Come into His Presence

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

Psalm 95:1-2

God is omnipresent--present in reality at all times.  Every believer also has the reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit...God present in us.  So why would scripture allude to a "coming into his presence" as though we could be away from it?  

We've had an absolutely stunning fall around our home place this year.  One breathtaking scene after another appears all along the roads in the short distances we travel nearly every day.

I don't know why, but fall brings me into the presence of God in fresh ways every season.  He created me to love color, so when He displays the splendor of His artistry as these photos barely capture, I am so awed by Him.  I know God is always near me, but there are times when I "come into His presence."  These are times I feel closer, I move closer to Him in prayer or through something His Word speaks to me.   

There have been times when I've been brokenhearted and I come into His presence for an extra measure of closeness and comfort.  When I hold my grandson while he sleeps and I ponder the potential of his life, I come into God's presence.  In worship at my church, I feel God tugging at my heart to forget all those around me and just come into His presence.  His presence is sweet, secure and surges with power. 

I fall so short of being able to adequately describe the wonder and awe of coming into God's presence.  But I know when I do, He is always there, always ready to take my spirit to new heights, to deepen my faith and broaden my vision of His plan for me.  And every time, without fail, when I come into His presence I have to bow in thanksgiving.  That incredible, breath-taking moment of feeling the rush of His presence pulls gratitude from the innermost reaches of my soul.  All that He is, all He has done, all He has planned for me, all He will accomplish...all of Him makes me want to run into His presence and always....always with thanksgiving!

-----

Design Detail:  I just had to pull out my fallish and very fun printable, Sunflowers and Pumpkins for this page.  These are so perfect for the season.  Here I used a clear, matte finish sticker version of my images.  And just because I could, I layered them right on top of each other.  A few simple splashes on the page and words from one of my favorite stamp sets, Incredible Blessed and a very simple page took only minutes to do.  

 

You can check both of these out on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps store page.  

Tiny acorn to Mighty Oak

Hello! November is here! This month at Sweet N Sassy stamps there is a party going on...this month we turn 11! Giveaways, great deals and fun live events are going to be going on all month long over on our facebook and instagram accounts. Today I am sharing a page to kick off gratitude documented as well as continuing through my 100 days of Bible promises book.

This page was such a joy to create...I started with the give him glory stamp and then stamped leaves, pinecones and acorns from the incredibly blessed stamp set. I also drew in a couple large acorns as I wanted them to be more visible on the page. Using my watercolors I dropped in fall colors letting them mingle and mix on the page. The journaling came next followed by a tab party at the top of the page and some wordfetti, puffy hearts and red jute bow.

Psalm 37:3-4 "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."
Reading this made me remember a sweet story I read to my children about a tiny acorn who was very sad because he was small and overlooked. I loved this analogy of how God takes our tiny acorn lives and grows them into tall mighty oak trees that bring glory to God as they reach up to point to the creator of all.
Father, plant your seeds of desire for your purpose, your dreams and your callings. I am filled with joy when I consider the possibilities! Amen!

Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share my heart. Stay tuned and up to date with all the fun and festivities over at Sweet N Sassy stamps on Facebook and Instagram.

Love and prayers,
Jenn @creativegurl 85

Thankful For My Tribe!

Matthew 18:20

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, 

there am I among them."

As some of you may already know, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps hosted their very first retreat this past weekend in Savannah, Georgia. This was the first bible journaling retreat I have ever attended and it was nothing short of an amazing weekend! To see such a wonderful group of God fearing women come from all OVER the country, to one place to share their love of art and God together was truly awesome! For me, this retreat was not only a chance to spend lots of time in God's word, but to meet some of the women I have become friends with online for over a year face to face! This weekend was truly an example of just how good God really is.

