The Ultimate Illustrator

Last week on two separate occasions, I had the opportunity to share with some lovely ladies a few illustrated insights that the Lord had blessed me with at times when I needed it most.  I was reminded of how great of an Illustrator our Jesus Christ truly is and it isn't only intended for my spiritual eyes to marvel at His works.  This thought pinged my heart because Illustrating isn't anything new for Him. This is something that Jesus has being doing for quite some time.  In His time here on earth He spoke in parables in order for people to see the story He was sharing.  Mark 4:33 HCSB says, "He would speak the Word to them with many parables like these, as they were able to understand."  The reason it pinged my heart is because I had taken what He illustrates for me for granted...it's something that makes me feel good when I am feeling down or lowly...it helps navigate me from point A to point B...it makes sense of this season to the next, strengthening me along the journey...it's what gets me through.   His Truth and His daily reminders to me is what blesses me in my walk with Him.  I have to be honest and say this is where I tend to take it for granted...in my daily walk.  He shows me beautiful blessings along my way as I plow through my day.  I am so focused on my tasks and often times things around me, not always the things He's showing me but the things I want to see obscure the blessings I see around me but don't recognize as blessings. This is what I totally take for granted.  It's in quiet moments or in opportunities that I get to share my heart with a friend that Jesus will illustrate just what He has done and blessed me with.  He paints a beautiful illustrated story for me to understand what I may have missed in a time that I overlooked it but He brings it to full picture now that He's got my full attention!  These beautiful illustrations are not meant to stay with just me.  It's meant to be shared.  To encourage others.  To bless others.                 1 Thessalonians 4:18 AMP tells us, "Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words."  This was an "A-HA!" moment.

I've always been a type of person who learns visually.  Sitting down to study 'WORDS' and learning by a book full of words is tough for me.  TOUGH...but, I can do it.  Not my favorite thing to do...but, I will do it.  Call me strange, but for not enjoying the studying of words I actually LOVE words.  I love to look up the definition of them, what they mean, their origin and then I reflect on how it ties into what is being said in the sentence it is used in.  BUT, I do not find pleasure in sitting down and reading word after word in a chapter book!  Weird?  Yes!  I know.  The Lord knows this, too, so I believe that's why He has blessed me for as long as I can remember with very vivid dreams and analogies that tie His Word into my life and whatever I may be dealing with at that time. 

Now, picture books...I absolutely adore them! My most favorite kind of book!  They are usually large enough to fit perfectly nestled into my lap as I flip page after page.  Gazing upon each deliberately color filled illustration which is full of vividness and variety of effects that in the picture alone it speaks its story.  One reason I love picture books is because they do not require an age or reading level to crack them open and enjoy.  One picture book can easily entertain an audience ranging in ages and reading skills. I'm sure of this!

Understand, chapter books are very, very important.  There are amazing, wonderful people God has blessed to be able to read, dissect, break down and define all those amazing words that I love so much.  I am thankful for those people and stand amazed by them.  I, however, do not hold the capacity to even pretend that I slightly understand how they do this.  God blesses each of us with different gifts and talents so that we can be a blessing to others.  Romans 12:6 in the Amplified says, "Having gifts (faculties, talents, qualities) that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them..." Amen and thank you, Jesus!

I share all this to say, it takes me awhile to get things and fully grasp them, so I believe God uses analogies through vivid illustrations in my dreams or just in little moments that He seizes for me.  Often times, He may have to hit the rewind button several times playing it over and over again until I finally see what He is showing me.  It's always perfect.  The timing.  The exact moment.  The place where I'm at.  The season in my journey.  He knows.  Then I get to push that rewind button and begin to replay what He has already shown me being able to pause it as I steep in that moment that catches me, that speaks to me, that calls me to my kness.  I get to see Him in all His Glory.  I can almost visualize God and Me sitting on the couch about to watch the 'video' of what He just captured for me.  As I'm watching it, He's watching me and my reactions and smiling upon me as He sees me seeing what He already saw for me.  His strong arm goes around my shoulder as I begin to slump forward and inward toward Him in the moments of hardship and difficulty.  He fully embraces me as He smiles over me expelling His radiance upon me as I rest in Him seeing how He's working in my life for the good.  He continues to pour blessing upon me as I see it...I finally see it!  His Face shines upon me.   Oh, how I just adore those moments with Him!  NOW, if I would only slow down in my hurried life in which I think the tasks of the day and my agenda are so dog-gone important that I need to fly by and see things in a blurred vision, oh, how much more calm would my soul be!!  Goodness, Me!! Psalm 46:10 AMP, "Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God."

