Birthday booms

I recently purchased a new set of stamps called Birthday Blooms.  I was captured by the lovely outline rose and nice sentiments, so when I needed to make birthday cards this week, I chose this new set and was able to get two completely different looks from the same stamp.

I am continuing to learn how to color and shade and although I still have a long way to go since this is something that does not come to me naturally, I felt like it was nice enough to  go ahead and use on top of the fainter background stamped in a light sand color.

I embellished the insides of the cards with the same stamp set.

When I stamped the sentiment and was lifting the stamp off the page, it slipped from my hand and fell back onto the paper, making a light, but very noticeable mark of brown ink.  I went looking for a way to cover the flaw and came up with the pink and white flower.  Although it is not what I had intended, the final result is nice enough to not have to discard the almost completed card!

Stand, hold, and see

II Chronicles 20:17 Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you … Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.

As I was reading this I was struck with the fact that the people always had to prepare for battle even though so many times they did not actually have to fight, as was the case this time.  In a sense, the “value” is in the preparation for battle, not in the fighting.  It is in the preparation phase that I gain strength for the fight because I am exercising and practicing.  It is in the preparation phase where I learn to use the weapons I have and the use of logistics.  So in that sense, I am strong and prepared for the battle.  I do not have to do the fighting in order to be a good soldier.  As the Levite named Jehaziel told King Jehoshaphat in v.15, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army.  For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”  Even though they would not have to fight, the army was well prepared.

Payment wallets

I never thought I could do it!  But when someone asked me to see if I could come up with a design for a "wallet" to keep a payment booklet in (something like a checkbook), I felt ready to take on the challenge even though I had never done anything like this before without full instructions at my side.  And I did it!  I have surprised even myself on this one. 

Each one has two pockets on the inside; one pocket opens from the end for slipping a payment booklet in (they are usually held together at the short end), and the second pocket is for miscellaneous papers and opens lengthwise, as you can see here:

Both wallets have a strip of numbers on the spine like the short strip you can see on the cover of the black and red plaid wallet.

I think if I had need of a way to keep track of a payment booklet, I would make a fancy feminine-looking one and maybe help myself enjoy making payments!  But since I don't owe any money needing that, I guess I'll wait until I know someone who needs one before I try that.

Courage to speak the truth

I Kings 22:13b-14 Let your word agree with theirs and speak favorably.  But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.”

It is so hard to be the lone voice speaking frankly or speaking the truth.  I have no doubt that this was not an easy thing for Micaiah to do.  All the other prophets were supposedly giving the king the word from the Lord also.  If they had been just people “off the street” that would be one thing, but they were representing God, or gods, which meant that to speak in opposition to their message was no small thing.  At the same time, I see that Ahab knew down deep that Micaiah’s message was from God.  He just did not want to accept it.  It had to have been the Spirit of God in Micaiah giving him the courage to go ahead and speak the truth in order for him to have not only the courage but also the willingness to speak boldly against the prevailing “good advice.”  I hope and pray that I will have that courage and boldness when I need it, because I know that without God’s help, given my personality, I would never be able to do what Micaiah did.

Banner Birthday

Back in January or February I received a prize from my Stampin' Up demonstrator and I chose a set of stamps of banners along with a set of matching dies.  I have not had an opportunity to use them until this week when I have been working on some birthday cards.   I found a video online with an idea I really liked so I decided to go with those directions for my trial of the stamp set.  Here is my finished project:

God's way or my way?

I Kings 20:28 Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord.

It seems ironic to me that the message of the Lord to King Ahab here is really for him and not so much for the enemy he was preparing to fight.  The Arameans’ thought and planning was to meet the Israelites on the plains so their god could not help them because he appeared to them to be a god of the hills.  So naturally, if the Israelites won it would show the Arameans, the enemy, that God was the Lord.  But instead, this message from the Lord is saying that if the Israelites win the battle, it would show them and King Ahab that God was the Lord.  Ahab needed this message as yet another attempt by God to have him turn away from the idols he worshipped instead of the Lord.  Yet even with the victory that followed, he did not change his ways.  Ahab had opportunity after opportunity to see God’s greatness and His superiority over all other gods, but he never changed his ways.  I pray that I will never become so determined to follow my own path that I cannot or will not believe the Truth when I see it or hear it.

