Cleansed, NOT Consumed

 

But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you.

O Israel, the one who formed you says,

"Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.

I have called you by name; you are mine.

When you go through deep waters,

I will be with you.

When you go through rivers of difficulty,

you will not drown.

When you walk through the fire of oppression,

you will not be burned up;

the flames will not consume you.

For I am the LORD, your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Isaiah 43:1-3 NLT

Have you ever wondered why God allows the trials and burdens in our lives?  I think we all have at some point in our faith walk.   The Bible never promises us a life without struggles.  Trials are inevitable.  In Isaiah 43:2, God says "when" we go through rivers and "when" we walk through fire, it doesn't say "if".  

God allows us to face these trials and hardships to cleanse and purify our hearts and to draw us closer to Him.  Just like steel, we can be strengthened in the fire; we can learn  from our struggles.  We can learn to trust more fully in the Lord.  We can learn compassion, humility, and vulnerability.  We can learn prospective and to be more thankful for the many blessings God gives us.  

The struggles we face can strengthen our relationship with the Father, if we remember that He is with us, just as He promises in the verses above.  He instructs us, "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you".  He is our Creator and Redeemer.  He calls us His.  He promises to be with us as we walk through the fire.    

If you are in the fire, I pray you use this season to cleanse your heart and strengthen your relationship with the Lord.  I know the struggle is hard, but do not be consumed.  God will create beauty from the ashes.   

Page Details:

I started this page by painting flames, using acrylics in the lower corner.  Then I layered the beautiful black and white florals from Consider the Wildflowers over the fire and at the top of the page.  I used the  Girl Power set to stamp out an image to represent myself.  I stamped my title using the Cold Coffee Alpha and Messy Stamped Alpha.  I finished it off by adding some star stenciling and paint splatters to the background.  The blueish purple specks on the page are actually bleed through from the entry on the reverse of this page, but I decided not to let that bother me and let it be apart of the "sparks" floating up from the fire. 

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

Jill

Beautiful in His Time

"He hath made everything beautiful in his time..."

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Time. It's what's on everyone's minds these days. I don't know about you, but to me it feels like time has sort of just stopped. No more school, no more work, no more hustle and bustle - just stopped. 

Ecclesiastes talks a lot about time and the meaning of this time that we've been given. We may have been surprised by all the recent events, but God certainly wasn't. God is the author of time, and it's His hand who controls everything. 

The first part of Ecclesiastes 3:11 reflects on the beautify of God's timing. Matthew Henry has this to say:

"That which to use seems most unpleasant is yet, in its proper time, altogether becoming. Cold is as becoming in winter as heat in summer; and the night, in its turn, is a black beauty, as the day, in its turn, is a bright one. There is a wonderful harmony in the divine Providence and all its disposals, so that the events of it, when they come to be considered in their relations and tendencies, together with the seasons of them, will appear very beautiful, to the glory of God and the comfort of those that trust in him. Though we see not the complete beauty of Providence, yet we shall see it, and a glorious sight it will be, when the mystery of God shall be finished. Then everything shall appear to have been done in the most proper time and ti will be the wonder of eternity."

All that is worth having takes time, and even the most difficult of circumstances can become beautiful in God's time. 🦋

I used the brand new Begin Again stamp set, along with the Cold Coffee Alpha stamp set to create this "beautiful" page. 😉

  

I pray you enjoy the beauty of God's timing this week. 

Much love in Christ, 

Janelle

@journalingjoy

You Are the Potter

Think of the details of your life. Do you think it's just a series of events happening to you or do you believe your life is part of a greater plan?

I think we can get some clarity and comfort from Isaiah 64:8 on this question.

Yet you, Lord, are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.    

We can be comforted by the first thing this verse tells us, "Yet you, Lord, are our Father". It doesn't just say, you are our Lord...it says he is our Father. Our Creator is not an uncaring deity. He is a loving and faithful Father. He wants us to trust Him with the details of our lives. The next part of the verse, "We are the clay; you are the potter. We are all the work of your hands" tells us that God is in control. He is the potter of our lives. He is molding and shaping, refining and sometimes, even breaking us and putting us back together, in an effort to make us more Christ-like.

My prayer through my journaling, is that I would always be malleable in the hands of the potter, allowing him to shape me in a way that brings Him glory.

Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Thou art the potter I am the clay
Mold me and make me after Thy will
While I am waiting yielded and still  

(Lyrics from Have Thine Own Way Lord by Jim reeves)

 Page details:
A couple of weeks ago, I did a page using several people from the Brotherly Love and Girl Power stamp sets. I used my Brother Scan and Cut to cut out all the images and what I was left with resembled a stencil of people. I saved it for future projects.

