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

 

Go-Share-Here

"18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Jesus told--rather--commanded His disciples to go make disciples of all nations.  Go.  This is an active directive.  Not one that we can sit back and accomplish.  It doesn't just happen without action on our part.  The gospel of Mark tells the same story in chapter 16. Jesus was very specific that we are to go into all the world and share the good news of the gospel.  Go.  

Does that mean youI have to go to Bolivia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, or some other far away land?  Maybe.  If that what God leads you to do.  But He also means for us to go right in our own neighborhoods, in our own workplaces, even perhaps in our own families. "Go" means to move from one position to another, to progress or advance.  Maybe God is calling you to go meet or your neighbor and share a cup of coffee or tea, and just get to know them.  Being a good friend, showing God's love and kindness, is the BEST way to make lasting disciples.  Maybe He wants you to talk to the person on the next treadmill, instead of watching the latest episode of "This is Us."  

Sometimes we think Jesus was just talking about the Mission Field, so we pray for the missionaries, send offering money, and maybe even sponsor a child in Guatemala (or wherever).  But that really is the easy way out.  How much "going" are you doing?  Jesus said to "go," out of our comfort zones and reach people, wherever they need to be reached.  

I used the "Send Me" stamp set for this page.  I stamped the world image, and then stamped the word "Go" right over the top of it.  I was pleased with how it fit perfectly inside the globe.  I bent the "share" stamp on my acrylic block so it would curve underneath the world.  I finished the stamping so it would say, "Go share the good news here."  I originally stamped "here" in green, and I didn't like how that looked; so I fixed it by restamping it on white cardstock and cutting out the letters into block tiles.  I used Distress Oxide Inks to stamp and color.  Notice how I blended the colors on the word "good"?  Of course, I finished with some splatter on the page, a tab and bow, highlighting my verse, and journaling.

I challenge you to GO and share the good news! Thanks for stopping by.  You can visit me anytime at  Jules' Jewels YouTube Channel and my blog Jules' Jewels, and see other projects on Instagram at @julesk.jewels.

"Send Me"

A House for God

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

  Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, 

to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 

but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. 

And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence 

and our boasting in our hope.

Hebrews 3: 4-6 (ESV) 

When my husband and I married, we had a small but precious service.  My sons were 7 and 10. I had sheltered them and provided for them for seven long years as a single mom.  Our older son barely remembered his father and our younger son was born as our marriage was dissolving.  They never saw their dad from that point.  So they were starved for the attention, love and protection of a father.  When dating David, I took such joy in how their eyes would light up every time this man of God stepped into our home.  God taught me many things as a single mom, and I would never trade that time of deep dependence on Him.  He took the ashes of my life and made it beautiful.  The day David and I married was a miracle for me.  But not just for me, for my sons too.  They had a daddy! When we said our vows, we asked the boys to come up on either side of us and they said vows too, promising to honor, love and obey their parents. Then our parents came up.  David's parents stood on my side and mine on his and they said vows too, to pray for us, to encourage us and to continue to be a picture of a Christian marriage before us.  That day we melded as a family...one big family with Christ at the center.  With all of us standing around the altar, my sister and a friend sang a popular song of the day, Household of Faith.  That was 30 years ago, and God has blessed our little household of faith in indescribable ways. 

Hebrews 3:4-6 describes the household of God.  From Moses, the faithful servant of God in the Old Testment, to early believers to today's, we are the household of God.  Our faith in the ever-faithful God holds us together.  The faith of Moses served as a testimony of what was to come in Christ.  His faith was counted to him as righteousness and ushered him to the front door of the household of God. Christ in us, seals us as His children and opens the same door for us.  Believers are a household of faith.  It is the indwelling Spirit of God that makes us a house for our God.  We are His temple, the place where He lives.  This passage shows that Moses was a servant to this spiritual household.  Likewise, we are to honor, maintain and protect the "good deposit," the treasure of the good news of salvation, that was planted in us.  I am a house for my God.  Sitting here even now, thinking that thought takes my breath away.  What a precious miracle.  Just as my boys were lifted high to enjoy the new status of sons when my husband became their father (he quickly adopted them), so too each of us has the joy and delight of falling at the feet of our good Father.  We stand arm in arm with other believers around the altar and sing, "We are a household of faith!"  

To illustrate this passage of scripture, I used watercolor paints and splashed on color, leaving lots of white, other than more color over the verses.  I combined sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps featuring the new February release, Love Your Neighbor, that has the most adorable collection of houses.  The Praise God sunburst over the house is from the set Exclamations.  I used the clouds in Love Your Neighbor to create the shrubs.  The fonts are all stamps, Classy Script Alpha, and the rest of the words are from Love Your Neighbor.  The crosses came from the Good News set.  I did all the coloring with PrismaColor pencils.

These are all amazing sets, so versatile and fun.  Follow the links to the store to get yours now.

 

 ***Love Your Neighbor***

NEW RELEASE

 

 Class Script Alpha

 

 Good News

Go, spread the good news

Then He told them: Go and preach the good news to everyone in the world.
Mark 16:15

Jesus told the disciples to go and share the good news. To everyone in the world. When you’re just with eleven man that must have sounded like a mission that could not be completed. And well, we’re still busy spreading the gospel. With the internet it seems much easier these days but you still need good teachers to explain everything that’s in the bible. So… it’s good to realize yourself every now and then that we’re still part of a living gospel that needs to be shared around the world. I don’t mean that you have to travel around the world (if you feel like you’re called to do that, that would be great too) but you can show a little bit of Gods love through your own life to the people around you. In these days before Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s good to share some love :).

I made the background for this page with acrylics. I added them with a piece of paper towel. I used light layers so you can still read the text on the page. I stamped the words and images (from the set 'Send Me') with a black ink. I decided that I wouldn’t add a lot of color because of the bright background colors. They’re already adding enough color to the page. I did add a couple of white accents with a white gel pen. The clouds and the bike are rub-ons that I rubbed onto the page.

Blessings, Lucinde