I am a graduate of New York Institute of Photography. I live in the Hocking Hills of southeastern Ohio, a popular vacation and hiking destination. I’m just minutes from Old Man’s Cave, Cantwell Cliffs, Rockhouse, and other areas of Hocking Hills State Park. These areas display a variety of geologic features, including waterfalls, sandstone cliffs and rock formations; all of which provide fantastic natural backdrops for photo opportunities.

To schedule a photo session for family portraits, senior portraits, sporting events or weddings, contact Marcy at: 740-603-1500 or E-mail me… CreativeReflections@live.com.

I remember a difficult time in my life when the Lord kept telling me that this “place” I was in was not my destiny, but only a part of my journey. He’s taught me that such places serve to drive my roots deeper into who He is and who He wants to be to me. (“Roots” because I’m a “…tree of (His) righteousness, a planting of the Lord, that HE might be glorified”.)

I’ve experienced great romantic times with the Lord, and times when I misunderstood Him, and kept Him at arm’s length. Over the last several years, I have often thought about God being the author and finisher of our faith. Thinking about how He is the author of the story of my life.  If everything went the way I wanted it to go, the story of my life would be boring. Truly a real yawn. I cannot abide a boring story. Also, I think it would be truly tragic, if I were to be the author of my own story. My ideas are never as brilliant as His. What I consider to be a “good” idea doesn’t compare to HIS goodness. 

I think about when Martha told Jesus that if He had come sooner her brother, Lazarus, would not be dead. John 11:21 Mary said the same thing in verse 32. Jesus dearly loved this man and his sisters. I think they must’ve been like family to him. Sure He could have come and healed Lazarus & kept him from dying. But the Father had a better story in mind… raising him from the dead. How amazing, fantastic, and spectacular! I have been down inside the tomb they say Lazarus was laid in. It would have been a miracle for the man to come up out of that deep, tight space, and up the steep narrow passageway wrapped in cloth as he would have been. Verse 44 says that he even had cloth over his face!  What a great story!

Papa knew that they needed to see how real, how mighty He is and wanted to be in their lives. To know that not even death could stop Him from blessing them and doing what He desired to do in their lives. He wanted to give them a greater revelation of Himself, to bring them into greater freedom in their journey with Him. To bring them to a place of such confidence in who He is that they would not hold back in following after Him wherever He might lead them.

No matter where we are today, it is not where we’ve “ended up”, nor is it where we’ve “arrived”. It’s only part of our story, our journey. He has written, and is writing the most exciting, encouraging and beautiful stories in and through our lives. Each one pointing us to Him, drawing our attention to Him, His beauty, His love and goodness. I hope to keep this in mind as I look at my life, and upon the lives of those around me. I hope to remember that God’s working in each of our lives, with us in the muck & mire, pushing us up to the top of that “mesa”, to help us become that “city set upon a hill” that He has seen in His dreams.

Lord, help me to trust in Your author-ity in my life. Lead me further up & further into the freedom found only in resting in Your love and goodness. I love everything You do. You are so creative, so brilliant!  Write on, Lord! Write my “story” just the way You want to.

There are many of us longing to meet together and live life experiencing the Body of Christ organically. There is a vision, God’s vision, being birthed in us. We stand looking thru the veil of our own concepts and ideas, the things we’ve done before, what we no longer want to do, and see ever so slightly this dream of what the Lord is leading us into. We cannot wrap our minds around it, so we pray that He enable us to grasp what He is showing us.

So many of us are feeling a sifting and a shaking in our lives. It is uncomfortable and unsettling. It has to be for we are breaking free of the old, letting it go, so that we might embrace this new thing… God’s vision, His heart for His people. We are learning to be more like Him, as our old ways are exposed for the shallow, pathetic crutches they’ve always been. There is NO substitute for knowing Him yesterday, today, and forevermore. We don’t want to replace our relationship with Him with anything else. We want to dive deeper, to know Him more and more.

