The Creator's Healing Power-Restoring the Broken to Beautiful: Bible Studies to Nurture the Creative Spirit Within - Paperback

by Jody Thomae (Author)

What if you could gather up all the shattered and scattered pieces of your broken heart and surrender them to a Master Artist who would then piece it back together into a BEaUtiful work of heART? ...a powerful kind of "Kintsugi of the Soul"...

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold. When an object is broken, rather than discarding the damaged and broken, the pieces are mended, and cracks are filled with precious metal and, in many ways, make the object more beautiful than it was at the start. As a philosophy, it is rooted in the inherent beauty of all objects, no matter what they've endured. And the philosophy behind kintsugi is the same one that inspires this book. Kintsugi is a powerful metaphor of Jesus Christ, the Master Artisan, filling and healing the shattered places within. As the broken places are tenderly pieced back together and repaired with his golden healing balm, they become a beautiful place where God's glory is revealed in our weakness.

In "The Creator's Healing Power-Restoring the Broken to Beautiful" you will discover a path to healing with a focus on artistry, beauty, creativity and worship. Based on the Formational Prayer Model developed by Dr. Terry Wardle, "The Creator's Healing Power" is an in-depth and interactive Bible study exploring the connection between healing and creativity, prayer and redemption, surrender and beauty, worship and wholeness. Designed as an 8.5 x 11" interactive workbook, each chapter includes "Digging Deeper" Bible studies to help you uncover more about each subject area, exploring what God's Word has to say to aid us on our healing journey. Additionally, each "Digging Deeper" Bible study includes reflection questions to use as journaling prompts, song suggestions, and instructions for stepping into a creative process as a path towards healing. Throughout the book you will also find movie clips, songs and videos to use as you creatively process all you have learned. Each chapter concludes with a "benediction" of poetry and a coloring page-graciously shared by fellow artists, wounded healers, on the healing journey themselves. Poems included are by creatives such as Sarah M. Wells, Jan Richardson and Tom Graffagnino. Also included are stories and testimonies from artists and creatives who share how they have used their creativity to heal themselves and others.

Are you ready to begin a journey of reclamation and redemption with the Healer of All Healers? Are you ready for the Master Artist to take the broken, fractured, bifurcated and scattered places within and perform "Kintsugi of the Soul" in you? Let "The Creator's Healing Power-Restoring the Broken to Beautiful" be the place where you begin.

Author Biography

Jody Thomae has been involved in worship arts ministry since 1997, serving as a worship arts ministry pastor, worship leader, creative arts director, and worship dance team director. She has coordinated artistic involvement in church services and regional worship events through dance, drama, poetry and fine arts, and performs, teaches, and leads workshops in the area of creativity, spirituality, embodied prayer, and healing movement. She leads worship at local seminars, retreats, and women's events and is a guest lecturer on creativity, embodiment, and spirituality for Healing Care Ministries and HCM International. Her passion is for the revelation of God to be made more real through: 1) the prophetic use of the arts in church, and 2) creativity in formational and healing ministry. It is her desire to portray the message of Christ's desperate and unfailing love for His people to help sustain the hearts of the broken and weary. She is particularly interested in the reclamation of the body in the healing of trauma and works in the area of embodiment with survivors of abuse, addiction, and trauma. Also part of the Bible Studies to Nurture the Creative Spirit Within series, her first book, "God's Creative Gift-Unleashing the Artist in You" is another interactive, in-depth devotional Bible study similar to "The Creator's Healing Power." Print and digital copies are available through Amazon or Wipf & Stock. Signed copies of Jody's books are available for purchase through her Square store at: squareup.com/market/jody-thomae. They are also available in bulk amounts for your creative arts ministry team or group study through Square. Jody also has a devotional CD titled "Song of the Beloved"-a collection of simple acoustic music recordings with readings from scripture and "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas à Kempis. It is designed to lead you through a time of confession into quiet meditation and rest in the arms of your Savior and King, Jesus Christ. It is available through her Square store, as well as iTunes, Spotify and other music outlets. For additional creative resources and inspiration, visit Jody at: www.jodythomae.com or on Facebook.