Come Messy

For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect was tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

Hi Friends!

We live in an edited world, don't we? Practically every aspect of our lives is edited in some way- our thoughts, our actions, our words. Now sometimes, editing ourselves can be a good thing. But so often, what we're doing when we edit is just putting on an appearance to others, an appearance that is better than what we truly are. For instance, all these photos we share on social media, most of them are edited or filtered. We take out the imperfections. We fix the lighting. We adjust it to how we think the world wants to see us. Even in our relationships, we edit. How often, as my family scrambled to get ready for church, harsh words were spoken, hurtful actions committed. But man, when we got out of the car and went into church, you would have thought we were the perfect family, loving and glorifying God. Can you relate? The bad news is that we are a mess! We are broken and sinful.

But, I have good news, friends! We don't have to edit ourselves for Jesus. Jesus loves us anyway. He knows who we are- the good and the bad. And He loves us. Jesus loves us so much that He was willing to become man and to live as a man. Because of His earthly life, He knows what we go through. Hebrews 4:15 tells us He sympathizes with our weaknesses; and that He was tempted just as we are. He knows, friends. He died for us knowing all our problems, issues, and sins. And knowing all this, He still invites us to come to Him. Hebrews 4:16 tells us, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and grace to help in time of need." 

Thank You, Lord, for loving us just as we are. Thank You for becoming Man to relate to us in a new way. Thank You for Your invitation to come to you in our brokenness, in our mess- unedited & unfiltered.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Joyful Alpha, Marker Alpha, Playful Alpha, Walk Humbly, All Your Heart, and Just Be. I started by applying acrylic paint to the page with a baby wipe. I then glued a hymnal page onto the page. I stamped the words. I stamped the girls on sticker paper and drew the photo frames with a Micron pen. I colored the girls with watercolor crayons.

Come, humble sinner, in whose breast,

A thousand thoughts revolve,

Come, with your guilt and fear oppressed,

And make this last resolve.

Come to Him, friends. He's waiting.

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Just be...

Hello everyone! 

Today I am excited to share with you about our creatively growing our faith collab sale going on now thru Monday the 22nd. Enter code (cgofsale) to receive 15% off your purchase and also be sure to check out the other amazing discounts offered! Also there is a party over on our Facebook business page, we recently hit 10,000 likes!! WOOOHOO! So you know what that means...a big ole GIVEAWAY! Yup, so head on over and enter the winner will receive free stamps for a year...winner will be drawn August 1st. 

Now on to my bright fun party page...

Today is a fun new messy experiment that I cannot wait to share! For this fun background I used a little bubble wrap and acrylic paint in a few fun colors. I painted the bubbles and stamped the wrap onto the page creating these fun, imperfect polka dots. Once it dried I added my title using Just be, and Set apart. To finish off this page I added a few tabs, stickers, and puffy hearts.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:7-8 

Sometimes my thoughts are not deep, or even profound. Sometimes I use my Bible to remind myself of my true goal in life....to become more and more like my heavenly Father. 

Don't forget to use that code (cgofsale), as well as check out the other amazing shops participating in the creatively growing our faith collaboration sale (see image below). Also remember to hop over and enter our 10,000 like giveaway over on Facebook page.

Love and prayers!

Jenn @Creativegurl85

Tickled Pink

Hello lovelies! I hope your week is going fabulously and your summer is a total joy. These last couple days have been hard for me...I know God has control of all things but sometimes I need a kick in the pants. As I was looking up scriptures I stumbled upon 2 Corinthians 9:8-11 (Message translation) "God can our on the blessings in astonishing ways, so that you're  ready for anything and everything. He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never give out. This most generous God who gives seed to the farm that becomes bread for your needs is more that extravagant with you. He gives you something you can give away, which grows into full formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God."

Wow I so needed to hear and soak in this. I began by creating a gradient on my page with white, light pink and dark pink acrylic paint. Next I stamped the sentiment 'tickled pink' from the 'be a flamingo' set. I stamped the large flamingo on pink cardstock, fussy cut it out to use as a tab to stick up above my page. Recently I have been seeing polka dots painted using the back of a new pencil...so I gave it a go and used the same three colors I used earlier for the gradient. I pulled out an older Sweet N Sassy stamp 'just be' set to stamp the 'super blessed' at the bottom of the page. Using the large open area I left I copied the message translation into the margins to remind me of the goodness and faithfulness of God.

I really hope this blessed you! If you are stuggling with seeing the good and feeling blessed I encourage you to really soak in these verses and remember all the times He has been faithful. He loves and cares for us so extravagantly we should feel tickled pink and super blessed.

Hugs and prayers,

Jenn (@creativegurl85)

Worthy...

{jane bosi}

Happy Monday, Sweet Friends!!  I am always so creatively inspired by music!!  While wanting to play with the newly released Send Me set, I found myself in Revelation.  My process usually starts with a song and then leads....where ever He leads.  For this creative time, it was Revelation 5:11-13 to be exact!

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,

12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!"

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" 

 

How awesome is He? I can hardly wait to be there....