Did I happen to mention that I am a slow learner, too?  I am very intelligent.  But I most definitely seem to take a long time to learn something of great importance when it comes to my eternal life in Heaven.  I get caught up so easily with things of this world that I know full well will not last and will absolutely pass away that I tend to put my spiritual well being on the back burner.  1 Corinthians 7:31 says, "...For this world in its present form is passing away."  I'm reminded of God's Truth in Romans 12:2 which says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will."  This, my friend, is my daily fight.  My quiet time with the Lord.  My time with Him to equip me, to strengthen me, to set my mind on Him.  To keep my eyes fixed on Him.  It's continual.

I like to think of my life as a book that God is writing my life-story in it, filling it up full of His Glorious artistic drawings that tell a story in itself!  The amazing thing about my life-book is that it's on-going.  It is still a work in progress.  It is still being edited.  Redrafted.  New stories written and, of course, magnificent illustrations are filling the pages with such detail.  Another great thing about this life-book is I don't have to wait until it's completed to begin turning the pages of it to look at them.  One of my most favorite things to do is to turn the pages back and look at the previous chapters.  There were some that were mundane but glimmers of God sparkled through revealing His Presence.  There were some very exciting and celebratory times that God was front and center gracing us with ALL that He is.  Other times were dark, scary, unsettling yet, again, God's Light was present in those times but just not recognized at that moment.   Have you ever looked at a picture that you've looked at time and time again, but then you reflect upon that picture...you study it, and you find something that you hadn't seen all those times you 'looked' at it before?  That's what it's like with God and His daily blessings. It's important, necessary for us to go back and  reflect on what He has done - to see Him in a situation when we weren't able to previously.  Being able to go back and reflect seeing God's work in my life, moment by moment...season by season, makes it very apparent - clear -understanding, gives me security and a deepening LOVE for Him.  He IS always with me.  He IS always at work for me.  He IS always at work in me.  He Is always at work through me.  He IS always illustrating Himself into my life with His love.  It is all around.  I only need to recognize it.  Let be.  Be still.  Know that He is God. 

How often do we have a book that we just love and we have to share it with our friends?  Well, this is like our life-book.  I need to be just as enthusiastic and open to sharing what God puts on my heart as I am with a beautiful book that I enjoyed reading (I know, can you believe that I actually graduated up to reading books now?  Crazy!)  Here's the awesome part, NO ONE will have ever read your life-book before!  So, no worries about sharing it with them!  Your life-book is a one-of-a-kind, precious, beautiful story that someone needs to hear.  The Author has intentionally, deliberately, precisely placed each brush stroke upon your life-book page.  He is present in each and every moment of your life-story.  His fingerprints are not only upon your life-story but upon YOU!  Psalm 139:14,16 HCSB, "I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.  Your works are wonderful and I know this very well.  Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began." 

My prayer is that you may be encouraged just as I have been this past week.  I feel as if my heart has just received an electric shock to get it pumping to its full capacity again.  Praise the Lord!  I pray that things in our day would be recognized and noticed as God taps on our shoulders to gain our attention.  May we be willing to reflect back into our life-books and 'reflect' on some moments or seasons that we haven't been able to for some reason or another and allow God to reveal Himself.  Allow Him to illustrate how He worked or is working that time for His Glory.  May we grow from what we learn in the pages of our life-book and have the willingness and the courage to share our story.  Luke 1:45 AMP, "And blessed (happy, to be envied) is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the Lord."  What a beautiful promise!

Take care and be blessed!

Christy Krezman
Rosette Ministry

GO and...

GO!  We've all read the verse in Mark where Jesus tells His disciples to 'go into all the world and preach the good news.'  But exactly how does that apply to us today?  For years when I read this verse and others like it in the New Testament, I believed that it only applied to those called to be Missionaries.  Those who were called to foreign lands who could "GO."  Goodness, was I ever a babe in my spiritual walk...I'm so thankful that I grew and began to comprehend what the term "Go" meant. 

We, as believers, are all disciples.  We are all called to GO and preach the good news.  In fact, it's a command, not a request.  This got me thinking about who I shared Christ with.  Does it mean that all believers are missionaries?  Yes and no.  Missionaries afar in foreign lands...some are, Yes; all of us, NO!  Missionaries right here in our own homes...absolutely YES!  Every single one of us.

