God is My Salvation! (Free Digi Stamp)

Today's post is my last as September guest designer for the Word Art Wednesday challenge blog.  Oh, I've enjoyed this month so very much and making the cards was so therapeutic for me.  May I just thank Karen Letchworth for the invitation to join all the talented designers at WAW.    Here's the lovely scripture verse beautifully designs by sweet Karen Murray.  It's yours for the taking.  We'd love to see what you do with it or any of your uplifting creations in this week's challenge.  Just go to the WAW blog to link your project.

Here is my sample for this week.

I love being able to change the colors of the verses to coordinate with the card I'm making.  I LOVE the color of red and this blue together.  Never tire of it.

 

It's Hard to Trust Anyone. Really? (FREE Tutorial)

We unquestioningly trust in many things.  Every chair we sit on we trust to hold us.  We trust our cars to function properly as we are hurled down the highway.  We trust airplanes to keep us in the air until we reach a safe landing.  We trust physicians when they perform serious procedures that they are skilled enough to literally put our lives in their hands.  It amazes me that a person could trust all these fallible things, yet they won't trust the sovereign, infinite Lord of the universe with their finite lives. King David was saying the same.  Kings and countries trusted their political and military power, but they wouldn't trust in the name of the Lord. 

 Word Art Wednesday anything goes (family friendly) challenge allows widespread participation and we're hoping you will share your inspirations with us.  The regular design team always manages to impress me with their artistic creativity.  So you will want to head to the WAW challenge blog the minute you leave here.

 I dug through my stash of papers and found this warm and rustic print, then matched the scripture verse to the color of the background.  I simply added a few coordinating banners, paper flowers and twine.  The glass brad holds the flower embellishing all together. 

DOWNLOAD MY FREE TUTORIAL 

for recoloring digital text like this scripture verse. I have instructions for 

Adobe Photoshop Elements, Paint, and changing color in a Microsoft Word document. 

I recently overheard someone say, "It's hard to know how to trust anyone these days.  You really can't trust anyone."  I thought at the time it would be a sad state of affairs if indeed you couldn't trust anyone.  But I know I can trust my God.  I can trust Him because He cannot lie, He will never change and He has already redeemed me and brought me into His family.  He will never leave me nor forsake me.  I believe this more than anything else.  I believe that if He gave His only Son for me, He will go to any lengths to keep me as His treasure.  He sacrificed so much for me, He invested His most precious Son.  He will not betray me.  I can trust Him completely.

 I do hope you will join us at Word Art Wednesday for another delightful week of inspirations. 

Our Wondrous God!

I am THRILLED to join all the talented artists at Word Art Wednesday as a guest designer for the month of September.  It's been awhile since I've even crafted much less entered challenges or been on a design team.  I've missed it, though for the season I was taking a respite from crafting I was blessed by homeschooling my grandsons.  They are now in school, flourishing and are quite the social dynamos!

As always, Karen Murray has designed some lovely word art for this month, so that's a second blessing in joining Word Art Wednesday this month.  Our featured scripture, which is FREE for you to copy and use is beautifully crafted.  The sponsors have generously provided some happy candy for randomly selected winners.  So come over to Word Art Wednesdays challenge blog and play along with us this week.  We'd love to see your inspiration.

So many people who surround me bear witness frequently to the marvelous and gracious gifts God bestows in their lives.  My family and I can certainly attest to some fiery trials that ended in wondrous blessing.  But I think we sometimes forget that when God moves to intervene in our lives, he not only does wondrous things...but He is one who ONLY does wondrous things. Every move of God is a miracle!

Whether God is granting favor, testing or disciplining, it is a miracle...a wondrous thing that He would care enough about who we are and who we become to intervene in our lives.  That He would stoop to our plane of existence and even deal with our humanness is amazing.  In fact, in order for Him to do just that, He gave His one and only Son--perfect, blameless, holy--made Him dwell in human flesh and die in our place that we might have relationship with our God.

When we trust what He did, and believe that He did it to redeem our broken relationship, we enter into an everlasting fellowship with God.  That in itself is wondrous enough.  Still, every day I live I see His miraculous handiwork.  He is indeed a good and mighty God who deserves our highest praise.

Thanks for peeking into my corner of the world and blessing me today.  I hope to see your creation at Word Art Wednesday this week. 

 

   

Welcome to Word Art Wednesday!  This week's scripture challenge and our "anything goes" design challenge will make creating a project for a chance to win some wonderful prizes from our sponsors.

This is just a guess, but it seems there are more charitable organizations, some solid and some no doubt corrupt, that at any other time in history. Government welfare, government aided charities prolifically dot the country's social landscape.  We are giving more money as a country to feed, clothe and shelter the poor than ever before.  If you research it and look at some the graphs available they depict a steady and sharp increase in charitable giving. Yet the poor are still with us.  Jesus said we would always have the poor.  When I think of being charitable, I think of giving out of one's abundance to the poor.

Yet, it is not only the wealthy who should be charitable.  Charity comes from a selfless heart and even those with very little in material wealth can be charitable.  Being helpful, thoughtful and kind doesn't depend on one's bank account.  In fact, some of the most selfless acts of giving can't be purchased with money or doled out from the wallet.  They come from the heart.

