Scripture Series: Justified by Faith Easel Card---It's Time for Another Word Art Wednesday Challenge!

Hello there, Crafty Friends!  So sorry this is coming out a day late due to the need to spend time with my family.   Just want to greet you all " A BLESSED AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!"  We may be taken by all the chaos of the traditions during this season but none of them is more important than what the birth of JESUS CHRIST means for all of us.  You may not even believe in Christ but it does not take away the fact that He came in order to pay the debt of all mankind.   All of humanity's sin was placed on Him when He died on the Cross.  One of His last words was "It is finished!" This simply means that everything that needed to be done had already been accomplished by that once and for all sacrifice.  Jesus is not going to come back again in the same way,  He fulfilled what was needed to be done (for all eternity) in His time to bring man back to God (since there's no way for man to do so, all by himself).  GOD REACHED OUT TO US!  The Bible declares in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  This tells us the very reason why God had to save humanity even though we are deserving of every judgment since all we've ever done is to rebel against Him.  It was LOVE that drove Him to come to us in the flesh to represent Man.  Yet He needed to be God because only God is without sin.  He left His heavenly kingdom and came to mankind to be the sole mediator between God  and Man----our Lord, CHRIST JESUS!  There's nothing on earth that can undo what He has done for humanity.  His sacrifice is good for all eternity.  Through FAITH, we have complete access to this wonderful GIFT OF LOVE.  He has given us a gift of eternal life (forever being with Him in His Kingdom) and all we need to do is to open up our hearts and receive that gift with all our hearts.  Let His sacrifice apply to your life by coming under His Lordship.  Remember that God has given us "FREE WILL"---to choose the path we want to take and He honors our choices.  He didn't make a bunch of robots.  He made us according to His own image and likeness and with it comes the ability to choose.  I pray for the Lord Jesus to touch your hearts today that you may see Almighty God's love for you...It is immeasurable, unselfish, eternal!  Revelation 3:20 told us, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."  All it takes is for us to open the door to our hearts, allow Him to give you a new life and let Him change you from the inside out.  Come to Him with all your burdens, baggage, struggles and ugliness.  Only He can transform your filthy clothing to radiant white---unblemished and righteous before His sight!  JESUS PAID THE PRICE for our freedom---and He is just a FAITH away.  One day, Jesus will come back as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  He will judge the living and the dead.  The scripture is very clear on the fate of those who have received Jesus in their lives and those that would ignore the gift of salvation through Him as stated in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, "All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you." Today, when you hear the voice of the Lord, don't ignore His call.  We don't know what life is going to bring us in the next 5 minutes and while we are still blessed with life, surrender yourselves under His might hand.  Receive the MOST IMPORTANT GIFT you can ever received from a God who freely gives it to you.  He wants you to be safe in His arms not only in this lifetime but forever.  More than twenty-three years ago, I accepted His gift and my life was never the same.  I'm forever grateful!

Anyway, we have a new Challenge at Word Art Wednesday (WAW).  We are featuring the free Word Art (by Karen Murray) which is available for you to download at the WAW site.  It features the scriptures in Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  This scripture summarizes the benefits of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and accepting His gift of salvation in our hearts.  We are JUSTIFIED (made right) in the sight of our Father through our faith in Jesus Christ (His Son).  We are no longer considered God's enemies but God's children.  The peace that comes from having Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior tells me that I don't have anything to fear about.  I know where I am going when my life on earth is done.  And if I continue to live on earth, it will all be for His glory and honor.  It's a WIN-WIN situation!  Knowing Christ is what VICTORY truly means.  For your inspiration, I made an Easel Card featuring a digi image from Sassy Cheryl's Digi Stamps called "Noah Waldo and Tweety" which I colored with my ProMarker/Prismacolor markers.  The base card is just plain white, cut and scored to create a 5.5-inches Easel Card.  The DP is from DCWV and CS from American Crafts.  I stamped some Christmas images from Recollections and layered them with a red brad for added dimension.  I included some more red brads and I applied some liquid pearls (white opal) on the image to create some snow effects.  Lastly, I did a load of stitching all over this card.  This is another simple card but I truly love it.  Thanking the Lord for always being there to inspire me.

 JUSTIFIED BY FAITH EASEL CARD:

 JUSTIFIED BY FAITH EASEL CARD WHEN CLOSE:

  JUSTIFIED BY FAITH EASEL CARD SIDE VIEW:

  JUSTIFIED BY FAITH EASEL CARD WITH MESSAGE SPACE:

 JUSTIFIED BY FAITH EASEL CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX:


*** WANT THIS CARD?  AVAILABLE AT MY ETSY---HERE! ***  

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Sweet Stampin'---Let It Snow
Crafting by Designs---New (my snowflakes stamp is new)
Creative Belli---Christmas
House that Stamps Built---Last Minute Christmas Cards/Tags
Little Red Wagon---Anything Christmas
The Paper Shelter---ATG
Rhedd and Rosie---Let It Snow
Stamp n Doodle---ATG
Stamping Chef---ATG
Make It Monday---ATG
Challenges 4 Everybody---ATG
Digi Darla---ATG
Crafty Girls---ATG
Aud Sentiments---Christmas
Happy Campers---Christmas
MilkCoffee---Any Christmas Creation
Southern Girls---Christmas Wishes
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards---Happy Holidays
Craftitude---ATG/Christmas Sparkle
Crafts 4 Eternity---ATG
Craftyhands---Season's Greetings/Winter Theme
Digi Haven---Red and Green
Jellypark---Christmas
QKR Stampede---Happy Holidays
Sister Act---ATG
Stampin with the Dragon---Christmas
Wags 'n Whiskers---Christmas
Color Me Creative---Holiday Themed
Christmas Card---Make It Masculine
Hobby Cutz---ATG
OSAAT---ATG
Sentimental Sundays---ATG Christmas
Artistic Inspirations---ATG
Crafting from the Heart---ATG
Digi Makeover---ATG
Melonheadz Friends---ATG
Pink Elephant---ATG
Party Time Tuesday---ATG
Creative Card Crew---ATG
Bearly Mine---ATG
LEJ Designs---ATG
Songbird---ATG
Top Tip Tuesday---Christmas (Top Tip:  Stamp several images in different colors and layer them for perfect embellishment like what I have done with the snowflakes here)
Inky Chicks---Christmas
Scrapbook Stamp Society---ATG/Optional Christmas
Dream Valley---Christmas
Come and Get It---Christmas
Sassy Cheryl's---Fave Image in a Project for 2013 (I have several but this is my latest and loving it)

Hope you are having a wonderful time with your family as we all reflect on the true meaning of the season.  Please don't forget to join us at WAW for our Anything Goes/Inspirational Challenge.  We would love for you to use the free Word Art in your creation and link it to our Challenge though it's not mandatory.  As long as you create projects that are family friendly, inspirational and uplifting, you can enter up to 5 projects.  Please make sure to read the Challenge Guidelines.  Wonderful prizes from our sponsors namely V's Sweet Ideas and Diane's Daydream Designs awaits the winners.  Gotta go, enjoy all the benefits that Jesus' birth brought to us.  JESUS IS THE ONLY REASON FOR THE SEASON!