Erna's Collage

Led by His Love

2009-11-25T09:43:00.000+02:00

(From a Calendar - Artist Unknown)

On Monday I was reading Psalm 23 on E-sword, with the Strongs concordance meanings at hand, and jotted down my newly understood interpretations. It may not stand the scrutiny of Hebrew Scholars, but it offered me some new insights that I'd like to share, so here is my paraphrase:

The uncreated God is my keeper, friend and pastor. I shall lack or want for nothing.

He grants me repose in pleasant places (pastures full of new, green sprouts). He carries me, feeds me and guides me beside peaceful waters.

He restores my vitality. He guides me in the ways of righteousness and prosperity, for His purposes and honour. When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (absence of spiritual life & vitality), I will fear no evil, for you are alongside me. Your stick and your staff lets me breathe a sigh of comfort, security and relief. (You fend off danger, and pull me closer when I stray)

You spread out a meal before me, in front of - and in opposition to - my distress/affliction/oppression/pain/anguish. You satisfy my shakenness with rich anointing oil; my cup runs over with satisfaction. (You fully satisfy me.)

Surely, only good (things & people) and kindness/favour/mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life, and I will inhabit/abide in the dwelling of the self-Existent, uncreated, eternal God for ever.

As I opened my Max Lucado booklet, "In the footsteps of Jesus" today, I opened on these two pages, which are actually title pages for the next chapter of notes, photos and inspiration from Scripture, and have always passed me by as such. Today these four words on the righthand page became very special:

What a wonderful Shepherd Jesus is - Lover of our souls, Carer, Protector, Guide, Friend

and our greatest Hope and Destiny!

A Small Booklet of Prayer

2009-11-02T20:16:00.000+02:00

One of my current projects (besides painting ☺), is the making of a small booklet of prayer. That includes writing, compiling, illustrating, printing and... I want to bind it by hand, with a special, handmade cover. It has been a time-consuming, but very satisfying, project. I am more or less half-way now. It covers different themes, eg. Praise, the names of God, confession, forgiveness, the Blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God's purposes for our lives. For each theme there is a picture, a theme scripture, a short prayer, which is entirely based on relevant scriptures and a page for notes, also containing the Scripture references used.

Here is a small sneek preview of the contents of the pages I did today:

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

Ps 139:16

The Prayer:

How encouraging to know that your eternal purposes for me will stand. What a loving God you are, having good plans for me, plans to prosper me, not to harm me; plans to give me a hope and a future! I am so grateful as I ponder the fact that I am your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which you have prepared in advance for me to do. Thank you that, even though I may have many plans in my heart, it is your purposes for me that will prevail, because you work out everything in conformity with the purpose of your will.

I pray that you direct my steps and bring divine appointments across my way. Thank you that you work in me to will and to act according to your good purpose!

The Scriptures used:

Jer 29:11, Eph 2:10, Prov 19:21, Eph 1:11, Prov 20:24, Phil 2:13

The booklet will be printed in a square format, about 15 x 15 cm, and the outward beauty of it will lie in the layout and the paper used. I intend making a few copies as gifts. (And I have other themes in mind for some follow-up booklets!) Once complete, I will post some pictures of it.

The Prayer Shawl

2009-09-11T19:47:00.000+02:00

I received a very special item today, that I ordered a while ago: a PRAYER SHAWL, made in Israel, with the names of God on it! I am so excited about it!

I have recently resumed a little project that I started a while ago: compiling a little illustrated prayer booklet, printed on sepcial paper, and bound by hand, to give as gifts. I was busy with the pages of praising God for all his wonderful characteristics revealed through his names in the Bible, when this lovely shawl arrived. God's timing is always PERFECT!

But the real reason why it is special, is because of the rich, wonderful symbolism hidden in it. God commanded the Israelites in Num 15:38 and Deut 22:12 to pu fringes (tsi-tsi), containing blue threads, on thei garments, to remind them to keep his commandments. This fringed garment (called a Tallit), is still used by Jews today, to cover themselves when they pray. It serves as a sort of mini-"tent" , to separate oneself from the outside world. The two ends of the garment are called the "wings" of the garment. (When you wear the garment, and lift up your arms, they form "wings")

This meaning is also found in, "hide me under the shadow of your wings" (Ps 17:4), as well as in, "... and under his wings you will find refuge" in Ps 91:4). Isn't that Awonderful: God hiding us under the "wings" of his garment, shielding us from the world? At the same time, it means that the tassels in the fringe of his garment - the everlasting laws and commandments of God - are there for our protection.