Enjoy!!  Jane

PS. Stamp sets used on this layout:  Send Me, Just Be, Sing Loud, and Worthy King.

 

Enthusiastic Obedience

The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to Him, that you will keep His decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to Him. Deuteronomy 26:16-17

Hi Friends!

There are quite a few stories in the Bible where God or Jesus tells someone to do something and they IMMEDIATELY do it. In those stories, they don't question God/Jesus. They don't give Him a lot of excuses. They don't wait for the right time. They just do what He says. Can I be frank? A majority of the time, I would have to say that I am not that quick to obey. Sure, if it's something that's easy or doesn't take me out of my comfort zone. Then I'm quick to obey. But if it's something that might be hard or include struggles or something that I'm not comfortable with? Well, then I take my time. 

God wants us to trust Him enough to obey Him NO. MATTER. WHAT. He wants us to enthusiastically obey Him with our whole heart and soul. What He asks us to do may not be easy, friends, but we can trust Him. He deserves our obedience. I pray that all of us will be enthusiastic in our obedience to Him!

For the page,  I used the following Sweet n Sassy Stamps: Outline Alpha, All Your Heart, Chunky Alpha, Scribble Flowers, Just Be, and Fantastic Flowers. I used watercolors for the background and a white Sharpie pen to color in/highlight the words.

Fantastic Flowers was released this month and I've enjoyed using it. Here's another page using another of the flowers from the set.

Have a blessed day! Andrea

Jesus Loves You...No Matter What!

Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22:60-62

We all know this story. Peter denied that he knew Christ and followed Him. Three times Peter denied Jesus. And we ask ourselves, "How could he do that?" And, yet, if I'm honest with myself, I should ask myself how many times I've denied Jesus myself. I love that we see the ups and downs of Peter in the Bible because it gives me hope! God can still work through all my ups and downs!

What I love about this passage is that after Peter denied Jesus and the rooster crowed, Jesus turned and looked at him. With judgment? No, I think He looked at Peter with love and compassion. He knew Peter would deny Him before Peter did it. But He also knew what Peter would go on to do in His name. We all fall. We all turn away from God. But He died for us anyway! We have a truly amazing God!!

And coming full circle, John 21:15-17 tell us how Jesus restored Peter. "So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep."

Jesus gave Peter three chances to declare his love for Him. He wanted to restore Peter. And He wants to restore us too. Don't run from Him. Instead run to Him. He will meet us with open arms because He loves us no matter what. 

I journaled this page in my interleaved Bible. For the page, I used watercolor for the background and a white sharpie pen for the highlights. I copied the rooster from an online image and drew him with Micron pens. The Sweet 'n Sassy Stamp sets I used are: Shake It Off Caps and Shake It Off Lower Alphas, Chunky Alpha, Rebecca Script, Just Be, and His Name.

  

  

Remember He loves you more! Blessings, Andrea 

Give Thanks to Him

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. Psalm 100:4

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends! I hope today finds you full of love, joy, and thanksgiving to our great God. I love Thanksgiving, but we don't need an official day to give thanks! We can do this on our own each and every day. In addition to Psalm 100:4, many verses tell us to do exactly that! Here are a few:

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name. 1 Chronicles 16:8

It can be hard to be thankful during difficult times or in circumstances we don't understand. It can be hard to be grateful when we don't see God in a situation. But, rest assured, even if we don't see Him, He is there. I have told my kids many times, "Be thankful for what you have, not unhappy about what you don't." I have to remind myself of that as well! Sometimes the complaints get a hold of me. That's when the "Note to self" comes into play. It's hard to complain when I am full of gratitude. So that is my goal each day- to be thankful and to bless His name! The following is a prayer I found a few years ago. I don't know the original author, but it says what I feel.

Thank You, God, for giving me another year of life. Thank You for all the experiences of this past year; for times of success which will always be happy memories, for times of failure which reminded me of my own weakness and of my need for You, for times of joy when the sun was shining, for times of sadness which drove me to You.

For this page, I used the following sets: All Your Heart, Just Be, Chunky Alpha, and Note This. 

  

May you have a blessed Thanksgiving and be grateful for all you have! Andrea

We are free!

Hello everyone, Lucinde here! I want to share another bible journaling page with you today. We just celebrated Easter and I want to take a closer look at some words Jesus spoke a while before He was crucified. And this weekend, at Easter, I was reminded of these words from John 8:34-36.

“Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (NIV)

Jesus died on the cross for us and I can’t thank Him enough for it. But there are still times I tend to try and save myself. There are days when I feel like a slave to sin and I can’t save myself. Luckily Jesus took all of my sins on Him and He was the one that saved ME. It’s so unbelievable that someone would take all the blame for everything I’ve ever done. But Jesus did. He set us free. So this page reminds me of that fact; Jesus set us free, we are no longer slaves but we became the children of the one true King!

For this page I used three stamp sets:
Note This
His Wings
Just Be

I stamped the words and images with a black waterproof ink and colored the background with watercolors. I wrote a couple of words with a black pen to complete my sentences.

Blessings,

Lucinde