Crowned with God's Love

The Lord says lovingly to the church, 

"Oh My radiant bride, My beloved, 

I allure you to a deserted place 

to speak tenderly to you. 

Do you not know you are covenanted to Me? 

Call Me 'Husband'. 

With the eagerness of a bride 

head over heels in love, 

seek to KNOW Me 

and be intimately acquainted with Me. 

We belong together 

in steadfast love forever and ever. 

I have covered you with My robe;

it is your bridal gown.

I crown you with My love." 

(See Hosea 2, 2Cor.11:2, Ps103:4.)

Joyous Noel

When I was just a little girl about five years old, I loved the Christmas carols “Oh Come all Ye Faithful”, “The First Noel” and “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” I sang them over and over again and they became a part of me, imprinted on my memory. Now at Christmas time, it is still one of my favorite things to do to sing Christmas carols. Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas without singing those old time Christmas stories put to music.

During our “Prayer Watch” on Friday night the seven of us women were wondering what Noel really meant and so we looked it up. It is a word for the Christmas season of joy and runs from December 24 to January 6^th. So we decided to keep on celebrating this year and hold onto the joys of Christmas time and to me that means to keep singing! The Wise Men arrived after Jesus was born, so “We Three Kings” is a perfect song to sing for a joyous Noel.

Every year I like to think of something homemade to give for special gifts for friends and family. This year I made up booklets of Christmas carols with my top ten favorites. How handy to give them out just in time to do some singing! Usually people oblige me a few songs. Personally, I’d like to sing for a couple of hours! Hahaha!

This fall I took a watercolor painting class and I learned a technique with salt to make “salt stars.” The teacher gave me the class and supplies in exchange for working for her for about ten hours helping her sell her paintings and notecards at Scandinavian festivals. She provided paint brushes, a paint palette full of the basic colors of watercolor paint arranged in a color wheel, and she gave me odds and ends of watercolor paper of various quality and the last few pages in several tablets. Each color reacts with the salt a little differently, but I really like the way the midnight blue was soaked up by the grains of salt to make amazing “salt stars.”

Reading my Bible one morning I decided to read about the star the wise men followed. This one verse popped out to me. “When the wise men saw the star, they were thrilled with ecstatic joy.” (See Matthew 2:10 Amplified.) I decided to paint beautiful blue skies full of salt stars, but to mask off a bit of sky using masking tape cut into the shape of the special star the wise men followed. I think that was the hardest part—cutting out those stars on the sticky tape! At the bottom of each painting I wrote out the verse. What a great gift and Christmas card in one!

I started out with small three by five inch paintings, and as I gained in confidence I cut a bigger piece of watercolor paper to do four by six inch paintings. Then I got brave and did a few five by sevens. The technique is done with sprinkling salt. You paint the area with water, then add a few strokes of paint and wait until it is almost dry and quickly sprinkle on the salt very lightly—almost a grain at a time. There is this magical chemical reaction before your very eyes as the salt absorbs the pigment/color of the paint and makes a crystalline pattern—like snow or a starry night! You wait until the watercolor paper is completely dry, then wipe off the salt. It is amazing how each one comes out differently.

SO fun! I used every bit of watercolor paper I had, and almost all my midnight blue paint, because I didn’t want to stop. I got so absorbed in my project I stayed up until two in the morning painting!

The theme for Kingdom Bloggers this week is a favorite Christmas memory—my painting is one of them. Hahaha! I guess it shows I love my life, I’m enjoying the present, and living in the “now”. Have A JOYOUS NOEL everyone!!!

Christmas Memories

Dressed up for Christmas Caroling in the nursing homes.

I have lots of fun and happy Christmas memories. Cliff and I got engaged on Christmas Eve 33 years ago! Our first home was on a Christmas tree farm in Northern California. We cut our own little tree and set it up in our living room, but we didn’t have any ornaments so I tried red ribbon into little bows all over it. The first ornament I bought was a tiny three inch teddy bear with a red bow around his neck. He’s been on our Christmas tree every year since!

