Tuesday of Holy Week: Easter 2018

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“My Father’s Garden” Watercolor painting of camellias by Donna Harris Art

Then you shall call and the Lord will answer; then you shall cry and he will say, “Here I am.” Isaiah 58:9

Your brokenness and sin are not something you can overcome so that you can walk with God. They are the occasions for you to cry out for the life of God in you to rescue you. Not God outside you, up in the sky somewhere. Christ in you, your only hope of glory. Let this sink in: Jesus has no intention of letting you become whole apart from his moment-to-moment presence in your life. [1]

The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is regardless of our circumstances, we get God, and he’ll be enough. On the day of trouble, we’ll cry out, and we will hear, “Here I am.” When marriage is difficult, and we cry out, we will hear, “Here I am.” On the day the doctor says, “Can you come in? We need to talk,” we will hear as we cry out to God, “Here I am.”

He will not abandon. He will not quit, and he will not cut out his children. He is ever present, ever chasing, ever hoping, ever putting his Holy Spirit’s power into us to sustain us and hold us up regardless of life’s circumstances. This is how he blesses those who are saturated in grace. He is present. He is enough. [2]

We bless you, Father, for the gift of Jesus—for his perfect life lived for us, and his judgment-exhausting death on the cross. Thank you for forgiving us, and for declaring us righteous in Christ, and for promising to finish your grace-full work of salvation in us. [3]

Isaiah 58:9

Photograph by Donna Harris 

[1] Beautiful Outlaw, John Eldridge, p. 207   [2] Matt Chandler, Grace Made Visible, Part 1 [3] Scotty Smith, The Convicting, Liberating, Transforming Work of God’s Grace, TGC   

Monday of Holy Week: Easter 2018

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Near to God

A sculpture displayed at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, Gastonia, NC  Photograph by Donna Harris

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. James 4:8

Dear Lord Jesus,

Just yesterday I was waving a palm branch high over my head…melodies we raised. I felt overwhelmed with the reality of your love and my soul was flooded with the bitter sweetness of you giving yourself…an extreme sacrifice for us. You took the judgment we deserve to give us the grace we could never earn.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

I pray now that we would not forget the yesterday of holding a branch of praise and singing hosanna’s to the King. Please help us to want more of you. Show us what it means to “draw near to you.”

Help us to love you for no other reason but for your own sake.

Still each morning and noon and in evening,
I will trust my Lord and bless his name.
Never seeking the gain but the Giver,
So I love him for nothing but for his own sake.*

Please do not hide your face from us when we forget the yesterday of waving the palm branch, worshipping you with abandon. Our lives can easily becomes an “all-about-me” existence. Help us to draw near to you and to make this day, all-about-you. Please God, constantly reveal the chasm of our separation from our unrepentant heart. Please fill us with hunger pangs to feast on your word. I pray to want nothing more than to draw near to you.

Grant us grace to slow our pace and quiet our hearts, that we might survey the wonders of your cross and greatness of your love.

Amen

Monday Holy Week 2018 1

“Draw Near” — Watercolor painting by Donna Harris Art of a sculpture displayed at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, Gastonia, NC

  • “For His on Sake” by Nathan Partain. Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, IN

 

A Prayer for Palm Sunday 2018

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HOSANNA! Watercolor painting by Donna Harris

All glory laud and honor
To thee, Redeemer King
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosanna ring!
~”All Glory Laud and Honor”

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:9

Lord Jesus,

On this Palm Sunday morning, I’m overwhelmed with your humility, your sovereignty, and your generosity. I pray these shouts of hosannas will be filled with the sobering and gladdening news of the whole of this Easter Week. Lord, lead me into a transforming gaze of your cross, an overwhelming abundance of your grace and a longing for your kingdom.

As “Holy Week” begins, I ask you to fill these next seven days with much boasting in the cross. I pray that my heart would bubble over with exaltation for the hope, joy and salvation you generously give. You are the God who saves us from guilt and fear and hopelessness.

“Hosanna!” “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

Amen

Palm Sunday 2018

RESTLESS

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“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.” —Wendell Berry

Refined by the Fire

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The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.
~J.R.R Tolkien from The Fellowship of the Ring

Refined by the Fire

Oh, to be brave and steely
as the three of faith and resolve
to embrace the shackles without fear of the fire
They are rescued by grace

Refined by the fire

When facing the furnace of the refiners fire
He sweats drops of red while I sleep
yet I whimper and cower when the rooster crows
I’ve grown accustomed to taking lightly this treasure of red

Refined by the fire

To wake up early to see the sunrise
To stay awake to watch the sun go to sleep
The fire in the sky is a safe place to find comfort
It stirs a longing

To be refined by the fire

I want to feel the red in my soul
To long for more of the refiner’s fire
To be made pure
Refined by the fire of grace

–donna harris

The Day After Easter

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The Day After Easter

Here it is, the day after Easter and I find myself going back to the tomb and looking in. This is what I think… the stone that sealed the tomb was rolled away not for Jesus to get out but for us to look in! And Mary (like me) is one of those that looked inside and contemplated the emptiness and struggled with doubt and unbelief.

