Hello, My Name Is

Advent. (n) the coming or second coming of Christ. 

My prayer during this advent season is that I would spend my time celebrating the birth of Jesus and having great expectancy that He is coming again. As I’ve been reading and studying, my heart has just been filled to overflowing with great joy!

A familiar passage came up in my study the other day, and this time, it leapt off the page in a new way and I was compelled to journal it.

Isaiah 9:6 reads “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” 

Often, I get so caught up in the first part of that verse, that I don’t focus enough on the ending. That baby, that tiny baby, that was born in Bethlehem in a stable was going to be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. What? How in the world was a baby going to be all that? Well, it’s because He wasn’t just any baby...He was, and is, the Son of God!

Wonderful Counselor
When I need someone to talk with, and I need advice, there is no one better than going straight to Jesus. He is always there and ready to listen. He’s even got an entire book of advice for me on any given situation. 

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭33:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Mighty God
Our God is not just any God. He is the mightiest warrior that ever walked. There is no one or no thing that can defeat Him. And the best part, we don’t have to even do anything but stand still. He fights our battles for us.

“You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you."”
‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭20:17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Everlasting Father
To know that there is nothing that God separate us from the love of God is amazing. My God allows me to run straight in to His arms and called him Daddy. I am the child of the everlasting Father. The one who runs to me with open arms, and embraces me, and kisses me is my Daddy God.

“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭15:20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Prince of Peace
Peace is the thing in the world that I believe everyone is looking for. Peace from the busyness of life. Peace from the stress of day to day. Peace from the million things tugging at our hearts and minds. Peace. Deep peace. He is our Peace. When we choose to think on the right things instead of the things of the world, Peace is ours.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:8-9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

During this time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and wait with great hope for His second coming, I encourage you to celebrate all that we have because of who He is.

Hello, my name is “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!” 

Art behind the story:

The Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps set Hello My Name Is was the perfect set for this page. I stamped the tags on cardstock and fussy cut them. My sweet team mate, Colleen (stirthesoul on IG), gave me the suggestion for the background. I used gray watercolor and made a light wash. Then I pulled out all types of stamps (I’ll list them below) from several of our sets to add visual depth and interest to the background. Lastly, I splattered brighter watercolors on it. Then I glued the tags down, added a bit of washi, and did my journaling.

My prayer for all of you is that this page will encourage you to dig in, study about the birth of Jesus and the prophecies surrounding Him. Also, that you’ll be waiting with great hope and expectancy. He is coming again!!

Much love,
Gayle
Patio Ponderings

close up of background textures

Hello My Name Is

Doves of Peace

O Holy Night

Texture Tiles 1

Texture Tiles 3

Grunge Elements 2

Redeemed

"And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.” (Ruth 4:9-10)

The story of Ruth and Boaz is one of my favorite stories in the Bible.  Ruth was a widow, living in a foreign land.  Boaz, a relative of her dead husband, purchases the land that once belonged to her (also dead) father-in-law.  But he doesn't do it for his own gain--he engages in this business transaction in an effort to redeem the land for his relative, Ruth and her destitute mother-in-law, Naomi.  In so doing, they now have the means to provide for themselves.  However, there's even more to this transaction.  By purchasing the land, he also purchases Ruth, and agrees to take her on as his own wife.  

My inner feminist screams that this is disgusting!  Women aren't to be purchased like property!  However, I must consider the cultural context of the story, and the patriarchal society in which Ruth and Boaz existed.  Unmarried, and especially widowed, women had little to no means to provide for themselves, and no opportunity to acquire any.  But when Boaz legally redeemed Ruth, he made her his own wife--and as the rest of the story shows--he indeed loved her and cherished her and provided for her.  

This story is a picture of what Christ has done for us.  We are destitute sinners, with absolutely no means to provide for our salvation.  However, Christ purchased us with His blood at the Cross, and took us as His own.  He loves and cherishes and cares for us.  And even more importantly, His act of redemption provides a way of salvation for us!  

What a beautiful story!  I decided to journal this in my Bible with a few different stamp sets.  I wanted to go all pink, because it's my favorite color, and I wanted to emphasize the personal fact that I AM REDEEMED!  For the background, I used the houndstooth-style texture stamp from Texture Tiles 4, which is the Stamp of the Month for October.  I used Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide Ink, and stamped the background continuously.  I also stamped this same pattern in black on some pink cardstock, to cut out a tab and to use for a shirt for my girl, which was the next step. 

