Everything is Beautiful in Time

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God's purpose is that people should fear him. What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again." 
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

I'll be honest with you.... Ecclesiastes has never been one of my favorite books of the Bible. In fact, I really never much cared for it. Psalms and Proverbs, yes, definitely. New Testament, for sure. Even the Old Testament historical events, super interesting. But Ecclesiastes? It just always seemed so depressing. Everything in life is meaningless, without a point. Nothing is new under the sun. It just makes life seem so, well... futile. 

Then I was chatting with one of my Bible study friends and she told me that Ecclesiastes was her favorite book. You can imagine my reaction. ("It's your favorite book?! What?? Why???" 🤯) She then proceeded to share with me all the reasons why she loved the book, and that one conversation changed my view completely. This time, I had a totally different mindset as I went into studying Ecclesiastes.

"Solomon set out to look for answers in wisdom - by which he meant human wisdom that excluded answers in light of eternity. This is the wisdom of those who guide us to a better life in the here and now; how to live a healthier, happier, ore prosperous life. This wisdom has value and many lives would be better for following it, yet it excludes a true appreciation for eternity. This wisdom has no true answer for the meaninglessness of life. It only shows us how to live our meaningless lives better." (David Guzik)

In all the times I read Ecclesiastes, I focused on the meaninglessness of it all. If you're poor, life is meaningless (and really hard). If you're rich, life is meaningless. If you're foolish, life is meaningless (and really, really hard). If you're wise, life is meaningless. It all seemed so meaningless to me. What really is the purpose of life?? But what I failed to take into account was that this was Solomon's under the sun viewpoint. He was looking for the meaning and purpose of life on earth. As a child of God, I have a decidedly different view than the under the sun view. Everything in life, from the most mundane of daily tasks, to the biggest, most publicized stage has meaning if done with eternity in view (1 Corinthians 3, 23-33; Colossians 3:17). 

Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 tells us that life continually repeats itself. Everything that has been done before will be done again. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Life seems to be monotonously the same, century after century, generation after generation. Fun, right? However, followers of Jesus have a life filled with new things: new life, new creation, new community, new help, new covenant, and a new hope. Hope that if things have been done before and people made it through, so can we. We are not alone in the struggle of life. There is nothing that I have gone through or am going through that others have not gone through. There is a certain level of comfort in that fact. 

Ecclesiastes 6:18-20 tells us that we should be satisfied with the goodness of life. Wealth and the capacity to enjoy it is a gift from God. Solomon says that it is "good and fitting for one to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life." I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I take life too seriously - I work too hard, I worry to much, I stress about the smallest things. If that is you too, stop it! Sure, parts of life can be extremely difficult, but it is God's gift to enjoy the good in life. Our lot in life may be different, but we all have something good worth enjoying. Don't be so busy toiling under the sun that you don't enjoy the gift God has given you - life. 

"I have seen the God-give task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. he has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." - Ecclesiastes 3:10-11

We all struggle with the purpose and meaning of life and want to feel like what we do matters. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that God has put eternity in our hearts. He has made us with the desire to find meaning and purpose in life. Life only becomes meaningless when we seek wisdom, pleasure, and satisfaction under the sun only. It's when we fix our eyes on eternity that our purpose and meaning become clear.

Viewpoint matters. Reading and studying Ecclesiastes with a different view enabled me to enjoy the book, and honestly filled me with hope and joy. I can do life. I can do life well. I can have balance. I can have fulfillment. I can enjoy the life God has given me. 

**I have a ton more notes on Ecclesiastes that I would love to share with you, but I couldn't fit them all here! I will do a flip through of my study of Ecclesiastes in my Instagram stories, and will save them as a highlight under Bible Study. If you have time, hop on over to my IG to check it out. 😉

(A huge thank you to my friend, Alyssa, for helping me gain new perspective on this important book 🧡)

Page Details

I had so much fun creating this page with Distress Inks and stamps, and I just love how it came together 🦋 First, I stamped the butterflies and flowers on vellum and colored with colored pencils. Then, I punched out a 2" circle on regular printer paper and lightly stuck it to the page to mask off the circle background, which fit my butterfly phrase just perfectly. I then blended the background, blended the Leaf Branch stencil, and used the Script background before removing the 2" circle. I then finished my title stamping and used double sided tape to adhere the vellum butterflies and flowers. Voila!

   

If you're like me and have found Ecclesiastes to be one of your least favorite books of the Bible, I encourage you to go back to it with a different point of view. You may find it to be more hopeful and meaningful than you originally thought. 😉

Much love in Christ, 

Janelle

@journalingjoy

Clothe Yourselves with Humility...

Hi friends,

I wonder how much time each of us spends thinking about what to wear when we get up in the morning. There are often so many factors at play: am I working or resting? Do I need to look smart or sporty? Is there a dress code to consider? What do I have that is clean? The list goes on. I wonder whether we spend any time thinking about what spiritual clothing we are putting on?