In January Cliff and I decided to dispose of our first Christmas tree by burning it in the fireplace. We got the fire going and started shoving the tree into the fireplace. At some point it dawned on us this was not a good idea and we pulled the tree out before we had more of a blaze than we bargained on! Hahaha! Talk about learning the hard way!

It seems like events stick in the memory banks when something goes wrong. About Christmas 1992 we gave our kids one of those little log cabin play houses that is really made out of brown plastic. Cliff and I thought it would be easy to put together on Christmas Eve after the kids had gone to bed, so we could surprise them on Christmas morning. We spread all the pieces out on the back patio and got a big mallet and started to try to bop the pieces into place. I don’t know if it was because of the freezing temperature or if we didn’t have the right tools or what, but those plastic logs did not want to go together no matter how much we pounded on them. At midnight we suddenly heard knocking on our front door. It was the police! Our hammering was disturbing the “Silent Night” for our neighbors!  We shoved the pieces back in the box and surprised the kids with a great gift, a build-it-yourself play house.

Some of our other fun activities at this time of year include, making snow men with my kids, taking Christmas pictures of our family, baking and decorating Christmas cookies, cutting snowflakes, reading stories aloud, my daughter playing the piano, watching a Christmas play with my son Stephen in the lead role, hearing my husband read the Christmas story out of the Bible, driving around town looking at beautiful Christmas lights, and serving homemade Texas fudge (and not telling the secret ingredient is refried beans instead of butter).

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is get all dressed up in bright colors and a funny hat and go caroling in the nursing homes. Today I will wear a shiny white skirt that is long and very twirly, a red top and a red and green elf hat with bells on it. Today my friend Charli and I will go a-caroling and enjoy some beautiful smiles light up the faces of our friends living in nursing homes.

'Tis the season to be jolly, so have a merry day!

Grafted into Israel

GRAFTED INTO ISRAEL! 

People of God, by faith we are grafted into Israel and 
WE are His beloved people sharing the nourishing sap 
of the olive tree! 

(See Romans 11:17.)

Lead the People

"Go! Lead the people 
to the place of which I have told you," 
says the Lord. 

"Behold, My angel shall go before you." 

(See Exodus 32:34.)

Jesus Sits in the Chair By Me

A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father. When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old man had been informed of his impending visit. “I guess you were expecting me,” he said. 

“No, who are you?” said the father. “I’m the new minister at your church,” he replied. “When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to show up.”

“Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden man. “Would you mind closing the door?” Puzzled, the minister shut the door. “I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man. “But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the preacher talk about prayer, but it went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” the old man continued, “until one day about four years ago my best friend said to me, ‘Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest. Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and, in faith, see Jesus in the chair. It’s not spooky because He promised, “I’ll be with you always.” Then just speak to Him and listen in the same way you’re doing with me right now.’” “So, I tried it and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I’m careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.” 

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him and returned to the church building. Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon. “Did he die in peace?” he asked. 

“Yes, when I left the house about two o’clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me he loved me, and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?” 

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I wish we all could go that way.”

Host for Heaven

Israel camped around the presence of God. 
Let's focus on the LORD 
and love Him with all we've got.

“There are two types of ‘hosts’ 
involved with heaven: 
There are the heavenly hosts 
and there are those who become 
the hosts for heaven in their hearts.” 

Phillip Beard 

In Your presence is fullness of joy, God!

Pearl of Perfection

"God made us perfect through Christ; therefore, we only need to be the best of who we are. Our best is just being our self, which is always perfect to God." ~Phillip Beard 

"You are so beautiful to Me My love and there is no flaw in you." (See Song of Solomon 4:7.) 

With My Whole Heart

I love You 

& praise You with 

my whole heart, Jesus God!

