Now that you’ve had a few weeks to engage the Movable Adventure, building your own personal experience in the transformational process, I thought I would share my story from inside the construction of what you see online. Development was a long road, of which I only had a small part. But even in working on the Adventure, I found that God had a plan for moving me into deeper spiritual depths. Immediately after the Abide Retreat, Connie Denninger and the vision team already had ideas for the next offering by Visual Faith and conversations began early in April for what would be next. As those Zoom meeting took place, it was clear that we were not planning another retreat, but instead a whole new online experience. God revealed His plan slowly and carefully. I think He does that so we won’t run ahead of Him and ruin a great idea.
Visual Faith is blessed with a large pool of exceptional individuals who willingly share their gifts and talents with the ministry so that we can share them with you. Remarkably, all of them share without concern for what they’ll get out it. God’s fingerprints are all over this peaceable and focused community of believers. That was the rarified air I found myself in as The Movable Adventure was taking shape. Little did I know, God had plans for my own spiritual transformation along the way.
As usual, I don’t bring a great deal of artistic power to the program. Marveling at the ingenuity and beauty of what others create is my greatest strength when in comes to Visual Faith. In fact, I find what the other team members create as an expression of their own faith journeys to be inspiring. I’m not jealous (most of the time) but instead I am moved to try things that would never have occurred to me when it comes to devotional time with God. My approach of choice is always going to be largely cerebral. But God has more pathways to His throne than any of us could imagine. I find that intriguing.
As you may already know, my contributions to Visual Faith have all been Bible Studies and The Movable Adventure is no different. But who knew how much I could grow doing something I’ve been doing all of my life? You see, in college I majored in Theology and trained to be the Educational Director for a church. That meant 40 years spent writing and leading Bible Studies. Then through the skills and talents of Pat Maier, a whole new way of interacting with God’s Word came my way. And honestly, I was hooked. Just writing those studies became a new pathway into God’s presence. His voice grew in volume and the distractions of the world fell away to a greater degree. The Bible studies I was working on became deeper and richer, more personal, and far more challenging. I learned things about myself that have probably always been there, but now were clearer and contained a purpose I’ve never understood before this work began.
Along the way, I picked up the practice of acting as Biblical scribe. So far, I’ve copied over half the Psalms and over half of the Book of John. I look forward to that time with God’s Word and He’s given me insights into His Word that I would have gained no other way. No, I haven’t drawn any great pictures, sketchnoted anything, or made a fabulous mixed media project. But I’ve written with my own hand verse after verse and thought deeply about each word. That’s new and it’s been transformative.
I write this to bring light to the fact that each of us walks a different path with this material. I pray that your journey on the Movable Adventure has and will continue to draw you ever deeper into His precious presence and fill you with wonder and joy. His Word has that amazing power and it’s like a specially wrapped gift that we get to open ever single day. Enjoy!