I'm Coming, Lord!

 O You who hear prayer, to You shall all flesh come. Psalm 65:2

Dear Friends,

Wow, what a year this has been, right? So many uncertainties and upheavals have occurred. But, in my life at least, there have been many blessings too- more time with family, rest from work, more time of prayer and Bible study. We live in a world where many do not know our great God. But, one day, as Psalm 65:2 tells us, ALL flesh will come to Him. To those of us who know Him, this verse also reminds us that He hears our prayers. Whatever may be on your mind, friend, tell Him! Come to Him. Rest in Him. Make time in your day for Him. It will change your life!

When I read this verse, I thought, "I'm coming, Lord, I'm coming!" And the good news is is that He is waiting for each of us with open arms.

Page Details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Welcome Home, Vintage Van, All of Me Alpha, Shake It Off Alpha, Texture Tiles 4, Fill Me Up, and Gear Up. I spritzed my page with water first and then applied acrylic paint. As needed, I spritzed more water to blend the colors a little. I stamped the words and scene directly on the page. I want them completely black. So, after stamping, I went over the images with a black marker. I stamped the van on sticker paper so it would stand out. I colored it with alcohol markers.

I hope you have a blessed week! Andrea

Grace, More Than Abundant

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:12-14

Hi Friends!
Grace, what an amazing gift it is. Grace can be defined as God's love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. (Packer, J.I. Knowing God) This is exactly what Paul was talking about in these verses. Before Paul had his encounter with Jesus, when he was known as Saul, he did everything in his strength to oppose Jesus. He was highly educated and a self-righteous member of the Pharisees. Saul was so zealous for God that he persecuted the church. 

And then he met Jesus. And Jesus changed his life. Jesus showered him with grace that was more than abundant to bring him to salvation. It didn't matter what Saul had done. What mattered was what His Savior had done. Jesus loved him, met him where he was, forgave him, and covered him with His grace and righteousness. And Paul was never the same. So I stamped a quote on the page from Anne Lamott, "Grace meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us." So true for Paul. So true for us. Yes, the good news is...Jesus does the same for us that He did for Paul. Yes, you and me!

Sweet friend, it matters not what you have done. Jesus loves you. He pursues you. He wants to cover you with His grace and righteousness. Not because you deserve it (nor do I), but because of who He is. Turn to Him. Repent, and ask His forgiveness. Put your faith and love in Him, and you will be covered in His grace which is more than abundant. More than abundant, rest in that sweet truth.

Page Details:
This simple page was stamped with the followings sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps: Grace So Amazing and Shake It Off Caps. I used pigment ink pads as they tend not to bleed through Bible pages.

Jesus' grace is there for you. Take it. Have a blessed week. Andrea

Like A Tree

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. "For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8

Hello Friends!
Wow, these verses say so much. Ever gone through rough times? Life is full of them. and the key to get through them, according to these verses, is to trust in God. If we trust in God, these verses say, we will be like a tree with a good source of water. Not only will we be nourished, even when the heat comes, even when the drought comes, our leaves will be green and we will bear fruit, and we will not be anxious. Oh, these verses are like a balm to my soul. Even in our toughest times, God is nourishing our souls if we are trusting in Him. He is the Living Water, after all! And through His nourishment, we have no reason to fear or be anxious even in the midst of circumstances we don't understand. Instead, we can grow and bear fruit.

Have you ever looked a the rings of a cut tree? The ring tells the story of the tree's life. In general, each ring is a year in the life of a tree, the thicker the ring, the better the year- lots of growing. I think tree rings are a great metaphor for us, but in reverse. If our souls had rings, I think the thickest, the ones that make us strongest and show the most growth, would not be for the "good years", but instead would be the times of our toughest circumstances when we had to trust and rely on God.

Our God is good. All. The. Time. We can trust Him. No. Matter. What. If you are in the midst of difficult circumstances, dear friends, hold on to Him. Trust in Him. Be nourished by Him. And BLOOM.

For the page, I used the Following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Wood Backgrounds, Shake It Off Caps, and Rebecca Script. Wood Backgrounds is part of the December release and I love it!! It's the December Stamp of the Month and FREE with a $75 purchase during December.

 Have a blessed week! Andrea

God's Voice

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes deer give birth and strips the forest bare, and in His temple all cry, "Glory!" The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as King forever. May the Lord give strength to His people! May the Lord bless His people with peace! Psalm 29:1-11 (emphasis mine)

Dear Friends,

As I write, Hurricane Michael is pummeling the southeast coast. I'm praying for all those affected.

Psalm 29 is a poetic hymn about a storm, and how God is present in the storm. Storms can be scary and destructive. But God is there in the middle of storms to sustain and help us. The world was created just by Him speaking it into existence. There is such power in His voice. And, of course, one of Jesus' names is the Word of God. Jesus IS the Word of God. This psalm begins with a call to praise. It then describes God's power over nature and people. It ends with a prayer of strength and peace to be given to His people. I think this psalm is beautiful. And God's power just resonates throughout it. He is more powerful than any storm. And He will work His purpose through any storm's destruction. We live in a fallen world. But our God is supreme; and He is good.

