My Defender

 

"Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

What a powerful Bible passage. This takes place when the Israelites are being pursued by the Egyptian army, and panic and begin crying out that God should have left them in Egypt.  Moses tells them to be quiet, and watch God work.  It reminds me of when someone who's freaking out needs a slap in the face to bring them out of their frenzy.  

How often do we fret and stress over the circumstances we find ourselves in?  If we would but stand still and stand firm in Christ, and allow Him to work, we may find that He performs miraculous wonders before our very eyes!  All we need to do is praise Him, even before He acts, and then wait to see what He does.  Pray, worship, stay still.  God's got this!  He's our Great Defender.  

"Defender" has recently become one of my favorite songs.  It speaks to the trust and submission to His power and victory in our life.  I've linked the video below.  Here are a couple of the verses:  

Hallelujah, You have saved me

So much better this way

Hallelujah, great Defender

So much better Your way

And all I did was praise

All I need to do is worship

Lord, I will just bow down

I'm just gonna stay still

(My Defender, Francesca Battistelli and Steffany Gretzinger)

All we have to do is allow God to fight for us, stand back, pray and praise.  He will defeat our enemies and troubles, just like He delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians.  

I made this page with a mixed media approach to give a sense of chaos and disorder.   This represents how we should let Christ defend us in the midst of that chaos.  I used Distress Oxide Inks in Kitsch Flamingo, Wild Honey, and Peacock Feathers.  I stamped images from the new Grunge Elements 3 stamp set and Typewriter Text Background.  I also stenciled with ink and white acrylic paint using the new Script stencil.  

 I stamped the title using Love Ya Like a Sis and Bold and Outline alpha sets.  I then added detailing a white gel pen.  I adhered my Bible text, which I had typed onto a clear sticker sheet.  I added some black and white splatters, and then topped the page with a couple of tabs and a bow.  

My prayer is that you can allow Jesus to be your great Defender in your most difficult of circumstances. 

--Julie 

Script Stencil

Grunge Elements 3

High and Holy

 

"For thus says the High and Lofty One

Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

'I dwell in the high and holy place,

With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,

To revive the spirit of the humble,

And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'" 

(Isaiah 57:15)

The Israelites had the terrible habit of disrespecting God.  They forgot who led them out of slavery, and saved them from their enemies.  They forgot who daily fed them manna for 40 years.  They forgot who the One True God was, and mixed their worship with other false gods.  Therefore, here is Isaiah, God is reminding the people of His holiness and highness.  He is reminding them of WHO HE IS.  

We can cast blame on the Israelites, and ask why they would continue to act that way.  But the truth is, we act the same way.  Despite all the blessings, provisions, and watch-care that God grants us daily, we also disrespect Him by doing our own thing and worshiping our own gods (be they social media, our self-image, Netflix, our jobs, etc.).  We do not fully ascribe to God the respect and honor due Him.  

I created this page with the Puffy Clouds stencil.  I used two colors of ink (Tumbled Glass and Kitsch Flamingo) and shifted the stencil slightly on the second color in order to get the multi-toned effect for the clouds.  

I stamped my title with three different alphabet sets:  School Days Alpha, Typewriter Blocks Alpha, and Lollipop Alpha.  Then I colored in the words "high" and "holy" with some Wilted Violet ink using an aquabrush.  Next, I added some splatters with black watercolor paint and some smooshing and splattering of the three ink colors.  

Next, I added some white detailing to the letters with a white gel pen.  For my tab cluster at the top of the page, I stamped and fussy cut three little clouds from the Count Your Rainbow stamp set (although I could have used the coordinating die).  I added the sentiment "Praise the Lord" from the Prayer Time stamp set (the "Heavenly Father" and "Amen" over by the verse also came from the Prayer Time set).  Then I added some Sparkle Glitter glue to the title and cloud tab cluster.  

I encourage you today to worship, respect, and honor God for the God that He is.  One living in a high and holy place, but One who also lives inside of each of us.  

Thanks for hanging out with me today.  God bless!

--Julie @julesk.jewels

Here's a process video so you can see how it came together:

Product Links:  (Click the picture for the link)

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

 

Delight in the Lord

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Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."  Is this verse promising that God will give me what ever I really want?  What if I really want a brand new car, or more clothes, or more craft items (I always do!)?  Will God give them to me because I REALLY want them?  If it really is a desire of my heart?  

