Christian Archives - Page 5 of 5

Introduction to God Shows Up

by tiffanyGod Shows Up June 9, 2019May 14, 2019No Comments

To those who do not believe in God He may be a fictional character, distant, or dead. To those who have experienced the real and true God He is very much alive, real, and desires a relationship with His followers. Those who believe in God are His children and each have a different experience with Him.

I have experienced the God of the Bible, and I have a relationship with him. I know He hears my prayers, because He has answered them in His perfect timing.

For a while I’ve wanted to share the love I feel and the experiences I’ve had with God. I was not sure how I would do this. What would be the best way of spreading God’s love? How should I explain the truths of the Bible that I know first hand?

I finally asked an important question. What do people I know want to read? The answer was that at least one person wanted to read about the experiences I’ve had with God.

In this series I will start with that idea, but also expand it. I will be writing stories of answered prayers, times God showed up in my life, and what my spiritual life looks like. Eventually I may even branch out and write about God showing up in other believers’ lives.

Some weeks I will focus on telling a story about my experience, other weeks I will focus on explaining an important area of my spiritual life, and finally other weeks there will be a combination of those styles.

I do hope you enjoy the story of how I see God show up and please, let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading.

Where Am I? – DreamWard Bound

by tiffanyDreamward bound, Life January 9, 2019March 24, 2020No Comments

dreamward bound logo for where am I

I started this DreamWard Bound series almost 5 years ago. A lot has changed with the series and in my life, since then. My creative life has bounced from the foreground of my focus to the back burner and back up front.

What I focus on in my creative life has bounced around, also. Even my artistic purpose has morphed into something new.

My creative focus has changed, because the close I get to my ideal life the more I learn about myself and my true passions. I’m still not living my ideal life, but I am learning more about it.

In learning about my true passions I have added and changed my artistic theme and purpose. My theme now is ‘joyfully fun creations.’ I’m trying to keep most of my art joyful and/or fun. Sometimes I will still step away from my theme. This is mostly seen with poetry and other writings.

Having a theme to focus on has helped with my art and creating a solid body of work that has the same light, joyful feeling and style to it.

This theme/ style has carried into my memoir that I almost have completed. The book has been taking up a lot of my creative energy for the past few years, which is why this blog has been so sporadic. I have high hopes for it in both publishing success and keeping my new artist theme. I worked long and hard on it, so hopefully it is good. It’ll be very me at least.

I have also started to do more digital art work and post them for sale on Redbubble. I’m having fun creating lettering art and silly characters to share. I will be giving Redbubble at least 1 post of its own, if not more, in the near future.

I am also planning on writing more blogs and making sure this site is up to date on all my creative happenings, so stay tuned.

Elevation

by tiffanyother updates, random ramblings August 27, 2015One Comment

After my layover chat with the Mormons I realized I never write in detail about my church. I love it yet I’ve never wrote about it. It is so unique, authentic and loving that I believe our story should be told.

The story of Elevation has to start with the pastor, Chuckk (yes, spell check it has 2 k’s). I believe his openness to share his past, personality, and love is the reason everyone involved with the church feels safe to share and be themselves. It is a beautiful thing when a group of people can be authentically themselves as they journey towards a personal relationship with God the creator.

When there are no wall or barriers to break through you can then start to learn and grow with people on the same journey as you.

Chuckk’s wife, Andrea, of course needs to be spoken about. She is there every week setting up environment and loving people. She is encouraging and a strong Christian woman. She has become my mentor and one of the ladies who I look up to. She leads by example and makes sure everyone feels welcomed into our church.

I could go on about ever single person that is important to the church but that would fill a book and I am not up for that right now. I would most likely forget to mention the middle school leader or the grumpy guitarist. I’ll just leave talking about each awesome person for another post. Or maybe it would be another series.

I really want to focus on what makes Elevation, Elevation. The people are what is important and what gives Elevation the unique feeling but that is not the only thing. People where I start when I think about Elevation.

We believe that Church is not about the building or even the weekly service. The Church is the people who make up the community of believers we hang out with. And most do hang out either after service, during the week, or at random events. It seems like lately there are a bunch of events that people are going to and inviting other members. Elevation also organizes events, because we know that there is only so much that can be learned from Chuckk and it takes community to really grow and help others grow.

We do have service each week which is important. This is where we can worship and learn about God from a smart dude who very obviously knows God and has a deep relationship with him.

We also get to express our love for God through music which, Jeremy leads. He is also a pretty great dude. I mean he was willing to leave his home in Colorado to move to an un-churched area for the worship leader position that can only pay him as a part-time position. If that isn’t trusting God I’m not positive what is. HE also has a wonderful talent for finding great musicians.

The skill of musical people and other creative people are part of the culture of Elevation. This is also one reason I fit into this church. We are weird creative people who love God.