For the page, I used a new Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set called Thrill of Hope. This set was just perfect to make a landscape that represents the trees, water and deer spoken of in the psalm. I also used three alpha sets: Shake It Off Caps, Shake It Off Lowercase, and Bitty Minnie Alpha. The background and images were done with distress inks. You can get these inks on the SNSS website as well as the sponge daubers I used to apply the background ink! I used a white pen to detail the letters.

May you experience God's strength and peace, my friends. Andrea

Change is Good

Happy Fall, ya'll!  What I miss most living in Florida is the lack of seasons.  Here it is October, and we are still in the 90 degrees during the day, and the 80s at night.  We simply do not have much change in the seasons.  I miss the snap in the air warning of the coming cold weather.  I especially love the colors of autumn, when the trees seem to be on fire with reds, oranges and yellows.  

Deuteronomy 1:6 tells of when God said to Moses and the Israelites, who had been camped out in the mountainous region of Horeb for about a year.  "The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount."  God tells them that its time to change their current situation in favor of what He has planned for them, namely possession of the Promised Land.  Had they chosen to stay where they were comfortable and resisted that change, they would not have received that blessing!  

I too often resist change.  It's uncomfortable, tiresome, unpredictable.  But God has a better plan in mind for me.  I just need to trust Him to lead me and protect me.  He's faithful.  His faithfulness is constant, even when He calls me to a change in my situation, job, relationship, etc. Change, when He is leading us to--and through--change, is good!

For this simple page, which has all the fall feels, I used the trees from the new Thrill of Hope stamp set.  I inked the top half of the image with Fossilized Amber Distress Oxides, the bottom half with Barn Door, and the tree trunks and ground with Ground Espresso.  I blended the colors, still on the stamp, with a sponge before I stamped the image.  Next, I stamped the letters C-H-A-N-G-E with the Fossilized Amber,  Barn Door, and Spiced Marmalade, using the Shake It Off Alpha Stamp Set, and then stamped over them with the new Texture Tiles 4 set in Ground Espresso.  Once I cut them out, you could easily distinguish the patterns from the plaid stamps.  I finished with sponging the Fossilized Amber color around my passage, and the edges of the page, added some texture from Texture Tiles 1, added a tab, some journaling, and the date.

Trust God through the changes, friend!  He can and will bless you!

THRILL OF HOPE

TEXTURE TILES 4

SHAKE IT OFF

TEXTURE TILES 1

Jesus Will Come!

Dear Friends-

The Bible tells us that Jesus will return. He will return for His church: 
"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

And the Bible tells of Jesus' second coming where He will ultimately defeat Satan:

“Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." Matthew 24:29-30

When Jesus comes for the church, only the church will hear Him and respond to Him. (This is called the rapture.) There will be a time of tribulation for the whole world. And, when He comes at His second coming, everyone will know. He won't come secretly! There will be no question of who He is. 

As believers, we can look joyfully to the future even living in this chaotic world full of ugliness. Jesus is coming. He is our hope. Focus on Him!

When my daughters were taught about these passages at ages 4 & 5, they both said cute things in regard to how they interpreted the passages in the young-child minds. That's what I journaled on each of these pages- their quotes. And I used many alpha stamp sets. I thought this post would be a great post to highlight the alpha sets that Sweet n Sassy has. They have a great selection of alphas and some are on sale right now! For anyone who doesn't hand-letter or just wants to have a quick option to hand-lettering, alpha stamps are perfect. I use mine all the time! I used the following sets for each page: 

 My Friend, Send Me, Chunky Alpha, Rebecca Script, Sing Loud, Outline Alpha, Mini Grunge Type Alpha. On this page I also used watercolor crayons, stickers, and glitter glue.

 

These 2 alpha sets were used on each page.

Shake It Off Caps Alpha, Mini Grunge Type Alpha, Outline Alpha, Skinny Caps Alpha, All Your Heart. On this page, I also used watercolor crayons, and a white Sharpie pen.

 
Hope in Him, my friends! Have a blessed week. Andrea

Abide in Christ

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:1-4

Hello Friends!
In these verses of John 15, Jesus uses the analogy that He is the vine and believers are the branches and that we are to abide in Him. That's what I want to focus on today: abiding in Him.The definition of abide includes to follow, to conform to, to remain or dwell in. I read a lesson by Pastor Brian G. Hedges that broke this analogy into 3 things we can do to abide.

• Connect to Jesus: Just as the branches must be connected to the vine to bear fruit, so must we be connected to Jesus. This union is mutual, we abide in Him and He in us (vs 4).
• Depend on Jesus: We are dependent on Jesus just as the branches are dependent on the vine. We cannot grow without Him. In fact, we can do nothing apart from Him (vs 5).
• Continue in Jesus: We must stay or remain in Him. That means we must continue to trust Him, keep on depending, never stop believing, to persevere in Jesus and His teaching.

And in John 15:11, after all the talk of abiding in Him and His love, Jesus said that He told the disciples these things so that His joy would be in them and that it would be full. Abide in Him and be filled with His joy! I want that, don't you?

For the page, I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy stamps: Shake It Off Caps Alpha & Mini Grunge Type Alpha. I drew the grapes by copying an image I found online. Then I colored everything with chalk pastels. I highlighted "Jesus" with a white Sharpie pen.

 

Have a blessed day! Andrea