Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Challenge #60 - Faith/Anything Goes

Welcome back to Word Art Wednesday for another great challenge.  We're so blessed to have you join us this week, and we look forward to seeing your beautiful creations.  Our free word art this week is a lovely quote by Helen Keller regarding FAITH.  The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:1 that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  There is so much to be said about faith when we study God's Word, and we will always find ourselves being OH, SO blessed when we learn to put our faith into action.  If you get the chance this week, just take a peek at your Bible's concordance to see ALL the wonderful and beautiful verses about faith.  We hope you will enjoy this beautiful piece of word art.  Feel free to interpret this challenge any way you choose.

As always, feel free to save this week's free word art to your computer. You are welcome to copy this scripture to your computer and use it in your entry, but you are never required to do so. As long as you use an encouraging or uplifting sentiment on your project, that is fine. We just want God's Word to be a blessing to you. You can also link more than one project each week (up to 5). The more, the merrier. We just hope that God's Word will be a blessing and encouragement to you each week. If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules under our page tab for "Challenge Rules".

Here is this week's free scripture/word art. We hope you enjoy it!
 
Our sponsor for this week's challenge is:
Take a moment to check out their lovely shop!
Special thanks to our generous sponsors.
 
Here is our winner from last week's challenge:
Special thanks to Diane Noble of Daydream Designs
The lucky winner of a $20 Gift Certificate
is Entry #9 - Gail Scott
And now, here is a bit of inspiration from our Design Team

 
 
 
 
 

 

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Challenge #59 - Glory to God/Anything Goes

NOTE:  Please scroll down to the previous post to pay tribute to our Design Team Member, Paula Pike, who went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, yesterday morning.
This week we celebrate Christmas, which is a time for Christians to celebrate the fulfillment of Old Testament phrophecy that promised the Messiah - the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords - the true Savior of the world.  Isaiah 9:6 says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."  This prophecy was fulfilled completely in the birth of the Lord, Jesus Christ as told in the Gospels of the New Testament, and it's quite sad to think that some religions are still waiting for the arrival of the Messiah.  He is already here!  He now sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and has paid the ultimate price for our sins, and has gone to prepare a place for us in Heaven if we place our faith in Him.  We don't celebrate the baby.  We celebrate His coming - the fulfillment of prophecy, and we praise God for sending His son as a sacrifice to make a way for mankind to get to Heaven.  He truly is Wonderful, a Counsellor, a mighty God, He's the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.  We hope that you know Him in this way, and celebrate Him for the awesome God He truly is.

Our scripture/word art for this week is Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  God's Word is filled with promises, but these promises always come with a command.  The fulfillment of prophecy (the promise of the Messiah) came with a price that Jesus paid on the cross.  Like all of God's promises, this verse comes with a command. We are told to give glory to God; for He is the highest (above all names), and then.....the promise - He will give peace on earth and show His good will toward men."  Many people right now are wondering why the tragedy occurred on Friday in Connecticut, and they ask..."where was God?"  But, the truth is that God wants SO MUCH to bless our nation.  But first we must, as a nation, acknowledge Him as the One true God and give Him the glory due His holy name, and then in return, He promises to give peace on earth and good will toward men.  Until and unless our nation turns to God, tragedies will continue to occur because of sin.  This is just more evidence of why we need to be a Christian nation - a nation that trusts God, acknowledges Him as the Most High, and He will give us peace on earth and show good will toward men.  While none of us can control the actions of our nation, we can control our own actions.  We each need to give God His rightful place of honor and glory, and in doing so, others will see God in us; and hopefully, turn their hearts back to God so that He can bless us as a nation.  The first chapter of the Book of Psalms tells us quite clearly that God's people will delight in in his law and be rewarded, but that those who reject Him will simply not recieve His blessings, and will perish.  This isn't "me" being harsh - this is God's Word, and the choice is ours.  We have MUCH praying to do - both in our own lives, and for our nation as a whole.  God wants to bless us, but His promises always come with a command.  We encourage you to read His Word, hide it in your heart, live it in your daily lives, and let the world see it in you so that He can bless your life with His exceeding goodness.  And hopefully, our nation will turn back to God and be blessed.   That is our prayer; at Christmas and ALWAYS.
 
