My word for 2016

Over recent years I have chosen a word for the year that I focus on.  I shared about my word for 2015 last December.

The word for 2015 was Thirst.  And it really didn't grab me.  I did some journal pages for the first three months.

January

February

March

But to be honest, my heart wasn't in it and at the beginning of April I gave up on it altogether.

I have spent most of 2015 being really busy helping to run His Kingdom Come.   You can read about how I became to be involved with HKC at A Story & a Giveaway (the giveaway is now closed!) and I expected to be involved with it still through 2016.  In fact we started discussing Take Me Deeper - DNA back in April.

However towards the end of October I began to feel that it was time for me to move on.

Several times in my ministry career I have worked on things that God has asked me to do – setting up new ministries, organising conferences and even helping set up a new company – and then passing them on to others to run.   To be sure that I was hearing correctly about HKC, I asked a friend to pray for me without saying the reason why and she said ‘You are gifted and know sometimes things are for seasons.’    This confirmed for me that the season was ending for me with regard to the Foundation Team at His Kingdom Come.

But giving up something that is successful without God saying what is next is bittersweet and I'm not good at just resting or not knowing what is coming next.

So what is next for me?  And what is my word for 2016?

Regular readers will know that I am involved in a new weekly online Bible study from my church: Glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament.   And that I have signed up for rather a lot of online classes.

And my word?

Purpose

I'll explain why in another post on Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Logos 365: March pages

The first prompt for March suggested starting a Pinterest board for my word.  I love Pinterest and spend way too much time there.  That aside, here is my Thirst board.

The second prompt was to find something that symbolised my word.  I couldn't decide what to choose at first but then I found this beautiful bottle shape on Google images.  I downloaded it and made it into 3 different sizes.  I cut the bottles shapes out in such a way that I could use them as a mask and a stencil.

I put the stencil down and then dragged Distress Ink from the edges into the shape.  I wrote a Bible verse around the shapes and stuck a printed Bible verse on the page.  Some washi tape finished it off.

This was a photograph I had taken some time ago which I found as I was searching for something else!  Isn't that always the way?

The photograph sort of sums up how I feel - the dryness and the lack of hydration.

Let's open the flap and see what is inside.

That's right - more bottles!

I drew round the shapes with a watercolour pencil and then I painted the bottles with ornage watercolour paint.  I don't think the page is finished but I'm not sure what else to put.

I tore out a bottle image from an advert and glued it into my book.  I added a quote, a Bible verse and a piece about hydration from an article in a magazine.  Then added my journaling.

Here are the 2 pages together.

I've started on my April pages and will share them here soon.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Logos 365: February pages

Last time I shared my January pages.  Today we will look at February.

Part of my struggle with getting the pages done is that I am fighting my word: Thirst.  I am defintiely not living it out like I did with Participate last year but I am endeavouring to keep going.

I printed out some verses and chose this passage from Isaiah 55 for this page.  I used some alphabet stickers for the words.   I made a postcard for the left hand page which will feature in a new collaborative class on His Kingdom Come in May.  I also printed out the words of 2 songs we have been singing at church the last couple of months.

I found I had some washi tape that looked like bubbles!  I printed out the image that I had found on Google Images.   I had also found some thirst quotes which I printed out and glued into my journal.  I put these on the inside pages of the flap.

I looked up the dictionary definition of Thirst and printed the information out and glued this in also.

Here are the pages together.

March pages coming up soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bernice

Logos 365: my one word

I have discovered that I haven't shared my one word pages with you.  To be honest it's not a senior moment in terms of blogging - it's that I didn't do the pages.

My only post has been this one where I changed my mind about how I am using my journal.  And even then I only showed you 2 of the 4 pages.

So what did I put on the inside of the flap?  The prompt suggested writing 5 goals for the year.  I had seen a great doodle on Pinterest which I printed out.  I found a stencil and a pot to draw round and drew 5 large circles for the 5 goals.

I drew over the pencil lines with black pen.

And then started filling in the spaces.

And filling!

Until the whole page was done.  I scribbled some blue with a Neocolor II watercolour crayon.