The mission statement of Elevation is, “Elevation exists to worship God, reach the unconvinced and together grow to be more like Jesus.” The 7 guiding values are, “Scripture-centric Teaching, Cultural Relevance, Missional Living, Engaging Worship, Authentic Community, Transformed Lives, and Focused Simplicity”

Oh yeah and we must be cool because we meet at a night club/ bar. You see we believe the actual locations doesn’t matter. We just need a space to meet in regularly. Plus, more people may feel alright going to a night club and not a cathedral or other church building.

For more information about my amazing Church you can go to Elevation’s website.

Let me know if you have any questions about Elevation or church in general; and all feedback is welcomed.

My End Goals And Dreams

by tiffanyLife, other updates, random ramblings June 14, 2015No Comments

I mentioned in this week’s DreamWard Bound post that I was going to sit down and revise not only my goals but my dreams or end goals. I wanted to start from scratch and figure out where I actually want to go from where I am.

I have done this at least one other time and I do not believe I shared the entire thing that I wrote about my goals and dreams. I have big dreams and sometimes I wonder if I share them if that will hurt my chances of getting them. Well, more and more I am realizing that dreams are just goals without actionable steps being taken. My dreams might be larger than my life, but I do have small steps to walk towards them. I am creating goals for my life to bring me to my dreams.

Since my ideas of dreams and goals have changed, I would like to share with you my end goal and what I imagine my perfect life to be. I am not saying that my life will be perfect. It will just be perfectly suited for me. I know there will be hard times and sacrifices that I must make along the way, but it will be worth it.

Here you go.

Goals and Dreams:

Where do I start? In my dreams I am a happy artist.

My main focus is writing and acting. I wake up early most days and work long hours when I am on set. I am warm and friendly to both cast and crew. People Enjoy working with me. I work on either faith-based of sci-fi/ fantasy based movies or television shows portraying strong women, dorky side kicks, independent women or other roles that break false images of women or Christians. My main focus with acting is to shine the light of God’s love and the strength he gives his daughters. I want mainstream media to stop putting down or giving a false image of Christian women.

I want to be a part of a movement where we bring Christian morals back to entertainment and art. I want to help people see that Christianity is about loving each other and God’s love. I want to show and teach people that religion for religion’s sake is wrong, but a loving relationship with God is the way to live. He is the one who can save the world and he is the reason for love. Jesus came to the world not to condemn it but to save it and the world should know that. I want to help the world learn that kind of love.

Sorry for that little rant. Let me continue with the other areas of my future life.

I have a fan base that feels comfortable around me and who I actually help. They find support along with a distant friend in me.

I am more than an actor though. I also write and publish books. I have my blog, but my books are my main writing focus and means of income as far as writing is concerned.

I also work towards crossing 1 item off my bucket list each year.

When I am not writing or acting I want to be training BJJ or even another martial art. I want to be able to learn from every aspect of my life and use it towards acting, writing or any other art form I may take up. BJJ helps me prepare for fight scenes and give me confidence and friendship. My end goal with BJJ is to be physically healthy, able to protect myself, and perhaps even become a black belt.

For my family I imagine that I am close and talk often to both my real family and my church family. I know that they will always be there for me and they support me the best way they can. I want to be able to support them also with the needs they have. I also want to become as open as possible with each and every family member, creating relationships with no walls.

I know that I can do all this because I am focused on God. He is the only way that I will stay on track. I will grow my relationship with him daily either by prayer, podcasts, books, sermons, audio-books or conversations directed towards God.

My goals that I have are as follows:

Spiritual: In order to focus on God more fully I will not watch tv or YouTube, unless with friends or it’s teaching on God, for the next 3 months (until September 13th) and with that extra time I will listen to a podcast or read a Biblical based book. This time will be focused on growing my understanding about God and exploring where he might be leading me.

Relationship: I will tell one person that I love them every day for the next month (until July 13th) and try to start a conversation with them. I am doing this to strengthen my relationships and spread my love.

Physical: I am going to train BJJ at least 3 days and do bed-room workouts 2 other days every week. In addition I am going to eat 1 organic meal a week and at least 1 healthy meal every day. I will do this for the next month (until July 13th).

Editing: I will spend 30 hrs in the next 30 days editing my book (July 13th), keeping in mind that my new deadline for the second draft is November 1st.

Acting/ Writing: I will write 1 monologue a week and record at least 1 monologue a month. I will post every monologue that I record to YouTube to help grow my audience and receive feedback. I will do this for 3 months (until September 13th).

World Away (A letter)

by tiffanyother updates September 15, 2014No Comments

I normally try to keep the topic of God to my other blog (Salty Light Project), but in hopes that this reaches those who are in great struggle, because of their faith and that they live in a country that does not allow them to believe in the same God that so many take for granted, I am putting this here.

I hope you are moved by this and if you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Dear friends, brothers, those who live in a world far away yet pursuing the same truths. To those who are tortured and beaten because they love.