In the letter of 1 Peter, the apostle gives some instructions to both leaders and those they lead, and those instructions are vital for us to hear. But he follows this with a word for everyone, no matter their position of authority: ALL of you are to clothe yourselves with humility. The thing about humility is that is doesn't come naturally to the vast majority of us. So therefore we need to be active in putting it on. Just like we take care (much of the time) to choose our physical clothing, we need to take the time and care to think about how we 'wear' humility in our daily lives. What does it mean to be clothed with humility at home, at church, in the workplace, driving the car, in the grocery store? It means honouring one another and treating others as more important than ourselves. It means laying down our rights and preferences for the sake of others. That kind of clothing can be uncomfortable at first. It might scratch a bit at our 'skin'. But the more we wear it, the more used to it we become, until it becomes our favourite outfit (at least that's what hoping - I'm nowhere near there yet!).

I used the new Spotted stamp set to create the background on this page, stamping with different colours after using gelatos to add colour to the page. The adorable animals are from Warm Winter Friends, coloured with alcohol markers, cut out and stuck on the page. I used a few different alphabet sets for the text: Bitty Minnie Alpha, Love ya Like a Sister Alpha, Lollipop Alpha, and Skinny Lowercase Alpha.

Let's choose to clothe ourselves with humility daily, and imitate our Saviour Jesus Christ, who was the perfect example of a life lived in humility.

Be blessed...

x Amy x

His Mercy is More

"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Titus 3:4-7

Hello friends! We have been singing this beautiful song by Matt Papa and Matt Boswell in church recently, and it has been stuck in my head for weeks. The lyrics are so lovely:

"What love could remember no wrongs we have done

Omniscient, all knowing, He counts not their sum

Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

What patience would wait as we constantly roam

What Father, so tender, is calling us home

He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Praise the Lord, His mercy is more

Stronger than darkness, new every morn

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

What riches of kindness He lavished on us

His blood was the payment, His life was the cost

We stood 'neath a debt we could never afford

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Praise the Lord, His mercy is more

Stronger than darkness, new every morn

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Praise the Lord, His mercy is more

Stronger than darkness, new every morn

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Our sins they are many, His mercy is more"

I find myself tearing up every time I start to sing the last stanza before the last chorus. 😢 My sins, they are so, so many, but thank God! His mercy is more. 🙌 

I love to journal song lyrics. In fact, much of my Bible journaling revolves around music because it's such an effective way of getting God's Word and truth in my heart and mind. I often wake up for the day with a song already in my head. ♫

If you haven't heard this song before, I encourage you to hop on over to YouTube and give it a listen. (Better yet, download the whole album on Prime Music. It's full of Bible truth in worship 😉)

Page Details

The background of this page was created using gelatos. I did prep the page using clear gesso, then gelatos, then I used a baby wipe and the Make Music stencil to wipe off the gelato background to create the clear music notes. It gave the page a neat negative color effect. The lyrics were stamped using a variety of alpha stamps (my favorites!) from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. 

 

 

I pray you rest in His endless mercy this weekend. Always remember, His mercy is more - more than all your sin, more than all your shame, more than all your regret. More. 💜

Much love in Christ, 

Janelle

@journalingjoy

Be Quick to Listen

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19-20

Hello Friends!

Before I discuss the verse and page today, I want to take a moment to pray for the people of Ukraine and everyone affected. Lord, we know that You are sovereign. What is happening now was not a surprise to You. In fact, You can use it for Your good purpose. Father God, please be with the people of Ukraine. Give them strength, courage, and safety. I pray for the governments of the world, that they will seek Your wisdom, that You will guide them. I pray that Putin will turn to You. I pray that many will be led to You, that they will find Light in this darkness. Help us, Lord! In Jesus' name, Amen.

If only our world leaders and the rest of us would heed this verse, our world would be a very different place. Is this not a perfect verse to guide us in how we relate to others in this day and age? We're all so sure we're right. And, we definitely have to speak our peace. Far be it from us to be silent. We must be heard even if that means yelling over everyone else. And if we do stop talking long enough to actually have a conversation with someone, so often instead of listening to each other, we're just thinking about how we're going to respond to prove them wrong. Can anyone disagree without getting angry these days? It sure doesn't seem like it. 

We are doing the exact opposite of this verse. W are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to get angry. And sadly, believers- true believers and professing believers alike- are often some of the biggest culprits of this. Let's remember Whose name we bear. Yes, we must stand for truth. But we must do it humbly and lovingly and in a way that glorifies Jesus. If we don't, we won't win anyone over to Him.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Watch Your Mouth and God is Love. I used watercolor crayons for the background and colored pencils to color in the flowers.

Pray, church, pray, and listen. Have a blessed week. Andrea

 

Clean the Inside First...

Hi friends,

I must admit, I'm a little pedantic about making sure that cups, plates and cutlery are properly clean before we use them. The idea of drinking out of a cup that still has crusty remains of a previous beverage in it makes me want to gag! It doesn't matter how pretty the mug might be on the outside, if it's dirty on the inside, then I don't want to drink from it. 

Jesus uses this analogy when rebuking the Pharisees in Matthew 23. He tells them that it is pointless cleaning the outside of the cup and dish, while neglecting to clean the inside. This was a reflection of their lives. They made sure the external looked good, right, and proper. They washed their hands in a certain way and tithed exactly the right amount of even the smallest things. Yet on the inside they were filled with greed, self-indulgence, hypocrisy, and lawlessness. Jesus didn't care how beautiful things looked on the outside when the inside was rotten to the core.

It's easy for us to view the Pharisees as the 'bad guys' of the Bible, like the villain in a pantomime. But I think we tend to have more in common with these guys than many of us would care to admit. Just think about the amount of money and time that is spent on the beauty industry, making sure we have the right skin care products, makeup, hair styles, fashion, etc. And then compare that to the time and money spent on caring for our insides - our spiritual health. I suspect that there are out-of-balance priorities that need to be owned and addressed by many of us. Even if it's not an obsession with fashion or beauty, but an obsession with making sure we do the right things externally, so people will think we are 'good Christians.' We may have a list of 'dos' and 'don'ts' that we try to stick carefully to, making sure we tick the right boxes. But even this - the seemingly 'good' activity of a Christian - can reveal a focus on externals rather than internals. We need to pay attention to the health of our heart, our thinking, our interior life. Jesus made it very clear to the Pharisees that he sees straight through outward pretences and sees straight into the heart. And he cares more about what's in there than how shiny we look on the outside.

I combined I Like Big Cups with God is Good to create the mug, colouring the image and the background with watercolours. The text was created using a combination of alpha sets: Happy Alpha, Skinny Minnie Alpha, and Mini Bold Print Alpha. 

Let's be people who pay attention to the inside more than we concern ourselves with external things.

Be blessed...

x Amy x

Let Us Love

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. 1 John 4:7

Hi friends! It's Valentine's Day. And to be honest, I've never really liked this "holiday." I have always thought that it's a made-up, "Hallmark" holiday just so people will spend money on each other. I mean, do we really need a holiday to show our love to each other? I hope not.

But personal feelings aside, I will take this day to talk about God's love and what receiving that love should encourage us to do. God's love is immeasurable. It's never-ending. It's active. It's Jesus hanging on the cross for every single one of us. 

There's a very familiar passage about love in 1 Corinthians:

• Verses 1-3: "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." What these verses are saying is that what we do is not eternally meaningful if it is not done in love. If we are just going through the motions, we need to stop and re-evaluate. God wants us lovingly serving others.
• Verses 4-8a, "Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." When I read these verses, I see Christ's love through and through. It is an amazing love that we can strive for but only achieve through the Holy Spirit.

Since God loves us, we are called to love others. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He said this, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt 22:37-39) God didn't tell us to judge others or tell them all the things they're doing wrong. He told us to love Him and to love others. This love seeks the highest good in the one loved. Our world needs love. Church, we are not doing a good job in loving others as Jesus loves us! I'm not saying we should condone sin. We shouldn't. But we are all sinners. And people will be more open to changing their lives and following Jesus when they're not put on the defensive, when they feel loved. Sinners were drawn to Jesus. Why? He certainly didn't condone their sin. But they felt His love. And that drew them in. Oh, that we might love like that.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: God is Love and Grunge Elements 3. It's a super simple page! I applied distress oxide ink to the page and spritzed it with water. The ink reacts to the water and lightens where the water droplets were. Then, I stamped the verse and images. Journaling pages don't have to be all involved. Simple is good too. Time with God is the best!

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Ears to hear...

Hi friends,

There's a lot in the Bible about hearing and listening. The Shema that the Israelites declare daily begins with "Hear O Israel..." and Proverbs is full of instructions to listen to wisdom and instruction. We find this continues in the New Testament, as Jesus uses a peculiar phrase quite often in the Gospels: "Whoever has ears to hear let them hear."

This might sound a little strange to us as it's not the kind of thing we go around saying. But if you think about it, not everyone who has ears actually hears. There are those who are fully or partially deaf, and those who have selective hearing and choose only to hear what they want to hear. And this applies to the listening that we are to do with our spirit too. Some people are spiritually deaf and cannot hear the words of God as coming from him. And there are some who have selective spiritual hearing - they only hear what they choose to hear. They are not open to hearing those things that challenge them or make them uncomfortable.

Jesus issues an invitation to those who have ears to hear, to hear/listen to his words. This requires both attention and humility. In the midst of our busy lives, we need to make time to slow down, to quiet ourselves, and to pay attention to the words of Jesus. We can't expect for him to blast his words through the noise of our lives with some sort of spiritual megaphone! On occasion, God does speak like that but it isn't the norm. And we need to listen with humility, because the words of Jesus are challenging. If we come to his words with an attitude of superiority or 'togetherness' we will likely be offended, or simply miss the truth of what he is saying. We all have ears, both physical and spiritual, and Jesus is calling us to use those ears to listen to his voice.

I used the new Watch Your Mouth set on this page, along with Peony Cluster, Chunky Lowercase Alpha, and Art Deco Alpha. The background was created with acrylic paints and I coloured with images in with coloured pencils.

Let's be people who use our spiritual ears to listen attentively to Jesus.

Be blessed...

x Amy x