Monday 29 April 2013

Healing Continues!

I am so thrilled to let you know that my friend (Susie) who has been sick with cancer is doing very well!! So well in fact, that she, and her family,  are meeting us here in Florida!  They left several days ago and we will be seeing them in just a few hours now. They are staying at a place about 150 feet from ours!!  Whoo-hoo!!!  Can't wait to see you Steve, Susie & family!

In keeping with the healing theme, I prayed for a woman last week who had a knee brace on as she hurt her knee with a fall earlier on. She tested her knee out and said, "Wow! It's a miracle!"

I am so thrilled and thankful for the healing God has released!




Silvia

Monday 22 April 2013

Healing Happening!

Before we left for vacation I posted a painting I made for our friend who has been bed-ridden for months.  She has had cancer and, in the natural, it looked bad (at one point, she could barely lift her head from her pillow).  I won't go into all the details of her physical condition, but it is suffice to say that she was very sick.  Her body was sick, but her spirit was healthy and she has never stopped believing that she will be healed.

We have had several healing meetings at her house, and the week before we left we had another one. Tim felt God say that she would be healed in stages.  Since then, she has been able to stand up, then walk very short distances, then walk out to her living room, then do stairs and go out with her family!!  Whoo-hoo!!  We are so excited to hear reports of how well she is doing.

The verse "He makes all things new" which I put on her painting has been resonating in my heart for days and yesterday morning I created this journal page as I was experimenting with the new pan pastels and watermark stamp pad I had picked up the day before.  I apologize for the quality of the photo  - I took it on my phone.


Everywhere I turn, God is speaking this:  Never stop believing for the things you are believing for.  Let the healing continue!

Silvia

Friday 19 April 2013

Treasures from the Ocean

We are on Little Gasparilla Island in Florida which is on the Gulf of Mexico, and we are continually amazed by the variety of life here!  With each ebb and flow of the ocean, thousands of shells are deposited on the shore. Shellfish are the "insects of the ocean" in terms of how plentiful they are (and the fact that they are both invertebrates).  It doesn't seem to matter how many times we can get to the ocean, we are always amazed by the variety and plenty we see here.  It speaks to us of the endless creativity and goodness of God!  There is an on-going explosion of life that flows from Him and is unleashed on the earth each day and we have the pleasure of discovering and enjoying it.

As well as being bird lovers (see my post here) we are also novice shellers.  Collecting shells is addicting as there are so many wonderful shells, with new ones relentlessly washing ashore.




Here are some photos of our collections:



These are jingle shells - they are delicate, and come in many colours.

So far, sand dollars have been rare, but one good storm could change all of that for us.

There are many partially broken lightening whelks, so finding whole ones is a real treasure!

 We have been keeping the shells in our porch, and everyone is busy sorting, grouping and organizing their personal collections:




Tim found this live conch while we were shelling.  I took some photos of it and then he put it back in the ocean, hoping it will survive. Look at how cute its little face is!

Tim found this heart-shaped shell piece ... I put it in my collection.  :)

We have so many shells already ... and we still have a trip planned to go to Sanibel Island - one of Florida's top shelling locations due to its location and orientation ... can't wait to see what we find there!

Silvia
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Saturday 13 April 2013

Lovin' Florida's Birds...

I absolutely love the ocean - I love the majesty of the water, the sights, sounds & smells.  We are presently on vacation in Florida right now, and although we have just arrived, it has already been so much fun.

We are amateur ornithologists in our home - we have watched, searched out and tried to identify new-to-us birds for many years. Here in Florida, we have already spotted so many warm climate & coastal birds.

Here are a few that Tim & I were able to photograph today:

I saw this Anhinga perching over a pond as we sped down a road and asked Tim to turn around and go back so we could get a closer look.  It was on my list of birds I hoped to see in Florida!




These Brown Pelicans were sitting on a pier, hoping to get some bits of food from all the people who were fishing.  They were so tame and would look right at you as they were "keeping an eye on you".



These little guys are Sanderlings, and apparently, they felt they needed to watch me too!




Ruddy Turnstones - male & female (sitting)





Female Boat-tailed Grackle - not as showy as some of the birds we saw, but it was our first sighting of this species.


We saw Sandhill Cranes for the first time last year on Manitoulin Island during the summer. I guess these ones haven't migrated north for the season yet.


Cattle Egret - you can see why they get their name.


My amateur ornithologists greeting the ocean that we all love so much.

Silvia

Thursday 4 April 2013

He makes all things new...

For the past few nights, I have been staying up late working on this painting which I created for a friend who has been bed-ridden for several months with sickness. We are going on vacation soon and I wanted her to have it before we left.

The text comes from Revelation 21:5 and I when read it I knew it was for her, and that it would be the basis for my painting.  Before I began I put a song called "All Things New" on repeat and let the words invade my spirit.  And then I began to paint ...

I used acrylic & mixed media.

































Believing for her complete her recovery. Be healed, my friend!

Silvia