Inspired Stampswishes to have you join us in honoring the memory of our servicemen and women who have given their lives in service to their country. We should also take time to thank those who are still with us and are fighting or have fought for our country. I can not imagine the level of commitment and sacrifice so many have given and are giving.
I chose to make a card to send to Operation Write Home for any service member. My sweet Soldier w/Flag is attached to the front of the card on an adhesive spring that allows him to "wave" his flag when he is pulled from the envelope. The single scripture stampDeuteronomy 31:8 is one I especially love and use often.
The inside is simple and uses 2 stamps I have put together from the More Perfect Sentiments stamp set. Please check out the team's projects on their blogs or at www.inspiredstamps.blogspot.com!
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us Hebrews 6:18-20 The Message
The Song “Our Hope Endures” by Natalie Grant
My Thoughts “How do we comprehend peace within pain” are words from a song that speak to every person who has ever experienced pain of any kind. Unfortunately, in this world there are so many ways to experience pain- pain of loss, pain of sickness, pain of despair. But God has provided one way to experience utter peace in any pain, to “endure the worst of conditions”, to have hope in the very center of the hopeless situation and that is to know that Emmanuel-our God is with us and that he is the rock we can hold onto in every trial we face.
When our bodies are racked by disease but we can say that “our hope is unchanged” we have reached the point where God is our all sufficient one. When “the sun stays hidden for years” and our hope still endures then we have come to the place where we know beyond all doubt that God is truly our Emmanuel-He is with us and He is enough.
Some say that I have a positive outlook because I have joy even in the face of an incurable disease. In fact, before returning to the work force, I had a psychological evaluation to determine my best skills and my ability to reenter the workforce. The psychologist determined that I took the life outlook test “defensively”, that I intentionally chose the answers that would show me as the most positive possible. Well, what that man did not know about me is, despite the circumstances, I do have a hope and I do believe that my situation is positive because I know the Creator of my body, mind and soul. That Creator has promised me wholeness and has promised me that He is with me every moment and I stand firm on those promises.
I did not have to be “defensive” in my test taking to show myself in the best light-no, I took the test with God’s light shining through me! “It’s more than (my) optimism!.” It is Christ in me, it is El Shaddai who is more than sufficient in ALL areas of my life.
It is the resolve that Job had when he told his wife “Why do I go out on a limb like this and take my life in my hands? Because even if he killed me, I'd keep on hoping.” This is the resounding hope I have grabbed with both hands and we will never let go. “We never walk alone, this is our hope. Our hope endures the worst of conditions. It's more than our optimism, let the earth quake our hope is unchanged!”
Your Response
Look to the heavens from where your hope comes. Thank your Creator for walking beside you in this storm. Thank Him for the hope that is found in Him.
The Inspired Stamps Design Team is sharing masculine cards today. Be sure you take a look at everyone's blogs to get some great ideas! I chose to go super simple with my card. I used the awesome Psalm 18:2 scripture from my "go to" stamp set "Strength".On the inside, I used a sentiment from the same stamp set.
I hope you will agree with me that sometimes simple is best. I think that's especially true for the cards I create for the men in my life! Be sure to return next week for our patriotic cards in honor of Memorial Day.
Other supplies: decorative paper-Simple Stories. Ink, Velvet rub-on flourishes and card stock from Close to My Heart
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
The Song
“Stay Strong” by Newsboys
My Thoughts
I’ve heard all my life God’s Word is alive and active. It took me many years to grasp exactly what that really meant, but the truth of that statement has become more clear to me in the last few years. I believe God really speaks to us through His Word. What that means to me is when He is ready to reveal what he wants me to hear, then He will make that Word clear to me through His written word. I don’t mean we can force scripture to mean what we want it to for any situation, what I mean is I could have read a passage a hundred times but not really grasped its significance in my life until the moment it was relevant for what God had for me at that specific time.
I believe as well God uses Christian songwriters, modern day David’s, to speak to us in the same way. As months turn to years, it is easy to lose sight of God’s promise for healing we cling to so desperately in the beginning of a health crisis. Although I am certain God has ordained my healing, after many years it is easy to succumb to the belief of maybe He didn’t mean here on this earth. On a recent day of wavering, I heard these words:
“We've come through wilderness and watched the cloud by day turn the burning sky into dawn. Have you forgotten who you are? Did you forget whose trip you're on? Stay strong. You are not lost. Come on and fix your eyes ahead There's a new dawn to light our day”
It would be easy to say, “But Lord, I wasn’t grumbling and complaining. Surely you aren’t comparing me to those Israelites wandering in the wilderness. I was just thinking since you have left me with this disease for so long… Oh yeah, this is my wilderness isn’t it?” Maybe all those times we’ve read about those grumblers, we felt a little superior because we would never be caught wandering through the wilderness while the Promised Land was just over the next sand dune. But God reminded me through this song no matter how long MS has me “wheeling” through this life, I must “Get up, (because) there's further to go. Get up, there's more to be done. Get up, this witness is sure. Get up, this race can be won.”
