Christ is Risen!

Happy Easter!

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, 

for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 

He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. 

Come, see the place where he lay.  

Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, 

and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; 

there you will see him. See, I have told you."

Matthew 28:5-7 

Most who read this post know the Easter story well.  Today we observe Good Friday when Jesus was crucified and buried.  And we know the story didn't end there.  A lot can happen in 3 days, right?  The resurrection changed human history forever.  The verse I've illustrated certainly references all the essential elements of the Christian faith regarding Easter, but I want to focus on two tiny little nuggets in the passage.

"as he said."

"I have told you."

Every minute detail of the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus fulfilled prophecy.  It happened exactly as God planned.  Jesus knew the plan.  He knew the plan when He shaped the earth, when He flung stars and galaxies into the universe.  He knew you before you were born.  And He already loved you enough to die for you.  He inspired the book of Isaiah and knew when He entered Jerusalem He would fulfill the prophecies of its pages.  He knew every torment He would experience.  He loved you enough--before you were even born, before generations before you were born--to go through the agonies of the cross.  He was willing because He knew the end..  He knew the end would just be the beginning.  

 

 

Everything happened exactly

as he said... 

 

And He's written it all down so you would know

he has told you.

When we celebrate Easter, we not only rejoice in what our Savior did to effect our salvation, we affirm that Jesus was the One prophesied; that what happened to Him happened with intention so the prophecies would be fulfilled to the tiniest detail.  When we understand that all happened exactly as He said it would, we can rest assured that the entire Bible is true and it will happen just as he has told you.  

Art Details:

This was a really simple page to complete.  I splashed on two tones of green to create a partial background.  The flowers were stamped on cardstock, watercolored then fussy cut and adhered to the page.  The words are stamped.  

 Birds and Blooms

His Name

 

 Lynzee Script

 Thank you for joining we as we celebrate our risen Savior!

Teaching me to pray...

Hi friends,

Can I be honest? I find prayer difficult at times - too many times. I know I need to pray, and goodness knows there are so many needs to bring before the Lord, but when it comes down to it, sometimes I go blank... I struggle for the right words... my concentration can wane. Can anyone else identify? This is why I am SO grateful for the teaching of God's Word on prayer. Not only is there so much rich teaching on prayer, there are also amazing examples of prayers that we can pray. When I received the sweet Stop, Drop & Pray single stamp, I looked up the word prayer in my bible and made a list of references that give examples or teaching on prayer - such an amazing study to do!

I'm sharing three pages with you that I created recently as part of my study on prayer, each using the Stop, Drop & Pray stamp. This first one is on one of my favourite verses...

James 1:5 - If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.

What an awesome prayer to pray and promise to claim. Whenever I am lacking in wisdom (which is rather frequently) I can ask God and he promises to give me generous amounts!

This next page is a verse I came across that I hadn't paid much attention to before, but contains an amazing example of prayer...

Colossians 4:12 - Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

I looked this verse up in a few translations and liked the way the Message translated it. What a great prayer to pray for ourselves and others!

This last page focuses on Matthew 9:38 when Jesus tells his disciples to "pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborors into his harvest." The thing to remember when praying this one is that the Lord of the harvest may send us - and we need to be ready to say 'yes'...

I hope you've been encouraged to dig into the Bible and allow God's Word to teach you when it comes to how and what to pray. I know I have already grown through this study and look forward to creating and sharing further pages from my study on prayer.

Here are some of the sets I used for these pages:

      

Be blessed,
x Amy x

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

Jesus is the Branch

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:1-3a

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas! This is the time of year that we celebrate Christ's birth. And that takes me to a prophecy in Isaiah 11 foretelling Jesus' coming. It may sound strange to us to call Jesus a Shoot or a Branch. But I love this illustration of Jesus!
Jesse was David's father. And only when the house of David was decimated and humbled to almost nothing, like a dead stump of a once mighty tree, only then would the Messiah come bringing new life to that dead stump like a shoot or branch.

And then comes a beautiful description of Jesus- full of the Spirit in wisdom and understanding, in counsel and might, in knowledge and fear of the Lord. What a mighty King we have! Jesus brings new life to us if only we accept Him as our Savior. So, come let us adore Him. Not only during this Christmas season, but each and every day. Our beautiful Savior is worthy of our praise. Glory to Him!