As always, feel free to save our free weekly word art/scripture to your computer. You are welcome to copy this scripture to your computer and use it in your entry, but you are never required to do so. As long as you use an encouraging or uplifting sentiment on your project, that is fine. We just want God's Word to be a blessing to you.  You can also link more than one project each week (up to 5). The more, the merrier. We just hope that God's Word will be a blessing and encouragement to you each week. If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules under our page tab for "Challenge Rules".

Here is this week's free scripture/word art.  We hope you enjoy it!

 
Our awesome sponsor this week is:
a $20 Gift Certificate to one lucky winner!
Now that's a prize worth playing for.....thanks, Diane!
 
Our lucky winners from last week's Challenge #58 are
Entry #34 - Susie
She has won this:
Jacque at Detailed 4U Collections has a gift certificate for you!
 
AND.....
The lucky winner of two Stampin' Up Stamp Sets from
Lucky Entry #20 - Lisa D.
A HUGE THANKS to all our generous sponsors!
And now, here is a bit of inspiration from our Design Team
 
Using Daydream Designs Deck the Halls Images
 
 
Using images from Daydream Designs Little Bits of Christmas
 
 
 
Using images from Daydream Designs Little Bits of Christmas
 
 
Using Daydream Designs Owl Always Love You Images
 
 
 
Using Daydream Designs Little Bits of Christmas Image
 
 
 
Using images from Daydream Designs Little Bits of Christmas
 
 
 
 


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Remembering Paula Pike

It is with bitter-sweet feelings that we make this blog post.  Our dear friend, sister in the Lord, and Design Team Member, Paula Pike, went home to be with the Lord Tuesday morning.   Paula shared on our Design Team from the inception of Word Art Wednesday until she became too weak and ill from the cancer/lymphoma that finally took her life.  Below is the last piece of art Paula was able to share with us here on Word Art Wednesday.  Her art came from deep inside her, and was clearly driven by her deep love for her precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  This piece of art was posted back in August.  You can see more of her art on her blog - Created 2B Creative.
Paula was an amazingly creative artist, who's heart and work were always Christ-centered. She, like many of us, tried to always infuse her faith with her crafting passion. She blogged through August of this year then stopped when it became too difficult to do so, and she spent her remaining time focussing on the priorities of family.

Paula leaves a very loving husband, Blair, and four beautiful children. You could easily see how this challenge brought them closer together as a family, and closer to God. The children exhibited amazing faith; especially their oldest daughter, Mattea - Age 15, who in many ways "mothered" her younger siblings - Talia, Tamas, and Caleb.

Services will be Friday (visitation) and Saturday (Celebration of Life). They will certainly need all the prayers possible, especially since it's so close to Christmas.   Paula will be missed by all of us here at Word Art Wednesday, but most especially, by her loving family.

Paula is free, and already experiencing something we can only imagine.  While Paula's family is rejoicing for her, they will surely know a deep loss and great grief.   We ask that you will please join all of us in just lifting them up before the Lord in prayer.

Hug your children a little tighter...appreciate your husbands more...make life count for Christ, as we know Paula did.
  What a blessing to know that she is in glory with Him!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Challenge #58 - God Will Take Care of You


Well, we did it!  We had over 100 entries last week, and that means we can give away the beautiful JustRite stamp set.  I really hope that we can continue to keep our numbers up like that.  We have TWO amazing sponsors again this week, so that gives you an awful lot of opportunity to win.  Please invite all your blog friends to come by and join us.  We want to welcome everyone, and we look forward to seeing your beautiful art again this week!  A special word of thanks to everyone who played along last week helping us reach that big milestone.  Let's keep it going.
 
As always, our theme this week is:  "Anything Goes"
 
This week's word art is Philippians 4:16 and it speaks of how God supplies for all our needs.  This scripture was actually written by Paul on his second missionary journey to the Church at Philippi.  When he wrote this, he was actually speaking about how God supplies the needs of the church when the church is faithful to give to missionaries.  However, it is so clear to see how this same truth can be applied to our personal lives.  Like we talked about last week, God is so faithful in supplying all our needs when we are faithful with what we have.  In the same way, the church that supports missions is promised to have all their needs met.  We can see our personal needs being met, in much the same way, when we are faithful to give.  Matthew 6:30 says, "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, Oh ye of little faith?"  WOW - what a powerful verse.  We need not worry about anything!  As long as we are living for Him, following His Word in our lives, and giving as He gave, He will always take care of us.  And the second part of this week's verse says, "according to His riches in glory".  That means He will not only "clothe us" and simply "feed us", but that His provision is AMAZING because His riches in glory CANNOT be topped.  What an awesome God we serve that He should care for us this way.
 
