Silent Saturday...

Hi friends,

Today is known as Holy Saturday in the Christian calendar, or as some people have named it: Silent Saturday. That is because on this day, the day between the crucifixion of Good Friday and the resurrection of Easter Sunday there is stillness and silence. The grave is silent. There is no word or sound from heaven. The Sabbath is observed by the Jewish people, who cease from work and rest.

During Jesus' trial there are times when he remains silent, recorded in Matthew 26 and Mark 14. He could have called down legions of angels, he could have shouted out the truth in his defence, but he chose to remain silent in the face of the accusations and anger, to fulfil the prophecy found in Isaiah 53:7.

Many people experience the silence of heaven, not just on Silent Saturday, but many times during their lives. This can be a very painful experience and it is easy to feel abandoned or hopeless in these times. I wonder how the disciples felt on that Saturday as they observed the Sabbath. They must have been bewildered, devastated, feeling guilty and lost. It is important to acknowledge these feelings and not to brush them aside - they are a very real part of life. But it is also important to remember that Silent Saturday is not the end of the story. On Sunday, Jesus was raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father as our glorious, reigning King and Lord. This is true whether we are experiencing silence or not. Silence is painful, and it can feel like it lasts for ever, but it doesn't, because the end of our story is always life and hope when we are in Christ.

On this page in Matthew 26 I used the lily stamp from Rustic Easter to stamp a wreath, masking off each stamped image so I could layer another one over the top so they created a continuous image. I coloured with watercolour and stamped the text using Skinny Minnie Alpha and Chunky Lowercase Alpha. Here are the sets I used:

I hope that if you are experiencing what feels like silence from heaven right now that you will take comfort from the truth of the resurrection and the hope that this brings. I also hope that if you know of people who feel like heaven is silent to them that you would be able to minister this truth to their hearts.

Be blessed...

x Amy x

East to West

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

Dear Friends,
This is one of my favorite verses! It shows how amazingly forgiving our God is. It tells us how far God separates us from our sin when He forgives us. Have you ever thought of how far the east is from the west? Think about it. If you travel north, you eventually get to the North Pole and start going south. However, if you travel east, no matter how far you travel, you will NEVER start going west! And if you travel west, you will NEVER start going east. So, that's how far God has removed our sin from us- it can't be measured because it's never ending! Wow! Wow! Wow!

It can be hard for us to understand just how forgiving our God is because we tend to be just a bit less forgiving, right? I know I'm far, far less forgiving than Him. But Colossians 3:13 tells us "as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Eeeek!  OK, so God wants me to forgive when someone says they're sorry. Yes. But, what about when they aren't sorry? Guess what, God still wants us to forgive them. Our forgiving others is NOT dependent on whether they are sorry or necessarily deserving of that forgiveness. We need to forgive others solely because God forgave us, pure and simple. And honestly, when we forgive, it does as much good for us as it does the other party because we can let go of the bad feelings. Is it always easy to forgive? No. But remember, God is with you. He has removed your sin as far as the east is from the west!! He will help you to forgive others just as He has forgiven you.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Send Me, Freedom in Christ, Typewriter Blocks Alpha, Typewriter Text background, Chunky Lowercase, & Seek Him. I used watercolor crayons for the background. To do a background like this, I generally use 3-4 colors. For this page, I used 3. I get my brush really wet and get the color from the tip of the crayon onto the brush. Then I dab the color onto the page in an up and down motion rather than strokes. I dab each color into certain areas, blending as needed. I finished the background by splattering the page with the darkest blue.

Our God is unimaginably forgiving. I hope you'll remember this verse any time you feel like you or someone else is unforgivable.

And, since today is Memorial Day, I just want to say that I am deeply grateful for the ultimate sacrifice of those who died for our country. May their courage and dedication never be forgotten.

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Your Steadfast Love

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."(Psalm 107:1)

This verse is an easy one for me to remember.  I find myself repeating it over and over during my prayer time, or when I need to have more of a thankful attitude.  Perhaps its because of the Michael W. Smith praise song "Forever Faithful".  

This verse reminds us that we ALWAYS have something to thank God for:  His steadfast and forever-enduring love.  It is this love that makes God so good.  And it is for this love and goodness that we can be thankful.  This love was manifest in His Son, Jesus.  We can thank God always for Jesus.  In turn, when we give thanks to God continually, we begin to see more and more of God's goodness and steadfast love present in our lives and circumstances.  It's a beautiful cycle.  

I used the His Love stamp set to create the focal image for this page in my Little Psalm Book.  I stamped the heart onto a piece of white card stock, colored it with Worn Lipstick and Old Paper Distress Oxide Inks, and then fussy cut it out.  I also stamped the same heart onto a hymnal page, and cut out the insides of the heart .  Then I paper-pieced the hymnal page pieces onto the card stock heart.  

