Perfect Parcels

Over the past few days I have received some lovely parcels.

Firstly there was this workbook for an online class that I'm doing next month.

There was a parcel that arrived very rapidly from Merly Impressions but the contents are a secret!  Shsh!

Then there was this beautiful present from Pippa.  If you'd like a similar reusable journal have a look at her etsy shop.

And finally today, this arrived, beautifully wrapped from A Sprinkle of Imagination.

Can you guess what is inside?   Hopefully the tissue tape might give you a clue.

And here's what I know

I get an email everyday from the John Maxwell team with a link to a video where John talks for one minute on a given word.  And he always includes the comment 'And here's what I know ...'

And here's what I know ....

.. that there are times when there's a book to read or a course to follow.  Sometimes I buy a book and it will be months or even years later before I read it and the content is just what I need to read for that moment.  I believe that God brings us to points in our lives where we can deal with revelation or knowledge that will help us for the season of life that we're in.  Ashes to Beauty was one of those courses that was set for such a time.  I have posted before about the fact that I was reluctant to start Ashes to Beauty because of my lack of completing things.   However I signed up and I am so glad I did.

Admittedly I haven't finished the creative side of the course but I have finished the journaling side.

I didn’t answer some of the questions partly because they didn’t seem relevant to this season of my life and partly because God took me off in a different direction.     

God took me off on a journey to find out more about myself and how He has designed me.  I read Holley Gerth’s ‘You Are Already Amazing’, Florence Littauer’s ‘PersonalityPlus’, Bill Johnson’s ‘Dreaming With God’ and Marita Littauer’s ‘Your SpiritualPersonality’.  

In doing so I came to a better understanding of why I am like I am, and who I am meant to be.  Through ‘Personality Plus’ I came to see that my personality make up of primarily Perfect Melancholy mixed with some Powerful Choleric is how I was meant to be and that those personality traits I had thought were faults,  (because I don’t quite fit the mould that I feel others try to squash me into), are okay and it’s okay to be me.  I don’t have to be the life and soul of the party, I don’t have to want to spend time with people, it’s okay to be good at organising things etc, etc.   This is very freeing because it means I can spend time being me instead of fighting being me.  And whilst I don’t think I’m ever going to be totally tidy it does explain why I find the chaos of some of the rooms in our house really difficult.  They need to be organised!

So to sum up the course, I wrote a  Life Purpose Statement in the light of what I’ve learned about myself.

Life Purpose

I am created by God and called to have a relationship with him.  He asks me ‘to do what is right, to love mercy and to walk humbly’ with him. (Micah 6:8).   I am significant, secure and accepted.  I am ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. (Ps. 139).  I am made exactly the way God wants me to be, with the personality traits, strengths and gifts he wanted me to have in order that I might express my faith and love for him through serving others, by bringing freedom and encouragement to those in need, and by giving glory to God through my creativity.

In this current season of my life I believe God’s purpose for me is to develop a relationship with him based on my better understanding of myself.  This includes resting in him and finding peace instead of rushing about doing works for God rather than listening for what he would like me to work with him on.

With regard to my creativity, I have been drawn towards classes and books on creating art with the help of the Holy Spirit.  I started Paulette Insall’s class before Christmas and I bought the books ‘Finding Divine Inspiration’ and ‘Unlocking the Heart of the Artist’.  This is a particularly Perfect Melancholy way of approaching it!  I believe that I needed to work through Ashes to Beauty in order to better understand myself so that I am now in a position to move forward into creating art for the glory of God.  I have acquired the skills and techniques to be able to do this, I just need to do it.  It is time to stop doing classes filled with techniques and use the knowledge I already have.

Having said that I am going to Art from the Heart this weekend to attend a technique based mixed-media workshop.   But I booked that some months ago! 

As we learn more about ourselves we peel away the layers that we have built up around ourselves to protect ourselves from the outside world.  Sometimes peeling away the layers can be painful but it's always worthwhile.

Whenever I think of layers I think of this:

I hope you will leave a comment telling me what things you have learnt about yourself lately?

A new class

A new class started today.  Artful Alphabets with Joanne Sharpe.  (Scroll down the page past Letter Love.)

Joanne's instructions are so clear and after I'd tried the letters out on graph paper and played in my lined notebook I did a page for each font in my sketchbook.