WOYWW: Bali

I just got back (a few hours ago) from Bali, Indonesia and my main desk is as I left it...

but my prayer desk is now a dumping ground for my buys.  

I bought a lot of bamboo fans with various batik-like designs...

and some woven "Ikat" material.  That's "What's on My Workdesk (this) Wednesday!"

In Bali, there are a lot of arts and crafts and a lot of them are related to their Hindu religion, which is so much a part of their everyday lives.  Their homes have their own elaborate family temples,

and bamboo pole decorations at the entrance.

They prepare ceremonial offerings every day and you will find them all over as you walk along the streets...

As a Christian, this is the way I also want to be, with my faith lived out in my everyday life.  No little flower and fruit ceremonial offerings every day, but the offering of my time, talent, treasure - the offering of my whole life. 

Blessings to all of you and thank you for visiting me!

WOYWW: Transformation

If you visited me last week for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, you will see how a free day (we had a holiday in the Philippines last Monday) to tidy up can make a big difference!

If my desk is a whole mess, sometimes I am tempted to only show you the tidy part and I guess that is the way we are sometimes, when we only show our good side.  See how I am giving you a wide view today because my desk is tidy.  

Speaking of transformation, I thought you would like to see how my prayer journal starts out early in the morning.  I often do not finish and have to continue it later...

But in time it will be transformed, with layers of paper, colored pencil, watercolor, paint pens, stamping or whatever else I am inspired to use.  

I like to think I am like this, a work in progress.  Through time, may my life be transformed more and more such that all areas are in good order and ready for any scrutiny!  I hope to also share this in Word Art Wednesday (but sometimes I forget!) and Inspire Me Monday.

Blessing to you, my dear blog friend!

WOYWW: Beauty

Some of us find beauty in a clean desk...

(but in truth, I used the push back method to get that part clear).  Others find beauty in a "creative mess" (the reality)...

And in the bible, it says God finds beauty in me.  God desires my beauty!  Isn't that amazing?  Who can comprehend this, God desires our beauty, marred as it is by sin.  But even if we can't understand that, this is God's assurance, he finds us beautiful, he loves us.  What a mystery!

I'm sorry but I have been a delinquent blog friend these past few weeks in What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday and Word Art Wednsday and haven't been able to even visit back.  I hope to get back into the routine of life and get to visit this week!

WOYWW: Beads, a Book and a Blessing

It's time for the weekly show and tell called What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday and on my desk is a bag that I used last weekend and haven't put away.  The bag is upcycled from a pair of old denim pants (no, I didn't make it), painted and beaded with a design...

There is also a book I am starting to read...

and a page from my prayer journal for Word Art Wednesday...

Yes, I want to live "in a manner worthy of the Lord."  Almost every Friday, my husband and I visit the city jail and he gives a teaching to the inmates about the following Sunday's gospel.  Afterwards, I also share a little with them.  Last Friday, we were going to share about the verse in Luke 17 where the disciples said, "Increase our faith."  Before we went, I was thinking of sharing the verse from Hebrews 11, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

But then, when we arrived, the inmates started singing this song...

Kay buti-buti mo, Panginoon

Sa lahat ng oras

Sa bawat araw

Ika'y laging tapat kung magmahal

Ang iyong kawa'ay

Magpawalang-hanggan

It means something like this, "You are so, so good, Lord, all the time, every day. You are always faithful in your love, your mercy has no limit."

This brought tears to my eyes.  It is easy to say that God is so, so good when we have a roof over our heads, clothes to wear, food on our table and all is well.  But for these inmates, who live with so, so little, to sing this means they live,"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  I thought I was going to teach them about faith, but instead, they taught me.  What a blessing they are to me!

Be blessed, my dear blog visitors!

WOYWW: Building Toys

I have a different "desk" to show you today for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday!  I am working in our porch, packing building toys that we've just cleaned.  There was a fire in a friend's home (fortunately, the fire was controlled before it damaged the whole house) and these building toys were full of soot.  Since our friends had a lot of cleaning up to do, we all volunteered to help out.  See my assistant, Truffles?  She always wants to be in the middle of whatever is happening.

While I was taking my WOYWW picture, I noticed my daughter's old rocking horse and I thought I would post it to show to Elizabeth, the Altered Book Lover who has a wonderful collection of rocking horses!

This is the view of our garden from my "workdesk" today.  My sister Patsy and I (and our families) share this little garden.

And for Word Art Wednesday, a reminder for me to share whatever I have, and God will do the rest. Even just washing building toys can help lift the spirits!

Thank you for dropping by and visiting me today.  I really appreciate it!  Be blessed!

WOYWW Word Art Wednesday

Hello, dear blog friends!  Here is a small part of my desk (the only part where you can still see the desk).   There's a Fiskars Multi-Snip that I bought on sale for the equivalent of £3.90.

Here is a progress report from World Vision for a child we are helping.  For less than £10 a month, you can help a child and his community have "access to: education, health care, nutritious food, clean water, livelihood opportunities and more."

And for those who enjoy my prayer journal illustrations, here is one that encourages me to carry out God's commands...

Sharing this in What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday and Word Art Wednesday!

Holy Monday

Today is Holy Monday, the Monday of Holy Week, the week when we remember the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  For me, a good day to reflect on God's amazing love and mercy.

