At Your Word

"But at Your word, I will let down the nets." Luke 5:5

Hey all!  Deeds here with a small blog devo. 😁  I channeled all my Sweet n' Sassy goodies for the month of March; all the new releases are shown in this entry including the "Texture Tile" stamps, the "Garden of Grace" printables, and "Go With" stamp set.  I have enjoyed how well all of them harmonize so beautifully on a page!  

||DEVO||

It must have been a bit ridiculous sounding when Jesus (a carpenter) told Peter (an actual fisherman) to try a select "technique" of fishing.  I like to think that Peter would have acted the same way I would have if someone had told me how to do MY job; raise MY kids; hone MY style; enjoy MY hobbies.

Jesus: "Peter, try throwing your net into the water on THAT side."
Peter:  "Lord, ummm, no offense.  I admire you and your skills as a carpenter.  I enjoy hanging out with you, because let's face it, you're fantastically different! But, I'm pretty sure that fishing - as close of a skill as it could be to carpentry - is not something you know anything about.  Maybe leave it to the ones to whom fishing is second nature?"

Jesus: "You'll get fish, I promise."
Peter:  (Chuckles) "Oh, Lord, I appreciate your contribution to my cause.  I'm tired and distraught enough to actually try it your way.  Because you say so, I will throw my nets to THAT side." 

I read a great sermon by C.H. Spurgeon regarding this passage.  He went into great detail about a few things that the simple statement, "At your word, Lord, I will..." carries with it.  

It's not a mere saying; it's not trite, or even stale when Peter says it.  It's huge!  It's actually the attitude of one who even IF he has doubts, he's willing to learn.  Even if he's mildly amused by Jesus' call to trust, he's also curiously drawn into Jesus Himself.  I think that's wonderful.  If we think in any way that we have MORE or even LESS faith than Peter, we don't know Peter very well.  He's prime example of the average person in his or her journey to get to know and love Jesus Christ.

Spurgeon writes that there are 3 implications that come when we say, "At Your word Lord, I will..."  

❶  The Word of Christ is supreme rule of the Christian. When we become Christians, Christ's Word has the overall authoritative position in our hearts.  The way of a Christian is to live according to His word; the position we take in Christ is that of "slave" under a perfect "Master" and "Lord."  We submit to this supreme Authority, and in all we do, live under His Word, which is the Bible. 

❷  The Word of Christ is our sufficient warrant.  Warrant?  For what?  Spurgeon says, "If the Lord Jesus Christ has bidden you do this, you certainly may do it; and if any shall ask you why you believe on Him, this shall be your triumphant answer, 'The King gave me the command to do so.'”
That is fantastic!  The King has given us all liberty to do what He has bid us to do!  I love the thought of being able to proceed with something that I'm called to do, and knowing that with that call comes absolute power and strength from the Lord Himself!  Peter has been told to do something, which then he has the absolute right and expectation of Jesus to go forth AND really catch some fish!  

❸  To keep the Master's Word is to ensure a reward!  The Lord promises reward.  He rewards for those who follow, trust, and act in Him.  If there is any question or doubt as to the legitimacy or certainty of something God is bidding us to do, we have only to remember: doing the Lord's work (whatever ministry we are called to) ensures that one day we will be rewarded for it.  Peter saw reward at that moment following his cast into a lake that he was certain was non-profitable.  We may not see the reward quickly, or in our best estimations, timely.  But know that what the Lord promises, He fulfills.  What does the scripture say?  For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Cor. 1:20)

So, now what?    

As Christians today, we DO have a calling and we CAN DO it in Jesus Christ because He has called us to it.  As tired or as distraught as we may feel, let's not give up, friend!  Don't let the enemy take from you all that Jesus has built up in you to use for His glory!  Believe His Word is supreme authority in your life; remember that we have power because His word is a warrant from a KING; and we WILL be rewarded.  God tells us to continue in faith because our labor (our ministry for the kingdom) is not in vain, and there will be fruit!  

God bless you in YOUR callings!

Deeds (Instagram: @mrcfuldeeds2010, Youtube: mrcfuldeeds)

Exceedingly, Abundantly

Oh boy...

I've got a confession to make. 

I started out Bible journaling saying I was going to try to use a minimal amount of supplies (mainly pens and colored pencils) and here I am today sharing two pages smeared with various colors of paint. 

It's just fun, though...and such a quick way to splash some color onto the page. (And with 4 kids, I have only got short bursts of time to be able to do Bible art.) 

So, apparently my pages aren't going in quite the direction I had imagined, but I am just going to have to be okay with that - because, for now, it's what works for me.

This first page was inspired by one night of reflection and discussion among our church family - looking at a few weeks in particular that just seemed like God was heaping the good onto our little group. Now, the past week or two have been pretty rough going for our group as a whole, but no matter what...God is still good. And he still blesses us "exceedingly, abundantly more" than we could ask or imagine.