It becomes so easy to question God’s timing. When it was clear I was not going to be walking on my own, I told the Lord I could accept that fact for the moment but I really expected to walk down the aisle at my then fourteen year-old son’s wedding. Well, the time came in May 2008 to see that same young man, a handsome twenty years old, take the hand of his bride. You know what, I didn’t walk, he got married and it was ok. I didn’t even think about walking that day. I just thought about how quickly my sweet baby boy had become someone else’s sweet, handsome husband.
When you are in God’s grip, nothing else matters. You live life, you do your best to please Him, you thank Him for the good and you praise Him in the bad. “We've gotta stay strong. (We) are not lost. Come on and fix your eyes ahead Our Father's dawn will light our day...His grip is sure and His patience still endures. There'll be no letting go today, no way...You and I run for the prize that lies ahead. We've come too far to lose our way.”
Your Response
Lord, I want to stay strong, I want to know that you have me in your grip and you have not let me go to stumble through this wilderness on my own. Let your assurance surround me and let your peace consume me.
I love this scripture and wanted to feature it front and center on the band of this project. We were asked by Inspired Stamps to create a project other than a card this week and I jumped at the chance to create this notepad cover for a gift. The clear-polymer stamp is from the Strength stamp set.
Here is the outside of the notepad holder. These are so easy to make and really make a lovely gift. (I found the instructions by Heidi Swapp on My Craft Channel). On the inside of the notepad holder, I used stamps from the gorgeous Blooms Stamp Set.
Everyone owes it to themselves to have this versatile stamp set in their collection. You will use it over and over for so many projects! Just look at the detail of these flowers and frilly butterfly. So sweet!
And here's the other side and more of the stamps from the same set. I just love it!! You could glue the notepad down if you wanted but I just cut a double slit in the center of the holder, covered the back of the pad and slid the pad in the slits.
Did you enjoy my project as much as I did? I hope you'll make some today after stopping by the Inspired Stamps store. And, as always, check out the blogs of all my fellow team members!
I was asked to make a banner for a baby shower at my church. Since I only have boys, I love it when I get the opportunity to create something pink and frilly! I can't tell you all the products that went into this creation but if it was in my scrapbook room and was pink or lacy, I glued it down! I used my Cricut to cut out the letters and just used a hodge podge of fun fonts because I couldn't find one font that I liked all the letters. I like how the letters are mixed and matched though. The banner base itself is two of the $1 chipboard albums you can sometimes find at Michaels. You can click on the picture to try to see the details a bit better.
Next banner is a baby boy one and it is promising to be just precious!
God’s Word
“Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm and don't submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
My Thoughts
As I sang this song in joy, I looked out across the congregation. Unfortunately, it appeared some did not seem to share my exuberance for God’s freedom. I know I shouldn’t judge what is in the heart of the people who sat with arms folded while the choir and worship team and most of the congregation sang with thankfulness for our freedom in Christ. But I couldn’t help but think those folks couldn’t possibly know the meaning of the words to the song.
How can you sit still when it is proclaimed “I am free to run, and I am free to dance. I am free to live for You. I am free, yes, I am free!” I want to jump from my wheelchair every time I hear this song. In the privacy of my home, when “I Am Free” comes on the radio, I will make sure my wheelchair is behind me and there’s something I can lean on in front of me, then I will stand for a few seconds at a time and sing this song at the top of my lungs. I do not have to sit in my chair and lament all that I can’t do. I can sing before God and call out to Him the things He has enabled me to do and the things He will enable me to do. In Christ I am free to run. To run in my spirit straight into His sustaining arms until the day I can run tall and on my own.
To the human eye it must be quite a sight to see me in a bent stance, with arms out to catch myself lest I fall, while I sing my head off. I hope to God’s eye it is pleasing to see me stand in faith. I pray the enemy sees my defiance in the face of disease. This wheelchair does not keep me from the greatest freedom of all. I am free to live for Christ no matter what state I am in. If I find myself bedridden and unable to move, I will still be free to pray to Him and to praise Him.
I let God know I am positive “through You the blind will see, through You the mute will sing, through You the dead will rise. Through You all hearts will praise, through You the darkness flees, through You my heart screams 'I am free'”. I add my own words, words I know will happen soon, “through You the lame will walk!”
Dear friend, we have freedom in Christ no matter what chains seem to bind our feet. I can dance in my wheelchair as I proclaim my freedom in the hands of a mighty God. In my heart I am running in the freedom of Christ. I can live every second he has given me for His glory no matter what condition I am in.
He is the God of miracles! He opens blind eyes and breathes a voice into the one who was mute. He lifts the lame to their feet and death trembles when he walks by. I’ve heard it said that Jesus had to use Lazarus’ name when he commanded him to come out of the tomb because if he hadn’t, every dead soul in that burial place would have risen! That is the kind of powerful freedom our Lord offers! His voice brings life to death and brings freedom to the bound!