Sunday School Take-over

I was raised in a Catholic family that went to mass on Easter and Christmas, so Sunday school was not part of my life. I became a Christian when I was 16 through the youth group called Young Life. Though I have attended church all these years, I never experienced Sunday school very much. However, around 1989 I my husband Cliff and I visited a little church that had a Sunday school class with a book study going on about living life full of the Holy Spirit. The chapter mentioned speaking in tongues. The teacher asked if anyone in the class spoke in tongues. Cliff and I raised our hands. The teacher asked Cliff to tell the class about it. Cliff spoke for the whole hour with a full discourse with Scriptures from the book of Acts on being baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues and he shared his Jesus People days story and what happened to him. At one point Cliff asked me to share how I received the gift of tongues, so I gave my testimony as a part of the class too. (Note: For my testimony on receiving the gift of tongues, here is the link:  http://thedanceoflifewithjenna.blogspot.com/2012/09/more-of-holy-spirit-filled-life.html  ) We didn’t plan on a Sunday School Take-over—it just happened. Hahaha! 

My husband and I both enjoyed remembering that day over twenty years ago. That is our favorite Sunday school class memory, but a runner up would be another week in the same class when the pastor’s wife shared about speaking in tongues while she was in Israel and someone recognized the language she was speaking and wrote down the interpretation for her. She still had the ragged scrap of paper and read it to us. It was a beautiful prayer and it was also speaking of our glorious love relationship with the Lord Jesus.

To me the best part of any class, book, or lecture is the stories people tell about what happened to them. I have found that testimonies, or stories of real lives, are extremely powerful, moving, and life giving. They are also memorable!

Jenna's Dance of Life

Jenna’s Dance of Life

I turn to You, Daddy, at the break of dawn.

We talk things over as the day goes on.

Your love is sweet, my God, my King,

I love You more than anything.

I read Your Word till You speak to my heart.

You give me grace and a brand new start.

I give You my burdens, so I live carefree.

You show me favor; I dance with glee.

You stay right with me, I stay right with You.

I give You thanks the whole day through.

I keep the music going and praising Your name.

Ever since I met You, I’ve not been the same.

I dream about the future and to You I pray.

Now I have hope and I live life Your way.

I leap for joy and dance and twirl.

I’m glad I am Your little girl.

Always Christmas

God created us to be full of His JOY and 
to enjoy being His beloved sons and daughters
living an abundant life in His presence.
When we abide in Him, we shine for Him!
The Westminster Catechism states: 
"Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." 
Jesus said He has given us His glory (See Jn. 17:22.) 

and that we are the light of the world (See Mat. 5:14.). 
Just as we celebrate Thanksgiving every day, 
"In everything give thanks." (See 1Thes. 5:18.)
Let's celebrate Christmas EVERY day
and shine like stars in this dark world!

God Dances & Takes Delight in Us!

God sings, dances, delights & rejoices over Us! Zeph.3

Reign as Kings

Through Jesus we receive 

the free gift of God's righteousness and reign 

as kings in the realm of life! 

(See Romans 5:17.)

Beautiful Love

Jesus says, 

"You ravish My heart 

with one look from your eyes. 

How beautiful is your love, My bride!" 

(See Song of Songs 4:9,10.)

Dancing

To me dancing is a little bit of heaven on earth--especially twirling!

God has Revealed What He Has Prepared for Us!

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, 

nor have entered into the heart of man 
the things which God has prepared 
for those who love Him 
BUT God HAS revealed them to us 
through His Spirit. 

(See 1Cor.2:9.) 

ISN'T THIS AMAZING!?!!

Go All Out in Using Gifts!

Do not neglect the gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the elders. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. 

(See 1Timothy 4:14-15.)

Dance Steps

Our steps 
are ordered by the Lord 
and some of those steps are dance steps! 

(See Psalms 37:23.)

Blue Lightening Through My Hands

‎

"When you are grounded in the Lord,    
when lightning strikes, 

it will flow right through You!"

