He Pursues You

Then the Lord said to me, "Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them. 

Hosea 3:1

I love the book of Hosea. I love the transparency shown through this man, how he was obedient to follow God's directions, and in turn, God's love displayed through his story. God tells Hosea to, "go and love your wife again, even though..." again. even though. How hard this must have been for Hosea. He knew what she was before he married her and he knew that she would continue to turn from him, but he loves her still. 

God loves us still. He loves us and he chooses us over and over despite our brokenness and betrayal. He continues to show mercy and wraps us in His arms when we turn back to Him. His arms remain open when we pull away, and he continuously takes us back. His love is abounding and steadfast. He pursues us even when we pursue other things. He finds you and I worthy, and will pursue us relentlessly. 

You are worthy and you are His. Don't you just love that?

With love, 

Lynzee

What do you do when you've already painted the page your on? You make an insert with some cute Sweet N' Sassy Stamps, of course!  

Stamps used: Worthy King

http://www.sweetnsassystamps.com/creative-worship-worthy-king-clear-stamp-set/

Glorify God

I will praise You, Lord my God, with all my heart; 

I will glorify Your name forever. Psalm 86:12

Friends, we are told to glorify God. How can we glorify Him? 

• He is glorified when we love Him. Loving God requires knowing Him. We can know Him through His Word and through prayer. We can love Him by loving others and living for Him. 
• He is glorified when we praise Him. He is amazing. So tell Him! Thank Him! 
• He is glorified when we obey His words. We are so blessed to have the Bible. He tells us how to follow Him. 
• He is glorified when we trust Him in every circumstance. Do we have troubles in this world? You betcha! Can we trust Him through those tough times? Yes! Yes! Yes! Our God is a trustworthy God. He does what He says and His plan is good.

Is it easy to do all those things? Not for me! But, God is working in me and step by step I draw nearer to Him. I will never be able to adequately glorify Him. But, I pray that my words, my actions, my Bible journaling do glorify Him as I grow in Him.

For the page, I used three Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Words of Life: Actions, Worthy King, and All Your Heart. WOL: Actions and Worthy King were released just this month. They are a great addition to SNSS. These sets are all so versatile! I find myself using them again and again.

   

Blessings! Andrea

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

I have a couple of projects today using one of the new SNSS February sets - Creative Worship: Words of Life- Actions

I created a Bible journal page for Matthew 5:16...

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

A wonderful reminder that actions speak louder than words! I used the Creative Worship: Outline Alpha set to create a title. This new set was a lot of fun to play with. I didn't create a glamorous page I just had fun.

Then I created some cards. I used some distress inks to create a ombre background then stamped a sentiment by combining words. I used Creative Worship: Good Shepherd to fill in the blanks. They are simple but effective I think. Sometimes less is more  Do you agree?

Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by! 

Lyn

His Word Is Alive!

For the word of God is alive and active. 

Sharper than any double-edged sword, 

it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, 

joints and marrow; 

it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 

More times than I can count, God's words have leaped off the page of my Bible and seared my heart.  His Word is like a flame that purifies my heart in a refiner's fire.  Sometimes my need for refinement is a daily event!  I cringe when I hear that God's Word is no longer relevant.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  It is the most relevant, lasting, certain, absolute truth we have.  In fact, there is no truth apart from God's truth.   What's more amazing is that His Truth, His Word is rooted in His love for us.  We can depend on His Word, we can rest in it and know that is will be true for us throughout our entire lives. 

I used PrismaColor pencils for the images on the page and then painted a soft watercolor blue for the background.  I decided on a little different interpretation of the image from the newly released stamp set, Living Word.  The image actually shows a living plant coming from the Bible and as God's love waters us we will grow.  But I could also see flames of His Word, and just wanted to create the imagery that God will continually pour my heart into the crucible of testing and refinement.  I think it works!

Stamp Used:

Living Word

Daydream Designs

Jesus saved the world!

It's almost Valentines day. I don't have a Valentine so nothing special planned for me. But... I read a compilation of different bible verses called 'Fathers love letter' recently and these messages were so beautiful that I had to work with them in my bible. This one stood out to me because Jesus saved the entire world and it didn't just stop there. He turned us from enemies into friends. Talking about love... amazing love!

This message is in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (I'm using the Good News translation here, for a non-native speaker this part was way more clear than the ones that talk about reconciliation. A word that's not used a lot in the Netherlands 😉).

'All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. Our message is that God was making all human beings his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends.' 

I used ink and colored pencils to add some color to this page. And of course the beautiful 'My Savior' stamp set for the images! (except for the hearts and border around the message, these are just hand drawn).

