One of a Kind

 There is none like You, O Lord; You are great, and Your name is great in might. Jeremiah 10:6

Hello Friends!

Today I'm in Jeremiah 10; and we're going to talk about how great our God is! Jeremiah 10:6 tells us that there is no one like our God. Do you believe that? It's a question we should ask ourselves. The fact is just that. There is no one and no thing like our God. But do we live in a way that proves we believe that?

No one, nothing, should have our attention, our devotion, our worship, our hearts, except for God Himself. Daily, believers are tempted to put their trust and their allegiance in worldly things. But, friends, the Lord will continually show Himself to be superior. There is none like Him! 

Don't let the world sway you from Him. Don't let the world put Him in a box or wrap Him up like a pretty little package. Don't let the world tell you who He is. Go to the Bible and let God tell you who He is. And let me tell you, He's pretty great!

Page Details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: God is Faithful, Send Me, Faith Wordfetti Too, Let's Do This, and the Grunge Grid stencil. I applied distress oxides to the page with blender brushes for the background. I added texture to the background with the stencil and some back ground stamps. With the Faith Wordfetti Too set, I arranged a few of the phrases on a stamp block and stamped them together for the background words. I colored the earth with colored pencils. 

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Praise God!

Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I, even I, will sing to the Lord; I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song. Judges 5:3

Hi Friends!

In this portion of Judges, we find Deborah and Barak singing a song of praise to God. It was a song of victory after God brought defeat to Canaanite adversaries. 

The Bible uses different words for praise. One Hebrew word is "yadah" which means "praise, give thanks, confess." Another Hebrew word is "zamar" meaning "sing praise." This is the word used in Judges 5:3. A third word is "halal" meaning "to praise, honor, commend." It is the root of hallelujah.

The bible commands all living creatures to praise God (Ps 150:6.) God deserves all honor and praise because of who He is. Praising God is what we should do. And when we praise Him, joy follows. How can we praise Him without being joyful? We really can't. So in those hard, difficult times, think about and focus on God, on who He is, His attributes. Praise Him for who He is and joy will follow.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Wonder of Wonders, Faith Wordfetti Too, All in All, and Let's Do This. Don't you love the image of the people with their arms raised? I do! I stamped the images and colored them in with Prismacolor pencils. My pages tend to be simple. It's not about the art. It's about God. It's about His Word.

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Desert Lessons of 2020

 

Deuteronomy 8:1-5

"Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 

He humbles you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not line on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 

Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you."

Shew that was a longer excerpt than I usually share, but its all too good and too poignant to leave out any  of it. Am I right?! This CRAZY season we are in never seems to stop getting crazier! We had an earthquake here in North Carolina a couple weeks ago, and we never get earthquakes here! So, just add it to the crazy list of 2020. ✓

Through all of these crazy and stressful moments, you can't help but ask yourself "What can I be learning from this time?" Though hard times and difficult to go through, God does not walk us through those hard times for no reason. Dark times can be gifts from God if we let him teach us what he's trying to teach us. Our pastor shared 4 things that he thinks we can learn from this "desert" season we're in. And he called is a Desert season because the word desert means uninhabited. And we are definitely in some uninhabited/unprecedented times for sure!

 

The 4 Desert Lessons God May 

Want Us to Remember From 2020

1. We need to remember how God led us...

Just because we can't see where we are going in the future, doesn't mean God isn't leading us! He led Moses through the desert for forty years, and his people had to continue to trust him. 

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

2. We need to remember how God tested us...

God keeps his promises and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm. At the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, 

and so provide you with a way out.

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so you can endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

3. We need to remember how God provided for us...

"He humbles you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not line on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years." Deuteronomy 8:3-4

4. We need to remember how God disciplined us...

A parent disciplines their child not because they don't love them, but because they DO! A parents job is to shape their children into good people. And sometimes that means discipline. God does the same with each of us. 

"Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you." Deuteronomy 8:5

I hope you found some value in this sermon as I did. I love to record life moments and lessons in the pages of my bibles. It will be something I can look back on tomorrow, next year or years from now and they we be just as important and relevant as they are right now. The bibles I work in are also going to be gifts to my children when they are older. So I am filling them with not only artwork, but with the knowledge and wisdom of our creator. 

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

IG: @faith.and.creativity

Let's Do This 

Landscape Silhouettes 

Messy Stamped Alpha

Typewriter Blocks Alpha

Classy Script Alpha

Grunge Elements 2

The Spirit of True Beauty...

Hi friends,

Have you ever read a passage of Scripture, maybe a verse in particular, and really felt challenged by how you could ever live up to that instruction or ideal? I know I have... many times! One of those passages is 1 Peter 3:3-4 where Peter writes to wives of unbelieving husbands in some first century churches, 'Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is great worth in God's sight.'

The reason I have found these verses challenging is that quiet and gentle are two words that definitely do NOT describe me! I am chatty, loud and opinionated and can be stubborn and sometimes harsh in my tone towards others. God has taken me on a journey over the last couple of decades in learning how to temper these personality traits and he has chipped off and smoothed down some of the rough edges through gentle teaching and not-so-gentle experiences. But the fact remains that I am still not a quiet or gentle person. Does anyone else relate to this struggle?