--Manoah McClendon

Focus--My Favorite 'F' Word

Worshiping the Lord with the people of God (with singing our hearts out and dancing and flagging) is one of my favorite things to do. However, I worship the Lord as a lifestyle, continually, 24/7/365 simply by focusing on Him. Focus has become my “modus operandi” or as I taught one Sunday morning “Focus is my favorite ‘F’ Word.”

When I awake in the morning I start the conversation and focus on God and say, “Good morning, Lord. I love You.” He is the lover of my soul, my Beloved Papa, and I love to spend my day with Him—close and personal. I delight in His presence and He delights in me. This is eternal life—to KNOW Him. (See John 17:3.)

I try to read at least two pages of the Word every morning. I meditate or think about it and ask the Lord to speak to me and “open my eyes and let me behold wondrous things from Your Word.” (See Psalm 119:18.)  He speaks to me from the Word all the time. “Let the Word dwell in you richly.” (See Col.3:16.)

I keep turning my thoughts and my attention to Him during my day. He helps me, guides me, gives me wisdom, and He encourages me as I go along. I listen for His voice throughout my day and even as I go to sleep. I know I may hear from Him in a spiritual dream.

“Let us boldly draw near to God’s throne of grace that we may find help in our time of need.” (See Hebrews 4:16.) I constantly turn my eyes, my heart, and my thoughts to the Lord Jesus and steadfastly fix them upon Him. The Lord wants to be our “first love”. Consecration and devotion to Him is His love language. He said to seek His kingdom first and He said to love Him with all we've got. Jesus tells us to abide in Him, live in Him, or stay with Him.

It isn’t hard because it is a relationship, not a religious duty. When you are in love, don’t you want to be with your lover? When a person gets the revelation of God’s love for them individually, and “taste and see that the Lord is good” through an encounter with Him and His awesome presence, it changes everything.

I wrote a song I like to sing to Him—it is like my own Psalm. Here it is.

Abiding in Jesus by Jenna Vick Silliman, Fall 2009.

Chorus             I will abide in You, abide in You,

For You are my strength and my song.

I will abide in You, abide in You,

Lord Jesus to You I belong.

Verse 1            I love You each day and this is what I pray,

Like Mary I sit at Your feet.

In Your Word I stay, You show me the way,

To dwell in Your Presence so sweet.

Chorus

Verse 2       It is You we long to know, You satisfy the soul.

                   You give us Your favor and grace

                   May Your Holy Spirit flow and Your bride begin to glow

                   Beholding the beauty of Your face.

                  

                   Chorus

Verse 3       As we walk in Your light, in Your love we unite.

                   We pour out our worship to You.

                   In Your life we delight, may our lives shine so bright,

                   A city on a hill in plain view.

I write lists of Bible verses in the back of my Bible on various topics that are important to me and I have one entitled FOCUS.  Here are 16 Scriptures on the topic of focusing on the Lord.

1.   Abide in Me. (See John 15:4.)

2.   Have the roots of your being firmly and deeply planted in Jesus, fixed and founded in Him…becoming more and more established in the faith and abounding and overflowing in it with Thanksgiving. (See Colossians 2:7.)

3.   If then you have been raised with Christ to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead, aim at and seek the rich eternal treasures that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds and keep them set on what is above, not on the things that are on the earth. (See Colossians 3:1, 2.)

4.   Looking to Jesus, I lay aside everything that hinders. (See Heb. 12:2.)

5.   Don't look to the things that are seen, but to the unseen, for things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (See 2Cor.4:18.)

6.  My eyes are ever toward the Lord. (See Psalm 25:15.)

7.  Our hope shall be fixed on Him. (See Heb. 2:13.)

8.  Stand firm in the Lord. (See Phil. 4:1.)

9.  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable & fixed. (See Psalm 91:1.)

10. I've set the Lord continually before me. (See Psalm 16:8.)

11. The Lord God helps me...therefore I set my face like a flint. (See Isaiah 50:7.)

12. We have fixed our hope on the living God Who is our Savior and Deliverer.

(See 1Timothy 4:10.)
13. I continually behold Your face. (See Psalm 17:15.)

