He calls me His dreamer

This is a close up of small section of a new painting. So far it's just a color field with some distorted images popping through the background.

I painted all afternoon yesterday on my little back porch. AND IT WAS WONDERFUL.

Before I did this I was wandering around Homewood looking at houses. Each house that had a "for rent" or "for sale" sign had a sun room or porch and an easel, canvas, and paint brushes that could easily be seen from the road. I was kinda gettin freaked out because I had already planned on doing some painting.

I feel God's pleasure when I paint. And it's because I am being who He created me to be - myself... and I am (we are) a reflection of His beauty. The creator, the dreamer, the imaginative God has left his mark on me. I love being an artist.

Jacob's Dream by Museo Del Prado, Madrid 1639

"love woke me up this morning

with a memory

love came and whispered a story

that awakened a dream

imagine a beautiful castle and a beautiful king...

I am a dreamer!

Take me higher

Open the sky up and start a fire"

"we come with beautiful secrets
we come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls"

I encourage you to find out what gives you God's pleasure and go do it!!!

The Word, Jesus

here are some thoughts that have been churning up in the ole skull...


...been thinking a lot about the balance of dependence upon Jesus (the person who lives inside you and me) and the Word...not that they are two separate entities because clearly JESUS is the Word (John 1:1-3). However, everyday He reminds me how amazing it is that the actual presence of the person Jesus is LIVING in me! That's all I can think about lately - the Person, Jesus.

the Word is written and we have put it in a book and called it the Bible (something that the firstfruits of the church did not possess). It is what we go to (in general) to get to know Jesus, to become familiar with His story. It is definitely changed my life and many many lives. It is holy, it is His story.

question for thought: is the Word itself a PERSON? I mean, when we read those words and they breathe life to our heart, mind, soul, spirit - is that just the spirit of Jesus just using words to work in us or is it this more mystical mysterious happening - the ink on the pages of our bible is anointed, holy - the words themselves are a form of Jesus - like how Jesus formed himself into a human. Does He, the person, form Himself into words? i know I'm getting overly technical and probably going in circles ... call me curiously contemplative i guess

ALL I WANT IS MORE OF YOU, SWEET JESUS!!! and i guess He is showing me how He is not just found in the Word! He is making it more clear how His indwelling presence can be trusted in every way - JESUS STILL SPEAKS. The SPIRIT made to dwell in us is a PERSON and He ain't no silent type! Can I get an amen!

[[quick testimony: my friend leslie told me this story: one night she was driving back to auburn and was going the speed limit (70). she heard the Lord speak very clearly - "slow down to 65". at first she objected but soon conceded. not long after, a big white van passed her and got in her lane ahead of her. suddenly, a big dear ran out in front of the van and was hit. as leslie witnessed this event she knew that if she had not heard the voice of the lord, she would have been hurt very badly, even fatally. her car was very small and probably would have been overtaken by the deer. ]]

I know God is an all-knowing God and He knew before the end of time every word that would ever be put into this book called the Bible ("but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" - 2 Peter 1:21) and He was and is in control of that. ...He also put His own mind and heart and Spirit within me. WOW. the wonder, the power, the mysteriousness of it all astonishes me.

I had breakfast with my friend Raegan this morning and she summed it up with this statement:
The Word is one way God reveals our sin which humbles us and draws us nearer to Him (the person).

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" - Galatians 5:!6

"the Spirit gives life" - 2 Corinthians 3:6d

"let [us] hear what the Spirit says..." - Revelation 2:7

and here's an encouraging quote from an email from ktb in response to all this blabbing

"It's believing. It's listening...
Listen to the Spirit of Jesus communicating with your new spirit alive to Him. Soak it in. Ask Him if He would have you go to the word or He would have you to just listen. Ask Him how he wants to speak tonight. Ask Him how He loves you tonight. and Listen. and walk in faith by what you hear. test it. Take it to the word if need be. But most of all walk in faith. Faith that He is speaking, and He is living in and through you and all that Happens to you is so that the old dead susan stays in the coffin and the new regenerate susan is who you truly are."

AMEN! holla!

I'm obsessed!!!

A customer brought one of these dogs into Anthropologie the other day - can you guess what breed it is? These dogs are super expensive and I will probably never own one, but I think they are precious!

As fierce as a lion, as gentle as a lamb

I just got home from watching The Chronicles of Narnia.

My heart is reminded again of the fierceness and power of our King Jesus. As His daughter, and because my name is Susan too, I kept seeing myself as part of the story. The best quote from the movie (adapted from the first and last book) was "He's not a tame lion... but He's good"...I really liked the word oppositions - not tame, but good. HE IS WILD. He is unpredictable. He is mysterious. He comes and goes as He pleases. He definitely does His own thang, youknowwhati'msayin??





WILD Spirit of Jesus, flow freely in my heart!




sidenote: i loved Lucy's innocence, curiosity, honesty, and whole-hearted, simple belief and hope in her Aslan. She was the youngest, but her faith was the biggest. She believed even when nothing made sense. Nothing had to make sense for her to understand.