Now, in Mal 4:2 God gave this promise: "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." Here, again, "wings" can refer to the wings of a garment. The woman with theissue of blood, in Matthew 9:20-22, knew this promise. She knew that the Messiah would have "healing in his wings" - that is: healing in the wings (tassels) of his garment. That is why she touched the hem of his garment!!! Jesus commended her for her faith, because her action proved that she believed that he was the Messiah promised in Mal 4:2! Aren't the wonders of God's word absolutely amazing!

This is not the end yet! Jesus was on his way to the daughter of Jairus, when the woman touched him. He touches her and says, "Talitha Cumi!" - Little girl, rise! Even though Talitha here is a Greek word, it audibly links with the Jewish word, Tallit, referring to the fringed garment! It is also related to two Chaldeen words, Taleh, and Telah, which mean "covering" and "lamb" respectively. Here we have a covering (Tallit) again, and at the same time it reminds us that Jesus, the Lamb of Gog, brought us healing: of sin and of sickness.

When God shows us wonders like this in his Word, I just want to join Paul in praise:

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! . . Who has known the mind of God? . . . for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever, Amen!" (Rom 11:33-36)

I gleaned most of the above when John Francis gave a teaching about it on TV. He also wrote a book, which is available on several bookshops on the Web. If you Google, "Prayer Shawl John Francis", you will find several of them.

At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tallit you can read about the modern day Tallit.

A very helpful tool in Bible Study is the E-SWORD, which can be downloaded FOR FREE. It contains the complete Strong's Concordance, as well as several other tools, like commentaries, maps, etc. I urge you to go and have a look!

Your Joy is my Strength

2009-08-16T14:40:00.000+02:00

A miraculous thing happens when you are persuaded that the God of the universe truly loves you personally, even with all your faults and failures. You see, love can bear all things, love can believe all things, love can hope in all things, and love can endure all things. This is the joy that becomes our strength.

(Tiffany Ann Lewis)

(Ps. The picture above is a web image, not one of my artworks.)

CREATE A MASTERPIECE!

2009-05-23T15:53:00.000+02:00

"Order is what gives you the freedom to be creative. Order gives you the peace of mind you need to tune into God's supernatural frequencies and tap into divine inspiration. Without order you will be distracted with the cares and concerns of this life so that you cannot still your mind to hear God's voice.

"It is impossible to imagine and envision when you are overextended and stressed. You need to schedule time to purposefully paint the canvas of your life by investing in creative dreaming. Stop to think. Order your day so that you have the time and peace you need to create the masterpiece God has preordained for you. Make certain that you have scheduled time for praying, meditation, reading the Word of God, praise and worship. "

The above is a very short excerpt from a word by Cindy Trimm on The Elijah List (http://www.elijahlist.com/words/index.html). It is published under the heading: "Take control of your day". Cindy also writes books, which you can read more about on the above mentioned website.

Magazine Article

2009-05-08T07:28:00.000+02:00

The Zululand Observer, an local area newspaper published twice a week, issues a free magazine, the GETit, with the newspaper once a month, in which they normally do a profile of a local personality. this time they chose me! Here are the cover page and the article:

(If you click on the article it will enlarge enough to read)

2009-01-14T11:42:00.005+02:00

You Have Ordained Praise

I have been painting lots of animals lately, and felt I wanted to paint something more expressive, for a change. I chose to make a painting around a theme that I have been meditating on:

Ps 8:2 "...you have ordained praise.. To silence the foe and the avenger."

I knew I wanted light, darkness and flowers in it. Here it is:

Sometimes, when I make a spontaneous, intuitive painting like this, the painting starts communicating back to me, once completed. Here are some of my thoughts inspired by the words and the painting:

God ordained praise. He puts it in our hearts and we offer it back up to Him. Praise is a powerful weapon, piercing the pitchblackness of our obstacles en enemies, reaching right into the throne room of heaven, until His glory is all we see, and darkness dims in the gleam of his Glory.
Flowers glorify God, purely by virtue of being what they are - manifestations of the creative breath of God, bearing the signature of His nature & glory. Lives lived according to God’s initial intentions and purposes do the same - they become songs of praise above the noise of mediocrity and everything that is anti-God, streaks of light pointing to the glory of Truth and Grace.

Let everything that has breath, PRAISE the Lord!!

