John 16:33
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Peace! The dictionary defines Peace as: freedom from disturbance; tranquility. Seems like a simple concept right?!? Would you say that your soul is at peace? Peace is a concept I really never spent much time thinking about honestly. I've always considered myself a happy, content person. But with a huge loss in my family recently, I have turned to scripture for comfort. So many comforting verses talk about peace through our father. After losing someone you love, especially in a sudden, unexpected way, you most likely are struggling with the concept of "peace" like I am.
This verse John 16:33, has popped up numerous times throughout my studies recently since my Dad passed in January. And what a perfect verse it is to focus on during a time of grief! Here, he explains.... Yes, I have told you that you will have trouble in your life, it won't be perfect and it won't always be easy, I haven't promised you anything different. But you can take comfort in knowing the I have overcome all of the terrible things of this world, and when you lean into me and seek peace in my name, you too will find peace.
I do find so much comfort just in the fact that Jesus admits, yes we will have trouble, that's going to happen. It makes me feel a little less alone and that he knows we will face troubles but that He will be there with us through it all. Last summer I learned about the word "Tharseo". It's a Greek word meaning "take heart or have courage", which is found all throughout the bible in many different circumstances. I have that word engraved on a necklace now because it is such a great reminder throughout your day, when you feel like you're struggling and need a little help. I whisper "tharseo", like a little reminder to myself that, I've got this, I can do this with God's help!
When creating this page, the scripture cross stamp reminded me of the crosses that hang at the bottom of a rosary. And for some people, when they are heavy hearted and lay their prayers at God's feet, they hold a rosary and give their prayers to God! So I stamped the scripture cross on card stock, backed it with some brown paper and cut the cross out. I attached a metal fastener to the top so you can twist the cross on the page like the rosary is just laying on top of the page.
The background of the page was created using 3 different colors of Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain) around the edges and blended together. Then I randomly stamped Typewriter Text Background and a Texture Tiles 3 stamp on the edges of the page, and softened the stamps with a little white acrylic paint on top to smudge it a bit. After I was pleased with the background, I used pencil and prismacolor pencils to hand draw the beads of the necklace, adding some shadow under the beads to help it look a little more 3-D. Then I secured the cross to the bottom of the necklace and my page was finished! I didn't want to background to be very complicated so the scripture verse is what stands out the most and is most important!
If you are struggling and going through a rough point in your life, I pray you many find some comfort from this verse and this page! He will see us through it, we just need to remain next to him and give him our troubles!
xoxo,
Stephanie Gammon
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| Scripture Crosses |
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| Typewriter Text Background |
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| Texture Tiles 3 |
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