Good-bye 2014! The Journey Continues...

Art journaling the journey has become a fully integrated part of my life, so I decided to start a journal showing a glimpse into my inner journey - a spiritual quest-further into God, seeking and desiring to grow more into who God made me to be. It is a time for entering a new year and a new season in life, the second half of life, the youth of old age. The first pages of this journal begin with my theme verse from 2013, along with the encouragement to trust God and move forward.

"Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up.
Do you perceive it? I am making a way
in the desert and streams in the wasteland...
from now on I will tell you of new things,
hidden things unknown to you."

Isaiah 43:18-19, & 48:6 NIV

2014 was filled with journey for me, new places and new perspectives. Each year, in late fall, I ask God to give me a word for the following year. In 2014 I got a picture of a key and a door before the word came. The Scripture Matthew 16:17-18 came next. Then the word OPEN. Keys open things. It would be a year of getting keys and encountering doors. And it has been.

So now we are saying good-bye to 2014, and crossing the threshold of 2015. For me 2014 was a year of adventure. I am not at all tired of it and feel just a wee bit sad about the changing of the year, and theme recorded on our kitchen door.

Like 2014, I received an image before a word for 2015. At first, I resisted the image and hoped I was just making it up. I prayed, asked, waited. It became clearer and more complicated. The picture I got was of an archer pulling back on a bow with an arrow aimed at a target. I didn't like the battle imagery, but I couldn't shake the image. So I decided to dig into the meaning. Here is a glimpse:

"A marksman hits the mark
partly by pulling and
partly by letting go."

Egyptian proverb