I do not believe that's what Psalm 34:7 verse means. We have to remember the first part of the verse:  "Delight yourself in the Lord..." I did some verse mapping of this passage to try to understand it more fully.

Here is what I found:

• Psalm 34 was written by David, a "man after God's own heart"
• Delight yourself - to be soft or pliable; to be luxurious or lavish
• give - bestow, add, or commit
• desires - requests, petitions
• heart - innermost feelings, will, and intellect

Basically, if I lavish myself in His luxurious love, and bend my will to His will, character, and Word, then my desires--what my heart and mind and will truly desire--will become more in tune and more aligned with God's desires and will. He will gladly commit to these desires.  God does not refuse us things in accordance with His will.

This also means that, as long as I have been seeking God's will and character, then the things upon my heart are worthy to be brought to God.  I can boldly come before Him and trust Him to answer my prayers and petitions.  

I made a faithdex card to illustrate and document this verse and my study.  I used the some Distress Oxide Inks in Spun Sugar, Ripe Persimmon, and Wild Honey to blend a background.  Then I stamped in those same colors the Floral Background stamp.  I also stamped this image on cardstock in Versafine Onxy Black ink and fussy cut a few out.  I colored these with those same inks using my aquabrush.  Then I stamped "Delight in the Lord" from the Faith Phrases stamp set.   I added some ribbon and a tab punch, and the typed verse and title.  

On the back, I wrote out the verse and its mapping.  

Then I decided that I wanted to journal this in the pages of my Bible, so made a quick entry using the same inks and stamps. 

I wrote my reflection of the verse mapping in the margins of the page.  

What a powerful study and reminder to stay in tune with God.  Spend time with Him.  Enjoy His Presence.  Delight yourself in Him.  THEN He will give you the desires or your heart, because they will also be the desires of HIS heart!

Produce Links

(some are affiliate links - thank you!)

Floral Background

Faith Phrases

Good News

 

Hello and Happy Advent, friends! 

Advent means "Coming" in Latin.  We are celebrating the upcoming birth of Jesus, but not only that.  We also should be in hopeful anticipation of His second coming in to this world.

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Oh, the thrill of hope, the shepherds must have felt as they traveled to Bethlehem.  

I don't know about you, but after the year 2020 has been, we could use some hope, huh?  But the truth is, we do!!!  Jesus is coming again!   We should be living with the hopeful anticipation of our Messiah's return.  

To create this page, I used my Cricut to cut out some masks for the shepherds, their flock and the angel.  I blended distress oxides on the page to create the meadow and night sky.  I stamped some grass at the bottom of the page using Scene Silhouettes: Tall Grasses.  I stamped my title with Script Alpha and Mini Grunge Type Alpha.  I added some stars from the Way Maker set and some white paint splatters to finish off the page and to mark my verses.  

Until next time, 

Jill

 

Rooted in Love

 

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." - Ephesians 3:14-19

The book of Ephesians is packed full of rich, vibrant truth and teaching and this passage in chapter 3 has been on my heart and mind in recent weeks. I've been thinking a lot about love, what love means, and how I can better love the people in my life. If I'm honest, it's difficult for me to love and show love to others, so this passage in Ephesians has been teaching me: in order for me to love others, I need to be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ.

Matthew Henry, in his eloquent wisdom, has this to say:

The fixing of pious and devout affections in the soul: That you being rooted and grounded in love, steadfastly fixed in your love to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to all the saints, the beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many have some love to God and to his servants, but it is a flash, like the crackling of thorns under a pot, it makes a great noise, but is gone presently. We should earnestly desire that good affections may be fixed in us, that we may be rooted and grounded in love. Some understand it of their being settled and established in the sense of God's love to them, which would inspire them with great ardours of holy love to him, and to one another. And how very desirable is it to have a settled fixed sense of the love of God and Christ to our souls, so as to be able to say with the apostle at all times, He has loved me! Now the best way to attain this is to be careful that we maintain a constant love to God in our souls; this will be the evidence of the love of God to use. We love him, because he first loved us. In order to this [Paul] prays for their experimental acquaintance with the love of Jesus Christ. The more intimate acquaintance we have with Christ's love to us, the more our love will be drawn out to him and to others (emphasis mine)."

