Pillar of the Truth

If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, 

which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 

1 Timothy 3:15

Hi Friends!
Today we're focusing on 1 Timothy 3:15. In chapter 3, Paul has been speaking on how members of the church should conduct themselves since they (we) are "a pillar and buttress of the truth." So what does that mean? Pillars and buttresses are structures that provide support to buildings. So, we as the church are to support God's truth. We are to uphold His truth and stand firm in it in this world of relativity. For us to do this, it is important that we conduct ourselves in a Christ-like way. We share His truth not only by sharing God's Word, but also by the way we live. As believers, it's so important that we are not swayed by the currents of this world. His truth is the ONLY truth; and we must stand firm in it.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: My Father's House, Consider the Wildflowers, Be a Flamingo, Mighty Fortress, Your Story, Joint Heirs, and Note This.

My Father's House and Consider the Wildflowers are brand new, and they are wonderful sets! My Father's House resonates with me because I'm missing my church family. But, it also reminds me that "church" isn't a building. It's us. And I just love Consider the Wildflowers. It's pretty colored. It's pretty black & white. I used watercolor crayons to color the page.

 Stand firm, my friends, and have a blessed week! Andrea

God Rules All

He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. Daniel 8:25

Dear Friends,

Today, I'm writing about Daniel 8. Daniel 8 tells of a vision and its interpretation. It's a very difficult chapter to understand. The vision prophecies world empires and some of what will happen in end times. I'm not even going to try to explain the vision. That's a job for someone much more knowledgeable than me. But, as for the take-away from this chapter, we need know no more than this: God is in control. While we may not understand what will happen in the future, we can rest in the fact that God is sovereign and working together all things for His purpose. Man may think he has power in this world. World leaders may rule over their countries. But any power man claims is limited. God is supreme over all.

So fear not, my friends, what the future may bring. Just trust our good God. He rules!

Page Details:
I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Trust in the Lord, Joint Heirs, and All in All. I did some masking to get the words I wanted. From the Joint Heirs set, I stamped "rule" then masked the "hi" from the "his" stamp with a sticky backed paper and inked up the "s." After taking the masking off the stamp, I stamped the "s" to make "rules." That's one of the great things about clear stamps, you can see through them for placement. So masking and making new words is more easily done. I also used the masking technique for "overrules." I just picked the words that had the letters I needed. The only letter I didn't have was "v" so I wrote it in with a Micron pen. For the background, I used acrylic paints. For the clouds, I used a stencil and embossing paste.

Rest in Him and His rule. Have a blessed week! Andrea

Prayer recalibrated...

Hi friends,

Can I be honest with you? I have always found prayer a struggle. Whether it's remembering, concentrating or understanding, there are a number of factors that have inhibited my prayer life over the years. That is why I so relate to the disciples when they said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray." And I am so grateful for Jesus' response in what we now know as The Lord's Prayer.

When I am struggling to find the words, this beautiful, profound prayer helps me to approach God with adoration, confession and supplication. Over the past year I have really appreciated saying this every day in our morning chapel services and there have been certain lines that have resonated very strongly with me and helped me to work through issues like forgiveness in my life.

One of the parts of this prayer that challenges the way we pray is 'your kingdom come, your will be done.' I know for me, prayers in the past have been more like, 'my kingdom come, my will be done' as I petition God for my wants and needs based on my limited perception of life. This is why these words are so helpful and so counter-cultural. Instead of demanding what we want, like God is some form of vending machine in the sky where a prayer goes in and an answer pops out, prayer is actually supposed to be an act of submission to the lordship of Christ and the all-knowing, all-wise will of the Father.

Although this kind of praying is harder sometimes, because we need to relinquish control of our lives (and those of others!), it is such a wonderfully powerful prayer that is completely in line with God's will, and therefore we know that he will answer. Whenever we are struggling to pray or overwhelmed by a situation or multiple situations, we can bring these words to our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus: "your kingdom come, your will be done."

