Keep It Clean!

This is a quick and fun page to represent the book of Leviticus. It might seem that Leviticus is full of detailed, tedious rules and regulations that we can't imagine following today, but we need to remember where God's people were in the process of His purpose. God was creating a people set apart, a people who would be holy because they followed a holy God. As His people, they needed to be pure and sanctified so God established the way for that to occur. Their obedience to rules for clean living would contribute to having clean and pure hearts before the Lord. 

If you were to summarize the book of Leviticus and its application for us today, it would be "keep it clean." The page is intended to be perky and fun, but it actually serves as a sobering reminder to me to live a clean life. Our bodies are houses for God's Spirit. We need to try to keep them free of contamination...a challenge in our culture I know. We need to keep our minds free of contamination. Our thoughts, words and actions all need to reflect that a pure, high and holy God lives within us. The little things do matter and Leviticus certainly reveals this truth. The details of God's commands show us that He cares very deeply about the details of our lives and how we are living them. We cannot look at Leviticus and think it is entirely irrelevant to our culture. We know Christ brought a new covenant and with it God freed us from the law, from some of the former obligations to attain righteousness. Believers were given a new freedom from some of the dietary laws, for example, but they were not excused from keeping themselves clean, pure and uncontaminated. We would probably all do well to continue to follow the health regulations of scripture, not in a legalistic way, but to enjoy the gifts of grace God gives us. We are well served by examining our lives, what we take in mentally, physically and emotionally and making sure we are keeping it clean!

I used some delightful stamps from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps to design the page: How Tweet, Silhouettes: Tall Grasses, Shake It Off Lowercase Alph, Seek Him. I just hand drew the bird bath, stamped the rest, drew the clothesline and punched out the hanging hearts. I used Copic markers for coloring, and Stampin' Up! inks for all the stamping.

To Know Him is to Trust Him

Those who know your name trust in you,    
 for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 9:10

When we have moments of trust-failure it's because we have a temporary lapse in remembering who God is.  When we embrace the character of God, the believer's natural response has to be trust.  Think of the words that describe His character as being completely trustworthy.  What words would you choose?  My word would be faithful.  God has proven Himself faithful to me time and time again.  In fact, He has never been unfaithful to me so why would I not trust Him?  I look back over my life and I know beyond any shadow of doubt that God has been there for me.  And I trust that He will always hold me in His hand, near to His heart.  I know my God and I know I can trust Him. 

  

Usually I design Bible pages by going from scripture to design.  This time I was sorting through my stash of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and came across the set, Seek Him.  I've used it several times before but this time as I considered it the words "know" and "trust" stood out and it didn't take much of a leap from there.  To know Him is to trust Him.  That is a powerfully true statement.  So I went on a scripture search to see if I could find something that said the same thing.  Psalm 9:10 is perfect, "Those who know your name trust in you for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."  And, there is the faithful part in there too!  God will not forsake those who trust Him.  That truth is definitely worth some worship time and some art in my Bible!

I started with the words in the margin and added some hand-drawn birds for decoration.  The flowers here reflect those on the facing page, all from the Scribble Flowers stamp set. The flowers are stamped directly to the page and colored with watercolor paints (Kuretake-36 color set).  The words and birds were colored with Copic markers.

For the right side of the page I added some washi tape to anchor more flowers.  These were stamped on regular computer paper, and painted with the watercolor paints.  Then I cut out the flowers and adhered the centers of the flowers to the page.  The edges lift slightly to add some dimension to the page.  

The sets I used: 

 

 Seek Him by Rebecca Rios

Scribble Flowers by Korin Sutherland

In Grace We Stand

Romans 5:1-2 is one of those brief passages that I've read many, many times but one small treasure gleamed and caught my eye on another reading.  I've just focused on other parts of the verse. But look at this..."Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

What struck me this time was the essence of grace in the life of the believer.  Grace isn't just something God dispenses as we repent.  We STAND IN GRACE.  Grace is a position we hold as a child of God.  Grace will not be withheld from the believer.  We are IN it...forever.  That is why His grace is sufficient.  His grace has covered everything necessary for our salvation.  I saw this as such a powerful part of the verse.  In grace we can stand and seize all God's treasures--life with Him forever, peace now in life and with God.  We don't have to come begging like a pauper.  We are already completely covered by His grace and that gives us the power to stand as victors!  I love it when Bible/Art journaling offers those beautiful moments when scripture comes alive all over again.

 

This is how my page started. I used my new jars of Distress Paints.  Oh, my! They are like melted butter.  LOVE them.  Then I did a little stenciling to add some texture.  Then I got out my Sweet 'n Sassy stash to see what I could find to help me share this amazing passage of scripture.

The verse is expressed in both stamped words/letters and hand-lettering.  All the stamps I used are listed below.

 I had a blast going back to some of my mixed media techiques to do this girl.  She is all from cut papers.  I didn't sketch it out...just started cutting so I'd get this totally casual artsy look to her.  Her hair is painted as is some of the light shading on her skin.  I used a Prisma pen to outline her last. The papers for her clothes are some from my stash.  Her flowers are stamped on painted paper then cut out.  The white outlining is the white sharpie paint pen also available through SNSS.

I can remember my preacher-daddy being so incredulous that people would actually resist God's grace.  My whole family soaked it up like a sponge and often needed more.  We caught a glimpse of how needy we were, how lost--were it not for grace. When we say "YES" to His amazing grace, we are at peace with God, reconciled and secure.  And that fact gives us peace in the here and now.

I hope this little nugget in scripture has given you a fresh look at grace and I hope my mixed media antics will give you some fun inspiration to try in your own art journals or Bibles.

Stamp sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps:

• All of Me Alpha (stand)
• Amazing God (amazing)
• Choose Faith (grace)
• He is Worthy-(yellow flowers)
• Message of Hope (forever, live in His peace, and forever. 
• Note This (say yes to, right where He wants me, ampersand) 
• Seek Him (corner designs, arrows, small hearts)

 All of Me Alpha and Amazing God

 Choose Faith

 Message of Hope, He is Worthy, and Note This

 Seek Him