When I was creating this page I started reflecting on this 'quiet and gentle spirit' and was reminded that this is a description that could be attributed to the Holy Spirit. One of the images used for the Holy Spirit is a dove, which is both gentle and quiet, and one of the fruits of the spirit is gentleness. That does not mean that the Holy Spirit is not also fire or that he does not challenge injustice or sin. But the Spirit does work in quiet and gentle ways to lead us to Christ and in his ways. That was encouraging to me because I know that the Holy Spirit dwells in me and therefore the Spirit who is gentle and quiet leads and guides me. Even though my personality is not gentle or quiet, I can rely on the Spirit in me to help me to quiet my spirit (and my mouth!) and to respond to others with gentleness.

I used the beautiful new True Beauty set on this page, stamping the roses with Sage Versamagic ink then colouring with watercolours and coloured pencils. The text is a combination of True Beauty, His Name and Bitty Minnie Alpha and I added a couple of little accent images from Let's Do This. I added a butterfly stamped and die-cut with Made New and the coordinating dies.

Let's be grateful for the quiet and gentle ministry of the Holy Spirit at work within us.

Be blessed...

x Amy x

Forgive my Hidden Faults...

Hi friends,

I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between apathy, silence and complicity lately. Often these sins go unnoticed because they are hidden and not easily seen or identified within ourselves. I'm reminded of Psalm 19:12 where the psalmist prays, "But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults" and Psalm 139:24 where the psalmist asks God to "see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."

In the times in which we find ourselves, being faced with the challenge of racial prejudice, I know it is all too easy to not see these hidden faults and offensive ways within ourselves. That's why we need to have the courage to ask God to reveal these dark corners of our hearts, and not be surprised or offended when he uses our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ to shine the light.

The willingness to open our heart to God's scrutiny requires humility and courage, because we need to acknowledge that we do not know all there is to know about ourselves, and that we may well have hidden sin that will be ugly and painful to confront. One of the ways that God reveals our hidden faults is through Scripture, whether through our personal devotional reading, or through preaching, or by listening to or reading the teaching of those who have studied Scripture and share the wisdom they have gained through books, podcasts or videos. I am grateful for how God speaks through these brothers and sisters in the faith to reveal truth about himself, as well as about me.

I used my gel plate with acrylic paints and stencils to create the background on this page. I stamped the dandelion from Blessings in Disguise over the background and stamped the text with a combination of All of Me Alpha, Let's Do This and Healer of my Heart, along with some alpha stickers. I stamped the broken heart image from Healer of my Heart and coloured with pencils. I stuck a printed Blue Morpho Butterfly in light grey onto the back so it looks partially hidden and blended into the background. Here are the sets I used:

I pray that we would all have the courage and humility to ask the Lord to search our hearts for hidden faults and to forgive us and teach us how to live our lives cleansed of these sins. Thank God that he is faithful to answer our prayer!

Be blessed...

x Amy x

Stay Afloat

Psalm 121:1-8

I lift up my eyes to the mountains---

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, 

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip ---

he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Isreal

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you ---

the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm ---

he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore. 

I recently watched a sermon from Joel Osteen. I always enjoy his sermons because they are so easy to relate to and understand. The page I journaled here is from a sermon he preached back in April of this year. In April, we were still newly entering into and trying to navigate the coronavirus shutdowns happening across the country. Stress and anxiety levels were high. We were being beaten over the head with news and questions. Conflicting information and concerns at every corner, not knowing who or what to believe. Heck, we still don't know who or what to believe, and it's now mid June! 

Joel Osteen started preaching about the current time and situation we find ourselves in. He reminded us that God is not surprised by anything! God knows everything that is going to happen to us before it even begins to happen.  We need to stay at peace because God is always in control. He has always been guarding our souls since the beginning, and he will continue to guard us even if sickness does come. 

With all of the media and information that is swirling around us on television, social media, radio.....everywhere...... it's way too easy to get overwhelmed by all the information and all the negativity. I loved the visual Joel Osteen gave in his sermon. He explained it as this:

"It's not the water around a ship that causes it to sink, but when you let what's outside in!"

If all you do is watch the news constantly, the negativity will seep in and cause you to sink. The negativity will fill in any little holes of doubt you may have. Instead, stay informed but then turn off the news. Only feed yourself with God's word and positivity. That will keep your boat afloat and your head above water! 

We need to announce to the enemy that it can't control us! Sickness or sadness may come, but it doesn't have to stay! Don't make it welcome. You don't have to accept it in your mind and make it a permanent place to stay. You have to have faith that it is only temporary. Convincing yourself that its only temporary will help you to move through it till we reach the end. The enemy means for this to harm us,  but if we keep the faith until it passes, God will bring you out stronger than ever before.

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

@faith.and.creativity

Bold & Outline Caps Alpha 

Landscape Silhouettes 

Let's Do This 

Praise God All. The. Time.

Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers! I, even I, will sing to the Lord; 

I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song." Judges 5:3

Hi Friends!

