Flourish From The Rain

Happy Monday everyone!
I hope you all had an amazing and restful weekend! I myself have been crazy busy this past week and through the weekend, but I did take time to rest on Sunday yesterday, as we all should! Anyway, lets get to it! 😀

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
- James 1:2-4

The page I am sharing with you today comes from a somewhat personal place at the moment. Not about trials I am personally going through, but someone close to me. Watching someone you know and love struggle with decisions in their life, or even things that happen to them that are simply out of their control, it can really take a toll on you. You can try to be there for them in every way you know how, and yet sometimes all you can do is pray for them! But praying for them is such a powerful way to help them! I had recently heard someone say, "I needed to grow, so God watered me." Wow! What a powerful way to think about that! Just like the plants need the rain to grow, so do we!! 

Sometimes we struggle through times in our life, feeling emotionally exhausted and worn out, and we may even think "God where are you? Why are you allowing this to happen to me?!" But the truth of the matter is, He is STILL THERE! He is always there! He never leaves our side. It is through our trials and struggles in our life that we are able to grow closer to God and deeper in our faith. In James 1:2 it says "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." When you look up the word Steadfastness you find the following definition: 

Steadfastness: sure, dependable, reliable, constant, unwavering. Steadfast, staunch, steady imply a sureness and continuousness that may be depended upon.

Though these times are anything buy easy, you should find comfort in the fact that God is simply "watering" you! He is making you stronger in your faith, as a person, and in your life. With Him by your side, you will come out on top and stronger than ever. You will make it through this difficult time! James 1:2-4 is a verse that has comforted me as my loved one goes through their hard time and all I can really do is continue to pray for them. And after reading and meditating on this verse, I now pray that they will grow and flourish from the rain.

Creative Details: For this page I covered my page with clear matte gesso and added a watercolor background. I then started applying some of the March printables from the set Garden of Grace printed on clear sticker paper. I used acrylic paint to paint the water falling from the watering can and then embellished the rest of the page with the following stamps.

Thanks for checking out my post today! I hope you all have an awesome week!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

Texture Tiles 1

Garden of Grace Printable

Skinny Caps Alpha

Mini Grunge Type Alpha

Big House

Friends, remember the song by Audio Adrenaline, "Big House"?  I love that song, and when I saw the new set, Love Your Neighbor, I knew I had to journal it.

In John 14:1-3, Jesus tells us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am." Jesus is preparing a place for us. And He will come back and take us with Him. Thank You, sweet Jesus! I am continuously amazed at how He loves us and what He does for us. He is an amazing God! I want to go to the Father's house. Don't you?

Come and go with Me

to My Father's house.

Come and go with Me

to My Father's house.

It's a big, big house

with lots and lots a room...

For the page, I used the following Sweet n Sassy Stamps sets: Love Your Neighbor, Send Me, All Your Heart, Skinny Caps, and Fly High.

Have a blessed week, sweet friends! Jesus loves you! Andrea

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

A Place for Jesus

Hello friends and fellow Bible Journalers...

As we begin a new year, I want to be sure that I make even more room for Jesus in my life.  It is so easy to allow the demands of every day life rob us of spending sweet time with our Lord!  

This page was inspired by a sermon our pastor preached at our church at the beginning of the new year.  I was convicted and challenged to "Make a Place for Jesus!"

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.  And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no where to lay his head."

Matthew 8:18-20 (ESV)

I wanted to include my sermon notes, but didn't want to cover up any of the details on the page, so I created a Tip-In tag which was attached to the opposite page by a washi tape hinge.

The page was prepped with two layers of clear gesso and the scene lightly sketched with a pencil.  Intense Color Blocks were used to watercolor the background.   Archival Inks, Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and a White Paint Pen were used to add the details.  The new scene silhouettes stamp sets and several alphabet sets made it fun and easy to complete the scene.  The bushes were created using the top of the tree from the Scene Silhouettes: Trees stamp set and masking was used to get just the tops of the tall grass from the Scene Silhouettes: Tall Grass stamp set.  I was able to use the fox and the bird from the Scene Silhouettes: Woodland stamp set to perfectly illustrate the scripture verse!  I couldn't resist adding a few more animals to the scene.