- Lucinde

His Love Endures

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

I'm a reading teacher, and if you have read my posts before then you know I like to define words. endure- to suffer patiently; remain in existence

Friends, this is love. We know it and we have heard it again and again. I grew up in church, this is a truth that I have known for years now, but every time I am reminded, it is like a fresh rain washing over me again. 

Jesus suffered for me to know this truth and he remains with me so that I know it daily. 

I don't know where you are in your walk with God. I don't know if you are in a harvest or in a time of waiting, if you are feeling lonely or suffering, fearful or joyful. No matter what season you are in know that His love endures through it all and will guide you Home. 

We have found our hope. We have found our peace. We have found our rest in the one who loves. He will light the way. He will lead us home, as we offer all to the One who saves us. 

"The One Who Saves" -Hillsong Live

Have a love filled week, 

Lynzee

I love all things floral and couldn't wait to use these stamps!!

Stamps used:

Peaceful Peonies that will be available in March 

Jesus Loves You...No Matter What!

Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22:60-62

We all know this story. Peter denied that he knew Christ and followed Him. Three times Peter denied Jesus. And we ask ourselves, "How could he do that?" And, yet, if I'm honest with myself, I should ask myself how many times I've denied Jesus myself. I love that we see the ups and downs of Peter in the Bible because it gives me hope! God can still work through all my ups and downs!

What I love about this passage is that after Peter denied Jesus and the rooster crowed, Jesus turned and looked at him. With judgment? No, I think He looked at Peter with love and compassion. He knew Peter would deny Him before Peter did it. But He also knew what Peter would go on to do in His name. We all fall. We all turn away from God. But He died for us anyway! We have a truly amazing God!!

And coming full circle, John 21:15-17 tell us how Jesus restored Peter. "So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep."

Jesus gave Peter three chances to declare his love for Him. He wanted to restore Peter. And He wants to restore us too. Don't run from Him. Instead run to Him. He will meet us with open arms because He loves us no matter what. 

I journaled this page in my interleaved Bible. For the page, I used watercolor for the background and a white sharpie pen for the highlights. I copied the rooster from an online image and drew him with Micron pens. The Sweet 'n Sassy Stamp sets I used are: Shake It Off Caps and Shake It Off Lower Alphas, Chunky Alpha, Rebecca Script, Just Be, and His Name.

  

  

Remember He loves you more! Blessings, Andrea 

God Is More Than Enough!

Recently our family celebrated the second anniversary of my grandsons' arrival from the Philippines.  They had been waiting for over a year after my son married their mother to rejoin her here in the United States.  It seemed like it took forever to complete all the complicated steps of their legal immigration paper work.  Finally the day arrived, the plane was on the way and the entire family waited with breathless anticipation for the boys and their mother to walk through the airport gate.  The boys and my son had skyped many times, so they knew each other, but this moment would be a once in a lifetime moment.  They would meet for the first time face to face.  I expected the boys, 7 and 10, to be shy and a bit reticent when the moment to meet actually arrived. Imagine our surprise and delight when they came through the gate, immediately laid eyes on my son and broke out in a full run shouting with complete abandon, "Daddy, Daddy."  They opened their arms wide and both simultaneously jumped up into his strong, waiting embrace.  As you may well imagine, there wasn't a dry eye in the terminal.

Our heavenly Father waits with strong and open arms to receive us whenever we need Him.  He will never turn us away.  Sometimes we are at a distance, communicating with Him, believing Him.  Then there are those times when we need to run to Him with complete abandon, call out His name and jump into those arms to be near His heart and feel His protective embrace around us.  He delights our in our need of Him.

God is always ready to accept our need of Him and work on our behalf.  He is always accessible and always moving in our lives for our good.  He watches over us, stands at our right hand, intimately knows us and our need.  He will neither slumber nor turn from us.  He will always have eyes to see us and arms to hold us.

Since Jesus instructed His disciples, believers have experienced trouble here on this earth.  In fact, He said the world would hate us.  Christian brothers and sisters are being tortured and killed in some parts of the world just because they are believers.  Even here in our country, we see contempt and intolerance for Christians growing.  We need not fear.  God is for us, He moves toward us to keep us in His arms, and we can trust that God is more than enough for anything we face.  He may not remove trouble from us, but we can rest assured He will hold us through it all.

For these pages I used chalks to color the background, SU inks for stamping and Copics for coloring.  I set my work with hairspray so the chalks wouldn't dust off.   I combined the following Sweet 'n Sassy stamps.  More will be released this month and you will absolutely love them for Bible journaling.

My Friend                              Perfect Faith

God Is For You

(newly released)

Diane Noble, Daydream Designs