Tag: summer

Series: Decor- Industrial Style

Myrnaly

This is our third style, the industrial. It is a style that is also trending, and it is practical, strong, and modern.

Little is known about the origin of this style of decoration, but it is understood that it may have started at the beginning of the 20th century. At the end of the second industrial revolution, its characteristics were known worldwide. This caused various industries to pack their things and move to countries around the world, leaving behind empty and abandoned industrial structures, with valuable resources and materials.

By the 90s, the population had multiplied and it was necessary to add more housing. Wise architects took advantage of these abandoned industrial structures and used their bricks as design and gave a unique style to the materials that characterized the industrial age.

A promise given thousands of years ago for the redemption of humanity was about to be fulfilled. And that Redeemer would be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. A whole new era was beginning. With Him came our salvation, grace, and forgiveness. All the emptiness that existed in our lives would find its fullness and its peace. Jesus Christ gave us a new purpose in our lives. He is the architect who gives life and beauty to what was lost. It becomes our strength. Our strong base of life. We had no hope and He called us to reflect His light to the world.

The industrial style uses furniture and accessories made from materials such as aluminum, iron, concrete, stone, wood, and copper. All of these materials are used in industrial structures to make them strong, bear weight, and last. They give a good structure to make the facility robust. They are then redesigned to adapt them to the home but giving that industrial sense.

In God, we feel safe. In the midst of the fluctuations of situations that this world faces, wars, pandemics, political oppressions, envy, injustice, and other evils, we can live confident that our God is the rock where our life is founded. That firm rock on which we can build our family, knowing that nothing will move us. Our abilities and talents are then redesigned by the Creator to give them a new purpose: the edification of the church and to bring the good news of salvation to the world. It is a relief to be able to deliver our burdens to him and put our home in his hands.

The color palette is based on neutrals such as black, gray, and white. Warm colors such as brown and its shades are added to these, although it can be combined with others.

May God put in us that feeling that he put in Nehemiah that when he saw that his city had been destroyed, he prayed and was sorry and made himself available to the Lord to rebuild it. Not only do we have strength, but we must also present ourselves to the Lord as approved workers and help rebuild and love the church, and the lives that need it. We live in times where our faith could falter and we need to depend, as it always should be, more on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and put ourselves in the gap to intercede for our brothers in the faith. Let’s help build with strong material and let’s not be the ones to tear down with words or actions.

Let us pray to the Lord to use us to build with the strong materials that He supplies us. May we stand in the gap for the church in these times and carry the message for those lives that are not yet founded on Him.

Series: Decor-Hygge style

Myrnaly

I begin the series with the style in decoration that is “trending” or very fashionable. Hygge or as pronounced in English, Hoogah.

The word “hygge” is a Danish word that means “coziness”. Rather, it expresses a feeling meaning much more than a word. It is part of a ritual of enjoying the simple pleasures of life and looking for meaning, beauty and something special in ordinary things.

The hygge style tries to take us in the midst of the stress created by this world and its rushing, to a state of relaxation, comfort, and enjoyment of the pleasures of life. That is why in its manifesto expresses that relationships, relaxing smells, food, and comfortable clothes are encouraged, to make us feel curled up in the middle of the chaos in which we live.

As Christians, I don’t need that style to feel comfortable, peaceful, and content. Jesus Christ has given me life, joy, and peace. He not only restores and mends my exterior, but transforms and heals my interior, my heart, to lead me to enjoy an abundant life, backed by his power, grace, and mercy. But even knowing him, I can get to feel overwhelmed at times. It is then that I must get closer to Him to live in His rest.

I can seek and enjoy the pleasures in life that will bring me a momentary distraction from what I am living. But I can aspire to a higher state of life where I feel complete in Christ and a joy that remains. In Christ, I find fullness and true comfort. But I can insert the ideas of this type of decoration in my home, and complement it very well with the Word of God.

This style returns to the natural, minimalist, without great complications. With a color palette that evokes trees, sand, soil, organic fabrics.

