Blessed Nation

Hello again, friends!

 I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  I spent a good portion of Memorial Day reflecting on my freedoms and the blessings I have because I live in this great nation.  I am thankful for the sacrifices so many throughout history have made.  It's almost incomprehensible, to think of all the lives that have been lost to protect our freedom and way of life. 

Psalm 33

¹ Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
    it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
² Praise the Lord with the harp;
    make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
³ Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully, and shout for joy.

⁴ For the word of the Lord is right and true;
    he is faithful in all he does.
⁵ The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of his unfailing love.

⁶ By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
    their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
    he puts the deep into storehouses.
⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord;
    let all the people of the world revere him.
⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood firm.

¹⁰ The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
    he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
¹¹ But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
    the purposes of his heart through all generations.

¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people he chose for his inheritance.
¹³ From heaven the Lord looks down
    and sees all mankind;
¹⁴ from his dwelling place he watches
    all who live on earth—
¹⁵ he who forms the hearts of all,
    who considers everything they do.

¹⁶ No king is saved by the size of his army;
    no warrior escapes by his great strength.
¹⁷ A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
    despite all its great strength it cannot save.
¹⁸ But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
    on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
¹⁹ to deliver them from death
    and keep them alive in famine.

²⁰ We wait in hope for the Lord;
    he is our help and our shield.
²¹ In him our hearts rejoice,
    for we trust in his holy name.
²² May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
    even as we put our hope in you. 

I pray, Lord, that we never forget as a nation, where our hope comes from.  I pray we never forget the sacrifices made so that we may live as a free nation.  I pray for each and every service member, that they may seek You and know You and that they live a life in service to You, first and foremost.  Protect them, as they protect us, Lord.  I also pray for the family members of our armed forces.  I can not imagine the countless sleepless nights they endure waiting to hear from their loved ones.  Give them strength and comfort, Lord.  

Father God, thank You for the ultimate sacrifice made by your Son, that allows us a place in Heaven, if we only accept Him as our Savior!  Help us to be a nation of Christian soldiers, ready to sacrifice what ever You ask of us, for the glory of Your Kingdom.  Amen.

Page Details:

I started this page by drawing and painting the flag and flag pole, using acrylic paints.  Then I stamped the large floral cluster from Consider the Wildflowers using a light colored ink and messily colored it in with acrylic paint.  I stamped back over the image with black Stazon ink, after the paint dried.  I repeated this process with the cross from the Rustic Easter set.  I covered up my flag with pieces of paper and sprayed the sky with a light blue mister spray I made using Derwent Inktense Blocks and some water.  I added some clouds with white Distress Paint.  It was at this time, I felt like I might not have left enough room for my title and decided I would have to stamp over the top of my flag to have room.  I tried using Archival Ink to start with, but the word was getting lost in the flag.  Embossing powder to the rescue!  I used Versamark Ink with black embossing powder and the Chunky Alpha and Mini Grunge Type Alpha to complete my title.  And because I had some stray embossing, I used some black paint splatters to finish off my page. 

(Before the title)

Until next time, catch up with me on Instagram and Facebook @simplyjillsjourney.

Jill

Silent Saturday...

Hi friends,

Today is known as Holy Saturday in the Christian calendar, or as some people have named it: Silent Saturday. That is because on this day, the day between the crucifixion of Good Friday and the resurrection of Easter Sunday there is stillness and silence. The grave is silent. There is no word or sound from heaven. The Sabbath is observed by the Jewish people, who cease from work and rest.

During Jesus' trial there are times when he remains silent, recorded in Matthew 26 and Mark 14. He could have called down legions of angels, he could have shouted out the truth in his defence, but he chose to remain silent in the face of the accusations and anger, to fulfil the prophecy found in Isaiah 53:7.

Many people experience the silence of heaven, not just on Silent Saturday, but many times during their lives. This can be a very painful experience and it is easy to feel abandoned or hopeless in these times. I wonder how the disciples felt on that Saturday as they observed the Sabbath. They must have been bewildered, devastated, feeling guilty and lost. It is important to acknowledge these feelings and not to brush them aside - they are a very real part of life. But it is also important to remember that Silent Saturday is not the end of the story. On Sunday, Jesus was raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father as our glorious, reigning King and Lord. This is true whether we are experiencing silence or not. Silence is painful, and it can feel like it lasts for ever, but it doesn't, because the end of our story is always life and hope when we are in Christ.

On this page in Matthew 26 I used the lily stamp from Rustic Easter to stamp a wreath, masking off each stamped image so I could layer another one over the top so they created a continuous image. I coloured with watercolour and stamped the text using Skinny Minnie Alpha and Chunky Lowercase Alpha. Here are the sets I used:

I hope that if you are experiencing what feels like silence from heaven right now that you will take comfort from the truth of the resurrection and the hope that this brings. I also hope that if you know of people who feel like heaven is silent to them that you would be able to minister this truth to their hearts.

Be blessed...

x Amy x

We Preach Christ Crucified...

Hi friends,

'For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.' 

1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Paul is really clear about what his message is: it is to preach Christ crucified. He didn't compromise this message, he didn't water it down, take away from it or add to it. He stuck to the simple truth, despite being misunderstood and ridiculed. He knew that even though this truth was a stumbling block to some and folly to others, Christ was both the power and wisdom of God, and his crucifixion is central to the expression of God's power and wisdom.

When I reflect on this scripture it makes me wonder about how we proclaim the message of Christ. Do we water it down? Do we compromise on truth? Do we avoid speaking certain truths because we are worried about what people will think or how they will respond? It is all too easy for the message of the Gospel to be diluted or polluted, and Paul was very aware of this. He shows us how to proclaim the simple Gospel message. Let's join him in preaching Christ crucified.

This was a pretty simple page to put together with a couple of stencils and some acrylic paint. I stamped the cross from Rustic Easter onto watercolour card and coloured with watercolours then cut it out and glued it over the stencilled background. The text is a combination of Skinny Lowercase Alpha, His Name and Teeny Alpha.

May God help us to preach Christ crucified in whatever way he gives us opportunity.

Be blessed...

x Amy x