We have this longing to know what it is to live with Jesus as the centrality and supremacy of our lives, to know what it is to BE the family of God, and enjoy the fellowship of the God head together as He intends. I, personally, have no desire to meet at home only to replicate what has already been done, or merely have a glorified Bible study. There is a deeper place, a place we’ve never been in together before.

I want to encourage (my friends) those hungering and thirsting, keep pursuing His face, His voice. Pray for greater revelation and understanding of what He is showing and speaking to you. Pray that He would gather us together with those we fit jointly with. It is HIS dream, His vision we desire to see come to fruition. We only desire it, because HE put it on our hearts in the first place. As we pray, He moves in each one of us, pulling the pieces together, creating the fellowships HE desires to establish.

I don’t know how to get from here to there. But I do know how to meet with Him, how to listen & pray. I know that HE is more than capable of leading and guiding us in the way He desires us to go. We have not come this far on our own, but by His hand. I am excited about what He is doing, and what He is going to do. I am excited about the preparations He is making in me/my life, and in the lives of those around me.

Thinking about Habk 2:1-4… knowing that He will make His vision clearer to us, and we will see the desires of HIS heart blossom in our midst.

Lots of love to His Body, His beautiful Church, His darling Bride!!!
~marcy~

It’s not only what He did for us then, it is about NOW. This day we are set right with God. This day He rejoices over you (& me) with joy (Zeph.3:17), because he has restored us to himself through the cross of Jesus Christ. There’s no “earning” it. Forget “trying to measure up”. Rather, set your thoughts on who God is and what He has done and is doing in your life. Embrace the gift He’s given, and believe that you ARE covered 24-7-365 in the righteousness of Christ. He died to give you this gift. And he rose from the dead triumphing over the power of sin and death. He made us free from the slavery of sin & death. He is alive, calling us to walk with him today by the power of his Spirit dwelling in us. (Romans :)

“What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what WE do; we respond to what God does. We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting HIM set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade… By shifting our focus from what we do to what GOD does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? NOT AT ALL. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.” (Romans 3, The Message)

“This is why THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S PROMISE DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON TRUSTING GOD AND HIS WAY, and then SIMPLY EMBRACING HIM AND WHAT HE DOES.” (Romans 4, The Message)

I’m no longer trying to “toe-the-line”. I am learning to be a child of God. “In HIM we live, and move, and have our BEing.”

The most important thing in your life is what you think about God. Who is God to you? Do you see Him as a cosmic sugar-daddy, “Mr. Big”, a strict, disciplinarian-type father? Do you see Him as a cosmic kill-joy? Do you think He’s so loving “it’s all good”? Or maybe, you feel that He doesn’t give a rip about us, or what’s going on down here on planet earth? Whatever it is you believe about God is what has formed your life to the shape it is in today. What you think about God determines your attitudes, and the beliefs that you base your decisions on.

If you could ask Him for the one thing you really need from Him today, what would it be? You need to think about that, because He is real. He does care. And He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Does God seem distant? Is He hard to understand? If the only language you know is English, it’s going to be hard for you to communicate with someone who only speaks French. The Bible tells us that God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. (Isaiah) They are higher, and far better than ours. We get very frustrated when we try to make God like us…pulling Him down to our level, expecting Him to do, and think the way we do. He does want us to get to know Him, to learn His ways, for us to begin seeing His perspective.

We need to know His mind. We need to learn the “languages” He speaks. How can we do that? 1 Corinthians 2:16 says “…Who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” In verse 14, we are told that the things of God are spiritually discerned. Often times we are so earth-bound in our thinking, so wrapped up in our carnal mindsets, that we cannot understand what God is trying to say to us.

Free your mind! Abandon your old ways of thinking and doing. Let go of your own thoughts and imaginations, so that you are able to receive what God wants to show you, to teach you. Sometimes we come to God and are so full of what we think, feel, and want; that we never quiet ourselves and listen to what God has to say. We go to Him because we need Him…His love, advice, direction, etc. He doesn’t need to learn about who we are. We need to learn about who He is, and who He wants to be to us.