14. My heart is fixed, O Lord God, my heart is steadfast and confident in You. (See Psalm 57:7.)

15. Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. 

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Holy Spirit is life and peace. (See Romans 8:5-6.)

16.  Be firm, steadfast, immovable. (See 1Cor. 15:58)

I just read the Foreword in the book I'm reading about John G. Lake, 
"What gave my grandfather John G. Lake his power? 
...The reward for his focus was the gift of healing he operated in so strongly." 

Isn't 'focus' the most wonderful ‘F’ word?

Lord, help us to keep focus on You and to keep our minds toward Your kingdom. Father direct us more and more toward the will and purpose of the mission You have set before us. Holy Spirit fill us more and more with Your power to heal the sick and cast out demons and set people free! Amen.

Dance With Me

Dance with me O lover of my soul,

To the song of all songs.

Romance me O lover of my soul,

To the song of all songs...

Continual Transformation

“Be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.” (See Ephesians 5:18.) The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly symbolizes how the Spirit of God transforms us.

Holy Spirit Empowered

Dance in Worship

Dance to worship Jesus our Lord!

Even in the Sea

Psalm 139:9, 10
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.

A Healthy Life

My size 20 jeans from 2003 "before".
I lost 75 lbs. in 1 year eating raw vegetarian.

Wearing size 4 now "after" 9 years.

One of the things I am most thankful for is a healthy life. I am slim, energetic, and have no health issues. At age 54 this is unusual! In the year 2003 the Lord helped me to successfully lose 75 pounds and continues to help me keep it off. Here’s the short version of my story.

In the year 2003, at age 45, I weighed 222 pounds. (I now weigh 143 and wear size 4.) That summer a friend took a picture of me, wearing size 20 with a big belly, double chin, and a puffy face. I knew that it wasn’t me—I felt like a prisoner inside of an obese body. I was miserable. I had tried every diet I knew about and had lost and gained hundreds of pounds since my teenage years. However, I didn’t know how to maintain after losing excess weight and I would always gain it back.

In addition to being obese, I had headaches, neck, back, and knee pain, arthritis, and I was constantly sick and tired. After I saw that photograph of me, I desperately cried out to God for help. “GOD, I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED AND FED UP WITH BEING FAT! PLEASE HELP ME!”

A friend shared a story of a woman who lost excess weight and regained her health by eating an all raw vegetarian diet. I had tried eating 80% raw vegetarian—but it amazed me she ate this way 100%. The author wrote that the raw fiber, raw fats, live enzymes, perfect pH, high water content, and high oxygen content of raw produce are all satisfying to the appetite and that cooked food (especially cooked carbs) trigger overeating.

I read about twenty books and dozens of websites and people eating this way all said the same thing—they felt great and lost excess weight. I read I could eat all I wanted of fruits and vegetables as long as they were raw. The normal weight loss to expect was 20 pounds the first month, ten pounds the second month, and about five pounds per month thereafter till reaching the ideal weight range—then weight loss naturally stops. I knew this was my answer. I said, “Thank You, God!”

I talked to my husband and he said, “I think you should do it. I will fully support you, but the boys (four sons) and I are going to eat normally.” I agreed. (They continue to eat differently than me, but thankfully they all like fruit and eating salads, so there is a lot of good healthy raw produce in their diets.)

Just like predicted, in one year I lost 75 pounds and all my health problems went away and I became a new woman. That was about nine years ago and I am still rejoicing and enjoying being slim and energetic and healthy! Here’s what I normally eat in a day.

For breakfast I enjoy two or three pieces of fruit and a whole avocado —whatever fresh fruit I want—till I’m full. Before lunch I grind up a tablespoon of golden flax seed mixed with chia seed that I have in a jar on my kitchen counter. I grind it in a little electric coffee grinder that I bought at Wal-mart for about $15 that I only use for this purpose. I either stir this into water and drink it, or sprinkle it on my salad.

