Praise God

Praise the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre, praise Him with timbrel and dancing, praise Him with strings and pipe, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Psalm 150:1-6

Hi Friends!

What is our purpose? We often ask ourselves that. Why am I here? What am I supposed to be doing? Friends, our purpose is simple. Our purpose is to praise God and glorify Him. No matter what we are doing, what circumstances we may be experiencing, no matter how we feel...our purpose doesn't change. We are to PRAISE HIM. We are to GLORIFY HIM. 

So, I ask myself. Am I fulfilling my purpose? Do I praise Him daily and throughout the day? In those moments where something doesn't go the way I want, am I praising Him anyway? Not always, probably not most of the time, if I'm being honest. Do I glorify Him daily? Do I work in a way that glorifies Him? Does what I do in my free time glorify Him? Dear ones, I'm not pointing fingers. I think we can all agree each of us, especially me!, has room for improvement. And we have an awesome God who meets us where we are. So, let's praise Him. Let's glorify Him. He definitely deserves it!

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: All of Me Alpha, Send Me, Note This, and Grunge Dots Stencil. I applied distress oxides with blender brushes, stamped, and then used the stencil. Easy, peasy! :)

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Jesus Sang

 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Mark 14:26

Hi Friends!

Resurrection Sunday was a week ago, but something stood out to me as I was reading about Jesus' last night; and I just this weekend had time to journal it. The night before He went to the cross, Jesus sang. Knowing full well what was to come, He sang. And it wasn't a sad song that Jesus sang. He and His disciples were celebrating Passover. During Passover, Psalms 113-118 were generally sung. They are noted for joy and thanksgiving and are called the Hallel psalms. Since it was at the end of their meal, the hymn referred to in verse 26 was most likely Psalm 118. Guess how it starts:

1- Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Jesus knew what was about to happen to Him. He knew He would be betrayed by Judas. He knew Peter would deny knowing Him. He knew all His disciples would scatter. He knew He would have to go through illegal trials and that He would be mocked and beaten horribly. Jesus knew He would hang on a cross in agonizing pain. He knew, and yet He still gave thanksgiving to the Father.

Verses 5-7 of Psalm 118 speak to hard times:

5- When hard pressed, I cried to the LORD; He brought me into a spacious place.

6- The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

7- The LORD is with me; He is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies.

What must Jesus have been thinking when He sang these verses? There are no harder times than what He was about to endure. He was on His way to the Mount of Olives where He would cry out to the Father, pleading with Him if there were any other way. But of course, there was not another way. And Jesus was obedient. The Father was with Him, as always, except that when Jesus hung on the cross bearing our sins, then He experienced separation from the Father. How unbearable that must have been for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father! I can't imagine. Mere mortals mocked Him, beat and abused Him, crucified Him. But they weren't in control. No, not at any point were they in control. Jesus controlled it all. And He triumphed over the enemy.

We should be familiar with Psalm 118:22-24:

22- The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;

23- The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24- The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

Let us rejoice TODAY and be glad. That day, the day before His death, Jesus was able to rejoice and be glad. And He, of course, is the Cornerstone. He knew He would be rejected and killed, but this was the day the Lord had made. This day- there would be no other like it. Jesus sang as if that day would be a good day, not an awful one. It was THE DAY. Jesus willingly went to the cross that day for each of us. We can rejoice in that day because of what He did for us.

Psalm 118 ends with these final verses:

28- You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, and I will exalt You.

29- Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Jesus sang praise and thanksgiving to the Father. He was about to endure savage cruelty that was completely undeserved, not that cruelty is ever deserved, but He was utterly innocent. And yet, as He and the disciples sang, they pronounced that God the Father was in complete control. Jesus knew. And He praised. And He thanked. And He rejoiced. What an amazing Savior we have.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Grunge Elements 3, Brotherly Love, Note This, Playful Alpha, and the Make Music stencil. I applied distress oxides to the page with sponge daubers for the background. And colored in "Jesus" with Prismacolor pencils. Before stamping, I spritzed the page with water so the distress oxides would react with the water.

