Grace, More Than Abundant

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:12-14

Hi Friends!
Grace, what an amazing gift it is. Grace can be defined as God's love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. (Packer, J.I. Knowing God) This is exactly what Paul was talking about in these verses. Before Paul had his encounter with Jesus, when he was known as Saul, he did everything in his strength to oppose Jesus. He was highly educated and a self-righteous member of the Pharisees. Saul was so zealous for God that he persecuted the church. 

And then he met Jesus. And Jesus changed his life. Jesus showered him with grace that was more than abundant to bring him to salvation. It didn't matter what Saul had done. What mattered was what His Savior had done. Jesus loved him, met him where he was, forgave him, and covered him with His grace and righteousness. And Paul was never the same. So I stamped a quote on the page from Anne Lamott, "Grace meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us." So true for Paul. So true for us. Yes, the good news is...Jesus does the same for us that He did for Paul. Yes, you and me!

Sweet friend, it matters not what you have done. Jesus loves you. He pursues you. He wants to cover you with His grace and righteousness. Not because you deserve it (nor do I), but because of who He is. Turn to Him. Repent, and ask His forgiveness. Put your faith and love in Him, and you will be covered in His grace which is more than abundant. More than abundant, rest in that sweet truth.

Page Details:
This simple page was stamped with the followings sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps: Grace So Amazing and Shake It Off Caps. I used pigment ink pads as they tend not to bleed through Bible pages.

Jesus' grace is there for you. Take it. Have a blessed week. Andrea

Leaving and Camping...

Hi friends,

Have you ever read a list in the Bible that repeats similar information over and over again and just skipped to the end? I know I have, but I need to be reminded that all these details are in Scripture for a reason.

In Numbers 33 there is a record of all the places the Israelites left and camped on their journey from Egypt to the edge of the Promised Land, and while all these names of places may seem irrelevant to us today, the repeated refrain of 'they left... and they camped...' got me thinking about a couple of important things.

Firstly, the Israelites went where God let them. They were willing to pack up and leave when God moved them on. I think the camping imagery is great here, as there is a constant element of being in transistion, not settling down, but always being ready to move. Secondly, the presence of God went with them to all these places, protecting them and providing for them. It is a good reminder that no matter where the will of God may take us, the grace and protection of God will always be upon us.

This page and message is one that means a lot to me personally at the moment as we contemplate a potential move away from all that is comfortable and known, but very much feeling that God is leading us in it. Whenever I think about the difficulties surrounding the move, I have to remind myself that God who calls us is faithful to protect and provide for us, and that our responsibility is simple obedience.

I used the new With Love Alpha set on this page for the words 'left' and 'camped' and used Bitty Minnie Alpha for the other words, then stamped the text from the new Grace so Amazing underneath (the perfect message for this page!). I stamped the cute caravan from Happy Camper and coloured with watercolours and sponged some yellow ink in the sky to create a sun effect. Here are the sets I used:

I hope you are encouraged to step out and go wherever God may be leading you (even if it isn't a move of physical location, sometimes it's another move of obedience that God is requiring). And remember: wherever God guides, he provides.

Be blessed...

x Amy x

Remind Me of Your Love

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you with his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

I spent the latter part of 2019 reading through Heidi St. John’s book Becoming MomStrong and let me tell you- it convicted me, encouraged me and gave me some valuable insight into this whole motherhood thing. I don’t know about you, but often times I feel like a big, fat failure. Living up to the expectations that I see on social media often leaves me feeling like I am not enough or doing enough with my kids. In the opening chapters of her book, Heidi dispels these myths and challenges us, as moms to take those struggles and those battles that we face and turn them into a fierce determination to point our kids to Christ. In the midst of everything that we face, we have to let our kids see us trusting God, leaning on Him in the struggles and praising Him no matter our circumstances. Is it easy? No. But the reward for sowing seeds in the lives of our kids is completely worth it. Sometimes it’s going to drain the life out of us. It’s going to leave us feeling empty with nothing else to give. And we need our Savior to remind us of who He is and how much He loves us. Heidi pointed us to Zephaniah 3:17 and then personalized the verse for those in the midst of this battle:

•          To the mom who feels abandoned, God says, “I am living among you”
•          To the mom who is battle worn, God says, “I am your mighty Savior”
•          To the mom who wonders if she is enough, God says, “I delight in you”
•          To the mom who is afraid, God says, “Lean in to me, I will quiet you with my love”
•          And to the mom who has never felt the affirmation of an earthly dad, God says, “I rejoice over you with singing.”