Sharing this in Spiritual Sundays and Inspire Me Monday.

On to Israel

Since I have just come back from a trip to Holy Land, I can imagine the scenes described in the bible more clearly.  

Traveling from Jordan, hours of watching the desert scenes pass by was tiring (and imagine, the Israelites weren't even riding in an airconditioned bus like we were!)  

Sometimes in life, our promised land, the answer to our prayers, takes so long in coming and we get tired of waiting.   We don't see how we'll ever get to the promised land.  And sometimes, like the Israelites, we start complaining.  

A rainbow reminded us of God's promises, so fitting after our experience of the flash floods in Petra.  

Right when we crossed the border to Israel, while we were waiting to disembark, we heard birds singing and to our amazement, there were so many birds in the olive tree outside the bus.  

It was raining when we were on Mount Nebo, and we did not see the view of Israel from there.  At last we were in "this land flowing with milk and honey." 

After the browns of the desert views, I enjoyed the beautiful colors around... 

God's creation up close is awesome!

Yes, it may take a while, but we will eventually get to our promised land!

I recalled the words from Galatians 3:29: "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise."   What a wonderful verse!  I am an heir according to the promise and this is the land of my descendants!  

Sharing this in Inspire Me Monday and Word Art Wednesday!

WOYWW: An Adventure in Petra

This is supposed to be a short post for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday but alas, not this week!

I did some tidying up!  And I had some help...

Last week I didn't get to post a close-up of a wonderful surprise I received from Jo.  Thank you so much, Jo!  You must visit her and see her lovely eyes ;-)

Here is a quick sketch I made in my travel journal.  Notice the waters at the bottom left...

While we were in the amazing World Heritage Site of Petra, Jordan, I marveled at the ancient structures...

and amazing rock formations of the "Siq," the dim, narrow gorge (in some points no more than 3 m wide)  that winds its way approximately 1.2 km...

 

The first glimpse of Petra's most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh (The Treasury), was awesome...

David Bjorgen

 and to see The Treasury up close was a dream come true.  But the dream turned into something of a nightmare when we experienced what would have been a terrifying experience for me if not for my faith in God - a flash flood!

It was drizzling when we started our walk and our tour guide made a remark about not dilly dallying because of the possibility of flash floods.  I thought he was joking and I said, "Oh, that would be too exciting for me!"  

By the time we reached The Treasury the rain had gotten harder (see the edge of the umbrella in the top of the picture above?)  and right after we took a group picture, our tour guide told us to hurry back.  Some of our older tour mates were able to ride the horse carriages but there were only a few carriages available.  

In a few minutes, he was shouting, "Move!" and pointing to the water flowing through the Siq, "See, the flash flood? It's starting already!"  Oh my gosh!!! By now we realized he wasn't joking after all, and not knowing just how high the floods would eventually reach was frightening.  Walking as fast as I could and getting breathless at the effort, the water quickly rose to knee high, and it was freezing!

After a while, a Petra guide told us to stop under an overhanging rock (this is what I later drew in my journal).  Here, we were able to catch our breath and we prayed together. For a while I thought we would wait it out under the comfort of the cave but in a few minutes, we heard the familiar, "Move!" and out we went back into the rain and the freezing floodwater.

But this time, I recalled these verses,

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 

Philippians 4:4

In every thing give thanks. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18

I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise; continually in my mouth. 

Psalm 34:1

and decided to do just that.  Thanking God while walking through the freezing flood, I felt courageous and victorious!   I had other lessons to be learned from this experience but that is for another post and I leave you with this verse from Isaiah.  

Thank you, Lord, for your protection, and for renewing my strength!  Also sharing this in Word Art Wednesday,  Inspire Me Monday and Paint Party Friday!

Inspire Me Monday: Mercies in Disguise

I heard a beautiful song yesterday as we celebrated Christ the King Sunday and I wanted to share it with you.  It is a wonderful reminder to trust the Lord through the trials of life.

It reminded me of my own journey through the dark valley and the wondrous work of the Lord in my life.  I'm sharing this in Inspire Me Monday and Random Journal Day.

Blessings to you, my dear blog friends!  

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Back to Normal

For WOYWW this week, gone is the spotless desk and it's back to normal after my trip to Korea last week (and this is after I already tried to tidy it up).  Today's prayer journal page in progress is about the Fruit of the Spirit.  As I drew and colored, I reflected in the ways I have grown in these areas and in the many other ways I still need to grow...

Here are some cheap paint brushes from Korea...

and as promised, I had Mr. Random pick a winner for my giveaway and he picked...

Gill , who said... "I love the first one - 'seek and ye shall find'" and so I will be sending her this painting as soon as I get her address...

In case you are interested, here are some photos from Korea (with apologies to Julia for my long post)...

It happened to be the Korean Traditional Performing Arts Festival and there were a lot of performances and exhibits.  Here is a booth where you could paint some masks...

and here is a Korean felting artist in her studio in Bukchon...

I went to the artsy "Free Market"near the Hongik University where artists and crafters display and sell their original works on Saturday afternoons from March to November.

From October 1 to 7, it was also the Hi Seoul Festival 2012, "a spectacular assortment of outdoor performances by Korean and overseas street art groups."

Happy WOYWW, dear blog friends!