I used the beautiful Stamp of the Month, Peony Cluster, on this page in my Interleaved Bible. I stamped the peonies with Sage Versamagic ink, then coloured the images with pencils, trying a no-line colouring effect. This took a LONG time (multiple evenings of colouring!) but the result was worth it and it gave me the opportunity to meditate on this verse for an extended time. The text is mainly taken from the new Joint Heirs set, combined with Teeny Alpha, Love Your Neighbor (which is SO fab for tiny little words!) and His Name. I couldn't resist adding a couple of dimensional butterfly stickers form my stash to finish this off! Here are the sets I used:

I pray that God's kingdom would come and that God's will will be done in your lives and mine, and in the world around us!

x Amy x

Made Perfect & Being Made Holy...

Hi friends,

I have recently completed a module on the book of Hebrews at college and have learnt so much in the process, as well as having been reminded of important truths that I have been taught in the past but really need to meditate on in the present.

One of these truths is this verse in Hebrews 10:14 which I saw in a new light having studied Greek this year. When it says he has made perfect forever, this verb 'made perfect' is in a Greek tense which means that it is a past action with ongoing present significance. So the sacrifice of Christ made us perfect in the past, which has ongoing impact on the present. What an amazing thought!

The second part of this verse is closely related: those who have been made perfect are being made holy. This is the difference between justification and sanctification: justification is when we were made perfect by the sacrifice of Jesus, and sanctification is the ongoing process of that perfection working its way into every corner of our lives in our being made holy. It is so important that we recognise both parts of the truth of this verse. Sometimes we can become disillusioned by the unholiness of our present lives that we forget that God has already made us perfect. But there is a danger that we can focus so much on having been made perfect that we forget that the ongoing process of being made holy in our thoughts, words and actions is very important as well.

I wanted to try to represent this passage of scripture in the colours I used, so I chose red for the 'having been made perfect' part, because it is only through the blood of Jesus that we can be perfect in God's sight. I chose white for 'being made holy' as this represented purity to me. The butterflies that I've stenciled turn from red to white as they are exposed more and more to the light of God's truth (represented by the yellow). Butterflies are a particular favourite of mine as they represent transformation (and they are SO pretty!!). There are so many ways to illustrate a scripture, and choosing colours is a great one to try - it really makes you think through the symbolism and meaning behind what you are meditating on.

After I created the background and stenciling with acrylic paints, I stamped the verse with a combination of Joint Heirs, Typewriter Blocks Alpha and Bitty Minnie Alpha, combined with a few white alphabet stickers. I added some washi tape and a dimensional butterfly sticker to finish this page off. Here are the sets I used:

 

I hope you are encouraged as you reflect on what the sacrifice of Jesus has done in making us perfect and continuing to make us holy!

Every blessing...

x Amy x

Holy Holy Holy!

Hello lovelies! It's May and I am very excited to share this months new stamp sets with you all! You are totally going to want to run on over to the shop and preorder/order these new stamps in the shop HERE. Today I am sharing a page from my hymnal ...

I normally never prep pages using gesso because... well I am lazy! However in this very old vintage hymnal I decided to use a very thin coat of clear gesso so the inks and stamping didn't bleed through. I used the 'Holy' stamp from the Joint Heirs stamp set and stamped it using my Distress inks in evergreen bough, picked raspberry, mustard seed and mowed lawn. I used a stencil with the same inks to create the floral image on the page. I really find great joy and satisfaction in using up the supplies I have laying around from past kits or projects, which is why I pulled out this praise tip in from an old Illustrated Faith kit as well as some stickers and cut outs. I stamped the, earth and of, His from the Joint Heirs set in StazOn black and mowed lawn. The word glory came from the All in All set and I first stamped it in StazOn black then offset it with the mustard seed. Now lets dig into the deeper meaning...

