Turn Down the Noise

And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. 

And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 1 Kings 19:12

Hello, dear friends!

Today I'm in 1 Kings 19 with Elijah. In chapter 18, we find Elijah at a spiritual high. God came through in a big way and defeated the prophets of Baal. God was with Elijah big time! But, in chapter 19, Jezebel was pretty angry about what had happened, and vowed to kill Elijah. So he ran. 

Does that surprise you? I mean, he's ELIJAH, the great prophet, who was taken up to heaven by God in a great whirlwind. When circumstances got tough, he ran? Can you relate? I sure can. I may not physically run away when life gets hard, but I mentally run- to books or TV or social media, anything that might help me take my mind off the hard.

Elijah was feeling "done." In verse 4, he asked to die. He was exhausted. The Bible tells us he slept after praying to die. And God sent an angel who fed him. God knew Elijah needed to be physically strengthened so that he could continue the work God had for him. 

Well, Elijah went to Mt. Horeb and found a cave where he took shelter. And God had one question for him in verse 9, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" But Elijah didn't really answer God's question, instead he told God that he was the only one left standing for God, and that he had received a death threat. 

So God told him to go out of the cave, and God sent:

• a mighty wind
• an earthquake
• a fire

But God was not in those things. The loud, chaotic things that so easily get our attention because they are loud and chaotic are often not where we will find God. Instead, God came to him with a whisper, a whisper that asked the same question, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" You see God didn't want him to run away from his problems. In fact, He told Elijah to go right back in to those problems! But, God strengthened him physically and mentally. He had fed him and promised Elijah that he wasn't the only one standing for God. He promised that there would be others to come alongside Elijah in standing for God.

Our world is loud. And there are a lot of problems. So, in the midst of the hard, instead of mentally (or physically) running away from the problems, turn down the noise of the world, and sit with Him in the stillness. God will speak to you through His Word. He will strengthen you and me too.

My life has had a lot of changes lately as we moved from Kansas to Texas. There's been hard and stressful times in this move. But, I just have seen God working over and over. He cares about the details of our lives. And He is there for us. We just have to listen.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Ellis Square Alpha, Marker Alpha, Bitty Minnie Alpha, I Am Loved, Texture Tiles 1, Texture Tiles 6, Texture Tiles 9, Gear Up, and Grunge Elements 3. The background was done with distress oxides: Speckled Egg, Dusty Concord, and Chipped Sapphire. I applied them to the page with blender brushes. I spritzed the page with water as the distress oxides react and give a neat effect. Then I used all the stamps. :) I wanted the background stamps to give the idea of the noisiness of life, but the blue area is calm and quiet.

Sit with Him, my friends. He's waiting! Have a blessed week. Andrea

Live in the Bible

Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long. Psalm 119:97

Hi Friends!

My husband, 2 daughters, and I are all avid readers. We love reading all sorts of books. And so, when I saw this quote by Charles Spurgeon, I knew I had to put it in my Bible! How wise this quote is. We can "visit" good books, enjoying and being entertained by them. But there is one book that stands above all others, and in that one, we must LIVE- reading and meditating on it each and every day, basing how we live on it. 

Psalm 119 is one of my favorite psalms because of how it speaks of God's Word and what our relationship to it should be. It's a long Psalm, and says much, but a few of the verses I marked for my page are:

• Verse 81: My soul faints with longing for Your salvation, but I have put my hope in Your word.
• Verse 86a: All Your commands are trustworthy.
• Verse 89: Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.
• Verses 92-93: If Your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have preserved my life.
• Verse 97: Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long.
• Verse 103: How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
• Verse 105: Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
• Verse 112: My heart is set on keeping Your decrees to the very end.

Oh friends, this world is topsy-turvy. The world preaches that truth is relative, and what may be true for me isn't necessarily true for you; and that "truth" can change from day to day. But that is a lie. God is truth; and truth is absolute. God doesn't change. Truth doesn't change. And God's truth, real truth, is true whether we believe it or not. We can find God's truth in the Bible. I treasure His Word. I have many Bibles in my home, some study Bibles, some journaling Bibles, some digital Bibles on my devices. And I'm thankful to live in America where I have easy access to the Bible. But if there ever comes a time in this country where we don't have easy access to Bibles, I will share mine with anyone who needs one because His Word is LIFE.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: God of Comfort, Curly Girl Alpha, Texture Tiles 6, Joyful Alpha, and Typewriter Blocks Alpha. God of Comfort, Curly Girl, and Texture Tiles 6 are all part of the July release. When I saw God of Comfort, I knew I had to use this image with the Spurgeon quote. I colored the image and letters with Prismacolor pencils. I colored the background with watercolor crayons, and stamped the grunge dots on top.

Visit many good books, friends, but live in the Bible. Have a blessed week! Andrea