Start Today and Every Day with Jesus

"O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch." -Psalm 5:3

A couple years ago I read an article about successful people making their bed every morning and decided I was going to give it a try. It's important to note that I never made my bed. Not when I was younger and definitely not as an adult. My bed was just as messy when I went to bed as it was when I woke up that morning. But, this article said that the most successful people in the world had a habit of making the bed and I thought, "Why not give it a try?"

The first couple weeks were tough. I usually forgot and had to go make my bed right before I ran out the door for work. But after that, it got easier and easier and I began to fall into a routine. Now, I make my bed every single morning. It's the first thing I do when I wake up and I don't feel like I can get on with my day until my bed is made. It sounds a little weird, I know, but it makes me feel like I've accomplished one task first thing in the morning and I can't do anything else until that one thing is done. I don't know that it's made me more successful in life in general 😅 but it has made me more productive in the morning. 

Thinking about how consistent I am with this morning habit has convicted me in my morning prayer life. Am I this diligent in spending time with Jesus every morning? Am I this committed to speaking to Him in prayer, and hearing from Him through His Word every morning? Oftentimes the answer is simply, 'no, I'm not.' 

Spending time with Jesus to start my day is far more important than making my bed and has eternal significance; yet, I sometimes feel like it's a chore that can be pushed down on my list of things to do for the day. I took the time and effort to create a habit to make my bed - should I not also take the time and effort to create a habit spend time with my Lord in the morning?

How about you? Do you have a habit of starting each and every day with Jesus? We are only halfway through the second month of the year. It's not too late to start creating a habit of spending time in prayer and in the Word every morning before you head out the door. Will you join me in creating a habit to start each day with Jesus? 🌞

Page Details

I used acrylic paint, stamps, printer paper, colored pencils, and a stencil to create this page. I painted the background with acrylic paint. Once dry, I used a star stencil and sponged over the background with Distress Oxide in Wild Honey. I stamped the page title and sun rays on the page, then stamped the Bible and clock images on plain printer paper, colored with colored pencils, fussy cut and taped them to the page. 😊

Here is the link to the brand, new Good Morning stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I'm loving it!! 💛

May we all start each and every day with Jesus this week. 🌄

Janelle

@journalingjoy

I Prayed for You Today

Good morning, sweet friends, it's such a joy and pleasure to be here with you again!


Today is a short blog post, but one that I wanted to send as an encouragement.  Every week in the Creative Worship Prayer Warriors group, a good number of us rallies together to bless the name of the Lord.  Every person there is in turn blessed by the communal support and value of being a sister in the Lord - a sister under One Heavenly Father.

Tim Keller writes something truly amazing about this connection that we have - in Christ - as we lift our voices, crying out to God in this very unique and specialized form of communion:
"When we believe in Jesus, we are united to Him.  We are "in Him" as Paul says repeatedly.  This means that what is true of Jesus is true of us.  Because He has the perfect and secure access of an obedient child to the Father, so now do we."
And more, "When we pray in Jesus' name, therefore (don't you love how Tim Keller writes so eloquently???), we do so with supreme confidence and yet humble dependence on unmerited grace." (Prayer, p. 106)
He's saying that when we pray, there is intimacy with God the Father Himself because of our connection to Christ.  Ones who are written in the Book of Life, engraved on the palms of His hands, have unique and intimate fellowship with Him who created us - Him who spent precious blood for the souls of us all - our Heavenly Father.

We are not just saying words; we are speaking a different language.  This language that can only exist in the perfect connection between us and God.
Prayer is one of the most potent and powerful methods of communication; and we should never stop praying. 

Pray for each other.
Pray for your friends.
Pray for your mailman.
Pray for your neighbor.
Pray for your spouse.
Pray for your kids.
Pray for that one who hurt you.
Pray for that missionary.
Pray for their outreach.
Pray...

"Begin Again"

"In This Together"

Pray.
And don't stop.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace," (Philippians 1:3-7)

Much love,
Deeds
IG: @mercies_journaled
Youtube: Mercies Journaled

The Sweetest Privilege

The privilege of praying for others is one of the sweetest gifts. When someone you know is struggling, carrying their needs to the Lord is a blessing. Not only is it a blessing for them, it blesses the person praying as well.

Paul, the apostle, with Timothy at his side is writing a letter to their brothers and sisters in Colosse. In the greeting of the book of Colossians, starting with verse 2, Paul asks for God to give them grace and peace. Then the next words from Paul’s hands are words of precious encouragement. He tells them “we always pray for you and we give thanks to God.” 

I had to stop right there. Do I ALWAYS pray for my brothers and sisters? Do I always give thanks to God for them?

He goes on to talk about the hope they have of heaven. He tells he has heard such good things about them and the love they have for others. He then says again “we have not stopped praying for you.” He goes on to say he asks God “for complete knowledge of his will and spiritual understanding.” 

Do I pray like that? Do I ask God to grow my brothers and sisters? 