I used the Girl Power set to create a tag with the top-bun girl.  I stamped her with pink glasses to carry the pink theme, and colored her with watercolor pencils.  I affixed the tag onto pink cardstock, and tied it off with black checked ribbon.  I used double-sided foam tape to give the tag some dimension. 

Finally, I used the Hello, My Name Is stamp set to stamp "Redeemed" as my title, and then the following into wordfetti strips:  100%, beyond measure, once & for all, no matter what.  I marked off my verses, and then added some journaling, some pink and black paint splatter, and the date.  

I love the pink-ness of this page, but I love the reminder even more of how Jesus has 100% redeemed me!  He's redeemed you too, friend!  

Thanks for hanging out with me today...

Julie

Girl Power

Hello, My Name Is...

Texture Tiles 4

Directing our children...

Proverbs 22:6

"Direct your children onto the right path, 

and when they are older, they will not leave it."

It's almost the middle of August and we have all seen the back-to-school commercials, store displays and flyers. Everyone is getting ready to send their kids back to school after a short and fun summer. For me, it will be my first time officially sending my kid off to school. In the fall my oldest child will start kindergarten! How did this happen?!? I'm excited but also scared. My heart is filled with so many emotions as we get ready to start this new chapter in her life, that all I can really do to prepare is pray. 

I stay home with my kids so sending her off to full time school is opening a whole new world for her. She seems pretty excited and I show her how excited I am for her, but inside I hide the little fears and anxious feelings I hold about this big change for all of us. Before now, her world basically consisted in the confines of our house, friends, and family. Now, she will be venturing out into to world of public schools. I have heard from friends that its a great school..... but I struggle with how much is out of my control. 

Even knowing that much is out of my control, I know I can find comfort in God. When I am not with her, He will be with her each day! And I also need to find comfort and hope in all of the things I have done to prepare her for her first days of school. I pray that she remembers the things I have told her about how we treat others, being polite, being patient, respectful, and the list goes on. And above all I pray she has fun, makes new friends, and learns a lot! Though this is my first child, I imagine every parent has these worries as a new school year approaches. We all need to pray for wisdom for our children as they enter another school year. So many new things and new challenges. But, I hope that will everything my husband and I have taught her so far, she will have a great first year, and we will be right by her side the whole way!

So to finish my page I wrote a small note to Madison to read in the future. I did this entry in the bible I have been working on for her. This bible has various different mementos from her early years, so this page in honor of her starting Kindergarten will be a great one for her to look back on. 

Blessings on all the students, teachers, and parents as everyone heads back to school in the fall!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

Words of Wisdom Printable Bundle

Chunky Lowercase Alpha 

Seek Him

Teeny Alpha

Hello My Name Is

Texture Tiles 3

Chosen and Loved...

Hi friends,

I have been reading through the Bible using a chronological reading plan this year, and some parts can be really challenging! One book that can sometimes be a bit tough to read is Deuteronomy, partially because it includes a lot of repetition from Exodus and Numbers, and also because there are a lot of laws given that we struggle to relate to everyday life in the 21st century. Nevertheless, I want to encourage you to persevere and pray as you read, asking for God to bring revelation to you as you study His Word. Sometimes there is just one verse that jumps out from the page and into your heart, as God reveals something of Himself to you. This happened to me as I was reading through Deuteronomy 7 and noticed verses 7-8...

 

“The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt."

What a beautiful picture of God's saving grace! God didn't choose us because we were well behaved or intelligent or gifted... He chose us because He set His heart on us and loves us. And guess what? That will never change! Romans 8:38-39 assures us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

I really enjoyed creating this page and meditating on the awesome truth of these words. I used a few different stamp sets for this, and wanted to show you how to stretch your stamps further by selectively inking some of the words. I used Hello My Name Is for the words chose and loves but these words do not appear exactly like this in the stamp set:

I took a few photos of the process so you can see how it's done:

The beauty of the high quality clear stamps from Sweet 'n Sassy is that you can choose to ink only portions of the stamp. In this case I left off the 'n' from chosen, and the 'd' from loved. I then inked just the 's' from saved and stamped this at the end of love, joining up the letters with a Micron pen. I encourage you to look at your stamps and see how you can stretch them to create different or new words - there are so many possibilities!