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” (John 20:16)

I love this! Jesus called Mary by her name! She hears him. She knows his voice. She sees him. She immediately recognizes Jesus. Jesus speaks to her unbelief and Mary believes. I think it is good to look inside the empty tomb over and over again. Whenever I doubt that God loves me, I look inside the empty tomb. Whenever I doubt that I can trust God no matter what, I look inside that empty tomb. And when I don’t believe, I pray to God to help my unbelief while asking Him to forgive me for doubting Him. 

 

Easter flower art

The Art of Journaling

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For years I’ve tried to keep up with a habit of writing in a journal. I’ve been successful with a journal in a hit-or-miss sort of way. I have a few journals stacked neatly on my desk and I have yet to finish one. I shouldn’t be too hard on myself as each journal has a specific purpose. But possibly that is the problem. I have too many journals.

For example, one journal is to write thoughts from the day, or comment about a Bible passage, and sometimes I write prayers such as, “A prayer for more grace,” which I posted on this blog.  There is also the creative journal for the times when I am inspired to create … to sketch and paint. I jot a few notes about the sketch or watercolor painting just to keep the memory fresh. I want to remember what inspired me to draw or paint at that moment.  I also use Evernote to save a collection of quotes from authors and favorite bloggers.

In January of this year, I began a quest to read a Psalm or a portion of Psalm every day. To keep me on track and consistent with this daily reading plan, I turned to The Songs of Jesus ~ A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms by Tim and Kathy Keller.

Reading through the Psalms for 26 days has informed consistency of keeping a journal.  Actually, reading the Psalms has transformed the way I journal. The Psalms are not just a matchless primer of teaching but a medicine chest for the heart. [1] Psalms is a prayerbook that has every emotion known to man and gives us the freedom to pray those same words, with those same emotions, back to God.

Reading Psalms is teaching me how to pray. What is essential in prayer is not that we learn to express ourselves, but that we learn to answer God. [2] This is pure grace, that God tells us how we can speak to him and have fellowship with him. [3]

The Psalms fire our imaginations into new realms yet guide them to the God who actually exists. The Psalms have encouraged and inspired the way I make art. There is a reason and purpose to make something beautiful.

I may have discovered the art of journaling by reading through the Psalms. This journal is beginning to resemble a story … my story. I see my story, my life, woven into the words of the Psalmist. I find that amazing and truthfully, frightening. It is a journal of joy, sorrow, worship, repentance, hope, frustration … peace and assurance that God will keep me as the apple of [his] eye and hide me in the shadow of [his] wings. (Psalm 17:8)

What about you? Have you read through the Psalms or do you enjoy keeping a journal?

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[1] The Songs of Jesus by Tim and Kathy Keller; Introduction, {viii} | [2] | Ibid. page {ix} | [3]  Psalms:The Prayer Book of the Bible by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Children’s Ministry: To Be Wonderstruck

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Children are an important part of the church and have an essential place in the covenant community. In the book, Heirs of the Covenant, Susan Hunt explains that our relationship with God is personal and individual, but when that relationship is established, we are immediately in community with others who are in relationship with Him. … In other words, children and adults are in community together. “Covenant is a promise that stretches from Genesis to Revelation: I will be your God, you will be my people, I will live among you.” Children’s ministry is centered in the grace-relationship that God offers to us through Christ.

Stop to consider how many children come to church and the limited number of hours we have with them each week. We have a grand responsibility to shepherd each child towards Jesus. As a child truly begins to believe he or she is God’s masterpiece, created anew in Christ, there is no stopping them from doing the good things God planned for them long ago.

IMG_3580In children’s ministry, our purpose is to partner with families in building a spiritual foundation that will lead a child to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. A nursery or children’s ministry does not simply plead for volunteers. Rather, a church teaches God’s people the wondrous reality that we are adopted in Christ and empowered by His grace to reflect the Gospel in a vibrant covenant life. We point kids to Christ and away from themselves. We talk about our sin, our brokenness, Jesus’ love and the beauty of the cross. When a child’s confidence and identity is secure in Christ, they will begin to wonder and discover who God has created them to be.

“As they begin to comprehend the marvelous sovereignty of God, they begin thinking integratively. All of their thoughts about faith and life begin to coalesce around the person of Jesus. A biblical worldview starts to take shape. … Our knowledge of God’s character and His promise determines our view of our lives and the world.” (Susan Hunt)

As leaders in children’s ministry we recognize each child’s unique personality that is created in the image of God. We celebrate the work of Christ in a child’s life in order to strengthen his or her relationship with God for a deeper faith, for them to ponder and to wonder about God’s amazing love for them.  We must continue to “tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done … that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments” (Psalm 78:4-7).

A carefully orchestrated children’s ministry with a well thought out purpose and plan will not succeed without dedicated prayer … prayers for God to intervene, for Jesus’ love to rescue, and for the Holy Spirit to make a new heart … for kids to be wonder-struck.

IMG_3570The photos were taken while working with a children’s ministry in Monterrey, MX. The best time ever! Confia en Dios!