Sometimes it is in our smallest acts of kindness that we bless others the most.  The widow's mite, given with a selfless heart was worth more to Jesus than a treasure trove from someone who's heart was closed. 

Just think of all the kind and thoughtful acts of charity that don't require any money...I can think of a ton.  And each would bless the neighbor, the widow down the street, the lonely resident at the nursing home, the bullied child next door....the list goes on.  Sometimes the most precious thing we can give another person is a hug, a kind word, a helping hand, or just our time.  I know I could be so much more charitable in ways that would bless others, fill their hearts with the love of Christ and point them to a Savior who provides for their eternal life.  Wouldn't it be a fun challenge to add to our day or week more charitable acts? 

Come to our challenge blog and play along with this week's challenge at Word Art Wednesday.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Continual Hope and Constant Praise

Welcome to another wonderful Word Art Wednesday...where God's Word continuously inspires our art!  Our verse today is marvelous...both in content and style. Karen Murray of Papercraft Memories does a fabulous job of our word art every week, all year long, year after year.  If you have the chance, it would be a blessing to her I know to peek in on her blog and tell her how much you appreciate her scriptural artwork every week.  And while you are roaming, head to our challenge blog to see what amazing sponsors we have this week.  Karen's L. also has another thought-provoking, heart-touching devotion ready for you too.  We invite you to join our challenge at Word Art Wednesday.

A couple of week's ago I was looking for an image to symbolize a travel goal for this year.  I've always wanted to go to Prince Edward Island, the "home" of Anne of Green Gables.  I found this delightful image on Mo's Digital Pencil.  Instantly I was in love with several of her images, made a purchase and now have a delightful little stash.  But this one really pulled at my heartstrings!

If you read any of the Anne of Green Gables books, you will remember the infectious, positive spirit of Anne.  That was one of the things that drew readers to her character.  Anne could always teach a thing or two in every episode!  Arriving at Green Gables, carrying all her worldly possessions, Anne soon finds her way into the hearts of her adoptive family and the entire community of Avonlea.

Our wordart for the week goes so well with this adorable digi of Anne.  Anne always looked on the "bright side" of life and found opportunity for good in every challenge.  A positive attitude may certainly keep a smile on one's face, but it doesn't compare to the hope we have in Christ.  Hope in Christ rests on the nature of His character, not ours.  And because He is perfectly trustworthy, our hope is certain. 

Anne's adorable freckled-face smiles brought love and laughter to those who knew her.  As believers we can have the same "infectious" effect on our world as they watch us praising a loving Father who is completely trustworthy. 

Regardless of our worldly possessions, we know we have the treasures of heaven at our disposal when we trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord.  When we leave this world, we won't even be able to take one carpet-bag full of our possessions.  All will be left behind.  But what we will take with us is hearts full of gratitude and praise.  Our desire will be to praise our God more and more....more and even more!  We will want to stand around the throne of our Savior and offer constant praise for His merciful salvation.

There are life-lessons we can learn from Anne, and those lessons are sure to win friends and influence enemies.  But with a spirit-filled heart of love for the lost of this world, we can do so much more than spread a positive attitude wherever we go.  We can share the Gospel of Christ, and bring true Light into our sin-darkened world. 

I will always place my hope in God, my Father, because He has never failed me.  The older I get the more I realize what I owe and I simply want to praise Him more and more!

We certainly hope to see you over at Word Art Wednesday this week.  Post your link to your inspirational artwork so others will be inspired by its beauty!  Thanks for joining us.

Word Art Wednesday:

Oh, it is wonderful to be back, crafting and sharing!  Thanks to all for your patience as I took a brief respite after closing down my store.  I needed that breather.  My DH and I took a sweet little trip to a cabin in the woods overlooking a lake.  Ahhh....  That pretty much sums up those few glorious days.  But I'm ready and excited to begin 2015 with my first Word Art Wednesday post of the year.  First, here's our gorgeous word art from Karen Murray.  Be sure to come over to our blog for Karen L.'s wonderful devotional and inspiration galore!

I just love all the little artistic flourishes.  And what a fabulous verse to wish each of you a year of prospering your soul.  Isn't refreshment to the soul delicious?  I do pray that each of you will have some time as we dive right in to 2015 for a brief bit of reflection, ample refreshment and total revival.  2014 was a full year of very odd health challenges for me. So I'm looking forward to a little prospering on the healthy side of life and a little less prospering around the waistline!

One unexpected blessing from closing my store is my fun resolve to dig back into my stash of designer papers and rubber stamps.  For some time, I've gone almost entirely to digi images and papers so I could market my wares.  Now that I'm a little freer to use from my stash, I'm actually feeling very good about that.  God is amazing.  He is good, so very good, all the time.  I had a blast in my craft room. 

I started this creation by picking my papers and recoloring the digi word art to match.  I love recoloring the font either in entirety or line by line...or one word at a time.  You can get totally creative with it. 

I decided I liked the look of combining the rustic look of twine with the metallic gold highlights of the flower.  This color combination just made me smile.

My wish...and my prayer for you!

Hope to see you over at Word Art Wednesday!

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!