In verse 11, Paul prays they will be “strengthened, and have all the endurance and patience they need.” Lastly he prays that they will be “filled with joy always thanking the Father.” 

Recently a sweet sister of mine was going through a tough spot. The Lord drew me to these verses. I had been praying for her for a couple of years...since right after I met her. 

Now I had the sweet privilege of praying for her to be strengthened, and have patience. I got to pray for her to have wisdom in some decisions she needed to make. Most of all I prayed that she would be filled with joy and that she would always be thanking the Father. 

Who has the Lord put on your heart today that you needs your prayers? It’s a sweet privilege. Don’t miss your opportunity! Remember the example of Paul.

“So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father..”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1:9, 11-12a‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Art behind the story:

For the background, I used distress inks and the smooshing tecnique. The flowers are the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set of the month called Doodle Florals.  Like I often do, I stamped them on card stock, colored them with a water brush and distress ink, then fussy cut them. The word "remember" is from the set called Note This. 

If you're interested in this technique, be sure to join the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps VIP Facebook group.  I'll be doing a LIVE there at the end of March to show how to do this.  Would love for you to join us!

Until next time,

Gayle 

Patio Ponderings

Prayer cards

Hey Hey Hey!! It's finally February and the new stamp releases for this month are some of my favorites! Today I am sharing prayer cards I created for prayers I would like to consistently pray over my hubby.

To begin I cut down a few pieces of white cardstock into tags. I dusted off my gelatos (it has been way too long since I used mine they are beginning to dry out0 and pulled out the Always and Forever stamp set. For this beautiful, abstract watercolor background I scribbled my gelatos onto my glass work surface and spritzed them with water. I then started with the largest heart base I dipped it into the wet gelato and stamped. This creates an interesting imperfect watercolor look. To fill in more of the background I used the smallest heart. Once my tag had fully dried I added my prayers and stamped husband on the bottom so when flipping through my tags I can quickly find specific prayers.

I love to pray over my husband and children, but often I find it hard to get started. I love having scripture based prayers that I can use to lift up my family and use as a jumping off point to deeper and more specific prayers. February is the prefect time to shower your family with love, and I can't think of a better way then to pray for them. I am planning to add prayers for my children, friends, and even World events and leaders. How neat would it be to make a simple tag like this write a prayer of encouragement and tuck it with a coffee gift card under someones wipers on their car, or slip it into their coat pocket. Spread love and encouragement this February! Join our Facebook groups (creative worship, sweet n sassy stamps) and share your Bible pages and any projects you are creating to shower our world with love.


Love and Prayers,
Jenn @creativegurl85

Prayer 101

It’s great to know that when we need answers, we have a great textbook readily available to us. In the book of James, we are told if we need wisdom, all we have to do is ask. 

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Learning about prayer is the same way. It’s all laid out for us in the gospels. Jesus teaches a model prayer often referred to as the Lord’s Prayer. We often want to jump straight to it, but Jesus prefaces it with some specific instructions.

He tells us in Matthew 6:6:

“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” (MSG)

I love that He is so specific.

“Find a secluded place.”

“Just be there simply and honestly.”

Then, when our posture, position, and place is right, He tells us that “the focus will shift from you to God.”

Without the preparation, our hearts and minds will still be on #allthethings instead of where it needs to be: on Him.

With my word of the year being “abide”, I knew that prayer would be an integral part of it. Not only is the Lord teaching me to draw near and abide with Him, He is showing me clearly just how to do that.

My hope is that this will challenge you to examine your posture, position, and place as you spend time with the Lord in prayer.  

Art behind the story:

With the release of Filagree Hearts this month as the stamp of the month at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, I knew I wanted to use this set everywhere!

The background was done with a wet on wet watercolor technique, and then the additional visual texture was added with stamps from that same set, as well as another favorite Grunge Elements 2.

I stamped several Filagree Hearts on paper and fussy cut them.  I wrote the verse out on some patterned cardstock, and then added the "aged" look with the Grunge Elements 2 and pens.  

Lastly, I added the title with the Happy Alpha and finished it off with a fabric clip and some washi tape.

Hope you enjoy all the new releases this month, but mostly, I pray that using them to create for Him will be precious time well spent.

Until next time,

Gayle

Patio Ponderings

Pray for our Leaders

It's something I'm terrible at. I really only think to do it when there is a special event or when the pulpit leads me to. But according to the first few verses of 1 Timothy 2, it IS something I should be doing. I should be lifting up those above me in leadership & those in high positions. My president, my pastor, my boss, my husband. Even if I don't agree with their decisions. *gulp* Especially in these uncertain times leading up to another presidential election, I should be asking God to give those important people wisdom.....that we might live in peace. Because when our leaders make wise decisions, hopefully some "good consequences" will flow down to my life as well.

I used the His Wings set to create a colorful feathered background. I think it's a perfect backdrop and adds interest to the page, while tying in with old Mr. Owl. He reminds me to pray for wisdom for my leaders! Be blessed, y'all!