Flourish From The Rain

Happy Monday everyone!
I hope you all had an amazing and restful weekend! I myself have been crazy busy this past week and through the weekend, but I did take time to rest on Sunday yesterday, as we all should! Anyway, lets get to it! 😀

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
- James 1:2-4

The page I am sharing with you today comes from a somewhat personal place at the moment. Not about trials I am personally going through, but someone close to me. Watching someone you know and love struggle with decisions in their life, or even things that happen to them that are simply out of their control, it can really take a toll on you. You can try to be there for them in every way you know how, and yet sometimes all you can do is pray for them! But praying for them is such a powerful way to help them! I had recently heard someone say, "I needed to grow, so God watered me." Wow! What a powerful way to think about that! Just like the plants need the rain to grow, so do we!! 

Sometimes we struggle through times in our life, feeling emotionally exhausted and worn out, and we may even think "God where are you? Why are you allowing this to happen to me?!" But the truth of the matter is, He is STILL THERE! He is always there! He never leaves our side. It is through our trials and struggles in our life that we are able to grow closer to God and deeper in our faith. In James 1:2 it says "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." When you look up the word Steadfastness you find the following definition: 

Steadfastness: sure, dependable, reliable, constant, unwavering. Steadfast, staunch, steady imply a sureness and continuousness that may be depended upon.

Though these times are anything buy easy, you should find comfort in the fact that God is simply "watering" you! He is making you stronger in your faith, as a person, and in your life. With Him by your side, you will come out on top and stronger than ever. You will make it through this difficult time! James 1:2-4 is a verse that has comforted me as my loved one goes through their hard time and all I can really do is continue to pray for them. And after reading and meditating on this verse, I now pray that they will grow and flourish from the rain.

Creative Details: For this page I covered my page with clear matte gesso and added a watercolor background. I then started applying some of the March printables from the set Garden of Grace printed on clear sticker paper. I used acrylic paint to paint the water falling from the watering can and then embellished the rest of the page with the following stamps.

Thanks for checking out my post today! I hope you all have an awesome week!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

Texture Tiles 1

Garden of Grace Printable

Skinny Caps Alpha

Mini Grunge Type Alpha

Shine Jesus

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Dear friends,

We were put on this earth to glorify Him! I forget that sometimes...when I'm in a hurry, when I'm frustrated, when someone annoys me. And yet, my actions and my words are supposed to glorify Him and draw others to Him. Even when I'm frustrated or in a hurry or annoyed. That's hard! So our focus needs to be on Him and not our circumstances. If we're focused on Him, then we'll be able to take advantage of that Holy Spirit power within us to act not according to our circumstances, but instead in a way that shines Jesus and glorifies Him. I pray that for all of us, that we will shine Jesus to this world that very badly needs Him and that they will be drawn to Him. Give Him all the glory!

For the page, I used two Sweet n Sassy Stamps sets released this month: Bring Him Glory and Garden of Grace Bundle. The bundle is a digital set that can be downloaded. For this page, I used the traceables included in the set. Bible pages are thin, so tracing is easy! Tracing is a great way to get images if you can't draw. You can also resize the images for just what you want for your page.

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Facing the Seasons of Your Life

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.

Proverbs 31:25

You have surely read all the virtues of the woman of noble character described in Proverbs 31. Many exegetical studies have tried to explain just how this woman accomplishes soooo much!  The last time I read this though, God gave me a delightful insight.  I noted that verse 25 comes after quite a lengthy list of tasks the "Noble Woman" achieves.  I was already worn out just thinking about emulating her, much less putting my feet to the floor to actually doing what she did.  But then this nugget jumped out at me, and it gave me a new clue to her efficient productivity.  

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.

First, she wears the right attire-- "She is clothed with strength and dignity."  It made me think of the rather silly movies of super heroes whose powers appear when they don their costume.  On a serious note, think deeply about this spiritual clothing...it's spiritual strength that she wears.  The source of this woman's power is the strength that God gives and since nothing is impossible for Him, she can certainly do anything He asks of her. When our focus is on accomplishing what God sets out for our day, we will be more efficient.  Things that aren't important will not distract us. 

Second, LOOK at this woman's amazing attitude.  "She can laugh at the days to come."  This isn't describing a woman experiencing a manic crest.  This is a constant, pervasive attitude of the mind and heart.  She is fearless...she is worry free...she is full of joy.  She has pushed out all the destructive thoughts that clamor to fill her mind, and she instead chooses simple joy as her outlook on life.  

At my age, I've passed through several seasons of life.  I've pursued the education to have a career, I spent 30+ years striving to be the best at my job I could be, I've been a mother and watched my own children move into adulthood. I've been a pastor's wife for 30 years.  I left the workforce and moved into retirement.  I became a grandmother.  I was recently asked to provide my resume...five pages of all that I've done.  Will I receive accolades for all of that?  No, not even most.  What God desires of us is not a long list of accomplishments, not that those are bad, especially if we are serving to glorify God.  But what He really wants is our heart, our dependency upon Him, our trust.  When we give Him those, He will bless us with strength, dignity and joy.  I'm not looking back...I'm looking ahead to the seasons of life that await me...and I pray that I can face each one with more and more joy!

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I did a simple watercolor wash to create the background for this page, did my own handlettering, and stamped the branch with flowers using the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set Birds and Blooms.  The girl and the word joy come from the March printable, Garden of Grace, available at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. 

 

Pray The Word

Hi friends... I want to share something POWERFUL with you today.