Verse Matthew 18:20 says,"Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." God was present with us at the retreat all weekend. You could see Him through our artwork, our sweet conversations, testimonies, our worship songs each morning, and through all the wonderful fellowship! We gathered in His name and you could feel him all around us and see Him as some had tears of joy in their eyes. If you have never attended a christian or bible journaling retreat, I highly recommend it! I am already praying I will be able to attend the next one we are talking about hosting next year! You won't regret it. Each lady at the retreat left with their hearts overflowing and truly blessed! I am incredibly thankful for my tribe of ladies and to call you sisters in Christ! 

Creative Details:

This page features a few fun fall items. The background is actually one of our older stamps called Falling Leaves and it made such a fun and subtle background. I stamped a few different colors of Distress Oxides on the leaves to create a varied, natural look. The pumpkins are pieces from a super quick printable called Sunflowers and Pumpkins. See the images below for a list of all of the stamps I used on this page.

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

Sunflowers and Pumpkins Printable 

Falling Leaves

So Incredibly Blessed

Love Your Neighbor

Classy Script Alpha 

Today and Always Be Thankful

I give thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart. Psalm 138:1a

Good morning, Friends!

It's so easy for me to take things for granted! When I read this verse, it brought to mind 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks." There are so many verses in the Bible that tell us to be thankful. And we should be! In general, I'm pretty thankful for the "big" stuff. But, as I said, a lot of times, I take the "small" stuff for granted. So this verse was a great reminder for me to stop and be thankful for the little stuff too....that pumpkin spice latte, the laughter of children, the sunset, running water, a call from a friend...so many things to be thankful for. When I focus on what I'm grateful for, it's easier to be joyful and more content all around. So, that's my focus- taking time to be thankful instead of taking things for granted.

For the page, I used 2 new sets and an oldie but goodie set from Sweet n Sassy Stamps: Incredibly Blessed, Fruits of the Spirit, and Fill Me Up. (I had to get that pumpkin spice latte on the page!)

I used watercolor crayons for the background. I used the banner stamp from Incredibly Blessed to make all 3 banners. I just stamped one end, then the other, and filled in the line with a Micron pen for the longer banners.

What are you thankful for? Have a blessed week! Andrea

Bittersweet Thanks...

Hi friends,

Recently I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a quote that someone shared from a book called Bittersweet from Shauna Niequist, which said 'When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.' Wow, that really hit me in the gut! I've been challenged recently about my attitude of gratitude (or lack thereof!), and looking at the amount of Bible verses that speak of being thankful, I knew I had to journal this.

Colossians chapter 3 contains this tiny little sentence in amongst a bunch of other powerful instructions, which simply says, "And be thankful." That's it. Not caveats, like 'be thankful when life is good' or 'be thankful when you see your prayers answered' or 'be thankful when your relationships are a blessing.' Nope: just 'be thankful.' In all things, in all situations, no matter what. Anyone else find that a struggle? So when I read this quote from Bittersweet, I knew it was God's way of gently teaching me how I can give thanks in all seasons. You see, going through hard times that leave a bitter taste in our mouths can teach us lessons that the good, sweet times can't. I've been through that in the last couple of years and although there have been painful experiences, I know that I've grown in those times and that God has been able to teach me things (mainly by getting my attention in the pain!) that I hadn't learnt before.

 So whether you are tasting the sweetness of pineapple or the bitterness of lemons in your life right now, say thank you, because there is always a blessing to be acknowledged in every season and every experience.

I thought the combination of the Fruit of the Spirit and Incredibly Blessed stamp sets was perfect for this page and this message. I used the masking technique to be able to stamp the images so some appear behind others. Just stamp the first image (in this case the pineapple and first lemon), then stamp them again on a sticky note or low-tack tape/sticky paper and cut the images out. Stick these over the stamped image on the page, then stamp other images either side. When you take the mask off, the original image you stamps will appear in front of the others. Then colour to your heart's content! Here are the stamp sets I used:

I hope you've been encouraged in your thanksgiving to God. I pray that we as children of God would pour out our thanks to Him in every season of life as a testimony to His goodness and grace.

x Amy x