Word Art Wednesday: The Wisdom of God (Plus Free Digi Stamps)

I absolutely LOVE the way God works.  I'm amazed again and again at the perfection of His timing and how He weaves His will through every fabric of our lives when we are submitted to Him.  This week's scripture challenge from Word Art Wednesday is amazing to me because the events of my week give testimony to its truth.  This verse was planned for this weeks long ago, my card was made week long ago yet this is all so relevant for the week I've been having.

God's wisdom is pure and it brings peace.  He is gentle when He imparts His wisdom to His children.  We can boldly ask for His wisdom and He gives it liberally.  When His wisdom leads us to difficult places or decisions, He wraps His arms of mercy around us and bears our burdens tenderly like a mother cradles her baby.  He gives freely to all His children, never plays favorites or withholds any good thing from any of His children.  His promises are true, He cannot lie, He will not go back on His Word.  He is utterly and completely trustworthy.  These are the truths communicated in this passage from James.

I've been in the vortex of a whirlwind of decision making this past week or so.  Having discovered a tax law that affects companies that sell digital download products like my store, I was faced with complying and encountering a nightmare of paperwork and worry, or limiting my sales to US customers only which would chop my sales in half, or closing my store altogether.  The requirements of the tax law were impossible to address.  Losing sales wouldn't make any efforts worthwhile.  It appeared my only option was to close my dream store.  I've had disappointments and amazing successes in beginning and operating my store.  But I'd reached a comfortable stride with it and was expanding my customer base at an impressive rate.  God was blessing me through my beautiful Dream Team designers who had become sisters and good friends.  I was having so much fun reaching across the world, literally, and sharing my little images with people from so many different cultures.

This tax is not fair, it impedes free market growth and viability.  It's an insidious move to a global economy and eventually global government to enforce a unified market.  Talk about a monopoly!  This is the tip of a very huge iceberg.  And I'm totally opposed to it politically, economically and spiritually.  But it is also reality.  It's there looming in front of our faces.  And it's forcing me to close down my dream.  But in the whole scheme of things this is a much larger threat to our country and our way of life.  My little business is insignificant in the face of the implications of this tax (VAT-Value Added Tax imposed throughout the European Union countries).  You can read about it HERE if you are interested.  There's actually quite a bit out there about it.)

I knew that God's wisdom was the only reliable source for decision-making I had.  I could read article after article and be more confused about my accountability and risks.  I communicated with other store owners, who were all addressing it differently.  Some were ignoring it, some had never heard about it, some were limiting their customer base, others like me were affected enough that they are shutting down.  I couldn't find consistency in any wisdom I sought through any means.  The only place to go for real wisdom was to my loving Father who knows my future, holds this world in his hand, and holds onto me.  

God's wisdom is real, it's tangible.  We can hold onto it and we can trust it.  In my confusion, only God could sort it out and lead me to the right conclusion.  By the time you read this, my store will be closed.  And as I write and share this story, I have incredible, amazing peace.  That's what we receive when we submit to God's wisdom.  I came back several times to ask Him again..."God are you sure this is the answer?" Each time it was the same.  

With the death of this dream, God has given another.  He planted the seeds for it long before I knew I'd be closing my store.  Several weeks ago, He started putting it into my heart to create an online, interactive Bible study on Facebook.  I put out some feelers to see how many people might be interested.  Long story short...51 participants will begin an incredible journey into the Word of God on January 5.  We are digging into 1 and 2 Thessalonians.  I've titled the study Living by Faith in a Faithless Culture and we will see just how relevant God's Word is as we seek to live in this crazy, mixed up world.  I'm so excited by what God is doing.  And this dream is so big and so exciting, it is overshadowing the little dream I had with my store.  

I know Karen L. will having an amazing devotion for you on the Word Art Wednesday challenge blog and we would LOVE to see your creations this week.  Please come over and see our amazing sponsors and link your project to our page.  We'd be thrilled to have you.   And remember not to hold any dream too closely because God in His amazing wisdom might just hand you an even bigger dream.  

Now...since I'm not selling my images anymore, I'll share them from time to time as FREEBIES on my blogs. Free can't be taxed!!!  Here are the images I used for this card.  Help yourself!