Burning my plow

I Kings 19:21 [Elisha] took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them.  He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat… Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

This seems like such a drastic measure for Elisha to take when he decided to follow God’s calling to work with Elijah as an assistant prophet.  As a farmer by trade, the oxen and plowing equipment represented a valuable part of life.  So why take such a drastic measure?  Someone else could have used them, even if Elisha did not.  This has always puzzled me until today as I thought more about this incident, and realized that perhaps Elisha needed to make a “clean break” with what constituted security for himself in order to help him remember his commitment to Elijah and to God.  He had to burn that plow.  When things would become difficult the temptation to return to the easier ways can become overpowering.  But there were no oxen nor was there any plowing equipment to go back to.  This act was Elisha helping himself remain committed to his new calling.  He was convinced that this was God’s calling on his life and he was doing everything in his power to keep himself true to that commitment.  When he burned the plow he also sacrificed the oxen as an outward sign of his commitment to follow God’s leading, and this act of worship and commitment I am sure was a significant event for him to look back on when the going got tough and the temptation came to quit.  I have seen some of that same principle working in my own life, thinking particularly of the day I had to leave Lebanon due to the civil war and settle into a new life and new ministry in Jordan with nothing of the old life to carry with me except that suitcase of clothing and books.  It was a difficult act at the time, but God was in it, as I was able to see later.  I did not realize it at the time, but leaving everything (including the people I had been working with and the work that was so meaningful to me, not to speak of my earthly belongings) behind in Beirut was my burning of my plow.  It has turned out to have been one of the most significant events of my life, so I can understand how significant this may have been for Elisha not just at the time, but also perhaps throughout the remainder of his life.

What kind of pathway am I carving out?

I Kings 16:30-31 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.  He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.

It is impossible to fall up, as they say, and this is clearly evident in the saga of the kings of Israel.  It all began with Jeroboam when he made two golden calf idols for the people to worship because he was afraid they would lose their allegiance to him if they went to Jerusalem to worship (12:28ff).  He went downhill quickly after that, and began a chain of events in his descendants that was all downhill.  Nadab, his son did evil and committed the same sin (15:26).  Baasha (15:34) committed the same sin after Nadab, and his son Elah, as well.  16:23 says they aroused God’s anger by their worthless idols.  It did not stop there.  After Elah came Zimri, who followed the ways of Jeroboam and committed the same sins (16:19), and then came Omri who sinned more than all those before him (16:25), and now comes his son Ahab, more sinful still.  It behooves me to stay true to God and to my obedience to Him because I could otherwise begin a chain of evil and disobedience in those who follow me.  What kind of path am I carving for those who follow after me?

Courageous heart

 As I read this morning in I Kings and II Chronicles about the continued evil done by king after king in Israel's history, I was struck by this statement about one who refused to live in that sinful lifestyle ... but it could not have been easy.  His heart was COURAGEOUS ...

Listen to the Word

I Kings 13:21b You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.

I have struggled to understand this verse, this story through the years, every time I read it.  It seems so unfair of God to bring punishment to this man of God who was misled by another prophet.  The prophet convinced him that it was alright to retract his obedience to what God had commanded him to do.  After all, it was a prophet who told him it was OK.  Today, however, as I was once again reading this story and feeling that same frustration, I suddenly realized that the message of this incident to me is a reminder that God’s Word should always take precedence over any other person’s interpretation of its meaning to me.  If I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has spoken to me about something that I read in His Word, this is the message for me to heed.  Although I realize that there have been people who have misinterpreted the Word and turned it into something that was not biblically sound and that is a danger I must stay alert to, it is nevertheless imperative for me to listen to the Spirit of God as He speaks to me through the Word. If the message I receive from the word agrees with Scripture in general and if I have prayed over that message, I can rely on God to confirm it to me.  If I am in a strong and solid relationship with God, His Word will speak Truth to me and that is what I must heed.  Nothing else…

Three necessary characteristics

Proverbs 31:25a, 26a She is clothed with strength and dignity; … She speaks with wisdom.