I spread the colour across the circles with a wet brush.  I added 3 goals.  The 4th one was added quite recently and I haven't set the 5th one.  And to be honest I haven't done anything about goals 1 & 2.

A lady I know on Facebook sent me this image which I printed out and stuck in my journal.

Here are the pages together.

And here are the 3 together.

So there's my response to the January prompts for Logos365 at His Kingdom Come.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Starting work in my 2015 Journal

Regular readers will know that I am using a Dylusions Journal for a monthly calendar, my Take Me Deeper devotional and my word for the year.

I described how I prepared my journal here.

I started with the January calendar.   I found some scrapbooking cardstock and cut narrow strips.

I stuck the strips down on the left hand page and on the flap on the right.

I put some clear gesso through a snowflake stencil.

I used 3 colours of Distress Ink over parts of the pages and took the colour off where the clear gesso was.  This technique works better with spray inks!

Using a punch I cut 31 flower shapes and then stamped the days of the week.

I stamped snowflakes with Archival Ink.

I stuck the flowers down and wrote the numbers on.   There isn't much room to write something for each day but to me that's a good thing!

Take Me Deeper and logos365 don't officially start until January 1st but I thought I would do my main word page.

I started by putting gesso over the page.  When that was dry I scraped 2 colours of acrylic paint onto the bottom third of the page.   I pressed a spider's web stencil into the wet paint in the hopes it would dry to look like parched earth.

At the top of the page I scraped modelling paste through a raindrop stencil.  I put a thin coat of two tones of blue acrylic paint over it.  However I forgot to take a photo of this stage.  The cracks didn't show up very well when the paint was dry so I stamped on it with Sepia Archival Ink.

I printed out the word thirst and stuck the letters front side onto a page of a Bible that I bought from a Dollar Store for the express purpose of using it in  my artwork.   I cut them out and stuck them onto my page.  When the glue was dry I drew turquoise lines inside the letters.

I printed out the verse from John 4:13 and stuck it onto my page.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

My word for 2015

I have been choosing one word for the year for a while now.  You can see my words here:

Restore 2011        Focus 2012

Present 2013        Participate 2014

I have used Ali Edward's One Little Word classes for these words but this year I am taking part in logos365.  Watch this video to find out more.


Logos365 is part of the His Kingdom Come Community.   Do check it out if you haven't already joined.  It's a really exciting venture and I am thrilled to be part of the Foundation Team that set it up.

So back to my word for 2015.

I downloaded the worksheets from the logos365 group on His Kingdom Come and read through them but didn't fill them in.   I prayed a bit and thought a bit and left it at that.   In the early hours of the next morning I was awake and I felt that God was telling me what my word should be.

When I've chosen words in the past I haven't really asked God for the word.  I have worked on the basis that if the Holy Spirit is living in me and the word that I have chosen fits with what God has been saying to me through the Bible, through sermons or through people praying for me then God was part of the decision-making.

Participate has been a great word for me through 2014.   The Documented Life Planner project served its purpose through most of the year.  I had put Participate or one of its synonyms at the top of every weekly page which kept the word in front of me.  I filled it with things that I had done and kept it up right through to October.  The last week that I filled in was week 43.

And then I started participating in setting up His Kingdom Come and working on Pause, Ponder & Prepare and getting ready to go to Florida and really taking part in my life.  Woohoo!   So I stopped living by proxy in my planner and got on with life.   Yeah!    And I had the best time with all the family in Florida but especially with Andy & Naomi and Roger.

 So 2015's word had been suggested and I wasn't enamoured.  Which is often an indication that actually I need to do something about it.   I thought about it - because that's what I do!

Then I had a look at the worksheets again and thought about the questions and thought about my answers.  I didn't write anything down - do you know that feeling about somehow you are more committed to something if you've written it down?  There's sometimes a fear in opening up even to yourself on paper.   Which is daft really, when you think about it, becuase you're writing down the thoughts in your head - which you already know!

So what is the word, you may be wondering?   Well, it's

Thirst 

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”   John 4:13

I'm not sure where this will take me in 2015 but I will be writing about it here.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice