Just over a year ago God gave me a vision during a Sunday morning service. In this vision I saw a satanic force coming against our church. The Lord showed me that for a season we would be able to thwart this spirit power in the strength God had already given us. But the Lord told me that there would come a time when the enemy would be too powerful for us to face in our own strength. The Lord instructed that when that time came we were to call the church to pray and He would send us divine helpers to strengthen and revive the church.
I believe we have come to that time when we cannot face the enemy in our own strength…. and so we have started THE WALL prayer meetings to call the church to pray and ask God to send us the help He promised…
I am so proud of this lady. I would say girl but that is not what she is anymore. She has proven herself to be one of the most capable adults I know.
Today is Amanda’s birthday. If you want to know how old she is you are going to have to ask her. Because I try never to tell a lady’s age. I can be old school like that sometimes.
Amanda was supposed to be in Pennsylvania celebrating this week. Covid-19 has changed all that. It looks like none of us are going anywhere for quite a while. So instead of doing normal birthday things today like going out to eat or heading out for a movie, Amanda will be doing another episode of “Without A Recipe.”
Check in with her at 3 P.M. to wish her a happy birthday and to tell her how to make an ice…
I have been trying to spend about twenty minutes a day sketching. I am getting better, but I know I have a long way to go. Here is a still life of a shoe I did.
I realize I get so focused on the object I am trying to draw that I forget that it does not just float in space. It is only as I am posting this that I noted I did not draw anything into the background, not even a shadow. Well, t least it looks like a shoe.
This sketch was done with the help of a youtube tutorial on sketching trees and mist I am not happy with most of it but do notice improvements are happening. This is also the first time I practiced drawing with and eraser. I do like how how the pathway came out after I did the shading. I also like the little grass wisps I practiced on the left slope.
I am trying (and failing) to work at my sketching for at least twenty minutes each day. While I have not yet mastered the discipline of daily sketching I am doing more art work now than I have ever done. This sketch is one of my first attempts to portray moving water. Obviously I have work to do.
We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. 7 When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.[b] 8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert. 10 He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. 11 The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. 12 Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.
13 But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. 14 In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. 15 So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.
16 In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord. 17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram. 18 Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked. 19 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. 20 They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass. 21 They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, 22 miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. 23 So he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them. Psalm 106: 6-23
What are some of the hardships sin causes in the world?
When the shut in was declared we all knew our lives were going to change radically: My life became more cloistered. Brenda was suddenly thrust into the world of Zoom and Facebook meetings. Amanda discovered she was going to be doing a lot of organization, direct ministry and on-line services. She is perhaps the busiest member of the Vicarage now. She still goes into work everyday at the church and she is spending copious amounts of time organizing and administrating long distance ministry.
Every week she creates CD’s for shut ins who do not have on-line access. She planned an Easter Outreach with the help of our Pastor’s wife and then set up the delivery schedule with a team of people from the church. She does daily challenges with her kids to keep them engaged, and every week she also produces two segments for Facebook. Fridays she does her children’s…
Yesterday was our monthly C.cada ( one of the local artist communities I am involved in) meeting. We met remotely of course by Zoom. It was our first attempt at it and we managed pretty well with the first time tech use. We had a devotion at 9 like usual and an emotion check-in. Then we all went off for four hours to do our work. At 1 P.M. we gathered back together to show everyone what we had done.
My sister shared a drawing she had done along with a short written prose poem. Isaiah Lewiston shared a song he had begun to write. Bella Lewiston shared two paintings she had finished over the last six weeks and another one she started. Betty Knowlton shared some of the bead paintings she had been working on and Ken Knowlton shared two graphic pieces and a photograph he had been working on.
I did not share any of the sketches I had been working on so over the next several posts I will share those.
Here is the first one. It is a cartoon cat creation I was experimenting with.