Here are the other sets I used on this page:

       

 

May your heart be encouraged today as you meditate on the fact that God set His heart on you and chose you because He loves you.

x Amy x

Your Identity

I want to propose an idea for you to ponder today and it is this…  “The battles you are facing now are more about who you are becoming and less about who you've been!!!”

Your past is covered under the blood of Jesus but the enemy of your soul seeks to destroy your future.

Growing up I was a pretty confident gal. It wasn't until my adulthood when I began to purpose in my heart to do kingdom business that I began to struggle with confidence issues, self worth, and my true identity. Seems a bit backwards right? One would think that the closer you grow to the Lord the freer you would be in who He created you to be. Yes, this is true but you have to get there 1st and there is a learning curve. The reason it seems a little backwards is because only when I was about my Father’s business was I a threat to the enemy. I was saved, living for Jesus, being the best mom & wife if could, but I wasn't impacting people around me for His kingdom. Satan is not threatened by these things. He doesn't mind if you are saved, he just wants you POWERLESS and INEFFECTIVE for God. When I began to minister to others, walk in my purpose & calling, allowing God to use me in various ways, that's when Satan took notice and boy did he ever take notice. He knows we are girls full of emotions and he knows how to push our hot topic buttons - the ones where our identity is in question. The attacks came and they would shake me to my core. Key word “would”. 

I tell you this to let you in on a secret... We all have or still do at times struggle with walking out our true identity found in Christ alone. The difference is that now we do not allow it to consume us. The thoughts come in our head and we can't help that. It's what we do with them at that point that really matters. To walk in freedom is to be knowledgable of God's Word and put it into practice. I encourage you to be a student of His Word & be a good student at that. When the enemy comes to attack, you just come right back at him with the Word of God. Either what’s already inside you because you have studied to show yourself approved (2 Tim 2:15) or that which you have looked up to correspond with the attack. Taking thoughts captive looks a whole lots like a pep talk to yourself using the Word as the megaphone. A feeling of unworthiness jumps up in your heart, you say to yourself "no, I am a daughter of the most high God purchased with a great price. I am valuable, loved, and worthy because of Jesus." A thought enters your head about you not being good enough; you speak to the lie in Jesus name and say “no way devil. You are a liar! I am enough because Christ is enough and He lives in me”. You don't need to sound overly spiritual you just need to be matter of fact. You need to speak God's Word over yourself and directly to the lie the enemy had placed in your head. 

When we know He has called us by name (Is 43:1) and He dances over us with singing (Zeph 3:17). When we understand that nothing we can do can change God's mind about loving us (Romans 8:38-39) and that He renews His love for us every morning (Lam 3:22-23). When we allow the truth to transform our minds (Rom 12:2) we are set free and can live out that purpose for which we are called to - and in CONFIDENCE. 

Wield the Sword of the Spirit (Gods Word) over yourself. Tuck these verses (and more) into your pocket. Hold them close to your heart. When you are feeling deflated, unworthy, or unloved... Pull out what you’ve tucked in there and remind yourself that you are a daughter of the most Hight God and that He is crazy about you. The devil will flee and you will walk in freedom. Now, it may take a few minutes for your emotions to catch up with your heart and you might need to speak multiple verses over yourself before you see the change. It will get easier and easier and as time goes on you will become stronger and more confident in the Word. 

The more you are able to take these lies captive and speak truth to yourself the freer you will become and the easier it gets to let it go and walk in confidence. Once Satan realizes he doesn't have power over you anymore then you won't have to deal with it constantly. The enemy wants to cripple you but you now make HIM POWERLESS when you speak the Word of God to him. God will ALWAYS give you the grace and strength to get through the feelings of anything less than a mighty woman of God that YOU are! You are Worthy!

Art: Clear sticker paper and what NOT to do. lol :)

I used some IF printables to complement the awesome SNSS Hello My Name Is 

stamp set.  There were some things I learned along the way. 

1. Ink takes a bit longer to dry on sticker paper & it smudges easier so watch out.

2. When stamping, the ink will bleed and the once crisp image will then become a bit fuzzy around the edges over time as it dries.

3. If you try and take a q-tip to clean up the smudges then it takes off the matte finish of the sticker paper and you see shiny spots.

4. Your pen tends to 'scratch' off the coating as well and can't write as easily.

Even though they have some quirks sticker paper is still a fave technique of mine.

Be blessed! Be encouraged!

Elizabeth

IG - @icolorinmybible

Beautiful & Loved...

