Holy Spirit, You Are Welcome Here

Even on My servants, both men and women, 

I will pour out My Spirit in those days. Joel 2:29

Hello Friends!

Today, we are in Joel 2. He is speaking of the last days- a future time when, ultimately, Christ will return. At that time, the Holy Spirit will be very active. The great news is that, even though much of Joel's prophecy is yet to be fulfilled, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit began on Pentecost when the apostles were filled with the Spirit. From that day on, all believers have been and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

So, my question is this: do we welcome the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives? Jesus told the disciples in John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." The Holy Spirit is our Helper. He teaches us. He reveals the truth to us. So, we should welcome Him enthusiastically!

Believers, as God's children, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But we shouldn't treat Him as a visiting guest. We want to welcome Him home in our hearts. Our focus should be on the will of God and the work of Jesus. By praying, Bible reading and studying, worshiping, we will welcome the Spirit. And He will guide and empower us in all we do. Holy Spirit, You are most definitely welcome here!

Page Details:
I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Happy Camper, Love Your Neighbor, and Holy Spirit. I am loving the new Happy Camper set! Isn't it the cutest??!! It's so versatile with all the "embellishment" stamps. I used watercolor crayons and a Micron pen as well.

Have a great week! Andrea

I Am an Heir

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:16-17

Hey guys!
I'm hopeful about today.  I have been reminded about the absolute and unfathomable graces of the Lord.  When John talks about it, he says something like "grace upon grace."  That's exactly what God does in the life of one He's called into His family!
When journaling this passage of scripture, I didn't quite know how to express the words or heart of appreciation for my God!  Have you ever had that happen?
God knows how much it truly means to us, because He's positioned Himself as the King of our hearts and Lord of our lives - inside!  Therein lies the Holy Spirit that testifies with our spirit - they literally come together in one accord and unit - that we are children.  BUT IT DOESN'T STOP THERE!

Distress inks used to create subtle and colorful backdrop.

 The scriptures here go on to tell - albeit, rather generally - that once we are children, we are heirs.  Generality in the Bible happens when the human mind and heart cannot completely imagine, describe, or understand the totality of God, His person, His blessings, His character - you name it!  We just can't quite wrap our minds around it!

The good news - the "gospel" - is such that we cannot fully fathom the what's and why's of our salvation in Jesus Christ. 
So, Paul is doing his absolute best, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to help us know what the Lord has revealed to him; and he uses terminology that we "get," at least to some degree!
Here's what we know:
1.  Being heirs with Christ starts when the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit.  In other words, when we have come to the understanding of who Jesus is and accepted Him as such, we are saved by the power of the Holy Spirit and God sees us as a joint-heir with Christ.

Adding "Itty Bitty Blossoms" to
provide a border at the bottom
of the page.

Almost done!

2.  Being a child of God, therefore miraculously entitles us to the inheritence of Jesus Christ!  Jesus is the firstborn of God, the first fruits of the resurrection and the first to receive all that the Father has to give.  But as joint heirs, we are given what Jesus is given - a position as one who will some day be given life in the eternal home with God.  Our destination is secured with God, in Jesus!
3.  Being a joint-heir also positions us as people who suffer with Christ.  The passage clearly points out that though we have eternal glory awaiting us, we do have to remain in the world for a time.  And while in the world, we have hope; the hope of Jesus! The hope of being glorified once our time here is done!

I added white acrylic paint to the bible mat, then
used the brayer to spread it out evenly.

With a thin coat of paint on the mat, the "girl power"
stamp was able to grab a good amount without
getting sloppy.

The acrylic paint gave me a white-stamped
impression on the page.  I did this with several other
"girl power" images.

My heart is overwhelmed by the graciousness and generosity of the Lord.  How can I possibly fathom the inheritance awaiting me in Jesus, when I cannot even fully grasp His riches here on earth?  The Holy Spirit is my connection to Jesus; Jesus is my connection to eternal promise!  Praise Him, I am a child of God!

I usually enjoy the used of a sharpie paint pen to
add small embellishments like crosses across
the page!

I used paper prints to make the clothes of the main "girl power" image
you see here.  I pieced her together and added color to her
face and hair using a simple marker.

If you are a child of God, you are joint-heirs with Christ!  Hopeful, I pray you found this encouraging!
Much Love,
Deeds

Stamps used in this process are:
Girl Power
Itty Bitty Blossoms
& Bitty Minnie Alpha

Learning to Wait

Good Morning everyone!! 

The page I am sharing with you today is based on a verse in the book of Isaiah. 

Isaiah 30:18

"Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

blessed are all those who wait for him."

In this chapter, the people of Israel were seeking help from Egypt instead of turning to God for help. They didn't want to hear the truths that the prophets spoke of, they only wanted to hear what they wanted to hear. So they looked towards sinful things that appeased them. God is a jealous God. He gets very angry at them for turning to someone else for help instead of him. The only help we need as believers is help from the Lord. We should not look to the world for answers as it is the world that will lead us astray. 