For this page, I used the following Sweet n Sassy Stamps sets: Scene Silhouettes: Trees, Lynzee Script, Mini Grunge Type Alpha, and Seek Him. Scene Silhouettes: Trees is a newly released set. So many possibilities with this set! And there are some other newly and soon to be released sets that coordinate beautifully with this set. The alpha sets are also a great way to get a beautiful hand-lettered look. I highlighted some of the letters with a white Sharpie pen. And, the background was done with chalk pastels. 

 

May your days be filled with the light and life of Christ our Savior. O come let us adore Him! Andrea

Restoration

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—My great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will My people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will My people be shamed." Joel 2:25-27

Dear Friends,

Joel speaks of a locust invasion which destroyed Israel's crops. It would take years to overcome this. Joel used the locust invasion to illustrate God's judgment. The verses above were God's answer to Israel. He would restore them. When His people repent, He restores them and blesses them in a way that more than compensates the lost years. And the restoration wasn't only to be physical, but also spiritual as they would praise God. God also speaks of His people never again being ashamed. This has yet to happen. Ultimately, He will totally restore Israel.

The good news is that we as believers in Christ can also trust that God will restore us too. This promise was specifically made to Israel. And yet, God will restore our empty years- the years the locusts have eaten, the years the enemy has stolen. In Christ, and because of Christ, we are fully restored. Thank You, Jesus! 

For this page, I used the following Sweet n Sassy Stamps sets: Skinny Caps Alpha, Lynzee Script Alpha, and Scribble Flowers. I painted the background with acrylic paint. I used bubble wrap to sponge on the pink and green paint. I used a white Sharpie to highlight "restore".

Be restored in Him, my friends. Blessings, Andrea

Thankful Grateful Blessed

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

I really love fall, sweaters, and boots... the beauty of the scenery changing, the season of thankfulness that begins.... I know we should be thankful every day but I love the idea of devoting a whole month just to reflecting all the reasons we have to be thankful! Everything we have to be thankful for is a gift from God, to him be the glory!

I used 2 stamp sets from Sweet N Sassy to create this page. Lynzee's Script and Falling Leaves.

I started by stamping the leaves on the background with yellow orange and red pigment ink. I applied yellow to the entire stamps then added the red right on top in spots to get it to almost fade in. 

Once I had the background done I used the Lynzee script to stamp "Thankful Grateful Blessed"

I added the date stamp and some fall washi to complete the page.

Hope y'all enjoyed my page, for more inspiration you can follow me on Instagram @my.creative.worship and Sweet N Sassy @sweetnsassystamps 

Make sure to hashtag us #sweetnsassystamps on FB and IG so we can see how you 've been inspired & inspire us! 

Until next time! God Bless!♥Maria

Stamps Used:

He is Faithful...

Hi friends,

This month I started on an exciting and daunting journey of going back to College (many years after I finished my first degree!) to study Theology, a dream I have had in my heart for a number of years. At our welcome service, the Principal preached on 1 Thessalonians 5:24 - "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."

This is encouraging in so many ways! One of the things I learnt about this verse is that the word 'calls' is in the present continuous tense in the Greek, which means that God doesn't just call us once, he continues to call us throughout our lives - wow! And it is the one who calls us who will do the work in and through us. We don't need to fret and worry and strive to sort out our lives or families or calling - that's God's job! And he is FAITHFUL. Is anyone else encouraged by this awesome truth? So as I embark on this new chapter of my life that involves learning a bunch of new skills and knowledge while trying to discern my next steps, I can know that it is God who will work all these things out in my life for my good and for his glory. And whatever you are going through, remember that God is the one who is doing the working - and he is faithful to complete it!

I thought the topiary tree from the new Christmas Topiaries set would be perfect for this verse as I thought about how God crafting our lives carefully to produce fruit and beauty is much like the process of cultivating a topiary tree (and remember - it's not the tree that does the work of cultivation!). I created the verse using alphabet stamps and smaller word stamps from a variety of sets: Lynzee Script Alpha, Mini Grunge Type Alpha, Good Shepherd and God is Good. 

Here are some of the main supplies I used on this page:

Have a blessed day and week ahead!

x Amy x

Take Heart: Jesus Has Overcome!

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. 

In this world you will have trouble. 

