Work Boots | Bible Journaling with Julie

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord."  (Colossians 3:23-34).  

Growing up, my daddy worked on construction sites. He always wore his work books (and his helmet) on these sites. Those work boots sat waiting for him behind the door every morning.  They reminded me of firefighter boots sitting next to the fire truck, at the ready for the next emergency call.  

We put on work boots when we are ready to go all in:  to the dirtiest, or most hazardous of construction sites, to the muckiest of barns, to the deadliest of fire emergencies--or to the largest of laundry piles.  

Ok, not many of us don work boots to do our laundry (although with my three boys, I've had some pretty toxic laundry piles!). However, according to Colossians 3:23-24, we should put on a positive, can-do attitude. Work heartily at WHATEVER you do, as for the Lord.  If we're doing laundry, do it with all your heart.  If it's the dishes, work heartily.  If it's the weeding the garden, work heartily.  If it's completing paperwork, work heartily.  If it's writing that report, work heartily.  No matter how mundane a task may seem, when we work heartily, we are working for the Lord, and His character of love, joy, and excellence shines through. 

 

I created the background of this page in my Interleaved Bible with Distress Oxides in various shades of brown and beige.  I stamped the pair of boots using The Lord's Battle stamp set, and colored the boots with some watercolor pencils. I used several alphabet sets for the title (although the words "for Jesus" also were from The Lord's Battle):  School Days, Typewriter Block, and Lollipop Alphabet sets.  I added some washi from my stash, the verse that I had typed on my typewriter and blocked, and some grunge elements with Texture Tiles 3.  I added a border around the page with my precision journaling pen, and wrote my journaling on the opposite page next to the verse.  I finished with a date stamp, a tab, and a fabric bow.  

I've linked the various sets below.  Right now, through the end of the March, Sweet'n Sassy Stamps is holding a Moving Sale with 15% off.  It's a great time to stock up on those sets or products that have been sitting on your wishlist for a while!  

Thanks for visiting today.  You can click the images below to go shopping with my affiliate link (I appreciate your support!).  

God bless--Julie 

@julesk.jewels (IG)

Jules Jewels YouTube

The Lord's Battle

School Days Alpha

Typewriter Blocks Alpha

Lollipop Alpha

 

Desert Lessons of 2020

 

Deuteronomy 8:1-5

"Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 

He humbles you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not line on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 

Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you."

Shew that was a longer excerpt than I usually share, but its all too good and too poignant to leave out any  of it. Am I right?! This CRAZY season we are in never seems to stop getting crazier! We had an earthquake here in North Carolina a couple weeks ago, and we never get earthquakes here! So, just add it to the crazy list of 2020. ✓

Through all of these crazy and stressful moments, you can't help but ask yourself "What can I be learning from this time?" Though hard times and difficult to go through, God does not walk us through those hard times for no reason. Dark times can be gifts from God if we let him teach us what he's trying to teach us. Our pastor shared 4 things that he thinks we can learn from this "desert" season we're in. And he called is a Desert season because the word desert means uninhabited. And we are definitely in some uninhabited/unprecedented times for sure!

 

The 4 Desert Lessons God May 

Want Us to Remember From 2020

1. We need to remember how God led us...

Just because we can't see where we are going in the future, doesn't mean God isn't leading us! He led Moses through the desert for forty years, and his people had to continue to trust him. 

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

2. We need to remember how God tested us...

God keeps his promises and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm. At the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, 

and so provide you with a way out.

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so you can endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

3. We need to remember how God provided for us...

"He humbles you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not line on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years." Deuteronomy 8:3-4

4. We need to remember how God disciplined us...

A parent disciplines their child not because they don't love them, but because they DO! A parents job is to shape their children into good people. And sometimes that means discipline. God does the same with each of us. 

"Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you." Deuteronomy 8:5

I hope you found some value in this sermon as I did. I love to record life moments and lessons in the pages of my bibles. It will be something I can look back on tomorrow, next year or years from now and they we be just as important and relevant as they are right now. The bibles I work in are also going to be gifts to my children when they are older. So I am filling them with not only artwork, but with the knowledge and wisdom of our creator. 