Page Details

The idea behind this page, of a tree roots being grounded in hearts, came to me quite awhile ago - I just needed the right supplies and stamp sets to put it together. The Bible talks quite a bit about the fruit of a person's life, but a tree cannot be full and fruitful if it doesn't have good soil. The imagery is meant to convey the importance of being rooted and grounded in the soil of love in order to grow strong and produce good, loving fruit for Christ. I had actually journaled in this page two years ago at a Christian family camp, and my notes from that message in July 2018 were still relevant to my life today. I simply illustrated the tree over the notes I had already written. 

Two things things have the power to destroy a family: 1) words and 2) anger. Of course, two of the biggest things I struggle with daily! 😳 But there are things that can help overcome these destructive tendencies: speaking the truth in love, and learning to love and show grace and forgiveness. I'm 36 years old and have been a mom and partner for 20 years and I'm still at this spot: learning to show grace and love to my husband and children, learning to be sympathetic, learning to practice forgiveness. I'm not naturally good at any of it, but by God's grace through me, I can learn and put into practice these characteristics so that I may build my family up instead of tear it down. The only way I can do this is by Christ dwelling in me and being rooted and grounded in His amazing love. 

I used Distress Oxides, watercolors, a Zig Writer pen, and the below stamp sets to create this page. 💜 

 

  

The great thing about this page is that it could be illustrated in so many different ways, using really any kind of medium. I'd love to see your creative take on this verse! Take a minute to read this passage, pray, illustrate, and then tag me so I can see. I'm @journalingjoy on Instagram. 😊

Much love in Christ, 

Janelle 🎕

Choose Joy

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” Proverbs 17:22

Perspective. 

If you’ve been following me for any length of time you know that I talk a lot about perspective. The way that we see things and the lens from which we see it determines a lot about how we live our lives.

The word joy has been coming up a lot for me lately. It’s in my Bible study, in my conversations and just a lot in my thought process, and the more that I meditate on it, joy has everything to do with perspective. How often do we long for things to be different? Maybe we would be happier if we had a different job. Maybe we would be happier if we had more money. Maybe we would be happier if we had such and such tool or supply. Maybe when our kids get a little older we would have more freedom. And the list goes on and on.

But, guys, JOY is a choice. It is a fruit from the Lord that comes we when are completely satisfied in Him.  It’s a choice to be content with where we are and what we have. Joy is a deep rooted satisfaction with our lives despite our circumstances and it changes the perspective from which we see things. 

JOY says, I will gladly do daily household chores because I have a roof over my head that’s  mine

.JOY says, I will listen to my name called a million times a day because that means I am surrounded by people who love me and need me.

JOY says, I will cook and clean up for yet another meal because when I nourish little bodies, I can nourish little souls.

JOY says, I will go to work every day because I have been given the opportunity to provide for my family.

JOY says, I will endure hardships and sufferings because it’s those things that are designed to produce perseverance in me (James 1:2-3)

Guys, life is about so much more than what it seems sometimes. It’s about the choices we make and the perspective from which we see it. It’s about choosing every day to find the good and seeing life through the eyes of a child. It’s about having faith that believes in the unseen and that the best is yet to come. It’s about finding the joy in a situation that seems the polar opposite. It takes a commitment on our part to look for it and celebrate it. Switch your lens over to the eternal and watch how much more joy you will experience in your life. Proverbs 17:22 says it all, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to walk around wishing for something more all the time. I want to experience that deep rooted joy that only Christ can give. I want to be thankful and satisfied with what He has given me and where He has placed me. It’s all about perspective, and choosing to find the joy every day. It’s all those small things together that make life worth living. <3

Have a great weekend!

Jennifer

IG:@lifeintherace

Crafty Details

I started by adding some yellow and orange watercolor layers to an index card and drying it with my heating tool. Then, I added some texture with Texture Tiles 5 in Hickory Smoke and Picked Raspberry distress oxide. I then stamped the word “JOY” from Choose Faith in Spiced Marmalade and overlaid the word “choose” in black. I hand wrote Proverbs 17:22 at the bottom and clipped the card into my Bible as a reminder that Joy is a choice we must make every day.