To create the background for this page, I brushed some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide Ink onto the page with a makeup brush.  This allowed for a very light shading of color.  I stamped some texture in pink and black with two of the Texture Tiles 1 stamps.  I also smooshed some Dusty Concord Distress Oxide Ink onto the page, after spritzing it with water to activate the pigment in the ink.  

I stamped the title words with Mini Grunge Type Alpha and Chunky Lowercase Alpha Stamp sets, as well as one of the words from the Filigree Hearts set.  To achieve the two-tone letters of "forever" I simply inked the bottom of the letter stamps with the purple ink first, and then the top of the letter stamps with the pink, overlapping slightly to blend the colors.  I added some shading with a black precision pen, and then adhered my heart with some double sided foam tape.  I finished the page off with a black and white tab, some washi from my stash, and some black splatter painting.

This heart stamp is perfect for Bible Journaling, or for creating heartfelt handmade cards--especially with Valentine's Day coming!  Be sure to check out how the other ladies on the team have been using the His Love set.  You'll be amazed!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jules

His Love

Praise Him Always

Psalm 34:1-3

"I will bless the Lord at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord;

let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, 

and let us exalt his name together!"

So this was a really fun page to create! I am still resonating on the topic of Praise that we soaked up while on our Creative Worship Retreat a few weeks ago. An amazing time spent in the word with wonderful ladies will stick with you for a while! One of the verses we referenced was the one above, Psalm 34:1-3. We are called to Praise Him Always! Sure, it's easy to praise him when life is going good and everything falls into place just perfectly. But it's in those more difficult times in life that we may find it harder to praise him. Our God is good, so good. There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for and to praise him. Sometimes, it may seem as simple as praising him for waking up in the morning, and being able to get out of bed! But if life is really hard at that moment, sometimes that may be all that you can find to praise him for...... and that's ok, but it is worth praising!! 

This page just makes me smile and feel good! I was so relaxed and care free at the moments I was working on it. I wasn't overthinking how I was going to do it exactly. I just resonated on the scripture and played with my materials. This page features a couple of our new items this month. We have a new printable set called Starry Sanctuary which is where I pulled the beautiful blues and yellows from for my background. I used my distress oxides to create a watercolor-like background and embossed some gold "stars" using my Falling Leaves Stamp! A fun new way to jazz up one of our older stamp sets! This page also features our new Women of Praise stamp set which we created for our recent retreat. So much of God's word and colorful goodness packed into this page and I just love how it turned out!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

Starry Sanctuary Printable Bundle 

Women of Praise

Falling Leaves

Bitty Minnie Alpha 

Chunky Lowercase Alpha 

Run to Him

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs to it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

Dear Friends,

This world is full of storms. Some are minor, others can blow us over. Recently, one of my "storms" came with a phone call from my older daughter. She started college this year and is away from home. She called to say she was in an car accident and was being taken to the hospital. Man, that's not a call a mama wants to get!

But, in that moment, I was thankful that she was able to call, that she wasn't incapacitated and unable to call herself. I immediately ran to Him. I knew only He was in control. And by focusing on Him, it helped me to be more calm through this situation. There were 5 girls in the car. And I asked God to be with each of them, their doctors, and their families. The girls were treated and released- all had only minor injuries. Again, I'm very thankful for that. It could have been so much worse. But something like that really reminds me that I'm really not in control. I may think I am sometimes, but I'm not. None of us are. Only He is. And that's why we need to run to Him. This verse is beautiful. He is our Strong Tower. We can run to Him and be SAFE. That safety may not actually be a physical safety, but it is most certainly spiritual safety. Bad things happen in this world. But even in the midst of those bad things, we can be safe in Him.

For this page, I used a new Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set called Mighty Fortress. I love this set! It has some neat images as well as a lot of words that are very versatile. I also used Chunky Lowercase and Bitty Minnie Alpha. For the background, I used watercolor crayons.

Run to Him, my friends, run to Him. Have a blessed week! Andrea

Even as a Hen

"Jerusalem! Jerusalem...How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!" (Matthew 23:37)

Have you ever watched a mama bird with her little baby birds?  She guides them along their path, encourages them to try new things, and protects them under her wings.  God longs to protect us and guide us.  This passage in Matthew 23 equates God to a Mama Bird.  I love this text, because it brings out the maternal characteristics of our loving God.  It's sad, really, because the verse says that God's people have continually rejected His watch-care.  How tragic for us, to miss out on the blessings of His love and mercy and grace.  But He continues to offer His shelter and refuge.  I don't know about you, but being all snuggled under His "wings" of love sounds pretty inviting to me.  

For this page, I blended two colors of Ranger Distress Oxides:  Barndoor and Mustard Seed.  I activated the ink with some water to give them a speckled, layered effect.  Then I stamped the title with the alpha stamps, added some texture stamping, and finished off with washi and a tab.  

I pray that you will find shelter under His loving wings!