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

IG: @faith.and.creativity

Let's Do This 

Landscape Silhouettes 

Messy Stamped Alpha

Typewriter Blocks Alpha

Classy Script Alpha

Grunge Elements 2

Blessed Justice...

Hi friends,

I've been thinking a lot about justice lately, particularly in the light of events going on in the world at the moment, with many people being treated unjustly because of skin colour. I did a search for the word 'justice' in the Bible and there are so many scriptures that show God's heart for justice.

One of the verses I found was in Psalm 106:3, which says 'Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times.' God is just and he desires that his children are just in all their actions. There are so many scriptures that demonstrate God's heart for justice. Over and over again God tells his people to look after the orphan, the widow and the stranger, and to do justice for the oppressed.

Psalm 89:14 and Psalm 97:2 say that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne. These qualities and related actions are the foundation of God's rule and as his children, they should be the foundation of how we live our lives on earth in relation to those around us. Psalm 106:3 emphasises the 'all times' nature of this way of living - this is not something we can dip in and out of when convenient, but it how we should be desiring to live every day, in every decision. The only way we can do this is through the help of the Holy Spirit, who leads us in God's ways when we ask him for wisdom and yield to him in obedience.

I created this page in my Journaling Psalter using acrylic paints; stamping and embossing the clocks from Time Well Spent (June's Stamp of the Month) with white embossing powder. I added some stencilling with Nuvo embellishment mousse. The text was stamped using All of Me Alpha, Bold & Outline Caps Alpha, Armor of God and Typewriter Blocks Alpha. Here are the sets I used:

I pray that we would follow after God's heart for justice and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and the commands of Scripture to observe justice and do righteousness at all times.

Be blessed...

x Amy x

Seek the One that is Seeking You

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call to Him while He is near.

Isaiah 55:6

In these turbulent and uncertain times, does the Lord feel closer or further away to you?  It seems like I hear Him more than ever before.  I feel like He is pleading for lost souls to turn to Him.  Like He's asking for His flock to tell the world about Him and the redeeming power found in the blood of Christ.  

We need to seek Him while He's crying out to us.  He is near.  He wants to be found.  

Page details:

I created the background for this page using Distress paints, then stamping with Texture Tiles 1 and Psalm 23 Background and stenciling with Distress Oxide inks.  I stamped my title with several alphabets from Sweet 'n Sassy, including  Bold & Outline Caps Alpha, Typewriter Block Alpha and School Days Alpha.  I added some art marks and paint splatters.  Then I couldn't resist adding these peonies from the Peony Cluster set.  

Sets I used:

Until next time, catch up with me on Instagram & Facebook @simplyjilljourney.

XOXO,

Jill 

Graves Into Gardens

Have you ever have an image or idea come to mind, and you just can't get it out of your head until you get it out on paper or complete it?!? That's what this page was for me. 

I heard the song Graves into Gardens from Elevation Worship this past Easter Sunday. And this song just blew me away. I was singing as we worshiped Easter morning in our living room together as a family. But this image of an old grey tombstone suddenly covered in bright flowers was burned in to my brain and I knew I had to make a journaling page about it. Knowing we had this beautiful floral stamp set Consider the Wildflowers coming out soon, I held on to my idea till I could use them and AHHH I just love how it turned out!

Graves Into Gardens By Elevation Worship Live Video

Some Lyrics:

I searched the world
But it couldn't fill me
Man's empty praise and treasures that fade
Are never enough
Then You came along
And put me back together
And every desire is now satisfied
Here in Your love (hey)

Oh, there's nothing better than You
There's nothing better than You
Lord, there's nothing
Nothing is better than You
(Oh, yes I know it's true)
(Come on, tell 'em, hey)

I'm not afraid
To show You my weakness
My failures and flaws, Lord, You've seen them all
And You still call me friend
'Cause the God of the mountain
Is the God of the valley
There's not a place Your mercy and grace
Won't find me again.....