We can reflect on nature, God’s creation for our delight and sustenance. Remember that the color palettes come from the landscape that God has given us. This is the color palette for hygge.

The hygge style leads us to appreciate the simple things in life. We have even greater power in the Word when it tells us by the example of the Apostle Paul that we can be content in all circumstances, whether in abundance or in scarcity. We can do everything in Christ who strengthens us. It is not an effort from us. It only requires surrender on our part. It is to enjoy every day of his presence in our lives, to raise praise to him, and to delight ourselves in the adoration of the one who deserves it. I should not wrap myself in earthly pleasures to fill myself. I wrap myself in the delight of surrendering to Him, of worshiping and serving Him, and that brings joy, gives me rest, renews my strength like the eagle, and makes me feel loved.

God loves us and teaches us great principles using everything we see and know, as Jesus Christ did when he spoke to them in parables applying the culture and customs of the time. We can learn by talking about this style of decoration to be happy with the minimum. We do not need great wealth or luxury to feel identified or complete.

There are decorating styles for all tastes and personalities. We all look for what identifies us. I like this style because it reminds me of purity, holiness because white is used a lot, and the joy that I feel since God came into my life. It changes your life! You find beauty in everything you see. You are grateful for everything you have.

May your life be reflected in everything you decorate. What you adorn externally does not change your interior. I pray that God leads you to appreciate and be grateful for what you have, that even if you think it is little, it is enough and your greatest wealth is found in your inheritance in heaven.

Let us pray to the Lord giving thanks and exalting his name because he has given us life, and abundant life full of joy and peace. May we be content with all that we have and are. May we reflect on others the character of Christ so that their lives may be filled by his grace. We ask the Lord to keep us from trading our kingdom priorities for the pleasures and vanity of this world.

Series: Decor-Introduction

Myrnaly

I love to talk about home decor. I watch programs, I read, I look for ideas, and I try to apply all that to my home aesthetic.

Decorating is the “placement and combination of functional and ornamental elements in a place or a space to beautify it, adorn it, or create a certain effect”.

In simple words, you take a space and change it to give it beauty, but not only that, you want it to be functional.

In this series, we will see the different styles of decoration, or at least the major categories because there are many variants.

But the interesting thing about this whole series is that we will learn from the Word as we talk about these topics.

From the old testament in the Bible, we can see different illustrations about the decorations in those times. And if you think a bit, did you know that the color combinations used in the decoration palettes are taken from the combinations that exist in nature?

God supplied us with that master color palette. God made everything beautiful and varied as well.

We can be amazed by the variety of species of flowers, plants, trees that we see while new species and new colors are still being discovered. We can relax by observing the different blue tones of the sea. Sunsets are full of stunning sparkle combinations, and each season of the year gives us a feeling of freshness by completely changing the colors we see every day.

And it says in Romans 1:20 “For the invisible things of him, his eternal power and deity, are made clearly visible from the creation of the world, being understood through the things made, so that they are without excuse.” Through what we see in creation we can see the glory, greatness, and power of God. And every day we continue to discover new things.


But he created man and woman in his image and likeness. Initially, he made us perfect, to be eternal. Sin brought our spiritual death and the need for a savior for our souls.

Sin no longer allows us to be functional. It fills us with attitudes and feelings that are neither beautiful nor perfect. But God, in His grace and mercy, through faith in Jesus Christ, gives us life, cleanses our life, and, guided by his Holy Spirit, transforms us. Through this transformation, God calls us saints “separated for Him”, he changes us, and now we are light to shine in this world.

He made everything beautiful, including us. The best decoration and remodeling is that of our soul, which brings us to life, and to an abundant life of joy and peace, even in the midst of life’s circumstances.

In the next blog I will start with the decorating styles, but now, let’s pray: Lord, thank you for coming into my life to make it new. If I haven’t taken that step yet, may you guide me in order to start there. Thank you because you have given purpose and functionality to my life and every day you continue to renew us until we reach perfection until you come. May we be that light that the world needs reflecting your glory. Amen.