I'm not a quick study and it was through the ever patient Lord in His teaching me the true meaning of
what a disciple (definition: someone who accepts and helps to spread the teachings of a famous person; Christ's followers according to the Gospel accounts) really meant.  What it meant to GO and preach the good news.  Here's what I learned over much time.

Mark 16:15 AMP, "And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every creature [of the whole human race.] 

I personally like to break down words and look at the meanings behind them.  That helps me to understand better and fully grasp what is being said.  So I'd like to do that here before I go on because it was after I did this along with several God moments that it became very apparent that this was going to be my heart's passion to share with others.  OK, here goes...

GO:  definition - to move on course: proceed; to continue to do something...to continue being done: to begin and carry on an action, process or movement...to move along.

In the definition of GO the word continue stood out to me so I looked up it's definition and here's what it means.

CONTINUE: definition - to keep happening or existing: to remain active or in existence without stopping...to maintain...to remain...to keep going...to cause to continue...to allow to remain.

All this is action.  We tend to like to move.  We can do this.  It really doesn't take much to get something moving and to keep it moving.  Slow and steady is always best.  Ripple effect...like a drop in the ocean!

INTO ALL THE WORLD:  This literally means EVERYWHERE!  Some can hop on a plane and fly to a third world country and be missionaries short term or long term.  While most of us cannot.  Our mission field is right here where we call home. It starts right in our homes and then into our neighborhood, then out to our community.  That's our world.

PREACH AND PUBLISH: Preach is basically to write or speak about something in an approving way: to say that something is good or necessary.  To deliver a sermon.  To deliver.  One version of Mark says to "Testify" which is to talk about or say something in an honest and confident way.  To show that something is true or real: to give proof of something.  Publish is to make generally known: to make public announcement of.  All this to say, simply share what Christ has done for you in your life.

THE GOOD NEWS (THE GOSPEL):  That Jesus Christ is our Savior. John 3:16-17 HCSB, "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."

TO EVERY CREATURE [OF THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE]: I have to admit this one caught me off guard for a bit not understanding the creature statement until I went to India and witnessed helpless deformed sweet souls sitting amongst crowds of people begging for anyone to just give them a moments notice.  It was at that very moment that God spoke to my heart that all too often we (I) dehumanize others that I am either way too uncomfortable to approach or it's just easier for me not to have them on my "radar" so I don't have to think about or do anything about it.  Let me tell you, that experience was so life changing for me that I fully understand what the Lord means by the WHOLE HUMAN RACE!  HE loves EACH and EVERY individual and longs for them to know Him.  Please hear me when I say this, I am not asking you to go and immerse yourself into a place where it may be dangerous, I am asking you to instead of physically looking with the eyes on your head start looking with the eyes of your heart.  Jesus will create opportunities for you to be His Hands and Feet.  He will tug at your heart strings...we need to be attentive and aware to what He is asking of us to do.

In Romans 10:14-15 TLB it talks about how can others call on Christ if they don't believe in Him because perhaps they didn't hear about Him, probably because nobody spoke about Him...only because no one went to talk about Him!  This is a perfect example of the whole reason of why we should GO in our world!!  It reads,   "How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can the believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news." 

After reading this I began to wonder who spoke to my family about Christ?  I was brought up in Church as was my parents and my grandparents...so I'm not sure who spoke Christ to my family member to pass along this wonderful gift.  I'm so very grateful though for this amazing gift that I am able to pass along to my children as well as those that God brings across my path.

OK...back to the time that I believed that going into all the world literally meant hopping on the next jet plane to Africa.  This was some time ago and I believed that this is exactly what it meant.  My belief back then was being a Christian all I needed to do was just follow the Golden Rules and I was doing alright.  Boy, did I have quite a bit a spiritual maturity to be had.  In John 3:30 HCSB it says this of Jesus, "He must increase, but I must decrease." What this scripture says to me is that I need to turn my focus from within to upward to Him.  This lead me to another scripture in Ephesians 4:32 AMP which says that when I do this and Jesus is residing in my heart then it's easier for me to, "...become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely,] as God in Christ forgave you" in my daily living.  This lead me to begin seeing with the eyes of my heart instead of my physical eyes. 