Have a blessed week. Read Psalm 118 and praise our Lord! Andrea

Pillar of the Truth

If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, 

which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 

1 Timothy 3:15

Hi Friends!
Today we're focusing on 1 Timothy 3:15. In chapter 3, Paul has been speaking on how members of the church should conduct themselves since they (we) are "a pillar and buttress of the truth." So what does that mean? Pillars and buttresses are structures that provide support to buildings. So, we as the church are to support God's truth. We are to uphold His truth and stand firm in it in this world of relativity. For us to do this, it is important that we conduct ourselves in a Christ-like way. We share His truth not only by sharing God's Word, but also by the way we live. As believers, it's so important that we are not swayed by the currents of this world. His truth is the ONLY truth; and we must stand firm in it.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: My Father's House, Consider the Wildflowers, Be a Flamingo, Mighty Fortress, Your Story, Joint Heirs, and Note This.

My Father's House and Consider the Wildflowers are brand new, and they are wonderful sets! My Father's House resonates with me because I'm missing my church family. But, it also reminds me that "church" isn't a building. It's us. And I just love Consider the Wildflowers. It's pretty colored. It's pretty black & white. I used watercolor crayons to color the page.

 Stand firm, my friends, and have a blessed week! Andrea

Gracious & Merciful...& Just

The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, "Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected- even children in the third and forth generations." Exodus 34:6-7

Hi Friends!

Did you ever doodle in your notebook in high school? I did, all the time. Today, I'm sharing some "doodles" about God. He is so awesome that sometimes it makes Him hard to understand because He says and does things that may not seem "right" to you and me with our human perception. His ways are certainly not our ways. And that's a very good thing! Let's dive into Exodus 34:6-7.

Exodus 34:6, "The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, 'Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy!' Yep, He sure is- compassionate and merciful! Thank You, Lord!

'I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.' That's great, I'm with ya- slow to anger, check; loving and faithful, check, check.

Exodus 34:7, 'I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.' Yes, You are so generous! Thank you, Jesus!!

'But I do not excuse the guilty.' Yeah, I get it. He's just and righteous and can't ignore sin.

'I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected- even children in the third and forth generations.' Wait...what??!!

It's easy to only think of our God in terms of love and faithfulness, of compassion and mercy, of forgiveness and redemption. And He is ALL of those things. But, He's also righteous and just and holy. And that's where the last part of verse 7 comes into play. And it's hard for us to hear.

But, I'll give you the good news first. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are no longer part of "the guilty." Through Jesus, you have been forgiven and redeemed. The end. Nothing you can do can take you out of His hand. So who are the guilty? Anyone who doesn't accept Jesus as their Savior. He is holy. He can't ignore sin. So, the guilty will be punished.

What did God mean by "I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected- even children in the third and forth generations." There is generational sin. It began with Adam and Eve. We all inherited a sinful nature through them. And if we look at our families, we can probably see sins were passed from generation to generation through genes or sinful habits and environments. Each person, though, is responsible for their own sins as we each have free will. Just because our parents or grandparents sinned in a particular way doesn't mean we have to make the same choice. When God said this to Moses, of course, Jesus had not come yet. If the people were unrepentant, their familial sins grew and grew throughout the generations. That can still happen to the unrepentant today. But you can break that just by accepting Jesus. Just say, "YES!" to Him.

He does love us. He forgives us. He is gracious and merciful, and yes, He is just. In Jesus, we are safe from His wrath. Thank You, Jesus!!

Page details: I used the brand new Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets called Set Apart and Walk by Faith. I also used an oldie, but goodie set called Note This for this doodling inspired page. As soon as I saw Set Apart, I was reminded of my high school notebooks. So, I used colored pencils and a ruler to turn my Bible page into a notebook paper page. The lines are a little hard to see in the photo, but I hope you can make them out. Then I stamped the words first, and then randomly stamped the doodles. I stuck with black ink because I wanted it to look like it was done in pencil or pen. I had so much fun doing this page!

