silver linings Archives | Josephine's World

Little k

Kim Bullen — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 21:30:28 +0000

little k

Oh… the dreaded signature…

and how I’ve pained over this tiny detail for years!

Actually, it seems no name is needed at all…

when every ounce of me has been layered throughout the canvas…

Heart, soul, being, and prayerful love …

all unfolding a new world …

once hidden…

Creation…

in its truest moment…

And finally…

a scripture …

bubbled up into my bank of memories…

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb“.

Since it truly feels like giving birth to something new…

I decided to weave a small k into the corner of these tiny painted worlds…

Small k…

for kim…

that’s my name if you didn’t already know…

Josephine is actually my spiritual mentor.

She’s woven into these paintings too…

giving birth to new life

through each story that she tells!

The color?

Red…

to remember when signing off of each little world …

how grateful I am for all the sacrifices

made on my behalf and yours.

Recently,

after threading over 100 small k’s …

I discovered a little wink from the Original Weaver …

When you turn the canvas over and look at its backside…

The tiny k becomes

A red cross!

God’s confirmation…

I AM

with you on this one Kim!

Anyway…

just thought I’d let you know

a little detail within Josephine’s world…

to remind you

that He is in all of the tiny details within your world!

Psalms 139… worth the read!

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Honey Child

Kim Bullen — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 17:09:29 +0000

Growin’ up in the South…

Honey Child

was a common term of endearment used.

You really don’t hear it much these days,
but it sure does bring back fond memories

childhood twinkles of molasses slow days
that forced you to savor a moment
whether you wanted to or not…
.
Now, I’m discovering… .
THAT’S where the honey pot lies…
……… in the MOMENT………
with the potential TO BE golden… .
and filled with honey…
.
a message hidden

just for the one who discovers it!

Josephine

reminds us to just

SLOW DOWN,
SOAK in it
and

JUST BEE!!! .
We are all called to bee
HIS HONEY Child(s)!

Honey Child Mixed Media 20″ x 16 for $350-400.00

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Green Grass Church

Taylor Latch — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 01:42:02 +0000

Green Grass Church

Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations. Psalms 100:4

While painting this church…

I could see blades of green grass all around it…

and when it came time to focus on the door…

the scripture above came to mind…

and a green leaf settled quietly within its entryway!

Why a green leaf I asked?

And I heard a whisper say…

The purpose of a leaf

is to take in the light

(truth)

of the sun

(Jesus)

And use its energy

(power over darkness)

To process the water

(God’s word)

supplied from the ground

(the current circumstance)

together

with the carbon dioxide from the air…

(His Holy Spirit)

to provide food for the plant.

(to exchange our waste and exhaust & convert it to life in this moment)

Yes…

It’s ok… to go back and reread it!

I did so many times to let it soak deep within…

This process?

Photosynthesis…

Photo… using light

Synthesis… making something new

(He shines light on the darkness to make all things new)

Life emerges when blessings are counted…

Grass turns green

beneath my feet

when the blades around me

are cherished and noted as sweet.

Even doors turn green

opening wide

filled with life…

to places

leading up high…

Church

has those green leaf doors.

Friends

harboring that encouraging Barnabas spirit within

have those leaves…

and oh so many more green leaf invitations

surface

throughout each day!

All things

become life giving

when I start looking for these

green moments within my world…

May we grasp each blade of green

that comes our way today!

In Jesus

mighty name,

AMEN!

48 x 48 mixed media $1800.00

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Cow Patty Days

Kim Bullen — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 03:55:30 +0000

Cow Patty Days

Growing up in a small southern town…

in the middle of nowhere,

about an hour away

from all urban arenas…

It was a place

far from distractions …

allowing

all the little growing minds

to intensely explore

their childhood wonders.

We,

as kids,

had the unrealized

and fine opportunity

to use our imaginations

on a regular basis

and to discover

the goodness in a day!

I think about the handful

of treasured friends

in search of makeshift fun

in this tiny speck of a town

we had the privilege

to grow up in…

Sometimes…

we’d dress up

in the craziest of outfits

and pretend to be manikins

in an abandoned storefront

on Main Street…

(Pre-Project Runway)

Sometimes…

we’d pretend to be gourmet chefs

and pull together a 5 course meal for the parents

with whatever was in the pantry…

leaving behind an explosion of a mess

in the appointed kitchen .

