Abide in Him

 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, 

and you have no need that anyone should teach you. 

But as his anointing teaches you about everything, 

and is true, and is no lie—

just as it has taught you, abide in him.

And now, little children, abide in him, 

so that when he appears we may have confidence 

and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

1 John 2:27-28

The entire chapter of 1 John 2 is worthy of our study.  There are so many beautiful and vital treasures here.  The concept of abiding with Christ is truly the heart of what it means to have a personal relationship with him.  Many....MANY...people give intellectual assent of varying decrees to the existence and worth of Christ.  Some say he was a great teacher and his life of kindness and gentleness is worthy of emulating.  Some will verbalize belief that he is the son of God and recount the historical accuracy of his virgin birth, ministry, death and even his resurrection.  They know in their heads who he is.  But until Christ settles into the heart, making his home there, a person does not have an abiding relationship.  This is crucial.  The Spirit of Christ must dwell in the heart of a believer for salvation, transformation and relationship to occur.  When the Spirit sets up residency in our spirit, he sanctifies, but he also teaches.  Abiding with Christ is more than relationship...we allow Christ to live in us and through us.  We relinquish our right to control our lives and we turn that over to Christ.  We give him the keys to our heart. In this way, we are empowered to live the Christian life, surrendering our desires and taking up his.  When we abide with him, we know and do his will.  While we will never be perfect this side of heaven, we will be pleasing to him and we will not have to have any shame in our hearts when we see him face to face. 

I went a little shabby chic with this page and had a ton of fun.  I just kept layering.  I worked with the flowers first, then sponged the entire page (even over the flowers) using Vintage Photo Distress ink from Tim Holtz.   I used stencils and more of that same ink to create some texture.  I had this wonderful film ephemera and taped it to the page.  I accented with a postage stamp sticker and a butterfly rub-on. 

Sets Used:

What a Savior

 Rebecca Script 

(so easy to string together for cohesive wording)