Hello,
In England at the seaside you can buy something called ‘rock’ a brittle sugar tube and at the centre throughout the whole stick are embedded words, usually the name of the seaside town.  If I were a stick of rock the words embedded throughout my being would be  “Foundations’  Its my greatest passion.  I’m drawn to foundations or roots, to see, restore and build them so they support and strengthen as purposed.  In my own life I’ve invited and welcomed God to search me and know me, to redeem and restore foundations or roots where they’ve been damaged or simply missing.  The stuff of foundations is ‘truth and lies’ what have I understood or believed about who Jesus is, and Who He says I am.  From my beliefs I’ve made choices and decisions that either lead to life or death.  I’m left-handed and from my earliest years learned that to be so was inferior to being right-handed.  That belief grew, I believed I was ‘less than’ others academically, that I was unable to be creative.  Those beliefs were lies that affected how I saw God, and myself for years.  I quickly withdrew from creative activities, I felt fear and shame in this area until in my thirties I did a counselling retreat where we were asked to work creatively.  I freaked out of course! but that was the beginning of a journey.  Jesus met me in that place and showed me that as a child of God I AM Creative.  He showed me that he had kept every creative experience that had been stolen from me and in the last twenty years He has continually redeemed, restored and healed my foundations in this area layer by layer until in 2014 I knew Creative Integration in my Spirit, in my identity.  Today I enjoy living from this well of life and its a great and often scary adventure!

Photo by Karen Way South Australian Ocean

 

Advent reflection opens a space allowing God to survey and attend to the foundations in our hearts.
In Matthew 7:24 Jesus said
 Those people who are listening to Me, those people who hear what I say and live according to My teachings—you are like a wise man who built his house on a rock, on a firm foundation. 25 When storms hit, rain pounded down and waters rose and winds beat all the walls of that house. But the house did not fall because it was built upon rock.
Each day is filled with choices, decisions that will either lead us to a deeper awareness of God’s love for us, that empowers us to trust him or lead us to a life of meeting our own needs and depending on ourselves.  Those momentary acts become foundations in our lives.
When storms hit, the foundations reveal how and what we built with; truth and life according to who Jesus is and who he says we are, or lies we believed about God and ourselves that crumble.
In Chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians Paul writes
 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Have you ever considered this verse and how it relates to your life?
Isaiah 51:1
 Listen closely, you who diligently work for justice
    and look for the Eternal One, for what is fair and true.
It would be good for you to look back, look to the place from where you came,
    the rock out of which you were shaped and the quarry from where you were mined.
  • Are you ready to invite Jesus into your foundations?
  • Are there areas in your life you recognise cause you difficulty? or struggle?
  • If you can take some time to write down your own response to God about this.
Lord Let my life be built on you as my rock and my salvation.
Will Reagan sings about this in a song called God Alone based on Psalm 62.  Enjoy.

 

Posted in Advent Reflection, Creative Pathways, Devotions, Heart to Heart, Legacy and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,