Bitty Minnie Alpha

His Wings

 

Mustard Seed Distress Oxide

Mus

Chunky Lowercase

Barndoor Distress Oxide Ink

Texture Tiles 1

His Eye is on the Sparrow...

Hi friends,

A few weeks ago, we had a sad little incident in our house that prompted some reflection on scripture and the character of God.

We have had some very warm weather over the summer in the UK, and one day I was sitting in our lounge, with the window slightly ajar to let some air in (although it wasn't making much of a difference!). As I sat there, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and lifted my head to see that a little sparrow had hopped in through the open window onto the inside ledge. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was in danger, as we have four adorable fur-babies, who although they look sweet and harmless, can turn into ruthless hunters at a moment's notice. I got up quickly, hoping to open the window further so it could escape, but alas, my movement startled it and the little bird flapped its wings to take off. In what felt like a split-second, our youngest kitty somehow launched himself down the stairs, into the lounge and through the air, grabbing its prey in its jaws with breathtaking speed and efficiency. I was horrified, and tried to save the bird's life, commanding the cat to release its catch (not surprisingly, the cat ignored my pleas!). When I eventually managed to get the bird from our kitty's mouth, it was lifeless. I picked it up carefully and placed it gently outside, hoping somehow that life would be restored to its tiny body, but sadly it wasn't. As I looked at this little life snuffed out so quickly, I remembered a verse in the Bible that speaks of God's concern and watchful eye even on the sparrows:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)

I was reminded that no life goes unnoticed, not even the common sparrow that has an unfortunate encounter with a cat (which of course is just a part of the food chain and something considered very normal and part of life). If God sees even these little creatures falling to the ground, how much more does he see my life, and the things that are troubling me? This old song came to mind as I began to journal this verse in my Bible: 'His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches over me.' There is not one detail of my life that God doesn't see or care about. Just because things happen that are troubling or upsetting or confusing, this doesn't mean God is not watching or present. Our journey of walking with God is to be one of ever increasing trust, where we cling to these truths of scripture knowing that God sees, God knows and that God is in control, whether the outcome we see in front of us is the one we desired, or not.

I used the beautiful Birds & Blooms set on this page, as well as Chunky Lowercase Alpha and Bitty Minnie Alpha to create the text, with a couple of extra images from Nature Silhouettes...

 

I pray that God would remind those of you who need encouragement, that just as his eye is on the sparrow, he is also watching you and he cares about whatever it is you may be facing.

x Amy x

LLama Tell You How Much...

Hey Guys!

Excited about this entry today!  The August release is so much fun, and I'm enjoying the different ways the team's been putting this Llama set together!  So many ideas, and so much inspiration!

 Today I'm in Psalm 103, journaling over the magnitude of God's love for the whole world! 

There's no placing limitations on God when it comes to His love for you.  Pretty simple! 

The inspired writers tried their best to detail this, attempting vernacular that would make sense to their readers.  I can't understand infinity, can you?  I can't understand limitless, uninhibited, matchless or unsearchable grace.  I can only fathom what this love is… in it's totality, it is God's.  God is limitless, uninhibited, matchless and unsearchable. 
 

Here in the Psalms we read,
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.  As a father shows compassion on His children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him.  For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."  (vv. 11-14)

I used "Chunky Lower Case Alpha," "Llama Love,"
& "Texture Tile 1" Stamp Sets

WOW!  Do you see what I'm saying?  I just can't begin to put labels on a unit I don't understand.  I can understand "radius."  I can understand, "miles," "inches," or "kilometers."  I can even understand negative temps, depths, and other such measurements, but I cannot even… I just can't!  His love is too great; His compassion is too much!

I used Distress Ink Oxides to achieve the background.

This brings me to that sweet, softened area of "pasture" that I read and hear about so often.  The mild, smooth, and peaceful place the good Lord brings His sheep (or Llamas, as it were ;) ).  A settled place.  A nestling place.  A place of calm, collected, and protected. 

God loves me so much.  He loves YOU so much.  His unbounded heart is like that of a Father, holding His beloved children (as llama-ish as they may be), using His compassion to see us as we are. 

Fickle. 

Feeble. 

Finicky. 

Unsteady. 

Unfaithful. 

Unsure. 

So here we are; loved beyond all reason, and the biggest way that God EVER showed His absolute and perfect love is on the cross.  The cross of Christ, His beloved Son. 

Simple colored pencil shading for the mountain & llamas stamps.

Someone who offers Himself, weakens Himself, humbles Himself on our behalf, is one who truly loves indeed.  No one - NO ONE - can deny this amazing love. 

"Llama tell you how much God loves you…"  Well, at least let me try.

He loves you perfectly.

He loves you without limits.

He loves you for your sake.

He loves you for His name.

He loves you yesterday, today, and forever.

He loves you beyond measure.

He loves you far above your thoughts, words, and actions.

He loves you as a treasure, though we are dust.

He loves you as a child, though we are wayward.

He loves you so, so much.

Much love,

Deeds