At first it was so overwhelming, I didn't know where to start so I for a while I stood still doing nothing.  But then God encouraged my heart little by little.  I began moving small step by small step.  Doing.  Going.  Taking action.  Don't fail to do anything just because you can't do everything.  It can all seem overwhelming when looking at the whole picture.  It was Mother Theresa who said, "Do small things with great love."  This is something we all can do.  It doesn't require much of us to do something small if it is done with great love.  Mother Teresa has many simplistic yet powerful quotes that inspire me that I'd like to share just a few with you... "God doesn't require us to succeed, He only requires that you try."  "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."  "Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."  These four quotes hold four things that we do in our daily living with our own friends and families.  How awesome and rewarding would it be if we extended it to those outside the four walls of our home?  The world around us has us living in such a jet-setting pace that literally nearly no one looks anyone in the eyes anymore because there's far more important things happening on the electronic devises in our hand! 

All that you have - our resources, giftedness, and abilities - God has entrusted it to you.  God has given us what we need to show others Himself in us.  We just need to trust God...Go...believing God to finish the work...which may include us or it may not.  God wants to do something through but He also wants to something in you. This requires your willingness to be used by God.  Many years ago I asked myself this question, "How much faith does it take to do what I'm doing currently?"  Where I was at that time not very much faith at all sadly enough.  This was a pivotal point for me.  Spiritual growing up started taking place and you all know whenever growing happens pain tends to accompany it.  But am I ever thankful for this growth, though!  This meant in order for me to move forward on this journey God had set before me, I had to take action...even if it meant just taking one wobbly awkward step at a time holding tightly to my Heavenly Father's Strong Hand!  And that's exactly what I did.

I began to realize that what I did in my everyday living really did matter because it positively or negatively impacted the lives of others...family, friends or strangers.  In the book 'Becoming a Contagious Christian" the author states, "Although our actions have nothing to do with gaining our own salvation, they might be used by God to save somebody else!  What we do really matters, and it can affect the eternities of people we care about."  What we do each and every day really does have meaning in the big picture of God's plan.  Everybody needs Jesus' Light.  Believers have that light and there's somebody out there that needs that light that you have.  The only way for them to receive that light is if you offer it to them by sharing it.  By sharing it you must first GO when God calls you and cross paths with that person.  Sometimes I get tugs on my heart to go somewhere, to do something or to take a different path in my routine.  I don't always understand it at the time but I try to remember and be sensitive to what God is trying to do.

I, however, am NOT a perfect person!  I slip and mess up quite a bit!  But here's the awesome part...God extends GRACE!  He's forgiving and I don't have to be perfect!  I will never be perfect or even near perfect!  I just have to keep trying and keep striving and when and I do mean WHEN I mess up I only need to fall forward in Him!  Psalm 84:11 TLB says, "For Jehovah God is our Light and our Protector.  He gives us grace and glory.  No good thing will He withhold from those who walk along his paths."  God always gives us the strength to keep going when we feel as if we can't.  Psalm 46:1 TLB tells us, "God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble."  This was entirely encouraging to me because this meant that I didn't have to do it all on my own!  I had  only to let God lead me and then He would give me the strength and the ability to do it.  When I realized this, then I was all the more eager to accept the offer to GO!!

The picture above posted says GO and...
This can mean anything for you.  The possibilities are endless.  GO to the coffee shop and greet the cashier with a smile and eye contact calling him/her by name asking how their day is going making small conversation.  GO to local elderly home and visit shut ins.  GO to a single mom and offer to babysit or help in other ways she may need.  GO __________  and _______________.  (You fill in the blanks...what works in your world.)  Going and doing doesn't always require us to be big, dramatic, time-consuming, or extremely hard.  It requires us to be a bit more mindful, deliberate, intentional and thoughtful.  This is something we all can do. 

Be prayerful about what Go and... looks like for you. Ask God to help you open the eyes of your heart and where you can begin.  Remember, "Do small things with great love."

Being a lover of meanings behind words I want to leave you with a few words that we tend to do daily that we can try to extend to others:

SMILE: a facial expression in which the eyes brighten and the corners of the mouth curve slightly upward and which expresses especially amusement, pleasure. encouragement.  Beam: a line of light coming from a source.

CHEERFUL: causing good feelings or happiness

CONSIDERATE: showing kindness toward other people: marked by or given to careful consideration

KIND: having or showing a gentle nature and a desire to help others: wanting and liking to do good things and to bring happiness to others

THOUGHTFUL: showing concern for the needs or feelings of other people: given to or chosen or made with heedful anticipation of the needs and wants of others

These are just a drop in a whole ocean of action words that we do daily.  I pray that this encourages you just as much as it encouraged me years ago and continues to encourages me.  May you be blessed and richly reward as you GO and...

"What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the Gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the Gospel.  Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible."  1 Corinthians 9:18-19 NIV

Take Care and Be Blessed,

Christy Krezman
Rosette Ministry