at:  My Etsy shop - Something by Juliana  

Recently I was sharing with a friend who was having similar problems that I used to have with worrying about everything that I did to fall short, to not be perfect, to not do all that I felt the Bible said to do, and on and on.  I used to say that I carried around an invisible baseball bat to hit myself over the head with whenever I did anything wrong.  I was my own worst critic.  I think this is probably one of the hardest things to overcome as I have seen so much on "perfectionism", etc... online.  What helps one person won't help another.  It's taken several things to the point of truly asking Jesus to take that baseball bat from me cause I couldn't seem to let it go BUT I know one thing for sure.  I was saved at 13 through the testimony of a ex-drug addict who was American Indian but he had lost all of his dark skinned heritage looks from doing Heroin.  BUT no one ever showed me where to go from there so I ran and I ran and I ran until 15 years later I was arrested for selling LSD and God got me where He wanted me.  I was defenseless!  I was knocked down!  I knew He was with me, loving me!  I started paying attention, reading my Bible and praying and sometime very soon after that I found this song by a band called Whitecross.  I shared this song with that friend recently and was told it brought cleansing tears (Hallelujah!).  Still working after 26 years (Now, you know my name is Juliana, right?  I went by Julie then - this song was as if God, Himself was singing to me):

WHITECROSS
Walk with me lyrics (1988)

Julie my child
Why do you run?
Why have you turned away from me?
You say it's hard
To live perfectly
And all you can see
Is how you fail me constantly
You fail me constantly
You fail me constantly

My blood has cleaned you
Your sins are remembered no more
So come on, and walk with me

Julie my child
I've set you free
For I want you to be with me eternally
I love you so
I want you to know
That I'm the one who's calling you home
Calling you home
Calling you home

My blood has cleaned you
Your sins are remembered no more
So come on, and walk with me

My blood has cleaned you
Your sins are remembered no more

So come on, and walk with me

In Addition:  This year has been a different one for us.  With my loss of nearly 1/2 of my income for nearly a year now, it has not affected us as much as at this time of year.  There is nothing at all extra for presents!  Our tree sits beautifully adorned with ornaments and yet no presents underneath.  To be absolutely honest, yes, this has gotten to me a few times.  I don't remember this ever happening in my life except when I was in prison and I was released 3/29/90 so that was quite some time ago. I do remember that those Christmas's without material gifts were some of the best in my life.  When all that "stuff" is set aside it tends to give one a different perspective.  I have told the 1-2 people that I've even shared this lack of funds with that I am thankful that at least we know the true meaning of Christmas.

We were just a couple of minutes from church this morning when "Forever" by Kari Jobe (November, 2014 Post) came on the radio and the Holy Spirit touched me so strongly, straight to my heart even to the point of being overwhelmed to tears.  Then we got to church and everything that brought Jesus and Christmas to mind brought the same reaction.

It was a special Sunday.  A day for the children's Christmas program with a very Jesus centered program but no sermon this day.  Nothing to bring anything different at all to my mind.  No message to even urge my thoughts this way.

Then I had a revelation.  I got my Christmas gift!  (And now you will know why this needed to be added to this post.)  The song above came out in 1988.  The very year that I rededicated my life to the Lord.  This song included the name "Julie" that I went by at that time of my life.  And it hit me...how personal (even with so many of His children) my relationship was with Him.  That song "this song was as if God, Himself was singing to me." as I shared above.   And it was He, Himself singing to me!  Did you know that "coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous! by unknown"?  How many more places, instances will you see God if you put things in this perspective?  Life is truly different than most make it!

Gold Leaf Cross on Encaustic - by Juliana Pace Digital text added 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!