(Prelude to Robert Irvine’s Dinner Impossible)

and sometimes…

we’d find ourselves in the cow pastures…

traversing a mine-field

of buttercups and cow poop…

with a handful of firecrackers,

and a box of Fire chief matches…

We’d all gather around…

honing in on the chosen patty…

and placing a tiny red fire rocket

right square in the middle

of its flattened muck.

Lighting the threaded end…

We’d run for our ‘stay clean’ lives!

The thrill of dodging the cow crap

Was such a rush…

Now…

50 years of life

has gone through me…

and sometimes…

it appears as if

those imaginary cow patties

are falling from the skies…

where crap sometimes comes from all directions

and life just plain gets hard

for a moment….

If wisdom prevails…

I’ll rewind

my attitude

to the good old days…

of sweet childhood’s simplicity.

with a smile and a giggle…

Remembering…

to look for the thrill in dodging all the crap

and to recall all of the joyful buttercups

that bloomed so profusely

in those fertilized fields.

May we all

learn to bloom like buttercups

through those cow patty days

and make the most of whatever season of life

we find ourselves in!

Bloom Through the Cow Patty Days (20 x 20 mixed media $725.00)

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Sundays at Seaside

Kim Bullen — Mon, 08 May 2017 15:05:53 +0000

Sundays at Seaside

48 x 36 Framed Mixed Media … $1500.00

contact artist for details

Sundays at Seaside

A prayer for the one who adopts this piece of art…

May your ears be open to sweet whispers of His Holy Spirit

which will guide you gently into His Presence

Resting…

in the moment…

not the past

nor the future

but in the Presence of the One

who can carry you through it all!

May the Breath of the Holy Spirit

blow on the glowing embers within

and revive your walk to burn brighter than before.

Sharing His light…

through any darkness that may come your way.

May the salt of the sea…

be a reminder

that you are His special seasoning

in a world in need

of salt and light!

In Jesus name,

I pray this for you!

Amen

.
He saw the disciples straining at the oars. -Mark 6:48

People even more than things,

have to be RESTORED,

RENEWED,

REVIVED,

RECLAIMED,

and REDEEMED.

Never throw anyone out.

-Audrey Hepburn

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Breathe Deep

Kim Bullen — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 23:05:43 +0000

Breathe Deep

HOW THIS VISION CAME TO BE:

This image came to me shortly after starting this journey into Josephineʼs world.

Itʼs simplicity again reminds me of childlike faith.

At the time, I did not know that there was someone else in my life who had that very image in her head

while going through her tough times since she was a little girl.

After painting it, I took a break and received a text out of the blue from this precious friend.

She is a golden nugget on this earth and is always filled with such joy and light.

We talked and she asked what Iʼd been doing.

After letting her know, Iʼd been painting.

She inquired more about the paintings.

I shared a little bit about Josephine and my mission with her….

still not clicking in my head what was transpiring

until she asked if I thought sheʼd want to buy one.

Then it clicked….

ʻMary, what is it that has gotten you through your toughest moments all of your life?ʼ

She responded…

ʻThe meadow with Winnie the Pooh.

I also see blue when I am praying and sometimes see the color blue.ʼ

Godʼs geese ran up my arms

and I immediately sent her the pic.

ʻOMG THAT IS MY IMAGE… THAT IS MY PICTURE.

God is so powerful!ʼ

Itʼs her happy place!

I couldnʼt believe the Lord had already picked

out my next vision to paint.

What sealed the deal that we were onto something special is when I googled up Winnie the Pooh images…

and this image popped up:

OK, Lord… You’ve got my attention!!!

Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.

Psalms 119:49-50

I AM MARY

the love of someone’s life,

a sister, a fighter a dog-lover,

a survivor

…THIS VISION

was given to me as a young child.

Being sick at a very young age,

you learn the world isn’t always a fun place.

It can be filled with hurt, pain and isolation.

Winnie-the-Pooh was always my escape.

Him singing his song about the rumbling in his tummy.

My vision of a meadow with green grass, blue skies and one single cloud

is the place Pooh would go with Christopher Robin to think.

Now, I look back and know..

As a 47-year-old with Cystic Fibrosis

God gave me

THIS VISION…

BREATHE DEEP

is my picture of calm and peace.

My escape

when I literally felt like Pooh!

He’d send Christ to see me through.

JOSEPHINE

reminds me…

God will guide me out of my situation and get me to a place of peace and strength.

