Marydean Draws

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September 17, 2014 gospel•grace•Jesus

Present Grace

Charitie Lees Bancroft wrote a beautiful hymn called “Before the Throne of God Above.” One of my pastors at church recently quoted it, and this line struck me:  Before the throne of God aboveI have a strong, a perfect plea;A great High Priest whose name is LoveWho ever lives and pleads for me.Isn’t that a beautiful thought? At the point that your are most ashamed, most caught in your own fallenness, your selfishness, your failings, Jesus is interceding for you...
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September 12, 2014 kids•motherhood

All the little nows

“Forever is composed of nows,” wrote Emily Dickinson. My life is made up of these nows that make up forever, so I thought I’d share a collection of recent ones today. This collection reminds me that, although my life seems mostly crazy and challenging, it is full of beauty to celebrate and thank God for. Psalm 90:12 “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” my drawing princess  I think there’s some theology...

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August 28, 2014 gospel•identity

The most real thing

I just finished reading Ted Dekker’s novel, Eyes Wide Open. I like his books because they get to the heart of life and, in crazy and sometimes disturbing ways, point to the Gospel. These books always get me thinking. This book was about a pair of friends stuck in a world of their own imaginings, a world that is very real, and scary. The only way out is to grasp and hold onto a greater reality–of who they really...

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August 26, 2014 identity•serving

don’t just serve

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:5-7 My family and I have the honor or serving in many ways in our church. We have a community group that meets in our home. We teach kiddos on Sunday. And I’m a neighbor, wife, mom,...

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August 21, 2014 church•gospel

The gospel lab

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” 1 Corinthians 12:12 From a human perspective, the Church is a recipe for disaster, don’t you think? Jesus saves us, gives us His Spirit through faith in Him, and then puts us right in the middle of–not a Bible study group of people who all like each other and have similar interests, or a...

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August 19, 2014 gospel•Jesus

Straight into the impossible

The story is from Exodus 13. The people had spend years (400) in slavery and fear, probably feeling far from God. When was the last time they saw Him work on their behalf. And then HE did–and delivered them. Just as they began to relish newfound freedom,  they confronted a sea impossible to cross. With their human and untrained eyes, they could see no way past certain death. Why had God led here?They’re not unlike us. Consider this account from...

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Welcome to the blog!

I’m Mary and I’m glad you’re here! Since 2014, I’ve been sharing encouraging words, fun Bible printables, and accessible art activities.

let’s talk about . . .

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If you look up artwork or movies featuring Mary Ma If you look up artwork or movies featuring Mary Magdalene, you’ll often find her depicted as a penitent woman or as sexualized, with her clothes literally falling off her body. It was Pope Gregory the Great who proposed that Mary Magdalene’s seven demons represented the seven deadly sins and that she was both a prostitute and the penitent sinner who anoints Jesus in Luke 7:36-50 (Jennifer Powell McNutt).

Later church historians assumed that Mary Magdalene’s great sins were to blame for her demon possession (McNutt). While the Western Church came to see Mary Magdalene as a prostitute and a great sinner, the Eastern Orthodox church honored her as the leader of the “myrrh-bearing women” (Taylor and Bond).

Read some research into the REAL Mary Magdalene story here:
https://marydeandraws.substack.com/p/jesus-speaks-to-women-chapter-16
In today's Friday newsletter: 🌸 Mother's Day Sa In today's Friday newsletter:
🌸 Mother's Day Sale! 20% off with the MOMLOVE on my website. Mother's day is Sunday, May 10 this year.
🌸 Part 1 of the Mary Magdalene study is up on Substack. Have you ever heard that she was a prostitute? Where did that come from? Is it Biblical? I was fascinated by how her story has been told through history, the origins of her name, what it means that she had been possessed by seven demons, and her place among Jesus’ disciples. 
🌸 The Holy Post podcast episode with Bri Stensrud, the director of Women of Welcome, “a community dedicated to diving into the whole of scripture to understand God’s heart for the immigrant and refugee.” 

Read the newsletter here:
https://marydeandraws.substack.com/p/marys-friday-newsletter-41726

Read the Mary Magdalene post here:
https://marydeandraws.substack.com/p/jesus-speaks-to-women-chapter-16

If you sign up for my newsletter, you can receive all my posts in your inbox. Sign up on my website at www.marydeandraws.com or find me on Substack. You don't need the Substack app to read my posts, but it's easy to use, and you can listen to any of the stories with the playback feature.
When I started writing the Jesus Speaks to Women B When I started writing the Jesus Speaks to Women Bible studies last year, I started collecting books on New Testament women. I really didn’t know where to start at first. I wasn’t familiar with the scholarship about women in the Bible, and I hadn’t even heard of any female theologians doing this work!

So you don’t have to start from scratch if you’re like I was, I’m going to share a list of books I’ve learned from in the last year. Some are more academic than others, but all have been helpful. 

See the list here or find me "Marydean Draws" on Substack:
https://marydeandraws.substack.com/p/books-about-women-in-the-new-testament
In today's Friday newsletter: 🌸 things I learne In today's Friday newsletter:
🌸 things I learned from my pastor dad (in honor of his birthday)
🌸 upcoming bird collage workshop at Friendly City Clay and Art Center
🌸 using oil pastels + a recommended set from Blick
🌸 book about women in the New Testament 
🌸 preparing to write about Mary Magdalene and the resurrection stories

Read it all here:
https://marydeandraws.substack.com/p/marys-friday-newsletter-41026

The post about books about New Testament women:
https://marydeandraws.substack.com/p/books-about-women-in-the-new-testament

If you sign up for my newsletter, you can receive all my posts in your inbox. Sign up on my website at www.marydeandraws.com or find me on Substack. You don't need the Substack app to read my posts, but it's easy to use, and you can listen to any of the stories with the playback feature.
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