As always, feel free to save our free weekly word art/scripture to your computer. You are welcome to use it in your entry, but are never required to do so. As long as you use an encouraging or uplifting sentiment on your project, that is fine. You can also link more than one project each week (up to 5). The more, the merrier. We just hope that God's Word will be a blessing and encouragement to you each week. If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules under our page tab for "Challenge Rules".
Our Regular Sponsor this week is:
Jacque of Detailed 4U Collections has donated
a gift certificate for her lovely shop to one lucky winner!
 
Our Second Sponsor this week is Cynthia Millan
You can visit her blog, Stamp With Cynthia
Here is a link to her Stampin' Up Store
Cynthia has donated TWO beautiful stamp sets to one lucky winner!
The Come to Bethlehem set and the Crosses of Hope set
 
And now.......Prizes for Challenge #57
Our first lucky winner that was randomly selected
and has won a $15 gift certificate to 
is Lucky Entry #98 - Carole Robb Bisson
 
And our second lucky winner of
The Pennant Party Stamp Set from Paper Sweeties
is Lucky Entry #78 - Colleen Dietrich

And since we hit the big 100 entries mark,
The lucky winner of the JustRite Holly Background Stamp Set
Is Lucky Entry #81 - Debbie Foster
 
Three very lucky girls, indeed!  Enjoy your prizes.
Special thanks to everyone who played along
And a HUGE thank you to all our generous sponsors
Here is this week's free scripture/word art.  We hope you enjoy it!
And now.....a little bit of inspiration from our Design Team
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Challenge #57 - Giving/Anything Goes

Hello, friends!  We hope you all had a great week.  We were so blessed by the art you shared with us last week, and we're already excited to see what you will share with us this week.  We didn't quite hit that 100 mark yet, so the beautiful Holly Background stamp set from JustRite Stamps is still up for grabs!  We have some AMAZING prizes this week - check it out!

Our free word art/scripture for this week comes from Deuteronomy 16:17, and it talks about giving.  We have all been given certain gifts and blessings from God; each of us in a different measure.  But we all have so much that we are able to give; whether it be our money, our talents, our time, maybe the gift of encouragement, or just being a prayer warrior for someone who is struggling.  God gives us even more when we are faithful with what we have.  Often times, people wonder why God isn't blessing them (financially, etc.).  Perhaps it's because we aren't GIVING back in accordance with what we have been given from Him.  We would encourage you this week to really think about the matter of giving, and ask God, "what can I do to give more"?  Then watch and see how He blesses you when you are faithful to give liberally with what you have been blessed with.  "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.  For with the same measure that ye mete withal shall be measured to you again."  Luke 6:38

As always, feel free to save our free weekly word art/scripture to your computer. You are welcome to use it in your entry, but are never required to do so. As long as you use an encouraging or uplifting sentiment on your project, that is fine. You can also link more than one project each week (up to 5). The more, the merrier. We just hope that God's Word will be a blessing and encouragement to you each week. If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules under our page tab for "Challenge Rules".
Here is this week's free scripture/word art file. We hope that it will be a blessing to you.

This week, we have TWO sponsors/TWO prizes!!!
One lucky winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to
Check out their wonderful shop filled with ribbons and trims
to adorn your craft projects with all kinds of sweetness!
 
and
One lucky winner will receive the
Debbie's adorable stamps and seam binding are SO SWEET.
What an AWESOME WEEK to be a winner!
 
Also, as soon as we hit 100 entries in any challenge,
this will be the additional prize:
JustRite Stamps Holly Background Stamp
Retail Price: $12.95
 
Our lucky winner of the prize from last week's sponsor:
Lucky Entry #74 - Tracey Sabella

A special word of thanks to ALL those who entered!
And many thanks to ALL of our generous sponsors.
And now, here's a little bit of inspiration from our Design Team:

 
Using May Arts Ribbon from our Sponsor, Really Reasonable Ribbon
 
 
 
Karen Conner
Karen has stepped down from the Design Team
We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors!
We will miss you, Karen.
 
 

 

Using Sponsor Products as Follows:
Stamps and Seam Binding from Paper Sweeties and
Lace Trim and Baker's Twine from Really Reasonable Ribbon