With ALL your heart...

Hi friends,

I think one of the most well-known verses in the Bible must be 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.' (Proverbs 3:5). I find that with overfamiliarity comes a risk of not hearing these verses afresh in a way that speaks our lives in the present.

When I was creating this page I was meditating on this verse and began to see it in a new way. I have always thought of this verse as an exhortation to trust in the Lord with our whole being and rely totally on him - and I do think this is a key meaning of this text. But I began to see something in the phrase 'with all your heart'...

I was struck by the complexity of the human heart. It contains desires, brokenness, sin, beliefs, experiences and in the Bible it represents the very core of a person. I began to think about what it would mean to trust God with ALL our heart - the broken parts, the sinful parts, the desires (whatever they may be), the passions - ALL of it.

I think we can know in our heads and our belief systems that God is trustworthy, and we say that we trust in him. But do we trust him with everything? I know for me, this has been tested many times, including recently. Do I trust him with the pieces of my broken heart? Do I trust him with my wayward heart's desires? Do I trust him with the sin-stained parts of my heart? If I do, then I need to give my heart to him over and over in each moment and trust that he will heal, cleanse and restore where it is desperately needed.

I used a combination of images from Mason Jar Bouquet and Made New on this page, stamping them with Versamagic Black ink and colouring with Inktense pencils and an aquabrush. The verse was stamped with the new Trust in the Lord set, which I'm loving!

I hope you'll join me in meditating on the truth of this passage and commit ALL of the parts of your heart to the Lord, because he is so very trustworthy.

Be blessed...

x Amy x

Find out what pleases the Lord...

Hi friends,

Have you ever heard those stories of women who long for their husband to bring them flowers but he doesn't realise this and instead shows his love for her by fixing things around the house? No matter how many things he fixes, if the woman thinks that flowers demonstrate love, the fixing will not equal feeling loved. There has been a lot written on 'love languages' over the years and it is really valuable in understanding how to love those around you. I do wonder though whether we ever think about God's 'love language'..?

Ephesians 5:10 urges us to 'find out what pleases the Lord.' It seems that we are not automatically programmed to know what pleases God - we need to search and find this out. God has not left us without a way of knowing though because he has given us his Word, which tells us clearly what pleases God, and what does not please him. You see, we may think that we are doing a bunch of stuff to keep God happy, but we may be neglecting the very things that he values most. Let's dig into the Word of God and find out what it is that pleases the heart of God, then let's make every effort to do those things out of our love for him.

I used the gorgeous Mason Jar Bouquet set on this page, colouring the image with Inktense pencils and blending the colours with an aquabrush. The lettering is a combination of Happy Alpha, Bitty Minnie Alpha and Women of Praise. The butterflies are from Majestic Monarchs which has sadly sold out, but there is a new butterfly set coming in February so watch this space!

Friends, let's find out what pleases the Lord - he is so worthy of our time, attention and devotion!

Be blessed...

x Amy x