As Aslan denied himself and offered himself up to death by the hand of the white witch, images from the passion of the Christ (obviously and appropriately) kept flashing back and forth in my mind. I kept thinking about what Jesus heard and saw as He was tortured, mocked, and crucified. Not only did He see and hear the soldiers' mocking and shouting, but also (probably) hundreds of thousands of demons as well...I imagined an unbelievably loud roar of voices rejoicing at their (temporary and bogus) victory. Our King is alive! And the victory is ours! Hallelujah!

I'm a little behind on this (it's day four of the prayer journey to Passion06) but I read this just now and was moved. I need to remember that I'm caught up in a bigger story and that my life is NOT my own - it is HIS! JOYFULLY I remember that I gave it all to you!!

This world is all battleground! Jesus, may we remember that this place is NOT supposed to feel like home - it's not our home! YOU are our HOME!

I talked to a friend yesterday who is about to move to a different city and confessed that he didn't really feel at home anywhere. I told him "that's good...because you are not at home"

Be sure to check their blog out if you haven't already...
I added a few emphases ...

28 Day Journey-Day Two

Tuesday 12//06//05

The Fight

"In case anyone has forgotten, we're not on blissful stroll through life. We are in a FIGHT. And it's not just some small conflict, either. We are in a war, a spiritual battle that rages all around us, darkness contending against light, and you and I are in the thick of it everyday whether we want to be or not. It is as Paul warned, "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:11-12 The more we seek the cause of Jesus, the faster we find the fight.

That's why it came as no big surprise to me when Blogger.com (our home for the 268Blog and these Prayer Journey posts) crashed late Monday afternoon. While I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for why the site failed, I also feel we at Passion should have given fair warning to all the bloggers at Blogger.com that we were launching the Passion06 prayer focus on Monday so they could have anticipated a service outage.

No, we're not filled with spiritual paranoia, looking for the enemy behind every shadow and blaming each bump in the journey on some grand demonic scheme. But we have been at this for a while, and when major passion gatherings are on the horizon strange things happen. Trust me, we know we are in a fight (we have suffered costly loss), but we are not afraid. Realistic about the battle-yes. Scared to move forward-absolutely not! God is with us and He is our defender. That doesn't mean that we will escape the fray without wounds, (see Paul's life) but that we are convinced that "Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4

That's why the 28 Day Prayer Journey exists. We cannot go it alone and would be fools to proceed without fighting on our knees.

Today's prayer: Father, You alone are our Shield and Defender. Your name, O Lord, is a strong tower; the righteous run into You and find shelter. We know that we are in a raging battle today, a fight for Your glory and grace. And we know we are filled with the Light of Jesus Christ. We ask not that You remove us from the conflict, but that You cover us in Your care and demonstrate Your greatness no matter what comes our way. Our lives, and Passion 06, are in Your hands. Our trust is in You.

In Jesus' Name and the power of His blood, Amen.

All through the day: Defend us as we lift up Your name."

I'm a workplay junkie (at least I was this weekend)

Howie Day at Workplay...
Mrs. Smith and I













and I'm lovin some Will Hoge...














Loop pedals, Michael Warren, Howie Day, and Will Hoge...it was all craziness! Friday, I went to see Howie Day with Meredith and Jared Smith and later met up with Margaret and her friend Gordon, and Kelly Ann (my bosses from Anthropologie). We got a booth in a great spot in the FRIGGIN MIDDLE OF WORKPLAY. If you have never been to workplay, just believe me when I say that it is the best seat in the house.

So we're sitting there enjoyin some M. Warren and Margaret gets a text message. FROM HOWIE DAY. Now, let me give you a little background information on this girl with amazing connections. Margaret is good friends with the lead singer of Jump Little Children and this guy named Elliott (who is a musician as well) and they know Howie. If I remember correctly, I think they have done a few shows together. That part is a little sketchy. THE IMPORTANT PART is that Howie flippin gave an invitation to come hang out after the show.

Sadly to say, Margaret had other plans and decided not to go. So we left straight after the show. (don't freak out - you have to understand that this girl is Ms. Cool...she does not get overly excited about meeting famous people).

The show was AMAZING. Let me just tell you how much I LOVE LOOP PEDALS. Howie was a one-man show but you really wouldn't have known it. He looped everything (with loop pedals!) He started out with drumming on his guitar for the beat, then he turned his guitar into a bass and took that base line for a walk, and then strummed for some background noise, and then started picking and singing Brace Yourself. I definitely would have to say that Ghost was my favorite song of the night. He did this funky voice thing that made it echo over and over - it was BEAUTIFUL.

And Will Hoge. AMAZING, AMAZING. If you have never heard of this guy - you have got to see him live. His cd is good but I think he is ten times better live. A friend from graduate school took me and he gave the best description I can think of for will..."He's got SOUL" and that is tha TRUFTH.