By the Holy Spirit | Bible Journaling with Deeds

Hey guys!  It’s Deeds, and I’m back to share a bit of my journey with Jesus!

I’ve ever-so-slowly been traveling through the book of Deuteronomy.  I have found that as I go through the different sections on it, and look up the different commentaries/sermons about it, my world gets rocked!  Before I get going on this little section of my life-time journey with Christ, I will explain a bit about this process.

This time, I did NOT use acrylic paints!  HA!  I used Gansai Tambie Watercolor paints to lay down the bit of greenery you see here.  This paint palette has a tremendous amount of pigment, so you don’t need very much – in fact, with these little discs, less is more!  🙂

Danielle provided a LOT of really pretty florals with this sticker sheet, so I did my best to make a bit of an arrangement.  The “Jesus” sticker fit perfectly there at the bottom of my journaling, as the biggest accent to the page I worked.

In the process video on the Youtube channel, I share a bit of “stuff” my family went through this past week.  We had a few trips to the ER with my newborn who somehow contracted a virus… then everything went downhill from there.
I felt like I was facing my very own, hand-crafted “Red Sea” situation as I watched the doctors and nurses attend my wee one.  They did what’s called a full “work-up” on the teeny, tiny body of 7+ weeks; I still can’t believe that he was able to handle all the pokes and prods, examinations and x-rays.  72 hours, 4 doctors, 20+ nurses later, we’re home with a baby that can’t breathe through his nose, can’t nurse properly, and can’t sleep a wink.  Eegads, the Egyptians are closing in on me!

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

It stood out as plain as day: God is telling me to love Him with all my heart, mind and soul.  Jesus makes this even more clear by restating it with “all your mind,” attached.
But how do we love the Lord in this way?  And what does this look like in the face of IV’s, catheters and hospital beds?

God’s chosen people Israel are told here to come to understand this God that brought them out of slavery in Egypt; I submit that the same it true for us who are brought out of our bondage to sin.  It’s like the Lord is reaching down to His kids and saying, “Get to know me.  Love me with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength – your ENTIRE being!”  In the ER, it looks like this: remember God, and all He has done.  Remember His ability to save, His might that made me free.  Remember what I have learned about Him, and focus on His character that is never-changing and ever-present through searching scripture full of these truths.  Remember what I’ve journaled in the past, or written on countless post-it notes and index cards regarding God’s faithfulness.

The Lord God knew that Israel was going to encounter trials.  He knew they would struggle with evil from all sides!  He knew.   He knows what is true of humanity B.C., is true of humanity post the crucifixion.  And something that is totally sweet and almost ridiculous is that He wants us to know Him back.  He wants us to get to know His heart.  He wants us to know Him in a personal and intimate way.  To know God, is to love God.  To be in a love relationship with Him as He created us to be.
“Know, Israel…”  Know, Deeds.  Know, sweet friend, the Lord your God the Lord is one.  And know Him with all your heart, mind and soul!

This is how “peace that passes understanding,” is obtained!  This is how joy is even possible through tribulations and visits to the ER.  This is how one can live with a terminal illness, and desire to see another day.  Or lose the fight for a marriage, and have hope.  To know God, is to love God.  To love God is to know God.  It’s the perfect antidote to our seemingly hopeless situations.  It’s the answer to the problem of fear, anxiety, anger, confusion, doubt…

The giving of the Holy Spirit is a wonderful gift; He’s always working for us, helping us to do just these things.  He will guide us through life, breathing the very life of God into us, come rain or shine!  This intimate relationship we have with the Father is provided by the Holy Spirit; He’s the catalyst through which getting to know Yahweh is made possible.

Know Him.  Love Him.  With all you have.  It is your lifeline, your safety, your hope.

Much love,

*Deeds

IG: @mrcfuldeeds2010
Personal Youtube: mrcfuldeeds