In the Psalms, David wrote about being alert to God’s ways. “I don’t take God for granted” he says. “Every day I review the ways He works; I try not to miss a trick.” (Psalms 18, The Message) Farther on, David says “God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes.” David didn’t have his own Bible to tote around, and search through at his leisure. You do (or you can). If you want to know God, if you want to know who He is and who He wants to be to you right now; you need to have a relationship with Him.
Ritual and duty must be cast aside. You need to open up the Bible, ask Holy Spirit to lead and guide you to the things God wants to speak to you through His Word, and read it. Then read it again. Remember, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Jesus said seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened, just ask and it shall be given. You will find He is the most generous Person you’ve ever known. God wants you to know Him in a very real way. Jesus died on the cross to make the way for us, to bridge the gap between human beings and God.

A few ideas… Begin by asking Holy Spirit to lead and guide you into all the truth. The Bible says He will. He may do this many different ways. A local Bible study, listening to Bible teachers/preachers on tv, radio, on books, tapes, cd’s, and dvd’s. Sometimes you just have to open up your Bible and read until something jumps out at you. God doesn’t always have you seek Him in the same way.

When He shows you that verse, or those verses that really catch your attention, read them and re-read them. Read them again and again, giving your full attention to what you are reading. Ask God how it applies to you, your life right now. Ask Him what He is trying to show you. Ask Him how He wants you to respond to this word He’s speaking to you. Write down the verses He leads you to, what you feel He was saying, etc. These are your notes to refer to later on, to remind yourself of what God has been saying and doing in your life. It will encourage you, and stir up your faith in Him. David wrote about encouraging himself in the Lord. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing, and hearing the Word of God. Writing down what you feel He’s saying to you will help you remember it when you need it later on. Sometimes our “hearing” comes by reading, writing, and repeating it to ourselves.

For example, read 1 John 3:1… “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons of God…”. Now, let’s chew on that a bit. “Behold”… look at this! Look at the Love Father God has for us… that He would (through the blood of Jesus Christ) make us sons of God, joint-heirs with Jesus! (Romans) Think about this LOVE. Who am I that I should be called a (daughter) son of the Living God? I am one of those spoken of… “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. I am completely bankrupt of any ability to be “good enough”. I have a tendency to lean in the wrong direction without His constant help, support, and empowerment. Yet, He values me, and calls me to walk with Him. 

Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for loving me, that just like the shepherd You spoke of who left his 99 to go find that one little lost lamb; You sought me out, bought me with Your own blood, and restored me to the most safe and secure place I could be…in You.

Who are you? Do you realize that there is NOTHING you can do or say to redeem yourself? You can never be “good enough”. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) God is the Judge who passed our sentence, but He also sent His only Son to pay our penalty. Jesus didn’t come to make us the “red-headed step-children” of His family. He came to make us sons of God, a kingdom of priests (every one of us) to our God. (Revelation 1:6)

There’s an old song that says “It would have been enough, if He brought life. It would have been enough, if He brought hope. It would have been enough, if He brought power; but He put laughter in my soul.” This speaks of the generosity of God. He gives above and beyond the “call of duty”. He doesn’t owe us ANYTHING; but He’s given us EVERYTHING.

Do you see how just one verse can lead you into deep thought about how God loves you? One verse can lead you into very intimate moments with God. Moments in which you are open to receive His love for you, and loving Him right back. 

This is one way God leads us, and speaks to us. When He says something, it speaks volumes…so much that it cannot be taken in all at once. He’s a patient and excellent Teacher. He will repeat things to us as many times as we need Him to, ‘til we “get it”. He may speak one or two things to you over and over again for months at a time.

You may have the impression that you ought to read the whole Bible. Just thinking about it may seem daunting, especially if you are unfamiliar with God’s word and His ways. (It seems daunting to me, and I grew up in it.) Of course, it is a good idea, and definitely worth while. But follow your Leader, Holy Spirit. There’s no rush to “grow up” in God. And you aren’t going to learn all there is to know about Him, His ways, His heart’s desires overnight. As you keep following after Him, He will lead you and you will grow. 