From time to time, we all need God to remind us of His love. We all need Him to remind us that He is there and that he cares. So for all you ladies out there, whether you are a mom or not, rest in the promise that God is there. He loves you and He rejoices over you with singing!




Page Details

I started this page with some layers of watercolor in a few shades of pink and purple. I then stamped the crosses and hearts from Texture Tiles 5. I stamped and cut out a few hearts from Forever and Always and then stamped the words “Remind me of your love” using With Love Alpha and BittyMinnie Alpha. I made my own tag with the Texture Tiles and Bitty Minnie Alpha and the remainder of the quote above is written on the back of the tag, which is adhered to the page with some washi tape. I finished the page by adding a few strips of washi to the top and bottom, a tab and the date. 

Yahweh Tsidkenu - the LORD our Righteousness!

Hello Tuesday folks!

How are things coming in the new year?  There's a feeling of excitement when I think of passing not only from one year to another, but from one DECADE to another.  It's like the Lord has given us another start of starts - a fresh beginning that could potentially usher in more of His glory!  I don't know if that's doctrinal, as I'm unable to find anything that supports this in the Bible.  But I DO know that the Lord is a God of beginnings.  A God of startING.  The One who promotes turning and returning to Him at all times.  
With that in mind, I am praying for a love for Him that supersedes all others in my heart.  A love for Him that will guide me fruitfully, productively, and purposefully in being renewed day by day for His glory.  Leaning daily on His the effectual work of the Gospel, I am promised everything I need "for life and godliness," for His glory. (2 Peter 1:3)  Additionally, forming habits of praying to Almighty God has the reward which is far greater than I can anticipate or think, for His glory! (Ephesians 3:20-21) 

Here's to 2020!

I did something a bit different in my Bible journaling today.  In addition to the page I colored with watercolor, stamps and a tag, I made a duplicate tag to put into a "loved" Bible which I'm giving to a young lady in my youth group.  

It's been awesome to be able to learn something in God's Word and transfer it over to a compact Bible.  Today's insert for the smaller Bible is simply a tag with similar Gospel encouragement on the back.  (Stamps I used for the whole project are listed below)

I'm working in Jeremiah today.  Why Jeremiah?
Well, it all started with Matthew 10:21, actually.  Reading up on the "rich, young ruler" caused me to search out studies and commentaries on such a verse, which brought me to a wonderful sermon by George Whitefield.  Within this sermon is a well-rounded understanding of the righteousness of Christ, which touched a bit upon the account of said young man in Matthew.  His main focus was in Jeremiah and on the substantial, satisfactory covering of Righteousness provided in Jesus Christ:
"'Behold, the days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’" (vv. 5-6)

Around the Advent/Christmas season, there was a lot of talk about this Heir to the throne of David; a Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Everlasting Father; a Son born to a virgin whose name would be "God saves."  When doing a live Facebook feed back in December, I was thinking on how appropriate it truly is to continue reading about and thinking on these things, primarily as it pertains to preaching God's goodness and Gospel over our lives.  

There is a lot packed into these 2 verses, one of which is the expectation of a coming King - Jesus Christ - who will execute judgment, heal the land, restore the Kingdom.
But until then, there is something else of HIGH and WONDERFUL importance tucked away for us.  Something that keeps.  Something that holds.  Something that carries until our King returns.
"The Lord Our Righteousness."  
I used to think that the names of God were neat; the fact that He had multiple titles meant that He is that much more, better and greater than we are.  Truth is, that does make Him more, better, greater, wonderful, and the wonder of this this name, "Yahweh Tsidkenu," means so much more than I believe we're able to grasp!
Note: I urge you to hop onto the Sacra Via Scripture and Art Journaling facebook group to see the full live, if you can!

 I don't want to mince words, and I certainly don't want to mishandle the Word of God.  When we speak in terms of the Gospel, it's important to get the truths firmly established for the sake of victorious living as a Christian!  I pray that the Lord will touch you when you read the section of Scripture above and even save time to study it.
Saying all of that, I do pray that the Lord has laid this in front of me, that I should share:
If you are in Christ, HE IS YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Nothing can be further from the Gospel than to say to a follower/believer of Christ, "we must pave our own way; we must pay our own debt; we must do; we must be; we must have..." These are lies crafted by our adversary in an attempt to see us falter and despair as a witness and light for Christ.
When God came as a man - Jesus - taking on the form of humanity, this condescension was a midway point between God's initiation of our redemption plan back in Genesis, and Jesus' final victory over Satan and his forces.  IT WAS MIRACULOUS!  So glorious, all heavenly hosts sang, "Hallelujah" as they heralded the birth of that Christ child!

If you remember back in the garden of Eden, there was a rebellion in the heart of man (and woman) which led to "the fall."  The encounter with our enemy left Eve in a confused state of mind, believing in some way God had shorted or deceived her.  After our parents refused to obey God, there was a resulting shame, guilt and overwhelming sense of nakedness, both literally and spiritually speaking.  This new awareness caused them to hide from that familiar voice they'd originally connected with peace up to this point.  (Genesis 3)
Hidden.
Covered up.
Less exposed.
More concealed.

Futile in the attempts to clothe themselves, they could not hide from Omniscience.
Constrained by His love for them, God made clothes for His image-bearers by way of the very first blood sacrifice.
God covered them.
God clothed them.
God did it.

This was the beginning of a long line of animal sacrifices that would need to be made to atone for sin, as mentioned in the Old Testament writings.  But these, of course, would never be satisfactory or sufficient for all sin, transgression and iniquity in man.
God knew He would provide Himself, for Himself, the very Lamb that would take away the sins of the WORLD!  The Sacrifice would be satisfactory.  The Substitution, pleasing.

Jeremiah speaks highly of this One who would live and die to be the Savior of the whole world.  He calls Him a "Branch" from the royal lineage of David.  One who would bring justice, peace and hope to all of Israel.
Skip ahead roughly 650 years...

The slaughtering of this Holy Lamb of God exacted the wrath of God laid up for humanity for our rebellion.  God turned His face away from the cross, that He may not behold all the sin, death and hell hanging on that tree.  "Once and for all..." scripture tells us, did Christ bleed, die and raise, closing the gap between God and man.  (Hebrews 10)

What a wonderful Savior!
Do you know what this means?
This means that upon believing that Jesus indeed took even YOUR sins to the cross with Him, you are officially covered by the adequate clothing made by God Himself!  The spotless skin of the Sacrificial Lamb conceals you.  You are transformed into a new creature, never to be the old again!  You are clothed in HIS righteousness forever and ever, and there is nothing that can strip you of such a garment!
George Whitefield suggests that Christ's Righteousness is the "very garment" that we don as the Bride of Him who created us!
I love that picture, but then again, I'm a sucker for elegance and imagery. :D Plus, it makes even more sweet the Hymnal lyric, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness!"
Amen??

I'm sure I am not doing the sermon or the Scriptures justice of all that this means.  There is so much joy here.  So much peace here.  So much hope, love, victory!
Friend, we battle daily the "flesh" that weakens our witness.  We battle daily the enemy that haunts our minds.
There's a special prayer that J.D. Greear puts out for us to pray that embodies the Gospel:

 - In Christ there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes You love me less.
 - Your presence and approval are all I need for everlasting joy.
 - As You have been to me, so I will be to others.
 - As I pray, I'll measure Your compassion by the cross and Your power by the resurrection.

As we pray it over ourselves often - daily, even - the weight of doubt, shame, defeatedness or discouragement lifts.  We are free in Jesus, to live like Jesus.
God covers us.
God clothes us.
God did it.

Live in victory! We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Rom. 8:37).

Much love,
Deeds

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Grace Upon Grace

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth... And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." - John 1:14-16

This Advent season, I read "The Dawning of Indestructible Joy" devotional book by John Piper. Boy, was it good! The reading for December 25th, Christmas Day, was titled Grace: The Dominant Note of Christmas and it went along so perfectly with the brand new Grace So Amazing January stamp set, I just knew I needed to journal it. Isn't God good like that?! 

Grace is the dominant theme of Christmas. The barn, the manger, the angels, the shepherds, the wise men -- it all comes down to one thing: grace. While the gospel of John does not contain the traditional Christmas story found in the other gospels, the story and purpose of Christmas is weaved throughout the book. After quoting John 1:14-16, John Piper has this to say:

"So the eternal Word of God took on human flesh, and in that way the divine Son of God - who never had an origin, and never came into being, and was God, but was also with God - became man. and in doing this, he made the glory of God visible in a wholly new way. And this divine glory, uniquely manifest in the Son of God, was full of grace and truth. And from that fullness we receive grace upon grace.

That is the meaning of Christmas in John's Gospel. God the Son, who is God, and who is with God, came to reveal God in a way he had never been revealed before. And in that revelation, the dominant note struck is race: from the fullness of that revelation of divine glory, we receive grace upon grace."

Christmas is the human embodiment of grace to a fallen world. Christmas is for salvation. Salvation for you and for me. The birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus provides an inexhaustible supply of grace and truth to the whole world. It never runs out. It's grace upon grace upon grace upon grace - forever. 

  

I used the Grace So Amazing, With Love Alpha, and Folk Art Snowflakes stamp sets to create this page and coordinating journaling card. Just stamps and ink, that's it! Easy peasy, but full of great content and reminders to embrace the grace that has been given to me by the Joy of Christmas. 💙 

  

I pray you cling to the grace that has been provided to you every day this week. 

With love in Christ, 

Janelle

@journalingjoy

Finding our Identity

"But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God."

John 1:12

First weekend of the new year! How crazy is that? Seems like time is just flying by all while I'm standing still. With a new year comes new goals, new resolutions, and for most of the bible journaling community a word to focus on for the year. I spent a lot of time in prayer, reaching out to God to give me a word to focus on. The bible tells us that our wisdom is foolishness to the Lord (1Corinthians 3:19) so I knew I couldn't trust my own intuition, I needed to fully lean on the Lord for guidance. One night while I was driving home this song came on the radio by Casting Crowns that talked about "loving my Jesus" and boy did I cry! I want my whole life to be a reflection of God and His unfailing love. It was like God whispered in my ear, "Identity" and I knew that was my word. After lots of reading and studying verses about my identity in Christ, I came across this verse in John and I had one of those "Praise the Lord!" moments! 

Sweet brothers and sisters in Christ we were born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13) 

Praise the Lord!! May we remember today and everyday that our identity does not come from the world but from God!

Amanda <3

Here's the link to the alpha stamps I used 

https://www.sweetnsassystamps.com/creative-worship-art-deco-alpha-clear-stamp-set/

Here's a link to the song by Casting Crowns

https://youtu.be/KcFKZlxX2Gw

Renew Yourself in 2020!

Click above to see the full process video on my YouTube channel! 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Isaiah 40:29-31

"He gives strength to the faint

and strengthens the powerless.

Youths may become faint and weary,

and young men stumble and fall,

but those who trust in the Lord

will renew their strength;

they will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not become weary, 

they will walk and not faint."

It's here! The year 2020 is finally here! I feel like this year we are just now entering is one of those years they always referred to in movies when referencing the distant future, especially in some sci-fi type movies. So it's kinda crazy to think that we're actually in this moment. The moment when they originally thought we would all be in flying cars... haha!

Anyway, with a new year comes a lot of New Years resolutions. A lot of people make resolutions to create a "better" them. Maybe kick some old bad habits, focus on the things that make them happy, or maybe travel more a learn new things. There are all kinds of resolutions, but what better resolution than to put your faith in God, and rely on him more?! We all try to control our lives WAY too much on our own. He is the puzzle master and knows where all the pieces should fall. If we can trust in Him, he will strengthen us, increase our endurance, make us stronger!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

@faith.and.creativity

With Love Alpha

Women of Praise

Teeny Alpha