Does God Act for You?

"From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him."

Isaiah 64:4 

Waiting is hard.  Our human nature, the way our minds often work, presupposes that waiting means inactivity.  When we are waiting, something is not being done.  And most of the time waiting means our inability to control what we want to happen.  We think waiting means the situation isn't going to be fixed in the way we think it should...and certainly not in the time frame we desire.  Waiting is hard.  

God has something powerful in his word about waiting.  In this verse, we see two things about God:  1)  nothing, absolutely nothing comes close to the power God wields; 2) God acts with that power on behalf of those who wait upon him. 

"From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him."

Isaiah 64:4 

We cannot even conceive or imagine the power God possesses, but He has promised to harness all than power and bring it to bear upon people of faith who in trust wait upon him to act for them.  So for the fervent believer, waiting is far from inactivity.  It is trusting, it is surrender, it is freedom from worry, it is confidence in a the power of God.  Waiting can be a time of deep worship, ground-shaking prayer, a time of remember how God has acted on our behalf in the past.  Waiting upon God to act is FAR from inactivity.  It is in itself one of the engaging activities in our spiritual developing.  When we wait, we are growing, deepening our faith, and we are releasing the limitations of our human frailties and opening wide the door for God's power.  We cannot conceive or imagine what God is about to do in our circumstances.  When we wait, we wait for God's perfect timing and we wait for his miracles to occur.  

While we wait, God is building a highway before us, he is clearing obstacles in our path.  If we run headlong before him, taking matters in our own hands to fix our situation, we will trip and stumble over the stones he would have removed for us in his timing. 

The world repeats humanistic messages.... "You are strong, you can do it,"  "Take care of yourself first,"  "No one else will do it, if you don't"  "Strength and competence lies within you,"  "You are the master of your destiny."  "Create your own life, you deserve it."  On and on we are told in numerous ways every day...YOU are in control.  Nothing could be farther from the truth and if we are all honest with ourselves it only takes ONE day in our lives to prove that we are simply not in control.  We are not in control because the Master of the Universe, the REAL master of our destiny will never relinquish his control.  He will let rebellious people go their own way toward destruction if they are literally hell-bent to be master of their destiny.  The abyss of the absence of God is their destiny if they live apart from the God to whom no one compares.  

God acts for those who wait upon him, who surrender to his will and his power, who trust in his ability to bring about the perfect outcome.  His perfect outcome may not seem perfect.  But in the end, if we turn it over to him he will bring all things together for our good--. ^"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose," Romans 8:28. 

Do you need something to happen?  Pray, trust, wait.  God will act for you if you wait upon him.  

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Design Details:  The background is a simple watercolor wash.  I used stamps and stencils for lettering and texture and the July printable, Go God's Way, for the images.  

Sets used:

Go God's Way Printable

Rebecca Script

Bitty Minnie Alpha

Going not Knowing....

Hi friends,

I think one of the most challenging things about living a life of faith are those times when God calls us to do something but He doesn't give us all the details (anyone else been there??). We know there is a step that needs to be taken, but the outcome at the end is fuzzy, or even completely blank!

Abraham is recorded in the 'Hall of Faith' found in Hebrews 11, as a man who went out in obedience to God, not knowing where he was going. God told him to leave his family, his home and his country, and to travel to a land that God would show him. The problem was, he had to leave first, then find out the destination later! This takes faith.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). When we respond to God's leading, even when we don't know the outcome, this  is a demonstration of faith in the character and faithfulness of God, and it is a testimony to the world around us, who want to live by sight, rather than by faith. I have found myself in this situation in the past year, where I felt God leading me to leave a job that I had wanted for a long time, and really enjoyed, in order to study. The thing is, I don't know what's at the end of the study journey. I have some ideas, some possibilities perhaps, but at the end of the day I don't know. This has been a major challenge to my 'need-to-have-it-all-figured-out' personality and there are moments where I stress out, thinking about the 'what ifs'. But God is reassuring me through this journey that as I walk with him by faith, my faith and trust in Him grows, and I am able to rest in quiet confidence that the One who calls me is faithful, and He will make things come to pass (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

 Now I know that Abraham didn't travel in a yellow beetle, but how cute is that Go God's Way printable?? And there's also a new stamp set this month to match - so many possibilities! I used the fab new Sunshine Girl Alpha along with the 'faith' word from Life in Jesus to create the verse.