I enjoy my main meal in the middle of the day. I use about a fourth of a cup of extra virgin olive oil with fresh squeezed orange for my salad dressing. I eat sort of a “Waldorf” style salad every day with the following ingredients: orange, apple, grapes, grated carrot, celery, red bell pepper, raspberries, berries of other types if available, sprouts, other veggies, and 8 ounces (10 cups or so) of dark green leafy lettuces or “spring mix” with spinach, romaine, green and red leaf lettuces. I also have a couple of hard boiled eggs from my friend’s free-range-naturally-fed-happy chickens. For dinner I have a couple more pieces of delicious, fresh fruit (whatever I want) and a banana. (I am very active in the evening, dancing and flagging a lot, so I eat my evening meal after I get home.)

A "Waldorf" type salad is my main meal of the day.

See my YouTube video "Raw Vegetarian--How I Eat" for more info.
Here's the website:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk_c9-PDdvM 

I also enjoy a handful of raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds (or other nuts and seeds) each day. Nuts and seeds can be ground with the flax and chia seeds and sprinkled on my salad, or I will enjoy chewing them. (I limit nuts and seeds to about a tablespoon to ¼ cup a day at the most because I don’t feel well if I eat more.) Best source for truly raw and fresh nuts and seeds is: www.sproutpeople.org and lots of nutritional information is free on this website.

Once in a while I enjoy fish—I especially enjoy some baked wild Alaskan salmon with a double order of steamed vegetables (with no butter or salt). This is what I will order if my husband and I go out to eat to celebrate an occasion. At times I splurge and eat something else, but then I’m sorry because I don’t feel well. People ask how I have such will power. My answer is from Philippians 4:13 Amplified: “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me. He infuses me with supernatural willpower!”

My sweet treats are fruit. For example, right now persimmons are in season. Yum! I also enjoy cherries when they in season, nectarines, plums, black berries, figs, mangos, etc.—delicious and nutritious fresh fruit made by God especially for us!

I went through healing events or natural detoxing when I started eating this way. Our miraculous bodies layer the toxins in the fat stores, so as we lose weight and the fat is burned off, the toxins are released into the bloodstream and we don’t feel too well. I just rested, took hot baths, and drank plenty of water and these times of feeling weak and tired and flu-like passed. After a bout of detoxing I would feel really great and lose weight, so it was worth it. The detoxing went in ever decreasing cycles—heavier bouts at first, then lighter and lighter. Sometimes I detox for an hour or two and get through it and feel great. I use no medicine, no pills, no potions, and no powders. I use no stimulating substances like coffee, chocolate, or soda and I use no pain-killers of any kind. My beverage of choice is Kangen Water—that’s all I drink. (More on Kangen Water later!)

I do not eat like the average American, but I’m not sick and overweight like the average American either! Most Americans die of heart disease or cancer. I would like to die surfing in Hawaii when I am 107. Hahaha!

Eating this way has plenty of the macro nutrients—protein, carbs and fats, and plenty of the vitamins and minerals we need, for example: sodium (natural salt of the type our body uses) and B12 etc. There is no need to add a thing! It makes sense too. In the beginning God put us in a garden and basically said, “Here is your food and it is very good!”

My meals with lots of raw produce with raw fiber, lots of chewing, high water content, high nutrient content, along with extra-virgin or raw oils, all seem to produce “satiety” (satisfied appetite). I used to struggle a lot with overeating—I just couldn’t stop eating—but now when I finish with a raw meal, I naturally stop eating and my hunger is satisfied.

I have learned to not eat anything different for special occasions. For me to splurge on cooked food seems to lead to overeating. For holidays, birthdays or other celebrations, I will eat my normal fare. I enjoy my delicious raw food and to me it is a celebration to enjoy my awesome healthy life each and every day! With every meal I say thanks. “Thank You God for delicious raw produce and for a healthy life!”