Vulnerablity

“The cry of the Israelites has now come to me;”

Exodus 3:9 NRSV

To be vulnerable is to open ourselves up to hurt. Yes, hurt. You ask, why would I want to be hurt by anyone or anything? Trust me, it is not easy to be vulnerable; it is not easy to expose our innermost feelings to others! We won’t take that risk! Revealing vulnerability to others is showing weakness. Better yet, it makes us seem like children. Yes, children. We hear words like, “You baby”, “cry, cry baby”, or “act your age”.

When I was young, I never wanted others to see me cry when they hurt me with their words. Why? Because in our culture, crying meant you were a baby. Instead, I hid behind an angry face and would lash out at my tormentors. That is, until my older sister took hold of me and started speaking words of wisdom to me. She would say to me not to become angry at people’s words, to remember that, “sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words would never hurt me”. Those words formed me in a way I cannot describe. They were a reminder to me that it did not matter what people said to me or about me; what mattered is how I handled the situation. Do I lash out or ignore? Many times, ignoring meant crying tears of hurt, which allowed others to see me in a new light, no longer hiding behind a face of anger or an attitude of “don’tcarishness” (an “I don’t care what you say about me!” attitude).

When we become vulnerable, we allow others to see our hearts. We allow them to enter into the most private space in our hearts, that space occupied by ourselves and by God alone. We become, in fact, like children, open to the wonders of being carefree and innocent. When we become like children we are dependent on others to take care of us, i.e., our parents. Without a father or mother, we cannot survive as children.

In Exodus, when Moses saw the burning bush and heard God’s voice, he hid his face for fear of looking at God (Exodus 3:6). But God had work for Moses to do, for he saw the vulnerability of his people, the Israelites, and Moses would be the tool he would use to deliver them from Egypt. 

The Israelites’ childlike quality or vulnerability is what called to God.

Carol Kent and her husband Gene, in “A New Kind of Normal,” allowed their vulnerability to shine for the world to see when they allowed the cameras of Dateline NBC into their lives and into their story. What happened next was a surprise for them – the outpouring of love and support they received from friends and people who they did not know was an encouragement to them during their darkest moments. That is what happens when we open up and become vulnerable, when we invite God into our innermost thoughts (which he already knows) and cry out to him for help. He sees our need for him, for his love and protection.

On another note, this blog is mainly for me to showcase my cards and art, however, oftentimes I get so busy with my work and ministry that I neglect to update you readers with what I have been up to. On occasion, I make cards or art work and forget to take photos (yikes!).  Since my last post I made these three cards and all of them were for special persons or events.  Enjoy!

For a Sistah in Christ battling Breast Cancer

A couple at church who celebrated 29 years of wedded bliss!

This is a couple getting married next month.

Happy Friday afternoon blog friends!

I hope you haven't missed me too much, lol. I know, I keep promising to have posts more often, but with the schedule I keep, it is not an easy thing to do.  Working P/T for two churches and then coming home to my 91-year old mother is not easy!  My day starts very early; I'm up at 5:00 in order to get to work by 6:30 (I start at 7:00 am). Why so early, because before I leave I have to make sure my mom's taken one pill (she needs this on an empty stomach before breakfast), that she's taken a shower and dressed. I then make her breakfast and have to insure her other meds are on the table to be taken with her meal.  Why do I do all this? Well, my mother also suffers from some dementia, and when she first wakes, she's extremely confused and doesn't know what she should be doing.  It is true what is said about the elderly: "once a man, twice a child". When I follow this routine, it not only helps me, it helps her as well.  If I don't do this, I will come home and find her still in bed, in her PJs, unkempt. With this schedule though, I come home to an alert mother, who is coherent and able to carry on a conversation without a mental hiccup.

Once I come home (I'm off work at 11:00 and home by 11:30 am) I prepare her lunch and go about taking care of things such as cooking dinner, cleaning or washing, and spending time in studying the Bible.  I also sometimes (if time permits) take a nap.  With the exception of Tuesday and Friday, I'm at my church in the evenings. On Monday, I lead a small group Bible Study.  We're currently reading "When I Lay My Isaac Down," by Carol Kent.  If you haven't read it, I recommend you purchase and read it. If ever you find yourself facing trials or going through life changing events in your life, this book will give you the tools you need to handle them.  Anyway, back to what I was saying. On Wednesdays I have choir rehearsal, on Thursdays dance rehearsal (praise dancing), Saturday mornings praise and worship, then on Sundays my duties vary: On first Sunday, I teach Children's Church (8:00 am only); on third Sundays I sing and dance (both at the 8:00 and 11:00 am services) and on fourth Sunday, I sing again.

Phew! That's a lot, isn't it? Seriously, I don't mind. Everything I do at church brings me joy and fulfillment and in all of this I still find time to create! If I'm not making greeting cards, I'm putting together a flyer for some event or the other.  These last two are my passion. I love being creative. I get a thrill from seeing the joy in other's faces when I create a card or make a flyer or invitation for their event.  For all of these reasons it is so hard to get on this computer and write!  But, I will try, my friends. Just bear with me as I get myself more organized to do so.

I don't want to leave you without showing off some of my creations.  Though I haven't been blogging, I do create. Here are a few of my newest cards. I made collages as I've made so many in the past few months.

 The images above are digi stamps by Robert Jackson Fine Arts. I used Gimp to make changes to the images (paint, patterns) as well as Copics (in some cases).  I also used Washi tape and paper piercing (the image in the lower bottom left and right).












These cards on the right are the birthday, get well bunch. I used MTC to cut out the boot, but prior to cutting, I changed the pattern on the boot and the shoe in Gimp using their pre-installed leopard pattern.  The Dr. Who card was for, you guessed it, a doctor friend, lol! As for the Fight like a Girl card, well October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I have a few friends who've been fighting this disease and was inspired to make this card for them.

This other set of cards below are again Robert Jackson digis. A few of them are exclusive to me (I have ideas about the type of image I want and I order them to my specifications).  This is the case for the two male figure cards below.  Once more I used Gimp to create the look I want for the digis, then I print and cut in MTC. I made two copies of the images so I could use mounting stickers to give them a 3D look.

For the ladies, I used Copics to paint the bodies as well as the dress of the lady in blue.  For the other lady, I used Washi tape wrapped around the paper pierced skirt and top. I then wrapped the same Washi around the background paper.

 Here are the final four.  For the moustache and bow tie card, I used my Cameo Silhouette to cut.  The Sister Act card digi is from Mo's.  I used Copics to paint the image and Stickles to embellish.

Breast Cancer Awareness

I made this using MTC.  

A few days ago I posted a swing card I made using an MTC cut file. For my first attempt at making a card using that technique, I used elements celebrating Breast Cancer.

This weekend marks the celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness.  I know a few women who have survived this disease and, though there have been trials and studies geared towards eradication of this deadly disease, there are still women dying from it.

In honor of this occasion, and in support for the cause, I made a few cards to showcase cutting files, chevron patterns, and a new technique I saw in Papercrafts Magazine. 

Swing Card

 Yesterday I saw this tutorial, downloaded the file and couldn't wait to use MTC to create this card. I made this one in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness, which is this coming weekend. It was easy peasy! Thanks to Susan for the MTC cut file.

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