I used my "stencil" this week with texture paste that I colored to resemble potter's clay. I laid out a piece of wax paper and used a plastic pallet knife to smooth the texture paste in a few of the images. I purposely left them imperfect, because afterall, that's what we are. After the texture paste dried, I was able to lift it off the wax paper. I don't usually gesso my page, but knew I wanted to smoosh distress oxides on the page and they tend to bleed through badly when used with a lot of water, so I did prep my page before starting. I did several layers of smooshing, using a variety of colors to create some muddy, clay splatter areas. I inked around my texture paste people with some black ink to help them stand out from my background and glued them to my page. I used the new Messy Stamped Alpha and Cold Coffee Alpha to stamp out my title. I actually stamped it twice, with a grey and brown ink and off set my stamping each time to create a shadow on the letters.

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

Jill

No Brain of Straw!

We demolish arguments and every pretension 

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, 

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5 

But we have the mind of Christ. 

1 Corinthians 2:16

 The scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz was a likable but pitiful character.  No brain...well, a brain of straw.  Fortunately, he at least knew he had straw for a brain and had both the desire for a real brain and the courage to go in search of one. His plight is not so different from those who are held captive to carnal thinking.  Before Christ, our minds are trapped in the world's thinking, and we do not understand the things of God. 

There were so many miracles that took place when I opened my heart to Christ over 50 years ago.  But one instantaneous transformation was new spiritual thinking...a new mind to see, understand and love God's truth.  I had grown up in a whole family of pseudo-Christians who adhered to a false religion.  Thankfully, we were nominal in church attendance so I didn't get a steady diet of their lies.  Looking back I know that God was protecting our family, preparing all of us to see and know the truth.  Even as a young girl, I sensed that what I was being taught in church was error.  Quite honestly, it didn't make sense.  Sitting under the gospel message I heard the full truth about Christ, my sin, and the way to salvation and I knew...I just knew this was it! This was truth and I was set free! I embraced Christ as Lord and Savior and have been amazed by his presence in me all these years.  

At salvation we are given the Holy Spirit who begins a mighty work of transformation within us.  He not only changes our hearts...He changes our minds.  Suddenly we see things from a spiritual...a truth perspective.  Throughout our lives God is constantly, consistently working to transform us and draw us closer to Him, to make us more like Jesus.  It is an incredible truth to me that we are given the mind of Christ.  I fear that much like the research that says we only tap into a fraction of the power and potential of our physical brains, many Christians don't access the power of Spirit with us, within our minds.  We still allow the trappings of the world to have influence over us.  The only protection is to daily fill our minds with God's truth.  When we seek His wisdom we are thinking with the mind of Christ.  When we look at life, circumstances, what the world say through the lens of Scripture, we are thinking with the mind of Christ.  When we fear, worry, doubt...we are letting the world creep in.  We have to pull out any remnant of our old straw brain...and fill our heads with all that is God's truth.  Only then will we really be free of the captivity of this world. 

Design Details:

This is the 100 Days of Bible Promises book by Illustrated Faith.  I'm skipping around in it as I find the themes and messages that I seek to illustrate.  Shanna Noel, author, really hit this one square on.  Her devotional thoughts and scriptures always reflect the truth.  They are very sound and very well written.  I highly recommend this book if you don't already have it.   I used the newest stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps called, Happy Scarecrow by Krista Hamrick.  It's an adorable set and so versatile.  I stamped the scarecrow on white cardstock, then stamped parts of the image on various designer papers to be able to paper-piece the scarecrow.  I also stamped the flowers from the set on cardstock and colored with Copic markers.  Then I adhered to the page.  Since Copic markers will bleed through these pages, it's perfect to just do them on cardstock first, then fussy-cut and color off the page first.  I also used Sunshine Girl and Cold Coffee Alphas for the larger lettering.  I used a variety of acrylic paints, stencils and texture stamps to add color and dimension to the page. 

Happy Scarecrow

 Sunshine Girl Alpha

Cold Coffee Alpha

 

Trust Confidently

He is not afraid of bad news, his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. Psalm 112:7

Dear Friends,
This world is full of bad news. And it can certainly be frightening. But, this verse tells us that "he" is not afraid of bad news. Instead, "he" resolutely trusts the Lord. Huh. Why is that? Who is "he"? To find out, we have to go back to verse 1 where it tells us that "he" is "the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments." So, "he" can be any one of us! With God, we can face bad news, trusting in His plan, and knowing He will work it for the good of those who love Him and according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). That doesn't mean it won't be hard. It just means instead of being afraid, we can be hopeful...hopeful in and because of HIM. He is worthy of our trust. He is worthy of our hope. He is worthy.

For the page, I used the following Sweet n Sassy Stamps sets: Garden of Grace Printable Bundle, Skinny Minnie Alpha, and Cold Coffee Alpha. The printable bundle includes 44 precolored images and 12 outline images in JPEG and PNG formats. It's brand new and the images can be sized to whatever size you need! Also newly released is the Skinny Minnie Alpha. I LOVE alpha sets. They are a great way to journal if you don't like your hand-lettering, or just want a different way to letter. I used a Micron pen to embellish the stamped letters and to hand-letter the others. I used watercolor crayons for the background too.