Here are the stamp sets from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Store used to create my page:

I hope you will be inspired and challenged to "Make a Place for Jesus" this year!  He wants to take up residence in our hearts.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs,

Cathy

Master of the Sea

Good morning, crafty friends! I'm so excited to be sharing on the Creative Worship blog today. Although I've been on the Sweet 'n Sassy design team for a number of years, this is the first time I'm posting for the Creative Worship team. 

Bible journaling is a relatively new experience for me, as I recently gifted an art journaling Bible, which lays out the pages with wide margins that are perfect for adding images, quotes, and notes. I have found that Bible journaling is helpful for focusing on a particular Scripture text or doctrine as your mind can't help but ponder the words you're that inspired your art.

Today's passage focusing on Jesus' power over nature and the text of how He immediately calmed the storm. While we can see literally see how God brings about and calms storms, and all of our weather, figuratively He can also calm the trials (storms) that come into our lives. Jesus' miraculous works while physically on the earth, was to demonstrate that while He was fully human, He was also fully God and the creator of man and the elements. These simple, but powerful truths should comfort us as we face various trials. Not only is He fully in control of all that happens, but He is also the one who will be comfort in the midst of the trial, and the one who will bring it to an end. Amen and amen!

My layout started with a wash of color from Pan Pastels. Pan Pastels is one of my favorite mediums for adding color to Bible pages; the color applies easily, goes on smoothly, is transparent, and doesn't bleed through the pages. When using Pan Pastels, you will need to set the chalk when you're finished applying the color. I just use a light mist of hair spray. LOL!

I used a die cut circle to mask a sun and added stamping using coordinating die ink colors.  The boats and anchor were stamped on a piece of cardstock, colored, and attached with glue to my pages. When added die or hand cut images to Bible pages, it's best to use a lighter cardstock and anything heavy weight will add bulk to the thin pages. My text was added using a variety of alphabet sets and words from other Bible journaling sets (see supply list below). I love mixing fonts! Below are a few more close up photos of my spread. Happy crafting!

Supplies:
Master of the Sea

Skinny Lower Case

Skinny Upper Case

His Wings

Jesus Chosen

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted, and they came to Him. He appointed twelve that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. Mark 3:13-15

Sweet Friends,

Today's passage takes us to the time when Jesus chose His twelve disciples. Many were following Him, but He chose twelve out of the many. Peter, James, John, Andrew, and the other eight became "those chosen by Jesus". They probably didn't realize or understand what that meant at the time. But He did.

What a privilege it is to be chosen by Jesus! But, it's not easy. The twelve left their jobs and families and faced persecution. But as they grew to know and love Jesus, they knew He was worth it. They were willing to sacrifice for Him.

Guess what, believers are chosen by Jesus too! In this complicated and sometimes crazy world, it's not easy to be a Jesus follower. But, HE IS WORTH IT! Wear the "Jesus Chosen" identity proudly.

For the page, I used a brand new set from Sweet n Sassy Stamps called Hello My Name Is, available for pre-order. This is such a great set! You don't want to miss it. I also used Skinny Caps and Skinny Lowercase Alphas, and Fill Me Up.

Remember your status, friends. You are Jesus chosen! Have a blessed week! 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

Under His Wings

For my Bible journal page today, I am still in the book of Psalms - 91:4.

"He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge..."

I love the image this brings to my mind. I think about a movie or a book when danger occurs and the protector throws themselves over the innocent to keep them safe. 

While life doesn't often bring explosions and such, we do have upsets and disappointments and knowing that when we are in need of protection, God will tuck us under His wings and keep us safe, is so comforting to me. It is such a blessing going into each day with this picture in my mind.

For this page, I used Sweet N Sassy Stamp Set - Creative Worship: His Wings. I also used a few Alphabet Sets Chunky Alpha, Skinny Caps Alpha, and Skinny Lowercase Sets.

I stamped the feathers onto the page with Versamark ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I then used distress inks (Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen, and Vintage Photo) for a water color wash. I Inked up the words with Archival Jet Black Ink.

I hope you are inspired and that your day is a blessed one! Thanks for stopping by!

Lyn