I created the background of this page using a stencil and some inks, sponging the inks onto the page with a dry baby wipe (great for managing exactly where you want the ink to go, as you wrap the baby wipe around your finger and have a high level of control in the application of the ink). Here's a pic of my supplies:

Can I encourage you to take a step (or leap!) of faith if God is calling you to do that in some area, even if you don't know the outcome? God is faithful to His Word and His promises.

Every blessing...

x Amy x

Fill Me Up, Lord!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Friends,

Hope, joy, peace....we can find these things in our awesome God! This is one of my favorite verses, and a prayer I have said over my children, family, and friends. It's simple. We have hope in Christ. And when we trust in Him, we can have joy and peace no matter what circumstances we may be facing. Our joy and peace, and even our hope, shouldn't be determined by our circumstances. It should already be founded on our faith and trust in God. Founded in Him so that no matter what life throws at us, we are not swayed from Him. Life is hard. But we still have hope in Him. And joy. And peace. Hold fast to that, my friends!

Now for page details: I used the following sets from Sweet n Sassy Stamps: Life in Jesus, Texture Tiles 1, Sunshine Girl Alpha, Skinny Minnie Alpha, and the Go God's Way Printable Bundle.

This bundle has PDF pages you can print, but it also has individual color and outline images you can use. I used an outline image of the car to trace the car into my Bible. The great thing about the individual images is that you can make them whatever size you want! So I sized the car image and printed it out on copy paper. Our Bible pages are thin enough that you can see the image right through the page. So, I just put the image behind the page and traced it on with a Micron pen- super simple! I found and image of an old fuel pump online and traced that as well. I stamped the words and accents. I used watercolor crayons to color most everything. I used Prismacolor pencils to color in "joy" and "peace".

May you be filled up with joy and peace this week by the power of the Holy Spirit! 
Take care, Andrea

Go God's Way

Happy Tuesday Readers! Can you believe it's already July?!?! How did that happen? But with the beginning of each new month we have fun new things to look forward to, a couple of which are new Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and a devotional! Have you seen Diane Noble's new devotional for this month titled Go God's Way? Ugh so good and so fun! Too often we get so caught up in our plans and where we want to go that our vision gets clouded.

Proverbs 8:32-33  NCV

Now, my children, listen to me, 

because those who follow my ways are happy. 

Listen to my teaching, and you will be wise; 

do not ignore it. 

As you can see, God commands us to listen to him and follow his ways. A lot of those "ways" are found all throughout the Bible. Bits and pieces of his guidance and knowledge for us to use to live our lives in his ways to the best of our abilities. And other times, God will instruct us through very obvious acts or subtle whispers in our lives. I know there have been moments in my own life where I thought "Wow! Ok God, I totally get it. I couldn't possibly miss that sign!"Moments like that are so clear and easy to follow. 

But then there are the God whispers. They are really easy to miss when life is so fast and busy that you don't make the time for Him and you can't hear them. It's easy to miss those little soft whispers and instructions he sends us on occasion if we aren't in his word and following his ways. Sometimes, we hear the whispers but aren't sure how to follow him, or maybe we're scared, not sure of where it will lead us! In those moments we need to seek him and pray. Pray that he will give us the strength we need to follow him and his plan for us. And he will! He will give us the strength we ask for! We just need to seek him, pray, and be obedient in the answers we receive! My life has taken me several places I never originally planned to go, and some of them were scary and not what I personally wanted to do. But now, looking back, it made my life that much better! Following through on what I believe to be his plan for me, my life, and now my families, has shown me so many blessings that I am incredibly grateful for. I continue to pray that I will remain obedient to the things he asks of me.

Have a blessed week!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

Go God's Way Printable Bundle