Glory Displayed - Show Me The Way

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-VvGoyWi9U

Glory Displayed Photography by Josie Siler.
Featuring "Show Me The Way" by Abe Lamberts.
Copyright 2010.

Is It Really Spring?!

Here in Wisconsin the snow has been melting like crazy. I can see green grass, moss and beautiful ground I haven't seen in months! A couple days ago I even heard it thunder as the rain came pouring down washing all of the snow away. Could Spring really be here? I am keeping my jumping up and down to a minimum because I do live in Wisconsin and it is only March. We could very easily get another pile of snow dumped on us. But I hold out hope that spring is on its way. It must be, the Robins are here!

I love Spring. It's a time when the old is taken away and the new comes. The grass starts to appear, little flowers start to brave their way into a bright new world and there's mud! Not always the most pleasant thing in the world...unless you have a truck or a jeep and then there is much fun to be had! Even though I love the spring, my body does not. This past week has been a rough one. The fog and the rain and the melting are all quite lovely, but they also make my body ache and feel like someone is squeezing every part of me and won't let go. But, praise the Lord, I have been able to keep up with work and other necessary things. God is good all the time. This too will pass and the sun will come out and I'll feel alive once again!

I love the fact that Easter is in the Spring. Just like Spring, Easter is a time to celebrate new life. Life restored. Oh sure, Christmas is great. We get to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But without Easter, Christmas means nothing. Easter is when we remember the ultimate price that Jesus paid...for us. He died for our sins and three days later HE ROSE AGAIN! He is alive and well and if we believe in Him, we get to spend all of eternity with Him. Now that's something to celebrate!

I have to tell you, God has me on a ride. I feel like I am holding on for dear life and I can't wait to see where this ride ends takes me! If you have been reading this blog recently, you know that I have started a business called Glory Displayed. Things are going really well. There is opportunity after opportunity and with each opportunity comes the blessing of sharing God's glory with others. My cards and three large prints are now on display and for sale at the Golden Leaf Cafe' in Menomonie, WI. I will be selling items at the Stillson Spring Expo in Chippewa Falls, WI on March 27th. In April, I will have three items in the Chippewa Valley Spring Art Show that runs for a week. Things have started selling off of my website and I have over 100 fans on Facebook. A little over a week ago I took the cover photograph for the April edition of Queen of the Castle Magazine. All of these things are so exciting and stretching me out of my comfort zone! If you had asked me a couple of months ago what I would be doing today, not one of these things would have even crossed my mind.

It's not just the excitement of starting a new business and having people like and buy something that I did. Oh sure, that's exciting, but even more than that it's the opportunity to display God's glory. I have worked in ministry for years and I absolutely love it. I am still working part time at my church and that is such a blessing. However, one thing that I have always struggled with is that when you work in ministry, it is very difficult to meet people that do not know Jesus yet. You have to be very intentional about it and I have never been very good at getting out there and meeting people. I'm the type of person that likes relationships to develop naturally. Glory Displayed provides the perfect opportunity for this. It has gotten me out in the community meeting with other businesses and all types of people. It is so exciting to have a perfectly natural reason for telling them how awesome God is and showing them pictures of beautiful things He has created. I feel like God started this business for me for this very reason!

One other thing that I have been able to do through Glory Displayed is to help raise awareness of human trafficking. I have been learning about this horrific crime through a variety of ways and I know that God wants me to do something about it. One of the ways that I can help is to help raise awareness. Most people do not know that it exists, let alone that it is the second fastest growing black market trade in the world, second only to drug trafficking. I had no idea, until recently. A portion of all of my proceeds from Glory Displayed is given to organizations that help rescue people from this modern day slavery. Please go to my website http://www.glorydisplayed.com/ to learn more about human trafficking and how you can help.

So that's my life right now. As I always say, life with God is always an adventure! Thank you so much for your prayers and your support. I pray that you have a wonderful Spring and Easter season as you see the glory of God displayed all around you!