Read the Bible cover to cover, if you feel led to do so. But, pay close attention to the parts He is speaking to you right now. He’s speaking it to you now, not only for what you’re going through today; but also for what you will face in the future. He’s giving you something solid to stand on, because in life we all face storms that threaten to crush our very lives. God says “follow Me”, not because He’s on some power-trip, but because He’s the only Way. God bless you on your journey in discovering all that He wants to be to you!

~Marcy Ellis, revised April 2009~

Then He wrapped me… one who was dirty, naked, blind and deaf, in His robes of righteousness. He let me know that I no longer needed to “try to be”, I could cease from my “dead works”. Now I know that by faith I am made righteous by the blood of Jesus. By faith I see that I am grafted into the Vine (Jesus) with His divine dna being pumped into my earthen vessel. Therefore I am now empowered, by His Spirit living and working in me; to live, move and have my being in Him. He overcame it all. He dwells in me by His Spirit. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead works in me. Therefore, I can now overcome EVERY thing that would hinder me from walking in His ways. I can now overcome every sin that once so easily tripped me up, and kept me down.

I am valuable because He values me, loves me. I adore Him, cuz He adored me first. I gave up “trying”, to embrace what He is doing in my life. I stopped “trying”, and began allowing Him to have His way. I stopped coming to Him as a beggar, and began behaving as tho’ I believed what He said about me. I am His child, and He is my Papa. He won’t withhold any good from me, and He works everything to my good. Now I watch for what He’s doing, looking to cooperate with His plans and purposes.

“Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed that we should be called sons of God!” 1 John 3

Thank You, Abba, for Your great big love!!!

Wake up, sleepy head. Time to get up out of your bed.
Your bed that you fluff up with all of your doings
Those things that keep you busy and make you feel good about yourself
(As if that is what’s important.)

This is not written for the unbeliever.
I am writing to my brothers and sisters sleeping in the light.
Governed by their own ways. Driven by their bellies.

You talk as tho’ God gave you life to make you an employee.
You do not know His heart at all. Wake up.
He is with you, longing to share His heart, His hope, His life with you.
Did He not say that those who drank of Him would thirst no more?

Yet you are “ever learning, but never coming the the knowledge of the Truth”
You are poor, naked & blind, but you hold your own head high
(Denying His headship over you) Walking in vanity like a proud peacock
You often say “Yes, I know…I know… I know.”
Saying you have the answers. Saying you know the Truth.
You are so full of yourself, you don’t recognize the voice of the Spirit

Again I ask, why are you hungry? Why are you thirsty?
I think you should admit that you DON’T know, that you cannot do.
And turn again, like a child, to the One who gives you life.
Buy from Him gold tried in the fire.
Let Him strip off those old rags you’ve been wearing so proudly.
That He may dress you in white, the robes of His righteousness,
That you might be covered by His love, no longer shamed by your nakedness.
Receive of Him the eyesalve that will restore your vision,
His vision for your life in Him.

You said you were hungry. I wonder if you really are?
Will you continue to rely on the leftovers, the table scraps?
Will you continue to drink tainted water? Oh, sure, it is water…
But it is water filtered by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

You wonder why you feel the way you do. You’re “doing” everything you were taught to do. Going to services every week. You run to this conference, that “revival”…
A flesh-junkie looking for another emotional high.

I was always told it was all about RELATIONSHIP. But Religion seems to rule the day. We need to learn of Him how to live His way, how to walk in His truth.
Not being religious, but Being His children, His trusted friends.
You and I can’t do that on our own. Relationship with Him is the only way.
And if we are in relationship with Him, we never need to go hungry or thirsty again.
For He is present with us all the time. He is our bread and meat. He is the living water.

So, I don’t understand why you are running here and there. Going to this meeting and that meeting. It’s never enough, because you refuse to go to the Source. The only place you need to “go to” is to Him. So busy with all of your own plans and ideas, your own commitments. Shouldn’t Jesus be the priority… His centrality & supremacy in our lives?