We have an awesome, incomprehensible, good God. Praise Him!
Have a blessed week! Andrea

I am Loved

‘so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’ (Eph. 3:17-19)

I’m loved beyond measure. It’s still something that I struggle with. I know it’s true but for some reason this knowledge takes a long time to settle down in my heart. There are a lot of days that I don’t feel worthy of Gods love, but I may know that not my actions determine the love of God but that He loves me no matter what. That He will always welcome me into His loving arms, just like the prodigal son. This stamp set helped me to get back on the journey to find Gods love in the bible.


I prepared my bible page with clear gesso (the pages in my Dutch bible are very thin). The other side of the page left some bleeding on this page so I had to find a way to cover that up. I used my acrylic paints to make a background. I would be able to cover most of the bleeding with the paint (or incorporate it into this page) but I decided to add a piece of paper on the left side of my margin. Just to be sure that nothing would show through. I stamped the tag and some words onto white paper and cut them out. The name tag and everything on it is from the set ‘Hello My Name Is’, the words Amen and the heart are from ‘Note This'. I missed something in the background of my page so I decided to stamp a couple of leaves from the ‘Whimsy Bouquet’ stamp set with black ink. When my background was finished I adhered the stamped pieces into my bible and that’s it.

Have a blessed day!

- Lucinde

Songs in the Night

Hello Bible Journaling friends!   I think we can all agree that Job knew what it was like to walk through times of darkness;  however, at one time or another, we all walk through difficult times...depression, sickness, bills due, loss of a loved one, or even a crisis of faith, but I am reminded as we enter into the Christmas season of the shepherds who were out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  Angels showed up in the darkness of night to announce the most amazing good news..."For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord," and then...the song came as the angels started to praise God!
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

"Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
But none says, 'Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?"
(Job 36:9-11) ESV

My page was prepped with Dina Wakley Clear Gesso.   Distress inks were sponged on the upper corner to make the night sky.  A spritz of Perfect Pearls, splatters of white acrylic paint, and Texture Paste spread through a stencil were used to create the stars.  The message, created using several stamp sets from the Creative Worship line of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, was white embossed so it would pop off the night sky.  Copic Markers were used to color the bird which was fussy cut and glued to the page.  (I Googled "song bird" images and found one with this coloring which worked perfectly for my page.). My notes were hand written.

You may be walking through a dark time right now.  Do not fear!  Do not lose hope!
Paul and Silas had their chains broken in the darkness of night.
God shows up in the night with a song.
He does mighty works in the darkness of the night!

These stamp sets from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Store were used to create this page in Job:

Thank you so much for stopping by today.
Let us not forget the reason for the season as we begin to prepare for Christmas!
Have a wonderful week!
Hugs,
Cathy

He's Got A Plan

{jane bosi} Happy Day, Sweet Friends!!

Today, I'm revisiting a journaling page I shared a while back.  You see, I had a plan.  Artistically, I've been struggling--work stress, life stress, change--normally would drive me to the Studio for some art therapy.  My son left for college for the first time in early September.  It.  Is.  Hard.  My remedy has been to stay busy, family outings, lots of together time.  I had planned and saved last weekend as an art weekend...a time to finally, get back in the Studio.

And, then, my son surprised me and came home!  I was in the Studio.  Working my plan.  I thought I heard his voice and quickly scolded myself as ridiculous.  Then, my youngest shouted out "Ben's home!!"  Best derailment of plans of ever!

Early Sunday morning, I rose and thought to quickly create something new to share today.  I started to panic, trying to force something.  I wanted to get something done before my kiddos got up so we could spend the day together before having to take Ben back to school.  No ideas.  I started paging through my bible and reading passages. And, realized, I could just stop.  I could just share something I'd already done.  Y'all would understand. 

I landed on Jeremiah 29:11

The prayer of this passage has been a pleading, a clinging to promise not just about my own life, but for the life of my recently launched child.  Will you join me in praying that my son will follow?  I know his God pursues him....with plans for welfare and not evil, to give him a future and a hope.

My little life snippet is such a good reminder of the way in which God is always working for our betterment.  Regardless of the plans we have for ourselves.  His plans are greater; His plans are higher.  I had to lay down the plans I had made.  I cannot begin to tell you of the ways in which my unplanned (by me) weekend with my son has been a blessing.