I can do little, but I will pray. I am only one person, but your story has traveled across the world to me. If I can I will help,because no matter what we are made up of the same substances. We both have skin to cover our muscles. We both have eyes to see the world and both have ears to hear the truth. If nothing else is similar we are both humans and we both deserve to love and live in the truth of the world.

I am be only one, but I have a voice and this is me saying I will pray for your bones not to break and for your heart to stay strong. I will pray your soul finds peace in the turmoil and that your spirits stay strong. They can break your bones but not your soul. They can make your life a horrible nightmare with no end, but when you wake up from the nightmare you will be in paradise. Keep that thought, friend, in your mind.

You may live through terrifying ordeals with unending pains, but the life you have to live is not your whole story. You may be broken down and even killed but as long as your soul stays firm on the firm foundation which you planted it on you, dear brother, will last forever.

Please, know that you are loved, you are strong, and you are not alone. Even if the only ones that stand by your side is a random girl across the world and God, you do not stand alone. You are being prayed for. You are strengthening my faith and my prayer life. I know it’s not much, but your strength is strengthening others. Stay strong and know you are not alone. You are being prayed for.

Sincerely,

a sister in faith.

Stated Song: Jesus, Friend Of Sinners.

by tiffanymy creative self, recorded May 24, 2014No Comments

This week’s monologue was taken from Casting Crown’s song Jesus, Friend Of Sinners. This song was written by Casting Crowns in 2011 and recorded on Come To The Well under Provident Label Group . The link to the music video is youtube.com and their website is castingcrowns.com.

I love the song and have heard it a bunch of times, so figured it would be a good song to do. I hope you enjoy it.

I also tried something a little different for the intro and closing, so feedback will be great appreciated.

Precious

by tiffanymy creative self, Poetry December 12, 2013No Comments

Hello, today I decided to do the daily prompt. This is a mostly unedited poem. Please let me know what you think.

Precious

Who is precious?

Who can do no wrong?

There is only one.

With love flowing out

he came to the ground

with all the power

of the earth he owned,

He humbled himself to save every soul;

he came to rescue everyone.does no wrong

Yes my precious lives far above,

yes the one who can do no wrong

wrote the rules of the universe in our hearts.

He is love and truth.

He rescues those who,

by the free will he gave,

chose to walk away.

He is in my precious.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/daily-prompt-my-precious/

More for sale

by tiffanymy creative self, Visual art October 28, 2013No Comments

I feel like lately I’ve only been posting about my painting and most of you started to follow my blog while I posted my poems. I will be getting back into the rhythm of writing poetry soon, hopefully this week. That being said I have been focused on painting more lately and some have started following this blog after I posted my art. Here is what I’ve been working on and posted on eBay this week.

I added to my Dance On The Moon painting to give it more depth and character. This is a 20 inch by 16 inch acrylic painting on canvas.

dancing on the moon and 1st hearts 006

All other paintings this week are artist trading cards which are 2.5 inch by 3.5 inch and are reinforced card stock (so 2 ply card stock) acrylic paintings.

The first group is in my series Cross, which are simply crosses done on different backgrounds with different textures of the cross. Each on is unique just like each person’s struggles and reasons to go to the cross are unique.

ACEOs 025

The next card is an abstract pumpkin that was just fun and festive to do

We now come to my latest series called What’s your heart? This series highlights and celebrates each person’s heart and background. We are all different with different lives to live and different ways we show are love. So what’s your heart?

Following God

by tiffanyrandom ramblings May 27, 2013No Comments

Over the three years and some odd months that I’ve called myself a Christian and have followed God He has spoken to me in different ways. Whether its through prayer, a pastor’s message, reading the Bible, talking with friends or simply looking at the world around him. Sometimes God whispers through nature, pulling your focus to the different seasons or the life of a lovely flower, which whispers there is a time for everything and God makes beautiful life like art.

Little signs and whispers are sweet and loving. Yet, that is not the only way God speaks He also can shout with a flood of tweets saying “be brave”, friends saying that any dream is scarey but it is worth it, reading Bible versions saying trust in God, and pastors’ messages saying God has a plan and we must follow it. Yes, it seems like God is shouting to me “follow my plan” and that is scarey, because no where in the Bible does it say God is safe or comfortable.

God is loving, awesome, just and powerful, but his wisdom, power and love is not worldly, it is above the world’s understanding. This causes his plans to bigger than we can imagine. We can not understand His plans.

If we trust and follow God we cannot rely on our own understanding. We have to trust that God really knows what he is doing, although our path may be dark he will bring you through it, and God’s plans is the best path for you. If you truly follow God you have to fully trust him and believe in him 100%.

That is what he is telling me right now and my thoughts on it. So prepare for more blogs about my adventures and poems about hard paths and struggling towards my dreams.