Youthful Bliss

2008-01-25T21:23:00.000+02:00

This is a painting that I made of a little girl called Melissa. She is the only grandchild of friends of mine and is named after their third daughter who got raped and killed here in town during her high school years by someone she was witnessing to, more than thirteen years ago. They forgave the murderer. I was asked to translate into Afrikaans the letter of forgiveness that they sent to him in prison.
Melissa (the grandchild) was born with a very serious heart defect. The valves in her heart worked the wrong way. Lots of prayer went up for her. After several operations she not only survived, but grew up into a bubbly, joyful ball of energy - a testimony to God’s grace and goodness.
I was having tea with some friends one day a couple of years ago at a little coffee shop, when the proud grandmother, who always kept us informed of Melissa’s progress (because of all the prayer that went up for her), took a couple of photo’s of Melissa out of her handbag and showed them around. When I saw this one, I asked her for it, because I knew I had to paint it.
When I look at her face, it reminds me to look at life through the eyes of a child. And it reminds me of God’s goodness.
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3
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Some of my other paintings can be seen on www.SouthAfricanArtists.com/Home/ErnaWade

2007-12-02T18:43:00.000+02:00

7 THINGS:

I was tagged by Carin to write seven random/weird things about myself. Here they are:

I was born in Windhoek and spent the first 17 years of my life in Namibia. I have since lived in South Africa, but I carry in my heart a great love for the wide, open spaces of Namibia - where you can look over vast plains without seeing a single sign of human habitation, and for the desert - where you can hear the silence, a silence so loud that it makes your ears ring.

I’m the youngest of six, but grew up as an only child. Let me explain: My Father had one daughter from a previous marriage and my mom had three daughters and a son, also from a previous marriage. My brother, the youngest of them all, is 12 years older than me and went to a technical school for the last 5 years of his schooling, which left me as an only child at home.

My dad, born in 1905, fought in Egypt during the second World War. He got injured and spent some time in hospital in Cairo. He died in 1980, when I was 18.

I am not a very social type of person, but I value friendship immensely. I don’t forget friends, even if somehow I lose contact with them. I always wonder about them and if I have a chance, will try to contact them.

I love being creative. Painting, photography, sewing, gardening, cooking, playing the piano, scrapbooking, pottery.... I love reading and researching something that captures my attention.

I enjoy the simple things in life: Sunshine through my window, birds in the garden, a meal on the verandah in the evening, a flower opening... I love interacting with nature, walking in the veld, following a riverbank, having a picnic under a tree, camping by the sea...

I love bright colours. I will often wear colours together like orange and pink, or red and orange. To me colours are a celebration of life. If I had to live in a room with powdery blue walls, I would find it quite depressing. In fact, I had to do that once, for a few months. I coped by draping material with a bright orange, blue and red design (that I printed myself) over the chair (which, I think, was also powdery blue :-)).

The Radiance of HIs Face

2007-11-05T20:00:00.000+02:00

The Radiance of his Face

Your face, LORD, I will seek. (Ps 27:8)

The greater part of what follows, I have gleaned from an "Israel Teaching Letter" written by Clarence H. Wagner, Jr, off the "Bridges for Peace" - Web site in 2002.

When we try to understand Biblical language, it is helpful to look at the word in the original language. We also need to keep in mind that the Old Testament is written from a Hebrew mind set, where the function of an object is more important, as opposed to the Greek mind set, which is more concerned with its form.

The Hebrew word for face is panim, which is the same word used for "presence". Eg. the showbread of Ex 25:30, called the bread of the presence, is written as Lechem HaPanim, literally the "Bread of the Face". In Israel, the Ministry of Interior is called Misrad HaPanim, or Office of Presence. Literally, this is the the government office that keeps a record of all citizens present in the land. Panim is also the plural form of the word, actually meaning faces. The face(s) of God represents the many facets of his character, like the many facets of a diamond. Note the word, facet, also has "face" as its root.

A person’s face identifies him. It reveals what’s inside of him; his emotions, dispositions and also his character shows in his face.

God wants us to look at him, to show him our face. He wants us to look into his heart; therefore He shows us "his face". In the Aaronic blessing (Num 6:25), the Lord says to us, "The Lord make his face to shine on you". The Hebrew word for shine used here has to do with luminescence, a light that glows from within. In the Bible, light is the essence of God’s presence. "God is light" (1 Jn 1:5) He lives in unapproachable light (I Tit 6:16).

To make his face shine on you is an indication of divine approval. He is pleased with us, like a king that is granting an audience to a subject, lifting his sceptre, extending his favour. That which is dross should burn away in his presence.

