2 months from now we’re headed to this gorgeous city for our first Art & Faith Creative Retreat of 2020!

If you would have told me just 10 short years ago that this would be the way the Lord would bring about a ministry in my life... I would have told you, you’re crazy!  But God knew. And He brought together so many things in my life over these past ten years that confirmed His calling on my life to share the gospel and point women to Him in this way.

I say this to you today because that’s how He works for every one of us! When we seek His will for our lives and surrender our will into His much more capable hands... He blows it out of the water friends!

He knows you better than you know yourself.

He CREATED you!

He made you love certain things, gave you unique talents and abilities, draws your attention to certain things and is writing your story every day. And He wants to show you how all of that mixed together can show this world His love and His redeeming power of grace!

Your testimony is His(story) that is beautiful in its own unique way, and is worth sharing. 

So write it down.

I can’t emphasize this enough. Keep a journal and put down your thoughts. The picture above is a journal I started when the Lord started showing me things about our move to Colorado. That’s also a treasured Journaling Bible I wrote notes in, painted in and poured my heart out in during that time period. The last one is a mixed-media book I created with all kinds of different pages and notes. I probably have hundreds of notebooks/journals/scrapbook albums now.

I wish I would have done this all my life, but I’m so thankful that I see the value SPIRITUALLY in it now.

As a young girl I loved reading, writing and scrapbooking. (We’re talking the 80’s) before the scrapbooking world caught steam and took off. I have amazing little “scrapbooks” and notes from my teen years that are such treasures to me. What I didn’t know until recently is how many people kept my letters from those years! I even had a friend tell me recently that I used to write “books” when I’d write a letter to her. I don’t think she knew how much that spoke to my heart… you see I’ve always wanted to write a book since I was little.

At 51 years old that little dream (or desire put there by God) is finally happening!

And it’s partly because I started writing things down.

I could kick myself for not writing more down. Especially when we took a year off and traveled with our young girls around the world! I wrote down some things, but not near enough. It was after that trip that I realized the importance of it. And it may have taken me even more years to really start doing it, and even more years to see the WHY of it.

What I want you to see is how those notebooks, art journals and Bible Journaling can show you how God’s hand weaves together our story, and how if we look closely, He is right there in the details of our daily lives!

I know, we all have so many thoughts going through our minds. Did you know that every day, on average, we have about 60,000 - 80,000 thought go through our mind! WHAT?!

So no… I’m not asking you to write down all your thoughts. Write down little bits from your week. Maybe something that stood out. Keep a travel journal when you go on vacation. Take 2 minutes at the end of the day and write what you did, or where you ate or your favorite thing for the day. Keep funny quotes from your kids. Believe me… you will want to read them back to them some day.

You want to hear one from one of my kids?

“I wish I had a huge head of hair, so I could just hide my toys in it and not have to clean up my room!” (anonymous child of mine)

Yeah… priceless, right?! hahaha

These are all fun things to look back on and part of your families history.

But what I see as truly invaluable is writing down your thoughts, prayers, requests and whispers from the Lord when you are spending time along with God.

This has changed my life, and I think it could change yours too! These are the words you are going to look back on and see His hand in. These notes, journals and heartfelt cries are what are going to show you what He has brought you through and what He is calling you towards!

The testimony He is writing through your life, to then share with others… aka YOUR MINISTRY.

“Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.” Revelation 1:19

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

So I urge you to write down what the Lord is showing you.  Write down the verses that speak to you.  Put your words to paper.  Then go back and look at them. Share them.

I saw this saying recently:

“What you say disappears but what you write down remains.”

So write it down.

I’ll leave you with a prayer of David from Psalm 86:

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.

Thank you Jesus for being there, every step of the way. Help us to see your hand in every detail of our lives.

Teach us Your ways and let us GLORIFY You as we walk in Your ways!

I encourage you to lean into Jesus and ask Him how your life can shine His light in your corner of the world today. 

Have a GREAT day,

Laura McCollough

P.S. I’m actually NOT supposed to be writing right now. I have a hand brace for my right hand and Dr.s orders are not to use my right hand for the next two weeks!

So this blog post… you never saw it. hahaha

P.P.S or it is P.S.S.???

THANK YOU for filling the apartment we had available! We are full now for the summer retreat and we thank everyone who reached out to us. We posted on our IG story earlier that if you want to be on a wait list, you are welcome to add your name. If we can’t get you a place this summer, you’ll be first on the list for when our retreats are open for registration for NEXT year!