"Pray the Word"... you're asking me, Elizabeth, what exactly does that mean? Before I tell you, lets all agree on 2 things.
1) The Word of God is alive and active - Hebrews 4:12
2) There is power in our words - Proverbs 18:21

Think with me for a moment, what would happen in the spiritual realm if we combine these two truths? If you take an alive, active, and powerful Word of God (Scripture) and you pray it back to God using your powerful words (mouth)... something supernatural happens and God begins to act on your behalf. His Word is not going to return void nor is it going to fall on deaf ears. God LOVES to hear His Word prayed back to Him.

The KEY to answered prayer is to pray according to the will of God and in accordance to His Word.
The way to have a supernatural prayer life is simple... pray the Word of God directly. When we do this we seek to align our words with God's will more fully. Praying in this way is in alignment with God, in the name of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit agrees with you too. I don't know about you but I want all of them on my side when I'm believing for something and need the Lord to work on my behalf. Are you excited yet?

I know you have all been there like I have and had times in you life when you were at a point where you didn't know what to pray or how to pray and the words just wouldn't come. Any time you find your self there remember you can always pray God's Word.

If you have never prayed the Scriptures before it is really easy and rest assured, there are no special skills needed. Praise the Lord for that!! All you need to do is locate a passage that fits your need/desire (google search or ask God to give you one you may already know) and then substitute the pronouns (he or she) with the name of the person you are praying for. You may do this for anyone - yes, that means you too. Use the correct pronoun that represents that person throughout the verse or passage. It's that easy!

For today's post I am praying for my teenage daughter. I am praying for her continued growth in the Lord and that she would flourish as a daughter of the Most High God. I want her to not be swayed by peer pressure, not to succumb to temptation, to be strong and rooted in her faith, and that she would blossom into the woman of God that she is created to be.

I remembered 2 Peter 3:18. "But grow in the grace and knowledge our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
I'm going to use my daughter Zoe's name and illustrate how I prayed this verse over.

Lord Jesus, I pray that my beautiful daughter Zoe would grow in the grace and knowledge of You. I pray that she would flourish as she grows into the godly woman You have called her to be. I also pray that you lead her in all things and that as she acknowledges You, You will guard her heart. Keep her mind pure and alert to the schemes of the enemy. Keep her from temptation and let no evil come to her. And you continue.... You can add more scriptures if you want or pray however your heart leads you.

It's SO powerful ladies!!! God is in agreement with YOUR prayers and He is faithful to His Word to perform it. You should be filled with excitement now!!

So, who is it that the Lord has placed on your heart to pray for? I encourage you to look up scriptures to help you pray for that person and their situation.

Psalm 91 is a passage that you can easily pray and is a great place to begin practicing your new skills. Try it! I promise you will feel empowered as a pray-er (is that even a word?). And just by adding this simple technique to your prayer time you will discover a depth to your prayer life that you never experienced before.

Artist Talk:
I used the simple watercolor 'stomping' technique my friend Colleen showed us and then stamped the tiny word 'grace' randomly all over the page using the same watercolors. You need to make sure that when applying the color to the stamp that it is dry wet and not wet wet like you would use for regular watercoloring. You want more pigment and less water for coloring stamps- especially tiny ones like this. Added some white spatters and then my page elements & finished with the journaling.
I love the watercolor look and used it for the "grow in grace" words as well.

Happy Saturday and may you too "grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus your Lord"!
Elizabeth 💕

Follow me on IG @ icolorinmybible

Check out the Garden of Grace devotional & printable bundle HERE. There are 4 pages of ephemera, washi strips, tabs, a devotional and more. I only used a fraction of the images on my page. Grab it for yourself and play along. 

Find the versatile stamps I used HERE

I'd love to hear your comments or see how you put this prayer technique into practice. Leave me a note or post a picture of your page.

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

God Waters My Life

You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain,
    for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges, softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.

Psalm 65: 9-10

God waters what He plants; He nourishes and feeds giving everything necessary not only for growth, but that His plantings flourish.  Earlier in this same chapter, verse 4 says, "Blessed is the one you choose and bring near to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house..."  God chooses those who will come to Him in faith and He brings us near to Him.  He completely satisfies as the God of our lives.  

I've certainly experienced times of spiritual dryness, but those were never because God did not supply my need.  Life can just be very taxing and can drain us.  That's why we need God!  We need to come to Him in prayer, to His Word to be constantly refreshed.  He will never disappoint...He is always there to pour upon me the treasures and goodness from His house...from the resources of heaven itself.  

I had so much fun with this page.  I wanted the visual impact of watering from heaven so I heavily watered the page.  Then I saturated my brush with paint and water and ran the brush along the top of the page.  When I lifted my Bible the water/paint mixture ran down the page.  I love the effect.  So glad it worked as I envisioned since I didn't practice first!  I mixed up some green and yellow paint to get a color that matched the green in the printables I used, and repeated the dripping process, only taking the mixture from the bottom of the page and tipping it from the bottom.  I'll definitely use this process again because I like the dripped look as a background.  

Garden of Grace Printable Bundle

with digital color and outline images JPEG/PNG files

All the cut-out elements for the page came from the just-released printable I designed for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, Garden of Grace.  You get a ton of goodies for the money and this bundle is soooo versatile.  You get 3 pages of printables that are easily cut out on most cutting machines with a scan and cut feature or you can always just fussy cut them by hand as I do.  My devotional with an interactive page for deeper study is also included.  But the BEST part of our printables is that they come with digital versions to download.  You get the color images as JPEG and PNG files as well as a few of the images as outline files so you can do your own color scheme.  All the digital files can be sized for your needs too.  So you can personalize everything about this bundle.  

For the lettering I used another new release, Skinny Minnie Alpha designed by Rebecca Rios.  The smaller letters are from the set Mini Grunge Type Alpha...which I love because the letters are smaller. 

 Skinny Minnie Alpha Clear Stamp

Mini Grunge Type Alpha