When I think back to the women I have admired most throughout my life, I can see that each one of them were the kind of women “of noble character” (v.10) described here.  Strength, dignity and wisdom are three characteristics I have wanted to emulate in my adult life.  In these two verses I also see why these three things are so important to have.  Strength and dignity give me the confidence to face the unknown future; they enable me to “laugh at the days to come.”  Wisdom enables me to not only speak well but also to give faithful instruction.  People will have confidence in what I say if I have displayed wisdom, strength and dignity in what I have said.  If I want to leave a positive influence on those around me, I will need for God to develop strength, dignity and wisdom in my life.

Fully obedient, wholly devoted

I Kings 11:2b, 4 Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love … As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

This is my vivid reminder of a couple of things I must remember as I grow older:

1. It is possible for me to come to love and hold fast to things I should not love, and that I know I should not love.  Even though I have known God and walked with Him for a long time now, I am still vulnerable to give my heart away if I am not careful to continually and diligently obey God in every area of my life.  Solomon held fast to his wives in love, and he was not even supposed to have married them in the first place, which reminds me of how diligently obedient I must be in all areas of my life in order to not lose my heart to the wrong things.
2. My years of experience with God and my maturity of those years will not be enough to protect my heart from wandering.  Only my current fully devoted heart, fully devoted to loving Him supremely, only that will protect me from falling into love with something else and consequently falling away from devotion to the Lord.  I must remain diligent until the very end, and by God’s grace with the help of His Holy Spirit, I will do so.

 

While I am still "young"

 

Ecclesiastes 12:6 Remember him [“your Creator, v.1] – before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken.

This chapter includes such a picturesque description of old age!  In doing so, it makes me realize the importance of remembering (and therefore heeding) God while I can actually do something to honor and serve Him.  I want to love, honor and serve God before I tremble and stoop or loose my good vision (v.3), before my hearing gets too bad (v.4), and before I lose my energy (v.5).  The day could come when I do not have the physical ability to even leave my house so I want to do what I can before that happens, before the “silver cord” to an active lifestyle is severed and before the “golden bowl” of meaningful activity is broken.  I want to remember my Creator in the days of my youth (12:1).

Satisfaction in work

After being away on my trip to Michigan, seeing the grandchildren and renewing some great friendships at the Association of Christian Librarians (and meeting some new friends there), it is good to be back into my more regular routine of Bible reading.  I had not realized how much I was enjoying doing this until I did not do it for a few days!

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil.  This, too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment?  To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.

Although work is part of the penalty of sin (Genesis 3:17-19), these verses show me that God can turn even a bad thing into something good in my life.  I must live under the penalty of sin but God has given me the gift of being able to enjoy work and its rewards.  If I am willing to please God in what I must do, He in turn will bless me with the ability to enjoy what I must do.  To be able to enjoy my work is a gift from God in itself.  Even now, in my retirement, work has not stopped.  It has changed in that I no longer get up and go to a workplace every day, but there is still work to be done.  In fact, the work now is more challenging to me than ever because I do not particularly like cleaning house and such tasks, but that is still part of my work that God wants me to find pleasure in.  Ecclesiastes 3:13, this principle is repeated: finding satisfaction in my work is the gift of God to me.

About a year ago I "discovered" the new trend of Bible journaling and have found great delight in recording my thoughts in a more artistic way.  Although I am definitely no artist, that creative expression has left me quite inspired as I meditate on certain verses from Scripture.  I have not felt free to make any of those expressions public as on this blog, but I am losing my shyness and I find myself sharing this entry from this morning because it relates so closely with my post:

Is architecture important?

II Chronicles 2:6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?  When then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?

I suspect that if we really, truly understood the greatness of God, it would change our perspective on our regular visits to His house for worship.  Yes, the church is just a building, but it is a place that should remind us of God and of God’s greatness and majesty.  Even though Solomon was building as majestic a building as he possible could, he also was being reminded of God’s glory and of His greatness an din doing so he was also reminded of his inability to contain God in any way.  All he could really do was provide a place to worship this great God.  His understanding of God’s greatness, and his appreciation of that, was the starting point for his building plans.  It was not the pleasing of the worshippers even though in the end the worshippers were pleased and uplifted by what they saw in the building.  I wonder if that kind of planning would change how churches are planned these days…

Resting contentedly

Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

The fear of the Lord keeps me moving in the right direction spiritually, towards eternal life, but also towards a richer and fuller life.  Part of that richness comes in the form of rest and contentment in the face of trouble.  We are not told here, any place else in scripture for that matter, that our troubles will disappear.  But this verse says we will rest content because trouble will not touch us.  That word picture says to me that the trouble will not affect how I am able to respond to life and its events.  My fear of the Lord will give me a richness of life that will be above the troubles of life, and that will enable me to rest content in spite of any trouble.