Egypt is also a symbol of the "worldly things" we seek. The Pharaoh was nothing more than a man, and God had proven his power over the Pharaoh time and time again, yet they still choose to seek the Pharaoh's wisdom over their own God. We as christians need to be patient and wait on the Lord! His timing is perfect and he knows the plan for our lives, not us! So we need to wait on his timing and his mercy. He will never leave us, we just need to wait to receive his guidance, not rush ahead because we are impatient and want answers now. 

I kept this page simple because I wanted the message to stay strong. I used the napkin technique to apply this sweet bunny onto my page. I went Live on the Creative Worship Bible Journaling Facebook Group earlier this week showing just how to do this napkin technique. 

1. You trim your image of choice and peel off the back layer of the napkin leaving only the thin layer your image is on. 
2. Then apply and thin layer of gesso to your page where you want the napkin to go, and gently press and smooth the napkin down to your page. 
3. I have found if you then dry the napkin and gesso it helps with the next step. 
4. The last step is to very gently apply a layer of gesso over top of the napkin to help seal it to the page. Try to apply just enough to hold the napkin down and cover it. The more wet your napkin gets, the easier it will be to wrinkle or rip it. 
5. Then just dry it one more time, trim off the excess napkin from the edges of your page and you're done!! The bunny on this page is just an image cut from a napkin but it looks like I drew it on there. Such a fun technique to add to your bible journaling arsenal of tricks!

I hope you all enjoyed this page and the technique shared. If you have any questions at all about it, please feel free to send me a message and I would be happy to help! I have also listed the stamps I used on this page below. Mixing up the different alphas made for a fun touch to the message on this page.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Stephanie Gammon

xoxo

Holy Spirit

Teeny Alpha

Classy Script Alpha

Singing Praises to God

Hey guys!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter season spent with family, friends and reflecting on the true meaning of Easter and just how lucky we all are! He is a good, good Father isn't he?! One of my favorite Easter traditions is singing old church hymns. They bring back so many memories as a young kid and now they will get stuck in my head and I find myself humming them all day.

There is so much truth in the worship songs we sing! The style of the songs we sign have changed some over the years, but the meaning and the love behind them all remains the same. One of my absolute favorite worship songs right now is "Holy Spirit". Guys! This song gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes.

🎶 Holy Spirit, You are welcome here

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere

Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for

To be overcome by Your presence, Lord

Your presence, Lord 🎶

Every time I sing this song, I can't help but close my eyes and put my hands up! This song has so much power and truth in it. Calling God to come fill the atmosphere with His presence and just being overcome with everything He is! I just picture beautiful light filling the room, with hands raised towards heaven. Hebrews 13:15 says "Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name." So God considers praising him a sacrifice that is pleasing to Him. The fruit of our lips, what a "sweet" way to think about it!

Creative Details: To create this page I first applied a thin layer of gesso to my page since I knew I would be getting this page pretty wet. Then I used a clean paintbrush and went over my whole page with water. Once the page was wet, I started applying my watercolors in various places but starting in the middle with yellow and working my way out choosing gradually darker colors. After letting the colors blend together some, I dried it with my heat gun. 

To add the shimmer/light effect to the page, I took gold metallic and white gelatos and did straight lines coming off of the yellow circle, kind of like sun rays. Then took a baby wipe and smudged the gelato and blended them together. Once that part was finished, I simply outlined some hands in pen, colored them in with black acrylic paint, then applied my Holy Spirit stamp to the center with VersaFine black ink. 

Thanks for joining me this morning! 

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

Holy Spirit

A Wise Woman

The wise woman builds her house, 

but the foolish tears it down with her own hands. Proverbs 14:1

Happy Resurrection Day (a day early), my friends! Our Savior is alive; and we are saved!

Today I bring a page from Proverbs that compares a wise woman with a foolish woman. We all want to be the wise woman, right? I know I do. So how can we build our houses? A wise woman builds her house by the leading of the Holy Spirit: with faith, love, self-control, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness. Hmmm, sound familiar? When we live by the Spirit, His fruit is evident in our lives and our homes! On the other hand, how can a foolish woman tear down her home? She can do it with anger, strife, resentment, control, complaints, anxiety. It can be so easy to fall into those negative behaviors. But, we, as believers, have the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Rely on His power and build your home. We have a lot of influence as women... on our husbands, our children, the world. Let's use that influence for God.

For the page, I used a stamp that's available for preorder called Holy Spirit. It's a great stamp that is perfect for Bible journaling! I also used Love Your Neighbor and watercolor crayons. I used the watercolor crayons a couple of different ways on this page. For the images, I colored them in with the crayons and then went over the color with a wet brush. That activates the color. For the sky background, I took a wet brush and took the color onto the brush from the tip of the crayon and then pounced the brush onto the page. I repeated that process until I liked the depth of color.

Rejoice in Our Resurrected Savior! Andrea