Delighting in Jesus, Y'all!

Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in His salvation. 

My whole being will exclaim, "Who is like You, Lord?" 

Psalm 35:9-10a

Hello Friends!

I was born and raised in Texas. And let me tell you, the summers in Texas are HOT! Nothing tastes better to me than a cold glass of sweet tea. Yum! Have you had southern sweet tea? If you haven't, let's just say, we like our sugar. Southern sweet tea is big on sugar- the more, the better! LOL Well, in my life- and I bet yours too- the more Jesus, the better!

These verses speak to rejoicing and delighting in Him. I looked up the definition for delight: to take great pleasure, to give joy or satisfaction. Don't those definitions sum up nicely what we have in Christ? We can take pleasure in Him. He brings us joy and satisfaction like nothing else. Just like sugar sweetens tea, Jesus sweetens our lives. Verse 10 asks who is like the Lord. Resoundingly, the answer is NO ONE! No one can compare to Him. When I feel like I'm missing something, I can't find  lasting satisfaction in any worldly thing. But I can find that lasting satisfaction in Him. He's just waiting for me to come to Him and ask. He's waiting for you too. And, He'll never turn us away.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You want to be part of my life. Thank You for the joy You bring me and for the satisfaction I can only find in You. There is no one like You, Lord. I praise You always. In Your sweet name, Jesus, amen.

I had a lot of fun with this page. I absolutely LOVE the new Life & Lemons set designed by Rebecca Rios. It was part of the June release and is SO much fun to use! I also used two other favorite Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: All in All and Texture Tiles 4.

I started out by using the plaid stamp to stamp my tablecloth. Then I stamped my tea glass. I used watercolor crayons to paint the tea and background. I always paint the background first and then stamp the lettering on top of the watercolor for a couple of reasons: 1) that way the lettering pops since it isn't dulled by a thin layer of watercolor, 2) it helps the black ink not bleed through or shadow. For the lettering, I also masked a couple of stamps- the "sugar" and "sweet tea" stamps. To mask, I just use left over label paper that's sticky on one side. I cover the words that I don't want inked with the label paper, ink the stamp, then remove the label paper and stamp. It helps make your stamps a lot more versatile! I finished the page by highlighting the letters in "Jesus" with a white pen. And finally, I stamped the lemon on label paper, cut it out and added it to the glass.

Delight in Him, my friends. And enjoy some sweet tea too!

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Got Lemons???

John 16:33

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world." 

Hey all of you lovely readers! I'm finally back! :)

I took a little break from the blog after having our third precious baby girl. She's almost 2 months old now so things are still pretty crazy, but I missed journaling in my bible and spending time in the word and with this wonderful community. So, I'm easing my way back in slowly :)

Have you ever had a bible verse that just seems to pop up repeatedly during certain times in your life? Well I occasionally do, and John 16:33 has been one of those verses lately. It's almost like God keeps throwing it out there as a reminder for me...."Hey Stephanie, don't forget!" As some of you know, I unexpectedly lost my father back in January. Unexpectedly is an understatement. Receiving that news completely knocked the air out of my chest and the feet out from under me, literally. I couldn't believe it, and honestly, I'm still struggling to believe it almost 5 months later. 

I have never lost someone that close to me before, so learning to cope and heal has been difficult. So needless to say, that was a HUGE lemon I was handed this year, along with a few others. You know know that old saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!", well, I'm not really a huge fan of lemonade, so I prefer to add them to my sweet tea! I do live in the Carolinas after all! If you don't love tea, you aren't from around here. :) After my dad passed, I had a few people tell me that something good will come out of this. That's a really hard pill to swallow when you are overwhelmed with grief and honestly, I'm still having trouble seeing what good could possibly come from it. But, I haven't given up.

John 16:33 says:

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world." 

Right here, Jesus tells it like it is. No sugar coating it. We will have troubles, disappointment, heartbreak and struggles, He promises that. But he encourages us and tells us not to worry, because He has conquered the entire world, and we can be strong and conquer anything the world has to throw at us, through Him and Him alone. Jesus is our rock, and he wants us to lean on him when we are struggling and feel weak. He can restore our strength and build us up stronger than before. Now, I'm FAR from perfect, so I haven't mastered this concept in the slightest. But it does bring me comfort when I'm upset. 

Life has handed me some lemons this year, 

but I'm brewing some sweet tea and I'm throwing those lemons in there

 and trying to make the best of it!!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

IG: faith.and.creativity

Check out the fun stamp sets I used to create this page!

All In All

Life and Lemons

Whimsy Bouquet

To Bring Him Glory

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." 

1 Peter 4:12-14

One of my favorite Bible stories is found in John 9. While Jesus is in the midst of His earthly ministry, He and His disciples pass by a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus’ disciples assumed, as was common at that time, that either the man or his parents had committed a grievous sin and the man’s blindness was a direct result of that sin. When they asked Jesus what sin had been committed, Jesus responded with this shocking statement:

“Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

Wait. What?!

You mean to tell me that neither this man nor his family had committed any sin and yet he was afflicted with condition? Blind. No light, no color, no hope. A burden, a beggar, a blight on his community. No possibility of a future through no fault of his own.

It’s at that point that Jesus stoops to the ground, makes a clay paste, coats the man’s eyes with the paste, and commands him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. Upon exiting the pool, the man is miraculously healed. He could see! The man then proceeds to proclaim the miracle to all who will listen. In fact, he proclaims it so much, it angers the local Pharisees who question both the man and his parents over this miracle. The man’s response to the Pharisees’ questioning just cracks me up! He repeatedly says, “I don’t know who Jesus is, whether He is a common sinner or the Son of God; all I know is that I was blind and now I can see. He healed me.” (JRV, Janelle Rodriguez version 😉).

“But that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

The blind man endured a lifetime of hardship for this one encounter with Jesus. A chance to be healed and to bring God glory through his healing. A chance to show for all of eternity what God can do and continues to do. A chance to show future generations that some of our greatest blessings come through our most difficult trials. Our lowest points, our suffering, our most difficult trials give God the opportunity to be made manifest in our lives. We do not always know the purpose of our hardship. We cannot understand the mind of God. All we can do is remain faithful and continue to bring him glory.

There is so very much to be learned from this short story in John. Christ’s love, His compassion, His healing – but most of all His glory. Don’t be surprised or discouraged when you go through trials, but rejoice and be glad when God’s glory is revealed. 

I had a lot of fun stamping and creating ephemera for this page. 😊 I used the adorable Life & Lemons stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I first stamped the lemons on the background; then stamped the lemon and leaf, lemon slice, and lemon mason jar on regular cardstock paper, colored with ink and colored pencils and fussy cut them all out. I then tied a little piece of ribbon around the mason jar, inserted the lemon slice on the lid of the jar, and taped all the ephemera to the page. I then finished my stamping, highlighting, and added some splotches of color to finish out the page. So fun!

 

Would you take a minute today to read the story of the blind man in John 9 and pray for God's glory to be revealed through your life?

Much love in Christ, 

Janelle

@journalingjoy