Foresight

Oil Painting

Candace Huffmaster

Foresight

Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4

Some days seem long. Even longer are the days we are waiting for things to change. During such times God’s faithfulness has always encouraged me.  As I would sit with Him, read, relate and pray, He would give me strength.  Time and again, He walked me through circumstances proving that I did not need to pray for things or people to be different to be at peace. His largest concern was that I accept his gifts and believe I needed Him more than anything I could hear, see, touch or smell, in order to could keep my peace.

Without some of those, seemingly, immovable obstacles I would not have experienced the depths of His faithfulness.  Without those deep experiences, I would not have had the stamina to rise above the challenges.  Through these challenges my eyesight expanded, and I received insight.  As my vision corrected my perceptions of situations and people were no longer distorted by fear, but perfected in love. 

I’m sure there are obstacles down my road.  But, in Him I trust I will see these object as they are, opportunities: to see better, view greater expanses and envision new things which alone would be beyond my comprehension.  

©Candace Huffmaster, 2012 All Rights Reserved

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc.™

Opportunity is God's Divine Design

Watercolor Title: Opportunity
By: Candace Huffmaster

Hebrews 11: 14, 15    Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for their own country.  If they had been thinking about the country that they had left, they could have found a way to go back.

God created all things: He perceived, He conceived and believed; He establishes their goodness and set them in place.  He opened up all time with opportunities and allows us to choose which we’ll take. 

In the beginning, God set Adam in place giving him the opportunity to live or die.  We are told to choose who we will follow and He lovingly asks us to choose to live.  Only man is involved with taking hold of these opportunities.  Man then chooses a spiritual ally to propel it into reality; either spirit is willing to receive this opportunity in order that it may live in the space of your moments.  Which will you merge with?

Think about this: Sin is crouching, we are told, waiting to seize the opportunity to live in us.  When we live in sin, it is no longer God’s divine design living but Satan’s distortion in its place.  When we die with Christ to sin, the Holy Spirit is resurrecting God divine designs for our life.

Today, in each moment, I pray that we seize His opportunities and merge with the power of His truth.  Plant His eternal words within and around us, not letting evil conquer us, but conquering evil with His Goodness!

©Candace Huffmaster 2012, All Copyrights Reserved

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc™

Broken.....Beyond Repair

As I was prayerfully considering a second piece for the upcoming exhibit, Divine Design, the same thought kept running circles in my mind:  God alone creates on a level of divinity......We are His precious designs, each of us! And every single one of us are broken.....beyond repair without Him!  But then it started minimizing to broken beyond repair....broken beyond repair...broken beyond repair. 

Then all of a sudden, it hit me; "NO we're NOT!"  Yes, we are earthen vessels - pressed on all side but NOT crushed, as it states in 2 Corinthians.  And YES, we do fall and when we fall we will get broken. However,  the stone we fall upon will not fall upon us as to crush us.  This is what Luke 20:18 states: 

"Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken. If that stone falls on anyone, it will crush that person."

It is terribly hard, with all eyes focused on our missteps seemingly waiting to push us the rest of the way down, or trip us while we're unstable.  In those moments I can relate to the psalmist who wrote: But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling; my steps had almost slipped........in Psalms 73:2.  But even if I do trip, I remember Isaiah 41:10:

Don't be afraid, because I am with you. Don't be intimidated; I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will support you with my victorious right hand.

And if God be for us who can take away our peace?  What shadow is greater than His light?  What arm is stronger or reaches deeper and farther than His?  He also promised us that no one will snatch us from His mighty hand, and Christ promised that He did not loose one of us. 

But mostly, as I was thanking God for all this I remembered Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4: 18,19 where Jesus quotes Isaiah:

 The Spirit of the Almighty LORD is with me because the LORD has anointed me to deliver good news to humble people. He has sent me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to announce that captives will be set free and prisoners will be released.

Jesus was in the synagogue, in Nazareth,  on the day of worship.  He had returned to Galilee and we are told that the news about him spread throughout the surrounding country because the power of the Spirit was with him.  He stood up to read the lesson and the attendant gave him the book of Isaiah.  Opening it He read:

"The spirit of the Lord is with me.  He has anointed me to tell the Good News to the poor.  He has sent me to announce forgiveness to the prisoners of sin and the restoring of sight to the blind, to forgive those who have been shattered by sin, to announce the year of the Lord's favor."

Then Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  Everyone in the synagogue watch him closely.....As he said, "This passage came true today when you heard me read it!"

It was then that I was so very mindful of the fortitude Christ died to grant us.  I thought about how a mere mortal, without the empowerment of God's holy spirit would have been crushed under that type of pressure. 

I thank God for His magnificent omnipresence, mercy and grace, enabling me to see something so divine it is quiet out of this world:  Jesus!  the author and perfecter of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

So, YES....I might trip, I might fall, I might even get some chips, cracks and fractures, BUT God, through Christ has placed His spirit within me to bind up all that each and every time.  This is the hope that I have which takes me FAR beyond any despair into His presence which repairs all things and makes them new again!

Etch that on your heart, today my friends!
Kisses,
Candace

 

Broken....Beyond Despair
Watercolor
By Candace Huffmaster





©Candace Huffmaster 2012, All Copyrights Reserved

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc™

Examples of Deeply Artwork

  

These pieces are going up in the Glimpse of His Glory art exhibit "Sancuary"  They are not the final work of art so be sure and stop by the gallery and see all the artist work.  Glimpse of His Glory is within Johnson Ferry Baptist Church click on this link for more information about their gallery ministry.  http://www.johnsonferry.org/gallery.aspx  

 

Sanctuary Exhibit viewing dates 

February 25 through April 10 of 2011

Be sure and snoop around the site for ways you grow in your understanding, faith and walk with God.  It's a great place to come in and be fed -

 "But don't park there...we've got work to do in the REAL world"!

art work by Candace Huffmaster