But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

(Jesus) John 16:33

The chapters leading up to this verse and Chapter 17 which follows it are some of the most tender and poignant passages of Jesus's words and actions.  In this verse, John 16:33, Jesus is speaking to his disciples--those he walked with on the earth and all who will follow him later.  The whole verse is powerful enough, but the last portion is like dynamite.  "Take heart! I have overcome the world." There is so much comfort and hope here but it's also power-packed with doctrine.  

I will be publishing a video devotional about this verse/page on our Creative Worship Facebook page later today or tomorrow.  So I will go through more of a study of the meaning of the verse in that presentation.  Here I just want to glory in the beauty of the verse and the amazing hope we can take from it.  Just as Christ walked with his disciples then and tried to calm their fears of the future, Christ walks beside us to give us his courage, his peace, his strength.  Christ's work on the cross makes believers certain victors.  We can cast all our cares on him, because he has overcome...he is the captain who has won the battle.  In the video I'll discuss more about what it means to "take heart" and some of the greater implications of Christ as overcomer in our lives.  I hope you'll join me for that. 

Because Christ overcame sin and death, we can be overcomers too.  Our victory now is as certain as his was then, because his victory lies within us.  

I took the idea for this whimsical heart from several inspirations in one of my favorite Bible Journaling guides.  Some of the Sweet 'n Sassy / Creative Worship design team members and stamp designers are featured in the book.  It has some amazing resources for you.  I gave a walk-through tour of the book in Bible Journaling for Beginners--Video #4: Supplies (Part 1).  It offers so much practical help, I consider it a necessary supply!  I highly recommend it.

Finally, here are the sets used for my page.  I can't tell you how much I use the alpha sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.  Because I'm hand-lettering challenged, these provide the perfect work-around for me.  There are so many.  Just browse the store for the ones that will work for you.  You'll probably want them all like I did!  

 

Lynzee Script Alpha            Mini Grunge Type Alpha

 Thanks for peeking in today!  Remember to visit our Creative Worship Facebook page.

 

Take Heart

John 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Happy Weekend Friends!! So I had so much fun pulling out these Creative Worship stamps designed by Rebecca Rios! The possibilities are endless!!!

So when I was creating this page I made sure to take step by steps so y'all could see just how I made this page. I first started out by prepping my page with Dina Wakely Clear gesso, and actually did 2 layers because I had another page on the back I didn't want the stamping to bleed through to. I then figured out which stamps I wanted to use on the page and laid out where I wanted to stamp. I first stamped "take heart I have overcome" using Ranger jet black Archival Ink and "Rebecca Script Alpha" also designed by Rebecca Rios. I stamped the world from the new "Send Me" set as my "o", then added the rest of the word "world" using "Lynzee Script" which is another favorite ♥ I last but not least marked the verse with the arrow from the Send Me set.

I then began to watercolor using Jane Davenport watercolors in the brights palette. I did this just using alot of layers until i finally reached the look I was going for. Although this didn't turn out exactly how I pictured, it's OK. I even just read an article yesterday someone had posted about how there is not room for perfection in Bible Journaling =)

Since the main part was done I started working on my little finishing touches. I highlighted the verse and painted in the arrow and I thought since this was kind of a "galaxy" page I needed to add some splatters. So I used the darkest blue color in the palette. 

I then added white splatters using dylusions ink spray

I added different color splatters to the verse page, and added the dotted line stamp from the send me stamp set.

I took my white uniball signo pen and added "stars" to the galaxy page and used my mega date stamp to the bottom of the scripture page. Last but not least i added two heart stamps from the send me set next to the date ♥ because they were so cute and I wanted to use them SO bad! LOL

So I Really hope this was helpful getting to see a page from start to finish. I can't wait to see how many other ways I can use this amazing new creative worship set. Be sure to check out the sweet n sassy stamp Instagram feed @sweetnsassystamps for a ton of inspiration ideas. Seriously these ladies blow me away with their talent and creativity! Below I have pictured all my supplies I used. 

 So that's it for today! Hope y'all enjoyed my page, be sure to follow me on Instagram @my.creative.worship and Sweet N Sassy @sweetnsassystamps for more inspiration.

Make sure to hashtag us #sweetnsassystamps on FB and IG so we can see how you 've been inspired & inspire us! 

Be sure to check out the Creative Worship facebook group as well! 
Until next time!

xo
Maria
♥