I created this page with many goodies from the stamp store:  Faith Quote Blocks, My Creator and Note This. 

Thank you, in advance, for your prayers.  In Him,
Jane

Why I Sing for Joy!

"...my mouth will praise you with joyful lips

when I remember you upon my bed, 

and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 

for you have been my help,

and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.  

My soul clings to you; 

your right hand upholds me."

Psalm 63:5-8

Think back to something God has done...something that would not have happened had it not been for his intervention, guidance, presence or power.  We can name many instances, can we not?  Psalm 63 is one of my favorite, and there are actually several portions of it that could be highlighted.  It is so rich! But I've chosen these verses for the joy they bring as I meditate upon them remembering God's goodness and many, many mercies toward me.  

What a wonderful place to abide...in the shadow of God's wings...under his protective and watchful eye, close to his heart.  That alone is great reason to be joyful.  As believers we are blessed with this close position to God through his grace alone.  He has invited us to be in relationship and the benefits of that relationship are like no other.  No doubt we can recount story after story of when he was our help.  Once we trust in God's son, Jesus, we desire a close, abiding relationship...we literally CLING to Jesus.  

During many nights I could feel his right hand holding me close, holding me tightly, reassuring...steady...strong.  Who wouldn't cling to that, right?  God often wakes me in the "watches of the night" to pray for someone, to commune with him, to search his Word for wisdom and help.  I feel especially close to him at night.  I know he watches over me, protects me, and prepares the day in front of me so I will see him working on my behalf. 

One of the many reasons I sing for joy, is that I know my God defends me, fights for me.  I know there have been numerous times the enemy would creep into my night seeking to frighten, discourage, and bring despair.  But God fought for me.  There have been times in my life when people...people whose hearts were bent toward evil and destruction came against me.  I LOVE the passage in Psalm 64 on the facing page.  Here David describes enemies coming against him, setting traps of ambush, shooting arrows with bitter lies and destructive words.  I've known people like this.  Being in full-time ministry places you in enemy territory many times.  People will gnash their teeth against those proclaiming the gospel and reaching the lost for Christ.  My husband, a pastor, and I have experienced warfare many times.  But God has come to our defense in every single instance.  We see him dealing with those who come against us.  We don't have to do a thing but trust in him.  What a cause for joy!  

I pray that you find shelter under the wing of the Most High God, that you find many reasons to remember and celebrate with joy the times he has come to your aid, upheld you with his right hand.  Knowing he has been there for us, faithfully providing and protecting, gives us full assurance he will ALWAYS be there for us.  And that indeed is a reason to sing for joy!

Sets Used: 

His Wings

       

                                          His Name                                     Note This

Happy Places

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more."
Isaiah 65: 17-19



Hey friends! Do you have a "happy place"? Maybe a nail salon, massage parlor, mall, CRAFT STORE, church... maybe even your pantry with the door closed behind you eating a snack cake and NOT having to share...#momprobs. Hopefully we all have a happy place to get away from the non happy things in our life and bring a little light to our lives. Our FOREVER happy place though is coming soon! Some day we will wake up everyday in our happy place and rejoice with our Lord! How refreshing it is to know that! Keep pushing on and hiding in your pantries folks... one day we'll be there and there will be no worries or sadness!

 

For this page I tried a new technique I've been seeing! I used the plastic packaging to one of my letter sticker sheets and put watered down water colors on it and then smooshed it down on the page. Here's a little snapshot of what it looked like while I was doing it! (Not the best picture but I did it at night time in my little "area" I've created in my living room.)

 

 

I enjoyed making this page and used ALL Sweet N' Sassy Stamps!
The stamp sets I used are listed below! Remember Korin still has all the stamps 25% off right now to lighten the load a little bit for her move to Georgia!

Remember to use #sweetnsassystamps on Facebook and Instagram so we can see what you're up to!



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<3 Brittany
@britcarleton
Personal Blog: Journaling Through Motherhood