Daniel, when interceding for Jerusalem (Dan 9:17), asks God to look with favour on his desolate sanctuary. The light of God’s face brings salvation: "Turn us, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. (Ps 80:3,7,19)

Light symbolises life and prosperity. To see the light is to be born, to be alive. Light brings understanding. It is associated with life, salvation, wisdom, revelation. The entrance of you words give light (Ps 119:130). When the Lord lifts up his face upon us, He is smiling down on us, extending his friendship. Joy Dawson from Youth With A Mission once said, "Oh, the absurdity of thinking that any human relationship can match friendship with the living God! That is the justice of God to the single person."

Moses talked with God face to face, as with a friend (Ex 33:11, Num 12:8), Dt 5:4, 34:10). In what seems like a paradox, God tells Moses that "no one can see My Face and live. (Ex 33:20-23) Yet, Jacob said, "I have seen God face to face. John said, "No one has ever seen God" (Jh 1:18)
Until we die a physical death, none of us will be holy enough to directly see the face of God. But, I believe that God can open our spiritual eyes to see his Face shining on us.

He desires for us to seek his face, his presence. God created us to have fellowship, intimacy with him - face to face. Jesus promises us in Joh 14:23: "We will come and live with him". He doesn’t dwell in a temple anymore. He dwells in us. We are his temple. ( I Cor 3:16) His Shekinah glory dwells in us! The word, Shekinah, comes from a Hebrew root meaning "dwelling" or "resting". It is not in the Bible, but was derived by Rabbis to refer to the presence of God among us.

What a glorious comfort and joy: the eternal God, Creator of the universe - living in close quarters with me - on a daily basis. An ever present friend, counsellor and Father. Truly, "there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother" (Pr 18:24)

All these glorious blessings (intimacy, acceptance, approval, God’s presence, revelation, life, prosperity, even salvation) are locked up in the simple phrase, "Lord, make your face shine on us". It is a wonderful prayer to pray for loved ones, lost ones and oneself on a daily basis.

Ps 105:4 - Seek his face always!

Refiner's Fire

2007-10-28T17:04:00.000+02:00

Friday I was starting to feel a little bit down. During my quiet time God encouraged me as I was reading from Ps 118.
As I became quiet, I saw myself standing in God’s fire. The amazing thing was that the flames didn’t hurt me at all, and my heart was totally at peace and contented and my spirit was saying, "Burn your fire, Lord; purify me." I was happy to be cleansed, purified and made beautiful in God’s eyes.

This was very encouraging to me and reminded me of Isa 43:2 "When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." as well as Mal 3:2 "He will be like a refiner’s fire.. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver ... refine them like gold and silver.."

Then, as it turned out, my memory verse for the day was 1 Pet 1:7 "These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory & honour when Jesus Christ is revealed."

I knew that, whatever situations in my life I was experiencing to be limiting or frustrating, were being used by God for his purposes in my life, that He was in divine control, and that the end result would be for His glory. That is enough for me. The Lord, once again, has proved to be my strength, my song and my salvation! All praise to him!

As the Rain ...

2007-10-20T11:57:00.000+02:00

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return from it
without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields
seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my
mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and
achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10,11

I love gardening. I love putting things in the ground and seeing them grow. You plant and plant and then, one day, you walk through the garden and, oh, the joy! - there’s a new leaf on that little slip. Or there’s a flower forming on that plant that you planted weeks - or months - ago. A sure sign that something has been happening all the time, even though you weren’t aware of it. The plants just keep on growing, as the rain drenches the soil around their roots and the lovely sunshine warms them. You don’t see it while it happens, but suddenly, one day - you see the results!

Some time ago the Lord just connected this gardening experience for me with his word in Isa 55:11. That is exactly how it is: We sow his Word in prayer, we speak his word over situations, and we don’t see the effect. But He is working. Then, suddenly, one day: there it is: the result of our prayer! When I pray and I don’t see anything happening, God reminds me that I don’t see plants growing, either, but they are growing, nonetheless. And the results will surely come!

Eternal Light

2007-10-14T15:54:00.001+02:00

After a relatively spiritually dry period in my life, where I was isolated from friends and fellowship, God made a way where there seemed to be no way. Hy made a way for me to get wonderful fresh spiritual input and stimulation. He had been sustaining me so beautifully that I hardly noticed that I was going through a semi-desert, but once the mist cleared and I could see new horizons, it was like my soul was just flooded with the richness of His glory and grace, and I wrote this poem to celebrate it.

There’s a light in my soul -
warm, secure, comforting.
Your oil burning -
being filled, replenished -
moment by moment,
new every morning,
illuminating
world upon world
of your glory.
The radiance of your face,
the YES of your Spirit -
a light-stream from
the Eternal Source,
saturating me
with your
extravagant
LOVE.