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Green Grass and Silver Linings

Kim Bullen — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 06:00:28 +0000

Green Grass and Silver Linings

Out of the blue…

the rug vanishes…

and you realize nothing was

as you thought it was going to be.

The journey that was planned in our heads

on the road called Easy Street

dissappears…

MY STORY:

You know the one…

it’s the one that the imaginary and infamous Jones’ get to take.

We found ourselves stranded without a clue as to which direction to take.

Daily tear-flooded paths finally led me to a vision…

not just a doodle in my head…

not black and white squiggles…

but a full-blown Technicolor freeze frame of hope.

It was an inkling of time frozen as on a movie frame of a white puffy cloud with shades of silver and the greenest of green grass

all settled into the deepest darkest bluest blue

with a whisper from His Holy Breath….

Green Grass and Silver Linings are in the Deepest and Darkest of Moments…

FIND IT!

Find these things in each moment, Kim and you’ll get through it!!!

It was this revelation that made me realize the importance that a simple picture

can change the entire atmosphere of my world.

That was when my world turned from weeping and desperation into more joy and hope.

I concentrated on that image each time the inevitable gloom and doom world would collapse around me,

attempting to cover up what was a Hand placed and etched with my Father’s Fingerprints.

It was the simplicity of what you and I and all of us are named.

As ever so cleverly named by HIM…

we are all human BEINGS…

not GONNA-BEINGS

or WAS-INGS

but BEINGS.

Present tense.

It is

TO BE …

That simple little image He dropped in my heart reminded me…

to stay connected to the present moment…

and find the good in it!

There’s always something good to discover in a moment…

We just seem to overlook it a lot of the times because that uncomfortable moment wasn’t pre-planned

by the all-controlling-wannabe-mother-of-all-time…

MOI!

I ended up painting that image simply titled…

GREEN GRASS AND SILVER LININGS.

Little did I know…

that childlike vision would take on a life of it’s own and begin capturing many moments that would minister to others.

Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.

-Psalms 119:49-50

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Josephine’s World

Kim Bullen — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 16:47:15 +0000

Josephine’s World

STAYING SIMPLE IN A COMPLEX WORLD

For a long time now, I’ve doodled visions on notecards in church pews,

on the back of receipts while driving down the road… I mean while stopped at a stop light!

You name it… you’d find little bits of doodle scattered throughout my home…simple and childlike .

These past few years… it seems my doodles dwindled due to the pressures this chaotic world tends to heap on top of us all.

Yep… my little light was getting snuffed out…

the lamp unto my soul was being forgotten, and my joy had slipped into a static state of nothingness….

flatline, if you will, into the intangible realm.

BREAKING NEWS… A NEW WORLD HAS BEEN DISCOVERED

That is until…

my dear friend unknowingly awakened my inner goldendoodle

(new breed… cross between GOLDEN MOMENTS and EARTHLY DOODLES) .

She shared a dream she had one night that helped her get through the tough times.

As she was speaking, I remembered the image that emerged when my family was going through some of the darkest days a parent would ever want to venture into with their child…

I ended up painting that image simply titled…

GREEN GRASS AND SILVER LININGS.

to help me remember my life did not revolve solely on what was pulling me down.

Little did I know… that childlike vision would take on a life of it’s own to minister to others.

I painted a custom one for my friend who lost her precious daughter…

Then another for a friend with a chronic illness….

And another for a mom struggling to stay above it all with two well raised sons battling heroin addiction….

Slowly, friends began revealing their visions as a reminder to hold onto their truth….

YOU CAN GET THROUGH THIS MOMENT

with a promise of hope and not destruction.

Frozen fragments of life-giving hope…

all divinely captured by the one in need.

I feel that God speaks to us so simply that even a child can grasp it…

However, this world cleverly complicates and confuses His message of hope and promise.

It’s hard to catch this glimpse if you know what I mean…

It’s like catching a feather on a windy day sometimes….

but we need to hold on to these positive shifts and sear it onto the backside of our retinas/hearts

So I guess this is an invitation to get refined and realigned

instead of

defined and destroyed by discouraging circumstances.

I’d love the opportunity to capture your moment that allows you to

LIVE FULLY!

Instead of hermitting into a huddled hut…

Come Join JoJo’s Tribe…

and let me paint you a picture of hope.

It’d be a true honor!

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Romans 8: 18-21

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