The next page came from a night of family Bible reading - these words from Psalm 63 just jumped out at me.

I envisioned a great, beautiful sunburst (perfect for the current Creative Worship Bible Journaling group challenge), but this colorful splatter is just going to have to do.

I used the same two new Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps stamp sets that I used on my previous page (Classy Script Alpha and Outline Alpha) - I just love these together!

I stamped the Outline Alpha onto various washi tape pieces and fussy cut them...I love the finished effect. 

Although I do love how these two pages turned out, I am more excited about how these concepts will be highlighted in my mind for a long time to come.

Thank you for joining me today!

As always, you can find a full supply list and all my posts pertaining to Bible art or journaling here.

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (Classy Script Alpha, Outline Alpha, Seek Him);

His Name

Happy Friday- Jamie here!

What a week it has been, I finally feel like I am coming up for a bit of air.  I don't know about you but when I get stressed out or feeling overwhelmed I often forget that I have someone I can lean on.  The Faith Journey I am on is a very new journey for me and often I have to be very mindful about it.  It doesn't come naturally to me- I wasn't raised in a Christian home, I wasn't raised reading the bible or hearing and learning scripture.  I didn't grow up singing worship music, knowing hymns and having the ability to quote verses from the Bible.  So everything I am doing now, as an adult, is all very new to me.   The comfort level I have between the Lord and myself isn't where I ultimately want it to be.  I often question it and wonder where my place is within this life.  I know this is for now, not forever.  So this journey of faith I am on is a learning process and one I am embracing with a full heart.

Because this week was a struggle, I started in on my typical self destructive spiral of feeling down and doing a little bit of wallowing in self-pity.  I even canceled a Bible Journaling "date" with a friend of mine from Bible study.  How could I not be up for Bible Journaling?  And then I sat down that day, alone, with my bible and really started thinking about my post for this week.  The stamp set I wanted to use is called "His Name" (it should be released next week by SNSS) as I read different verses about all the names we call God, I asked myself "how did I not know all of these names for our Lord"?  That got me thinking about a couple verses I read that mentioned that He knows us each by name/ He has called us each by name.  Shouldn't we be calling Him by name?

During difficult times, and I know we've all experienced this, often God is silent.  We need to remember that even in His silence and even when we are having doubts or questioning- our God is a magnificent God and we can always lean on him.  I find, I tend to focus on what I need from Him, rather than what I am already receiving.  I need to remember that we have to have faith that he knows what is best for us.  I feel like I need to acknowledge Him the way he acknowledges us.  Shouldn't I be calling Him by name and assuring Him that he is mine just as much as I am His?

I wound up calling my friend, whom I cancelled on, and told her what I had come to accept and acknowledge.  I asked for her opinion on this post and she was in tears happy for me.  She said that God works in His time and maybe today was the day that I needed to be with the Lord alone.  Can I tell you how thankful I am for a friend like that?  One day I will, I promise :)

The verse I chose to journal this week is:
Isaiah 43:7 "everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made"

 

To create this page I used the following:

"His Name" stamp set by Sweet' n Sassy Stamps - Will be released by the end of next week.

FaberCastell Gelatos Set - Brights  

Zig Memory System Writer Dual Tip Marker, Black

Uni-Ball Signo Broad Point Gel Impact Pen White

*I made the confetti tape with double sided tape dipped in confetti and stickers on my page tab w/ ribbon.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  Please take the time to make a special acknowledgement to our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Creator, the Messiah, Father and King of Kings- call Him by name :)

Much love and blessings,

Jamie McNamara

IG @JamieJournals 

I'm not sure I'll be able to dry these tears.

Ever have one of those days where it seems nothing is going right, you've made a few missteps and then on top of it all the other shoe seems to drop?  These type of days used to bring me to tears, then to my pajamas & finally, to my couch for days.  Well ladies & gentlemen, I had one of these days yesterday- the difference is, rather than hitting the couch, I hit the Bible!

This week my kiddos are on Spring Break and in all honesty my days are just running together.  I mistakenly put my blog due date for next week and woke up in a panic when I realized yesterday was, in fact, my due date (the first shoe to drop).  Thankfully, Korin, being the amazing person she is- said no biggie go ahead and post tomorrow.  (Again, so humbled and honored to be a part of her team.)  Fast forward to the end of my day (and the proverbial 2nd shoe dropping):
As a mom of tween/teen girls, I keep very close tabs on their phones and social media happenings.  I CAN, WILL and DO at ANY TIME  pick up my kid's phones and go through them.  (As much privacy as I'd like to think they can be responsible for, I know they are children and need a 2nd set of eyes on what they are doing.)  We all make mistakes and it is my job to help them when this happens.  I digress...  While going through my 11 year old daughter's phone I found some pretty disturbing/ mean texts from a couple girls that are very good friend's of my daughter's.  When I asked Brenna what was going on with these messages she simply stated that she has been left out lately, is hurting and pretty upset about it.  She was told that she is not being included because she is not going to the same Jr. High school as the other girls and that these girls are wanting to get to know each other better- this no longer includes Brenna.  UGH- talk about a knife to my heart.  What is even more sad about this situation is this; I was asked by one of these moms to help her out so her daughter isn't home alone during break, due to her being out of town.  What has since happened, is her daughter "picking & choosing" who is helping her mom out, she is deciding who she would like to "hang" with.  This obviously doesn't include our family and our daughter. 

