Writing and Art From A Life Redeemed by Jesus Christ

Waiting to be Filled  © 2005 Debbie Turner Chavers I originally posted this encouragement in 2010. When my oldest daughter was a little girl she presented an older family member with a freshly picked flower from the yard. I do not remember what the flower was, but the person who received the gift saw it as a weed, not as a flower. He considered all flowers that were not of the genius that he cultivated to be weeds. He worked in horticulture and propagated new flowers. He had mastered flower knowledge yet was in the infant stage of sensitivity. He failed to see the bud of sharing that was growing in my young daughters heart. "That is not a flower, that is a weed" he said, as she presented her gift. " I do not want it, take it out of the house." Her child like response was " But I picked it for you". Needless to say. I was not pleased and my daughter appeared confused by the rejection. She went from a smile and out stretched hand to a ...

Recently, I heard a conversation between a young girl and her grandpa in the parking lot on the way into the sanctuary at church.  As I walked I overheard her asking a question as a statement. "The fingers and toes are important.  Aren't they papa? " "Yes, they are." He replied. Within a few seconds I was in the building and they were part of the crowd around me.  Just a bit of random overheard conversation on my journey.  Or was it? I think not.  I have been studying for the past couple of weeks the role of the body of Jesus Christ in the earth and my part in that body. One of my conversations with the LORD as He is teaching me was an example based on a missing part within a whole. Mental imagery, a pie with a slice missing.  The pie is still a pie yet the imagery shows you something is missing! The slice of pie has left the building! Think of a stick figure, even the youngest artist will draw a head, a trunk, two arms, and two legs.  But we a...

Invisible Walls, Luke 4:18, Setting the Captives Free                          © 1996 Debbie Turner Chavers                         My Initial Art Journal Sketch As I was cleaning house, I started thinking about salvation and how rules and regulations appear to our fleshly nature.  Whenever we have been shackled in any kind of bondage, unsaved condition or  habit and are finally set free, even wearing a bracelet can feel impossible to manage. Any weight of condemnation or rules governing us, seem unbearable to our fleshly nature. Almost offensive, instead of seeing the rules or regulations as protection, we can, without  knowledge of God's word and His character view them as bondage. In our lack of understanding it just becomes a different kind of bondage. It is so very important that we renew our mind in God's word so as to understa...