Someone else finished what I began

Myrnaly

I like to put decoration details around the house according to the different seasons of the year. At the moment I have decorated my dining table in a beach theme because of the summer. They are simple details but they encourage us to see different things, even if I reuse them next year.

I have many ideas, so most of the time, I buy the materials and prepare decorations myself. I bought those snails and thought they would look great in that cloth packaging. I have good ideas but sometimes in the execution, I am not so patient. So I placed the snails and as much as I accommodated them they did not look up and the packaging looked a little empty. Well! ” I don’t think it looks bad, ”I thought.

But my husband, who is a detail-oriented and perfectionist, saw that something was missing in the decoration of the snails and by the time I saw it, he had already placed a foam (polyethylene) filling so that it would not look empty and now the snails look better than when I put them on.

And so God made us. He gave each of us different gifts to be able to compliment others. We work differently and give different ideas but we serve the same Lord, we are all under his direction.

As the body of Christ, we are his instruments to carry his gospel message to the world. We will meet different types of people, different situations, different languages, different needs, so it requires different gifts and abilities to be able to minister to all people.

For example, maybe you are good at talking to people, but someone else is good at listening. Perhaps you reflect great peace and bring calm to someone, while another is the one who encourages the decayed. Perhaps you are good at serving, and another is good at administering.

Teamwork leads us to reach more lives and we are in times where the need is great and the limitations of the pandemic lead us to be creative. And you already know the saying that “two minds think more than one”. For it is the same spirit, the same love, the same burden, taking the form that can reach each person who needs it.

Your gifts and talents are necessary to be a blessing to others. It is a privilege to be used by God because we are not even worthy to be his servants and carry a message that remains so great. It is his grace that leads us by the hand when we surrender our lives to him.

Do not think that you are not necessary, or that there are already people working in the church. God created you for good works, so that his name may be exalted and glorified. It all starts when we surrender to Him so that His will be done and not ours.

Let us pray to the Lord to present ourselves willing and available for his work. May it help us to be an active part of the body, putting our gifts and talents at the service of others. It is time to carry the message with urgency and fear of the Lord. May he direct us to be a blessing to those who need it, always remembering that all the glory and the work is his.

At the shadows running away from the sun

Myrnaly

Summer has arrived! Here in Puerto Rico, we have experienced extremely hot days. Around the island, the heat indexes have spiked over 100 degrees.

In the midst of that heat, and the protocols of the COVID pandemic, my husband and I went out to get some boxes for some Father’s Day gifts. Due to the social distancing that now governs all the places where people can gather, we had to queue outside the building where we planned to buy the boxes.

But the waiting line at the side of the building was well shaded. It was a refuge to run away from the hot sun that was being felt, brought relief and we could even wait in line calmly without the rush to get out of there. At least throughout the afternoon, that shading would be refreshing everyone who lined up there.

I like the verse I shared in the first photo because the Bible tells us about the protection we have under the shadow of God. That shadow that brought me relief would last an afternoon there, but God’s favor and protection last forever.

Life brings us to all situations that can overwhelm and exhaust us, as does the heat of the sun. But the blessing of being God’s children gives us relief, keeps us so we can enjoy God’s undeserved faithfulness to us. It is always a reason for devotion to contemplate the love of God and that He remains faithful even when we are not.

This sin-corrupted world brings anxiety into our lives, showing us how fragile we are, and how little control we have of external circumstances.

This year has been difficult in Puerto Rico due to the tremors and earthquakes, the pandemic, and the corruption situations of our government. But, in all these things we are more than conquerors and today we are witnesses of the power and the provision of God, even in difficult times, where the logic of what is expected does not agree with the fulfilled promises of God.

Enjoy under the shadow of the Highest the abundant life that Jesus Christ won for you on the cross. The Lord is always around, we are the ones who turn away from Him.

Feed your spirit with the water that jumps for eternal life and the Bread of Life so you can enjoy the good things of summer in your life.

Let us pray to the Lord giving glory to his name for his faithfulness. May we remember each morning his blessings and may the Holy Spirit help us to cover ourselves under his grace and care at all times in our lives.