These two events really got me thinking- how can I become a person that can take a crummy day and situation like this and try and make the most of it.  How can I dry the tears of my 11 year old and lead by example, reassuring her things may be hard now but they won't be forever.  I used to be the example of letting it destroy me, stress me out and have anxiety over it for days.  I no longer wanted to be this person or this example to my daughter.  I want to teach her there is somewhere she can go to be uplifted- Of course I turned to my Bible.

John 16:22
"So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you."

I choose Joy.  I choose to remind myself and my daughter that God is Joy and no matter what happens He and I have her back at all times.  No one can take away our Joy- no matter how deep the hurt and pain- as long as we keep God in the forefront of our lives.  Personally, I have to remind myself that in God I can find all the joy, love, inspiration, support, wisdom, encouragement and words I need to get through times of sorrow.  I dedicate this page to my daughter Brenna.  Just like looking at her, when I look at this page it makes me smile and full of Joy!

This page was created using Creative Worship "Note This" by Rebecca Rios (will be available tomorrow-).

I also used flowers from the Free Printable to make my tab and add some dimension to the page.  Katch.me) 

The flowers in the margin were hand drawn and water colored.  (I created this page during a live Periscope @Jamie_Journals and it can be viewed for a few more hours.  If you miss it- all of my Periscope replays can be viewed on katch.me

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this blog- spending time getting to know me and letting me share with you this journey I am on.  It is definitely a marathon not a sprint!

Love, light and blessings!

Jamie McNamara
Instagram: @JamieJournals
Periscope: @Jamie_Journals

To Know Him Is To Love Him...and JOY JOY JOY

Hi there!

My name is Tifany and you can generally find me blogging over at Ink Blots by TRD. Back when I "officially" started my adventures in Bible art & journaling I knew I wanted to keep things simple. In general, that's just how I roll.

Using things like pens and colored pencils come naturally to me - I've been drawing and coloring for as long as I can remember. As someone who has also been papercrafting and stamping for a long time, it just feels right to incorporate some stamps and basic papercrafting supplies as well. I don't intend for the "craft" to take over the focus on what I am reading/creating/journaling about, so I want to keep working with methods and media that feel natural to me. 

Most often for my Bible art & journaling I start with something I have read or heard (in a sermon) and a picture or idea just comes to mind. But other times, I hear a song or think of an idea and want to incorporate it into my Bible. For one of my recent entries, I was looking at the Seek Him stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and the phrase "to know Him is to love Him" just popped out at me. (No, there is no "is" in the set, but the rest of the words are there. The "is" that I used is from The Lord Is Risen.)

1 John 2:3&5 just seemed like the place to put this. It says (NIV):

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.

When I was younger, my obedience to God was generally based in fear, but as I have come to know more about Him I have seen how good and loving He is - and I love that. The stamps here said what I wanted to say, and I didn't want to add a bunch of fuss - just a hint of color with the hearts.

Another of my recent Bible entries came from a thought that came to mind - a song, actually. 

"I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart." 

(Where?)

I wanted to create something in the margins that felt joyful, so I picked two colors (for the dots) that bring me joy and just went to stamping "joy" all over. (The dots are actually created by using the back side of the "o" stamp from the Cold Coffee Alphabet.) The "joy" words are from a stamp set (coming soon!) called Choose Faith and I added a few dots and other accents with a white Sharpie paint pen.

Philippians 4:4 (NIV) says:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Repeat stamping is soothing for me and it was fun to just sing a joyful song as I was stamping away.

May you have a joyful day today!

You can find a list of all the supplies I used and more of my Bible journaling posts over on my blog.

Great Reward

Hi friends! I'm so excited about this new blog & being able to share all of my creative worship ideas with you! One of the greatest blessings I have found about the Bible journaling community is the PEOPLE who are in it. Be sure to invite your friends here so that we can all enjoy not only inspiration, but wonderful company. Also, don't miss our Creative Worship Facebook group where you can ask questions, share your creative pages, and be encouraged!

I'm kicking off the sharing with this page I created with one of our newest releases! I was reading the end of Matthew 19 and was struck by the disciples questioning the high cost of following Jesus.

Everything is hand-lettered and I added a vellum tab at the top using our banners die set. The background was made with my trusty watercolor set. I love the way the yellows & oranges melt together. And isn't that heart banner just adorable??! Let me know if you have any questions!