Trust in Him, friends. Don't be afraid. Be hopeful. Andrea

Mercies & Mustard

I am not a morning person.

Not even close. 

A few months ago I was aboard a long early morning flight - very early - and I had the opportunity to see the sun rise. I have probably seen only a handful of sunrises, and generally only will volunteer to get up that early if I am going to Disneyland. But let me tell you, seeing a sunrise from an airplane is an incredible sight. Being able to see a very looong horizon lit up in a rainbow of colors is seriously awe-some. As I was looking at the morning sky, I saw a full rainbow (ROYGBIV) stretched across the entire length of the horizon. As I saw it, I started thinking about how God covers the earth with rainbows constantly...morning and night...day after day...reminding us that he is covering us with His protection, peace, and love. 

His mercies are new every morning.

I added this art in my Bible in Lamentations 3:22-23, where it says (ESV):

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning;

Great is your faithfulness. 

(Lamentations is previously un-journaled for me, so this is a perfect fit for the current journaling challenge in the Creative Worship Bible Journaling group on Facebook.)

You may have seen this one in progress over on my Instagram feed. After I put down the initial color background, I added some washi tape, stamping, and hand lettering. The stamps I used are from the Cold Coffee Alphabet set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.


Since I had the paints out, I decided to do a little painting in my other journaling Bible. I also used the same Cold Coffee Alphabet stamp set for the word "mustard" here.

I have seen where people will add a mustard seed to their Bible pages, but didn't have mustard seeds, so I went with a mustard-ish paint color and a tiny mustard-seed-size dot with my Sharpie marker.

I added a few details with a white (extra fine) Sharpie Paint Pen including some tiny polka dots on the stamped letters.

Thanks for stopping by today!

As always, you can find all my posts pertaining to Bible art or journaling (and a full list of supplies that I have used) on my blog here.

To Know Him Is To Love Him...and JOY JOY JOY

Hi there!

My name is Tifany and you can generally find me blogging over at Ink Blots by TRD. Back when I "officially" started my adventures in Bible art & journaling I knew I wanted to keep things simple. In general, that's just how I roll.

Using things like pens and colored pencils come naturally to me - I've been drawing and coloring for as long as I can remember. As someone who has also been papercrafting and stamping for a long time, it just feels right to incorporate some stamps and basic papercrafting supplies as well. I don't intend for the "craft" to take over the focus on what I am reading/creating/journaling about, so I want to keep working with methods and media that feel natural to me. 

Most often for my Bible art & journaling I start with something I have read or heard (in a sermon) and a picture or idea just comes to mind. But other times, I hear a song or think of an idea and want to incorporate it into my Bible. For one of my recent entries, I was looking at the Seek Him stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and the phrase "to know Him is to love Him" just popped out at me. (No, there is no "is" in the set, but the rest of the words are there. The "is" that I used is from The Lord Is Risen.)

1 John 2:3&5 just seemed like the place to put this. It says (NIV):

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.

When I was younger, my obedience to God was generally based in fear, but as I have come to know more about Him I have seen how good and loving He is - and I love that. The stamps here said what I wanted to say, and I didn't want to add a bunch of fuss - just a hint of color with the hearts.

Another of my recent Bible entries came from a thought that came to mind - a song, actually. 

"I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart." 

(Where?)

I wanted to create something in the margins that felt joyful, so I picked two colors (for the dots) that bring me joy and just went to stamping "joy" all over. (The dots are actually created by using the back side of the "o" stamp from the Cold Coffee Alphabet.) The "joy" words are from a stamp set (coming soon!) called Choose Faith and I added a few dots and other accents with a white Sharpie paint pen.

Philippians 4:4 (NIV) says:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Repeat stamping is soothing for me and it was fun to just sing a joyful song as I was stamping away.

May you have a joyful day today!

You can find a list of all the supplies I used and more of my Bible journaling posts over on my blog.

Faithful God & alpha stamps!!

I'm super excited to share my love for the new alphabet stamp sets in our shop! I've got a great collection of alpha stamps and this Cold Coffee Alphabet is perfect for Bible journaling. The size allows you to get a 3-4 letter word in the margins and these chunky letters will make your words stand out on the page!

This creative worship page was done in Deuteronomy chapter 7. I invited a small group of friends over & we all made this page together. We each used acrylic paints for a fun, bright background and personalized our margins using hand-lettering and lots of clear stamps. (Our What's Up? set made an appearance in a few of the pages!) Acrylic paint makes for a great background because it helps prevent bleed through by serving as a buffer between your pen or ink and the other side of the page.

And my finished piece of creative worship......