Hi friends,

God has blessed me with a husband who loves to tell me that I'm beautiful. Now, that sounds very sweet (and it is!), but when you struggle to believe that because of lies spoken over you as a teenager, it's a real challenge to accept the word 'beautiful' as a label for yourself. I sometimes wonder whether the woman in the Song of Solomon felt the same way when her beloved was lavishing compliments on her, speaking of her beauty in great detail. When I was looking at the Hello, My Name Is stamp set, I knew I needed to journal using the word beautiful, because I need to record this in my bible as a label for myself - even though I struggle to believe it on many days.

I wanted to play with the 'no line watercolour' effect, so I stamped the gorgeous flowers from Whimsy Bouquet with a light ink, and the text stamps in black ink.

I then added colour with some Inktense pencils and blended the colour our using an aquabrush. This is a fun technique to play with! This is the page I ended up with...

This is a wonderful reminder to myself (and hopefully to you!) that we have been called beautiful by our Heavenly Father, and that we are loved beyond measure. Can I encourage you to choose a new label for yourself based on what God says about you in His Word, and journal that in your Bible as a reminder for yourself?

x Amy x

I am Loved

‘so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’ (Eph. 3:17-19)

I’m loved beyond measure. It’s still something that I struggle with. I know it’s true but for some reason this knowledge takes a long time to settle down in my heart. There are a lot of days that I don’t feel worthy of Gods love, but I may know that not my actions determine the love of God but that He loves me no matter what. That He will always welcome me into His loving arms, just like the prodigal son. This stamp set helped me to get back on the journey to find Gods love in the bible.


I prepared my bible page with clear gesso (the pages in my Dutch bible are very thin). The other side of the page left some bleeding on this page so I had to find a way to cover that up. I used my acrylic paints to make a background. I would be able to cover most of the bleeding with the paint (or incorporate it into this page) but I decided to add a piece of paper on the left side of my margin. Just to be sure that nothing would show through. I stamped the tag and some words onto white paper and cut them out. The name tag and everything on it is from the set ‘Hello My Name Is’, the words Amen and the heart are from ‘Note This'. I missed something in the background of my page so I decided to stamp a couple of leaves from the ‘Whimsy Bouquet’ stamp set with black ink. When my background was finished I adhered the stamped pieces into my bible and that’s it.

Have a blessed day!

- Lucinde

Hello, my name is...

I love this song and the stamp set too. The words are so recognizable. How often do we think of ourselves in judgmental ways. Bringing ourselves down with our own thoughts and feelings. At least, for me the feelings of regret and not being good enough are returning way too often. 


So today I made a sort of therapeutic page in my journal. At the top and the bottom of the page I wrote down a couple of things that I dislike about myself or that I would like to change. After that I started stamping. I stamped the name tag first and decided to use 'chosen' as the name. I stamped a couple of the other words around the tag to remind me of all the other things I am through God. Saved, beautiful, loved, free. Great things to remember. The other things are better to forget, so I added a black layer of paint on top of it. I blended the black layer out so that I could add some bright yellow in the center of the page. I used acrylic paints so they are a bit translucent (accept for the black color). That way I could still read the 'good words' and the 'bad words' wouldn't be visible anymore.

I used the stamp set 'Hello My Name Is' for this page.

- Lucinde

Called by name...

Hi friends,

I don't know about you but I've been called by a fair few names in my lifetime. As well as my given name, I've also been called some lovely names ('beautiful', 'my love,' 'mate' and others!) but I've also been called some pretty nasty names, particularly at school (no need to elaborate on what those were!). Those names can have a scarring effect on our souls, embedding unwanted labels into our identities that take a long time to shift. One of the awesome things about God is that he calls us by name, and also gives us new, beautiful names to replace the unwanted titles given to us in our past. One of those names is Redeemed.

The word 'redeemed' means to have been delivered or released from a legal obligation or desperate circumstance. We were most certainly in desperate circumstances before God saved us, and in Christ we have been redeemed - rescued and delivered from an obligation we could never fulfil and a debt we could never pay. What an incredibly gracious and merciful God we serve!

I used the sweet new set Hello My Name Is for this page, as well as Scribble Flowers, Mini Grunge Type Alpha and Lynzee Script Alpha.

I pray that as you enter 2018, you would allow God's names for you to replace any wrong or unpleasant names anyone has given you. His Word is powerful and effective in reshaping our identities!

x Amy x