Rest, You're in Good Hands

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD Almighty.

I long, yes, I faint with longing

to enter the courts of the LORD.

with my whole being, body and soul,

I will shout joyfully to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds home there,

and the swallow builds her nest

and raises her young----

at a place near your alter,

O LORD Almighty, my King and my God!

How happy are those who can live in your house,

always singing your praises.

Psalm 84:1-4 NLT

 

I love the imagery these verses painted in my head.  The Psalmist longs to be in the house of the Lord, so much so that he envies the sparrows and swallows that built their nests in the eves of the tabernacle.  These birds have found safety to raise their young in God's house, more-so than in the wilderness. 

How wise we would be, if we followed the example of the birds who build their homes and raise their young near the alter of God.  We can find peace and comfort when we nestle in close to the Father.  We can find rest in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus. 

Page Details:

 I started this page by masking off the limb and stamping one of the birds on the page from the Beautiful Birds set.  I found a photograph of a hand online and printed it the size I thought it needed to be to hold my little bird.  I added some line detail to the hand picture and placed it behind my bible page and adjusted the placement, until I was happy with it.  Then I traced the lines I had made on the picture on to my bible page.  I added a nest for the bird to sit in and used watercolor to color in the image. I decided I wanted to add color to the back ground, so I used watercolor to smoosh all over the page.  I really, REALLY over-wet this paper!  I added color, then dried and added more...several times.  I stamped the title using the Art Deco Alpha and words from the Bitty Mini Alpha and Women of Praise sets.  When I finished that, I felt like my page needed something on the right.  I remembered seeing Amy White, who is also on the design team, do this nifty trick of stamping on vellum and using it to create reverse images of your stamps.  So, I could have the same bird stamp facing the opposite way!  Yay!  Thank you, Amy!  So I stamped out the image and colored it and glued it on to my page.  

I love how it came out and it's such a lovely reminder to seek and find rest in the hands of the Lord.

Until next time, catch up with me on Instagram @simplyjillsjourney.

Jill