My plans

Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

I never noticed this verse before.  I was more familiar with the later verse, v.9, where it says we humans plan our course, but the Lord establishes our steps.  But here the concept goes even further, even more detailed because this verse says if I commit even my concepts for activity, the Lord will establish those plans that my heart is making and thus my steps will also be established.  It all really boils down to being totally committed to God and allowing Him to manage my life for me.  So … at the beginning of my day I say to Him, “Lord, I want to be in control of my activity for today and I want to be a blessing or an encouragement or a disciple in whatever way You ordain,” then He gives me the ideas of what I should do that day and every event or encounter will be part of His plan and part of His establishing of my steps.

Righteousness protects you

Proverbs 13:6 Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

There is no worry about the consequences of living righteously because that righteousness is guarding me.  I have often thought of this when driving on the highway and seeing how many brake lights go on when a patrol car show up!  If I have been putting my righteousness to work in my everyday life, I will be obeying the speed limit so my righteousness is guarding me from being given a ticket for speeding!  My righteousness guards me from being overthrown by any wickedness or sinful way of living, even more drastic things than speeding.  And that is how I want to live my life, not being afraid of being caught doing something wrong.

Binding my fingers

Proverbs 7:3 Bind them [i.e., “my word”] on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

This verse gives me an interesting picture of what kind of response to God’s Word I should have in my own heart and life.  What does it mean to “bind” something on my fingers?  Several pictures come to my mind:

1. tying a string around your finger to remember something;
2. wearing rings to adorn yourself or to display a special relationship with someone;
3. wearing gloves to protect or to warm your hands/fingers.

All of these pictures, when looked at through spiritual eyes, signify ways that God wants His Word to affect us:

1. never forget it;
2. let it show to others;
3. let people see God in us;
4. let it protect us from evil;
5. let it bring spiritual warmth to our lives.

Then, finally, if it is written on our hearts it will have a presence and effect on our lives that will be unaffected by outside influences.  We cannot be drawn away by sin.  I definitely want to have the Word bound on my fingers.

Whichever way the wind blows

Song of Solomon 4:18 Awake, north winds, and come, south wind!  Blow on my garden that its fragrance may spread everywhere.

If I have developed a fragrant garden of faith in my life, and have kept it cultivated by a regular and vibrant spiritual life and relationship with God, the resulting fragrance will be recognizable no matter what circumstances come my way.  The “north wind” makes me think of cold, of difficulty, blowing across my life, and the “south wind” reminds me of gentle, warm breezes, of good times.  So when I read here of both winds spreading the garden’s fragrance everywhere, I immediately am reminded of how God wants to use EVERY circumstance in my life to have an effect on those around me.  May my “fragrance” be sweet no matter which way the wind is blowing.

Understanding

Psalm 119:100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.

Knowing and obeying God’s Word has many benefits but I think the understanding it gives me is close to, if not THE, most beneficial and most useful.  Understanding is no respecter of persons.  It can be a quality of the lowest of the low, or of the greatest of leaders.  This verse is in the middle of a group of verses describing the benefits of knowing, loving and obeying the Word:

1. Wisdom makes me wiser than [even] my enemies (v.98);
2. insight (v. 99);
3. understanding (v.100);
4. purity (v. 101, 104);
5. knowledge (v.102). 

In other words, there is immeasurable personal and spiritual benefit from knowing and obeying God’s Word.  I am so thankful, and actually quite overwhelmed, by the strong influence that memorizing verses has had on my own personal walk with God through the years since I began memorizing under the Bible Memory Association back in 1957.  It has given me insight and understanding that I may not have had any other way.