This hymn is probably familiar to many of you reading this. Our mouths have probably uttered the words Holy a time or two am I right? We may even say it and no longer elicit any deep emotion as we say them. Which got me thinking .... what does "holy" mean, and why is it repeated three times? Isaiah 6:1-3 "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" Wow can you just imagine! Holy means something or someone is exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. The word "holy' dates back to the 11th century with an old English word halig derived from the word hal meaning 'whole' and is used to mean "uninjured, sound, healthy, entire and complete." So when the seraphim are singing holy, holy, holy they are proclaiming He is the uninjured, spotless lamb of God who is to be exalted as the one who took away the sins of the world. Ok, now onto why holy is said three times...it was a number of completion or perfection, as we see through the trinity, and in the book of Revelation 4:6,8. The holiness of God is indescribable in human language; therefore, the heavens proclaimed and provided the revelation of the eternal. This beautiful hymn allows us to use our voices to surrender our hearts to experience God's mercy and love as well as enable us to proclaim God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to the world.

Thanks so much for stopping by I hope you leave feeling a sense of awe of our holy Father God. I encourage you to slow down and really listen and study the words you are singing; meditate on the merciful, loving God we serve.

Love and prayers,
Jenn @creativegurl85

I Am an Heir

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:16-17

Hey guys!
I'm hopeful about today.  I have been reminded about the absolute and unfathomable graces of the Lord.  When John talks about it, he says something like "grace upon grace."  That's exactly what God does in the life of one He's called into His family!
When journaling this passage of scripture, I didn't quite know how to express the words or heart of appreciation for my God!  Have you ever had that happen?
God knows how much it truly means to us, because He's positioned Himself as the King of our hearts and Lord of our lives - inside!  Therein lies the Holy Spirit that testifies with our spirit - they literally come together in one accord and unit - that we are children.  BUT IT DOESN'T STOP THERE!

Distress inks used to create subtle and colorful backdrop.

 The scriptures here go on to tell - albeit, rather generally - that once we are children, we are heirs.  Generality in the Bible happens when the human mind and heart cannot completely imagine, describe, or understand the totality of God, His person, His blessings, His character - you name it!  We just can't quite wrap our minds around it!

The good news - the "gospel" - is such that we cannot fully fathom the what's and why's of our salvation in Jesus Christ. 
So, Paul is doing his absolute best, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to help us know what the Lord has revealed to him; and he uses terminology that we "get," at least to some degree!
Here's what we know:
1.  Being heirs with Christ starts when the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit.  In other words, when we have come to the understanding of who Jesus is and accepted Him as such, we are saved by the power of the Holy Spirit and God sees us as a joint-heir with Christ.

Adding "Itty Bitty Blossoms" to
provide a border at the bottom
of the page.

Almost done!

2.  Being a child of God, therefore miraculously entitles us to the inheritence of Jesus Christ!  Jesus is the firstborn of God, the first fruits of the resurrection and the first to receive all that the Father has to give.  But as joint heirs, we are given what Jesus is given - a position as one who will some day be given life in the eternal home with God.  Our destination is secured with God, in Jesus!
3.  Being a joint-heir also positions us as people who suffer with Christ.  The passage clearly points out that though we have eternal glory awaiting us, we do have to remain in the world for a time.  And while in the world, we have hope; the hope of Jesus! The hope of being glorified once our time here is done!

I added white acrylic paint to the bible mat, then
used the brayer to spread it out evenly.

With a thin coat of paint on the mat, the "girl power"
stamp was able to grab a good amount without
getting sloppy.

The acrylic paint gave me a white-stamped
impression on the page.  I did this with several other
"girl power" images.

My heart is overwhelmed by the graciousness and generosity of the Lord.  How can I possibly fathom the inheritance awaiting me in Jesus, when I cannot even fully grasp His riches here on earth?  The Holy Spirit is my connection to Jesus; Jesus is my connection to eternal promise!  Praise Him, I am a child of God!

I usually enjoy the used of a sharpie paint pen to
add small embellishments like crosses across
the page!

I used paper prints to make the clothes of the main "girl power" image
you see here.  I pieced her together and added color to her
face and hair using a simple marker.

If you are a child of God, you are joint-heirs with Christ!  Hopeful, I pray you found this encouraging!
Much Love,
Deeds

Stamps used in this process are:
Girl Power
Itty Bitty Blossoms
& Bitty Minnie Alpha