Below is an excerpt from Elevation Worship themselves, explaining the meaning behind this song. They explain it so well I won't even try paraphrasing it. So powerful!

"Graves Into Gardens"​ has roots in a sermon [Pastor Steven's] preached on a Bible passage found 

in 2 Kings 13.

After the prophet Elisha died, his story didn’t end there. Two Israelites were near his gravesite about to bury another man. When they saw a band of enemy raiders coming, they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet (2 Kings 13:20-21).

Pastor Steven preached that just like the resurrection miracle Elisha still had left in his bones, ​God is in the business of bringing dead things back to life. ​And i​f we’ll throw the dead areas of our lives on the bones, if we’ll believe in the power of God, if we’ll declare resurrection power 
over everything we sow, nothing will be wasted. Nothing is over.
 Nothing is finished. If God is in it, we will move forward.

As the members of Elevation Worship have corporately expressed: “Our prayer for this project is that it would serve to bring the reality of the Kingdom of God into our hearts and minds –– our entire faith is built on the truth that when Jesus hung on a cross and was placed in a tomb, it wasn’t the end. He wasn’t buried, he was only planted. What the world saw as defeat, God knew was a victory. Our faith is in a resurrected King, and the reality that resurrection 
is still happening and is possible in our own lives.”

Worship leader Chris Brown further illuminates: “We hope people are able to take a second look at what they once considered “dead” in their life. And that this project provides a new perspective that allows them to see new​ life​ in seemingly ​dead​ places. Because what God breathes on must come to life. And what we may see as a grave, God sees as a garden.”

xoxo,
Stephanie Gammon
@faith.and.creativity

Consider the Wildflowers

Skinny Minnie Alpha 

Typewriter Blocks Alpha 

Loop da Loop Alpha

I Will Dwell in the House of the Lord

Psalm 23:6

"Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Psalm 23 is a very popular one. Even people that don't know the bible very well can probably recite a line or two from this particular psalm. God's timing can be so perfect can't it?! We released this gorgeous stamp just after my Grandma passed away. My grandma Joanne Bunch, (known to her grandkids as Nanny) went home to be with her Lord on February 18th. I created this page in memory of her and her love for the lord. 

Nanny was my mother's mom. She faced numerous strokes over the last decade, always refusing to give up or give in to them. My grandma was a fighter. But sadly, each stroke took a little more of her with each one she had. She slowly lost more of her memory and eventually had trouble eating and drinking. Before her strokes she was very active at her senior center and always taking educational classes to keep her brain strong. She would always write and tell me about the things she was doing to continue learning in her older age. So it's always bothered me that towards the end it was strokes completely out of her control that ended up ruining her mind. We don't always understand why things happen the way they do, but it's not for us to understand while we are here on earth.

My grandma was very strong in her faith! She had no doubt in her mind that she would one day go to heaven and spend eternity with Jesus. At her funeral I heard stories about when she was younger with her own young kids at home. On Sundays she would gather all 4 of her children in the car, and still pick up other neighborhood kids to make sure they would hear the word of God too!

I showed this memory page to my mom for her approval before sharing it will you all. She smiled at the photo of her mom as a young girl maybe 6 years old. She then told me that the verse I underlined.... "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" was one of her favorite lines in one of her favorite hymns! I didn't know that and it made me feel even better about this page I created.

I have no doubt in my mind, that Nanny is looking and smiling down on all of her family and friends.  She is happy, in no pain at all, remembers all of us, and is enjoying eternity with her savior! This is my last photo with her before she started losing her memory. This was in 2012 when I spent the weekend with her visiting local mountain craft fairs and enjoying gourmet cupcakes. I love you Nanny! Thank you for being such a great example of a God fearing woman for us all! We love you!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

@faith.and.creativity

Psalm 23

Typewriter Blocks Alpha 

Faith Wordfetti