Have you been praising God in the midst of this new normal? Judges 5 is a song that Deborah and Barak sang in praise to God. It recounts what God had done for them. That's a good lesson for us. When life isn't going the way we planned, or the way we want, we need to remember what God has done for us. That will help us to not only praise Him, but to know that He is working in our current circumstances.

For me personally, this time at home has been productive. I've prayed more and been in God's Word more. I've cleaned the storage area in my basement. I've been a little bit better at the house work. (Cleaning is the LAST thing I ever want to do. LOL) I hope you're finding some positives in this time too. I know there is a lot of hardship and uncertainty. But I am fully convinced that God is working His purpose in this. And I praise Him, even when I don't understand all of what He's doing (which, let's be honest, is most of the time!)

Let's praise Him in the good. Let's praise Him in the bad. Let's praise Him in the in between.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Your Story Let's Do This, and All in All. I love all of these sets! They are just so versatile. Look at all those cute paper clips! My page is very simple! I just stamped and then used chalk pastels around the notebook paper to make the paper stand out a little. To apply the pastels, I just took a paper towel and wrapped it around my finger, dipped into the pastel and applied it to my page. I just covered the notebook paper that I wanted to stay white with a scrap piece of paper.

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Created to Glorify God | Psalm 34

"I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips."  (Ps. 34:1)

It's the end of August, and we're wrapping up the different projects and pages shared here on the blog.  We've been so pleased with the God-honoring, God-centered posts we've seen all over the Sweet n Sassy facebook pages and Instagram!

Y'all...

This was a crazy - CAAARRAZY - month on so many levels.

The entire summer has been difficult with all sorts of camps, retreats, church events, vacations, and birthdays of many!

By now, we've wrapped up the summer with our final vacation that lasted for 10 days total: 6 days travel, 4 days stay.  Whew!  I'm still recovering, and not quite up to speed, but I'm much better than I was when we pulled into our garage.  

I'll never forget that night.  

I'll never forget that feeling.

I'll never forget that surreal-ness...

And ya know what?  I'm glad.  I need to remember what happened because it's what happened that brought me to my senses regarding God's overall care and control of a situation.  

My house what not as I'd left it.  It was not as I remembered.  When we pulled in, the floor of our garage was under water, inches deep.  Through the door into our laundry room, and turning the corner into the boiler room we saw the damage.  And we saw the source.

A leak just over a mist had popped on our hot water heater.  It sprayed so peacefully into our boiler room onto the neighboring wall, saturating ultimately all that hung on it, and causing sadly mold to develop on the wall of the next room.  Oh... boy...

There are not enough words for how my countenance had fallen; not enough words to explain that feeling that encompasses tired, weak, depleted, drained, bitter, and sad all at the same time.

My enemy was after me, and I knew - I KNEW - that his battle would rage against me somethin' fierce as I worked with the hubster to settle in and deal with some 100+ gallons of water from our garage floor.

"Singing Praises" stamp set from Sweet n Sassy Stamps.  Affiliate link below.

The morning after this all happened, I awoke with unease and that sinking feeling... you probably know that feeling I'm talking about.  As I mentioned in my processvideo on my Youtube channel, God drew me to my Bible that was lying open on my dining room table.  It was like something out of a movie as I moved from room to room, dismal and drained, to find the Word of God waiting for me among the piles of things still to unpack.  Even more surreal was turning to the next passage in my Bible reading plan, and seeing Psalm 34 in a completely different and relate-able way.

"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. I soul will boast in the LORD; let the oppressed hear and rejoice! Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.  I sought the LORD and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.  Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; they shall look to Him and never be ashamed.  This poor man called out and the LORD heard him; He saved him from all of his troubles." (vv.1-6)

"In His Image" stamp set from Sweet n Sassy Stamps.  Affiliate link below.

There are far less words I can muster on just how faithful God is and was during this time.  We've not yet done full repairs to what was damaged and cannot recover what's been lost, but His hand, heavy and glorious, lifted my burden and I felt a weight transferred elsewhere.  It was unreal, supernatural and completely welcome.

David wrote of tragedy and loss, despair and attack, but usually from the posture of praise!  Usually, his position in the LORD of all Lords, and the God of all gods, reminded him often (as it should the rest of us who are in Christ) that he was protected, watched, cared for and loved.  His heart was safe, secure in the hands of God the Creator and Sovereign.

The flooding of my downstairs was bad, but it could have been worse.  PRAISE!

The damage to our house was awful, but it could have been so much more.  PRAISE!

The loss of goods and items was countable, but we are still being taken care of by a good God. PRAISE!

"Let's Do This," stamp set by Sweet n Sassy Stamps.  Affiliate link below.

Dear God, your praise will ever be on my lips, so far as it is in my power to do so!  I count on Your Holy Spirit to continually nudge and convict me of how much You have blessed, that I may praise You all the days of my life, sun up to sun down.

I love You, LORD.  

I adore You, Yahweh.

I praise You El Roi, the God who sees.  Amen.

Much love,

Deeds

Links to stamps below!

Link to "In His Image," here.

Link to "Singing Praises," here.

Link to "Let's Do This," here.