Yes, we need to “get plugged in” my friends… plugged in to Jesus, to a 24-7-365 relationship. Totally dependent on Him as our governing Head. Learning together to BE His Body. Being fed by one-on-one time with Him. Then coming together as the pieces and parts that we are, sharing the life of “Christ in us the hope of glory”. Each member of the Body participating, “playing their part”, that Jesus might be revealed to us, in us, & through us all in greater measure.

Yes, I am rambling a bit. But you baffle me. You were the ones who taught me …
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”, “Jesus above all else”.
You taught me that when you are hungry, you seek more of God.
Now you sound like the Pharisees and Sadduces of old…
More concerned with your “good” things… your traditions that have always meant so much to you, busy doing “good” (sure, you really mean to help, to shine His light in the darkness. But, more often than not, your motives are all about your self esteem, how others see you, and making a name for yourself. Which means you are not led by His Spirit, not building HIS kingdom, and His light is not center stage, because you have made yourself “star of the show”.). Though you probably won’t admit it, you are also trying to earn His love & grace.

To obey is better than sacrifice. God doesn’t want your money, or special “feasts” in honor of Him. He wants your very life. Check out Romans 12. “..Offer yourselves as sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please Him; it is the LOGICAL ‘Temple worship’ for you…”. Did you think He was talking to someone else? That you are excluded from this direction? What do you have a doctor’s excuse or something? 
No, He’s not “happy” or “satisfied” with all those things that make YOU feel good about yourself, and your religion. He said we’re not to have any other gods before Him.
That includes ourselves.

How can you say and sing songs about how you love and adore Him, and desire more of Him, and to be a vessel used by Him; only to then refuse to allow Him to make Himself at home in your life? Jesus said foxes have holes and birds have nests, but that He, our sweet Savior, had nowhere to rest his head. Do you think He was only referring to a physical bed and pillow to lay His head on every night? His Body, those who call themselves His people, keep setting other human beings in a place of headship that belongs to Jesus Christ ALONE. Israel of old did this,too. Desiring a man to be their king, rather than God Himself. They did not want the responsibility of relationship. They had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof.

If we truly love Him, we ought to care about the desires of His heart, and not be so selfish as to shove Him aside as we continue on in our owns ways. Exalting “good” ideas, “good” traditions over and above the ONLY ONE WHO IS TRULY GOOD. Without Him we can do nothing. Brothers and sisters, I don’t know about you, but I desire to truly show Him my love and affection. To give Him all of me, dying daily to my ways, my thinking, my wants… that He might rest His head…Be the Head of my life. (Like Paul said to the Philippians, I have not already reached this goal, but I press for it, forgetting what is behind and straining forward for what lies ahead. Phil. 3:12-14

We, as His Body, must do this together, as well. We must daily yield to the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ, that He might rest His Head(ship) on us, and conform us into the Body HE desires us to be. We cannot do this on our own, in our own strength or understanding. Only through a continual yielding to Him, His ways, being led by His Spirit. Only by His Spirit will we become the people, the Body of Christ He has called us to be. “…One huge priestly presence dominating the landscape always…” (Hebrews 7, The Message).

Awake, O sleeper, arise shine for your Light has come.
Stop being angry, and fretting about the wickedness of the wicked. Psalm 37
Stop thinking you’re going to vote them out, or change the world with your vote.
Jesus said we would be persecuted, because the world persecuted Him. So, there’s no point in pouting about it. We certainly are not greater than our Master. We have had it so easy, we’ve fallen asleep in the light… more American than we are Christian. Jesus also said “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world”. He is in us, so we are enabled by His Spirit to overcome, as well. 

God is calling us to return to Him, to dive deeper into relationship with Him. Deeper than we’ve ever been before. Are you hungry? Do you think there must be more? Abandon your carnality, and seek His face. Quiet the busy-ness of your own precious thoughts, and listen for the whispers of His heart. If you truly want something different, you will have to do something different. He will show you what and how. And if you know this message is for you, but you really just don’t want to right now. Pray that He will give you “the want to”. He always gives us what we need…even the desire to follow Him. 

Blessings!!!