Hello and happy April . . . and Holy Week!
I have a bunch of happy plant babies growing in my dining room and all kinds of plants waking up in the yard. It’s always a joy to see them faithfully returning each year.
My two back-to-in-person-school kids are doing well and adjusting to the new routine. I have even had some mental space to start sketching on the iPad for new coloring pages and cards sets. I’ve been collecting a list of verses for a while now. I’m looking at doing some new sets for kids, some sets of extended passages (like the Psalm 23 one I did), and some watercolor art sets with some amazing Psalms.
Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to chat about faith, art, and Marydean Draws on the Visual Faith weekly video chat with Diane Marra. You can watch my interview here:
LISTENING
I created this playlist on Spotify called “After All, Love,” full of affirming songs about God’s love for us. I particularly love the song “Storyteller” by Morgan Harper Nichols:
I also created this playlist of romantic love songs called “A Love Worth Keeping.” ๐
This Jamie Ivey podcast episode with one of her pastors, Rod Lester, a missionary to America from South Africa. They take a deep dive into describing and defining Christian nationalism. I appreciated it because Lester’s approach is very pastoral and grace-filled. I’ve heard the term Christian nationalism used a lot in the last year, but this provided a detailed description.
READING
I’ve spent some time reading Changes that Heal* by Dr. Henry Cloud. Dr. Cloud incorporates Scripture and his pscyhology background to spell out simple steps to becoming a spiritually and emotionally healthy person. The first section describes how we need grace, truth, and time to grow, and how sometimes parts of ourselves were not given these ingredients to grow fully into an adult. The second section talks about the importance of bonding, how to do it, and how we can fail to bond at times. The third section is all about boundaries (see image below for a list). The fourth section talks about learning to accept both good and bad in life. The fifth section is about becoming a mature adult.
I made these images to print for our refrigerator. One is our rules of respect (found on this blog post) and the other is a list of our personal boundaries from Dr. Cloud’s book. I think they’re helpful reminders for our family! Feel free to download and print for yours. ๐
COPYRIGHT/USAGE: All writing, artwork and photos are copyright Marydean Draws. Please do not repost or resell on another website. I’m happy for you to use my coloring pages and other printables for home, school, and ministry. If you share content, please link back to the original post. Thank you!
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COPYRIGHT: All poetry, artwork and photos are copyright Marydean Draws. My printables can be used for home, school, church, or ministry. Please do not repost on another website. For other uses, please contact me.
