Great is Your Faithfulness

 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; 
his mercies never come to an end; 
they are new every morning; 
great is your faithfulness. 
'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 
'therefore I will hope in him.'"
Lamentations 3:22-24

We had a wonderful virtual retreat weekend in our Creative Worship Facebook Group talking about God's faithfulness, and is there any better song to sing about God's faithfulness than the classic hymn by Thomas Chisholm, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness."

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! "Great is Thy faithfulness!"  "Great is Thy faithfulness!" Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided "Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord, unto me!

I've been steadily humming this song for the last several days, dwelling on God's faithfulness to me. 🧡

Page Details

This is probably one of the simplest, yet beautiful pages I've done. It's simply a gelato background and stamps. I blended two gelato colors with my finger, and stamped the flowers and title using the brand new God is Faithful stamp set from my friend Deeds. It coincided perfectly with our virtual retreat! I then used a light coral color ink to stamp the coral sprigs behind the darker black flowers to add some dimension to the page. It only took a few minutes to create and yet, I have been soaking in the scripture and meaning for the last three days. That, my friends, is what Bible Journaling is all about! 

 

I pray you dwell on God's faithfulness this week. 

Love in Christ, 

Janelle

@journalingjoy

New Morning Mercy

I am not a morning person. In fact, 5am comes awfully early for me every day. And while I live in a dichotomy of enjoying the peace and quiet before my children rise and hating the early morning hours I have come to realize one thing: the course of my day is determined by my attitude in those first few waking moments. The first thoughts that I have at 5am often take the steering wheel for the rest of my day.   

A few weeks ago I came across an Instagram story that really hit home with me. It said that instead of dreading the day ahead or feeling overwhelmed by its pressure, we should view it as a new day to show God’s love to the world around us. In fact, the person that posted that said she even “named” her alarm in the morning to “a new day to show God’s love” so that as soon as her eyes opened, she was reminded of that truth. Wow! (and, yes, I totally copied her!)

Lamentations 3:22-23 says that, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.”

Every morning we are given a new chance from the Lord. No matter what happened yesterday, his overwhelming, steadfast love for us never ends and every morning He gives us new mercy. 

Did you have a bad attitude yesterday? 
Today has new mercy. 
Did you neglect to read your Bible or spend time talking to Jesus?
Today has new mercy.
Did you struggle with your thoughts or words yesterday?
Today has new mercy. 

My son is so sweet. Sometimes at the end of a bad day, he will write a note to me saying something along the lines of, “Mom, I’m sorry for (insert situation here). I promise tomorrow will be a better day. I love you.” About two weeks ago, I wrote him back and said, “We all have bad days. But the greatest thing is, today is a new day. Today is a new chance to make it better. And, I think you’re a pretty great kid!” 

God gives us new mercy every day. Despite our failures, his love never changes. We all have bad days. But even in the midst of those, He thinks we’re pretty great kids. 

If others reject you today?
Show mercy.
If your children drive you to insanity?
Show grace.
If someone hurts you to the point of being unwilling to forgive them?
Love them and forgive them anyway.
When the world argues and fights about the truth of the Word?
Stand up for what you believe and extend the mercy, grace and love you were shown. 

The change in our world happens when the truth of the gospel is LIVED OUT among believers. From the time your eyes open in the morning decide that despite yesterday’s failures, you will accept His new mercy and show it to the world. Every day is a new day.

Crafty Details
I started this page by printing the Happy Flowers digital stamp on clear sticker paper and placing it behind the page that I wanted to paint so I could see the outline. I messily watercolored where the flowers and leaves would be and once dry, placed the sticker on top of the colors. I stamped the first few words of the phrase with Teeny Alpha and then the words “Mercy, Grace” and “Love” with Bold and Outline Alpha. I finished the page with some brackets around the scripture and washi strips on the top and bottom.

In the morning I will praise Him

Hello Friends! Today I am sharing a very fun rainbow page. This page was inspired by a beautiful piece of scripture from 

Lamentations 3:22-23.

 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." 

Reading this just makes me wanna shout for joy! Our heavenly Father's love for us never ends....no matter what, and His mercy is new every morning you open your eyes! 

I wanted to create a really bright, joyful page that screamed praise Him. I started by cutting apart my 'In the morning' stamp....it gave me a little anxiety not gonna lie but, it made my one small stamp so much more versatile. I cut apart the phrases "In the morning", "when I" and "rise". I stamped them in succession down the side of my page. Next I hand lettered the word Praise and Him. I loosely drew some musical notes and a large treble clef in pencil. Now the fun part I used rainbow colored watercolor and puddled it onto the pencil lines, grabbed my straw and blew the watercolor around to create this super fun loose texture. I used a black fine liner pen and white gel pen to make the notes pop off the page a little more. To finish off the page I used a few stickers and added a little journaling to give it a little personal touch. Now every time I open my Bible and look at this page I am reminded how good my Father is and my deep desire to praise Him.

Thank you so much for taking time to read my post. Below I have linked the stamp set I used to create my title on the side of my page. I pray this post and page reminds you of the goodness of our Father causing joy and praise to bubble up inside of your heart. 

Jennifer Powell (Creativegurl85)

http://www.sweetnsassystamps.com/creative-worship-in-the-morning-clear-stamp-single/