Some of the most meaning filled songs are so very simple. This song consists of a handful of words but it evokes vast amounts of emotion in my soul. Although I am physically dependent on this wheelchair, I have made this a song of declaration. When I sing this song, I am speaking the things that don’t appear to be possible as though they are fact. Someday, I know they will be.
In Christ, I am free to dance. To dance in my innermost being before Him from the sheer joy of being His child. One of these days, through Him, the darkness of this disease will flee and I will stand tall and healed through His freedom. One day I will join countless others and dance before His throne.
Your Prayer
Declare your freedom today from whatever binds you. Speak in faith that you are free from________.
This week is Designer's Choice at Inspired Stamps. While I love all the beautiful new stamps we have to choose from, it seems when it's left up to me, I always go back to the wonderful originals that made Inspired Stamps such a fabulous Christian stamp company. Today's card features several of my most used stamps.
I just can't resist the His Little Ones stamps and Girl Praying is definitely a fave with me! I gave her polka dot pajamas with my Copic markers. She is kneeling in front of one of the lovely flowers from the versatile Flowersstamp set. The scripture is one of the affordable single scripture stamps Philipians 4:13. Of course, I absolutely adore the precious birds from Eye on the Sparrow stamp set.
Hope you enjoyed my card today-be sure to go to the other team member's blogs to see their projects. I would like to say a big "Happy Mother's Day" to all the special Moms out there! Oh, and be sure you don't miss my post next Thursday-I have a beautiful non-card project to share with you using some of the newer Inspired Stamps. You're going to want to make several yourself!
“Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 The Message
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” NKJV
The Song Always by Building 429
My Thoughts When Christ had completed his visit with the disciples, following his resurrection, he gave them instructions to go and make disciples throughout all the world. He was giving these instructions in the moments before he was leaving this earth and ascending to heaven. I’m sure the disciples were more than a little apprehensive to realize that they were being asked to go into the world and convince people to follow a God who had been killed and buried. Yes, the disciples were seeing him resurrected and in the flesh but Jesus was telling them that he wouldn’t be there as proof of their outrageous statements to a skeptical world.
For 3 years he had been the star of their show. He performed the miracles and made the bold proclamations. He was their front man and eventually their fall guy. Now, he wanted them to travel without him and bring in new followers to the fold? Jesus had full knowledge of what he was asking them to do and what their journey would entail. I believe that is why his final statement to them was the assurance that he would always be with them. I like the way The Message interprets his words to say that as they followed the path he was asking them to take, that he would be with them “day after day after day”.
The task he had set before them would be a day in and day out lifestyle. They would face trouble and persecution. But how comforting to know that he would ALWAYS be with them. Even though he was leaving them physically, he could now be with them every moment in his glorified state. No matter what they faced, even until time ended, they had his assurance of his presence. What had his presence meant to them in the last three years? It had meant provision of their daily needs, joy, companionship, all manner of miracles, laughter, peace, comfort. It had meant the world. Now he was promising that those things would not end.
My friend, Jesus promises the very same thing to you. Day after day after day as you face difficulty and the life you live, he is with you. He never fails. As the song says “ I don’t know where you are and I don’t know where you’ve been. Maybe you’re fighting for your life or just about to throw the towel in. But, if you’re crying out for mercy, if there’s no hope left at all. If you’ve given everything you’ve got and you’re still about to fall. Well hold on, hold on, hold on, cause even when all hope is gone, God knows our pain and his promise remains, He will be with you always.”
Your Response Acknowledge to your Savior that you know he is with you always. Thank him for walking by your side through every moment of your life. Know that you are not alone.
There's just a little over a week left to help me win a wheelchair accessible van. I desperately need this! Please vote and if it's your first time to do so, use promo code 745 for 4 extra votes (after 1st time, don't use any code). You can vote every 24 hours per IP address. Click on my name to go to the voting page.
For this week's great sneak peek I chose to create a layout with photos of my Dad's 87th birthday. We had celebrated with the whole family over the weekend but on his actual birthday, he just wanted a shake so my sis and I took him to lunch at Chick-fil-a.
For the layout, I used the new Inspired Stamps set called Amazing Grace. Be sure to click on the layout so you can see the stamps close up. The side panel uses the handwritten lyrics stamp to the song Amazing Grace. Isn't it wonderful? I stamped it 3 times to fill the panel.
I didn't want to have my writing conflict with the stamp writing so I used an envelope for hidden journaling. On the outside of the envelope, I used 2 more stamps. One is a flourish and the other is the wonderful scripture. Now, there's one more stamp from the set I used. Do you see it? It's the ink spot on the background! Isn't that fabulous?! This set just has so many artful elements to it-I just love it! I also used the flourish stamp on the chipboard musical symbols.
You'll be able to see and purchase all of the new stamps on Friday after noon at the Inspired Stamps on-line store! In the meantime, go check out Anita's and Chere's posts and the wonderful sneak peeks they have!
