Scripture Series: Look Unto the Lord Card---Come and Join Us for an Anything/Inspirational Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

It's another Crafty Wednesday here in my neck of the woods.  From a warm, sunny day the past several days, we are back to a chilly day.  But all is good because no matter how each day turn out, each day reminds us of God's faithfulness.  That He is not done with this world and each one has a chance to get to know Him as their own personal Savior.  Like Noah's ark, there's a time for building and construction where repentance is proclaimed and the only ticket to one's salvation (when the great flood comes) is faith.  The people during that time hadn't seen a drop of rain and so, it was very hard for them to believe that a rain, much so---a flood, will ever take place.  The Bible said they continued on with their usual routine and practices, without much regard to the prophetic warning that came in their midst.   Matthew 24:37-39 states, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;  and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."  You see, right at this very moment, we are under the period of grace where everyone is invited to repent from their sins and put their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Contrary to how the Jews perceived their King was going to come, Jesus came as a humble servant who gave His life for the sake of mankind as a ransom for the forgiveness of sin and restore them to the righteousness of God.  The Jews rejected Jesus because He failed, in their eyes, to do what they expected their Messiah to do—destroy evil and all their enemies and establish an eternal kingdom with Israel as the preeminent nation in the world. The prophecies in Isaiah and Psalm 22 describe a suffering Messiah who would be persecuted and killed, but the Jews chose to focus instead on those prophecies that discuss His glorious victories, not His crucifixion.  You can read more about this HERE.  Yet the Day of the Lord (Second Coming of Jesus Christ) will surely come as a fulfillment of the Gospel.  But before that, everyone that boarded the ark of safety (placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted His gift of salvation) had sailed away to safety from the flood (judgment of our day).  The Bible talks about the "catching away" (much known to all believers as "Rapture" of the Church) which is an event in which God removes all believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment to be poured out on the earth during the Tribulation period. The rapture is described primarily in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54. God will resurrect all believers who have died, give them glorified bodies, and take them from the earth, along with those believers who are still alive and who will at that time also be given glorified bodies. “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).  If we are wise, we know that we need to get in the ark of safety through the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ before it closes on us.  Judgment will come (His Second Coming, the Day of the Lord) and after all the sacrifice He made when He first came that is made available to all of us each day, all that's left is judgment.  He will be all that the scripture said He would be (Rule the Nations with Truth and Justice) and not one arrogant, proud and lovers of sin will reign in His Kingdom.  Realizing this, we (believers) need to tell everyone about the salvation that we received from Jesus Christ.  We will be ridiculed, called every kind of hurtful names (bigots, fanatics, hypocrites) and cursed at.   We will be deemed crazy and be disowned, not just by strangers but our very own family and friends, yet we must persevere knowing of the greater Truth that lies in our eternal future.  If we truly love, we will tell everyone of the Truth in love (yes, even if it hurts their feelings) for their eternal destination will depend upon their decisions while on earth.  Though people may not see it now (like the flood in Noah's time), they will thank you for holding your ground and  not giving up on them when the time comes.  For those who have not received Christ as their personal Lord and Savior that reads this message, there's a reason why you came here.  God wants you to know that He loves you and wants you to be safe in His arms.  He wants you to fulfill the true purpose that He has built within you when He created you.  Right now, it's marred by sin and it kept you from having a relationship with Him.  Consider Jesus and take the first step by calling on Him today.  Jesus said in John 6:37,  "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away."  By yourself, you will never be able to clean up your act so, don't even bother to try it.  Come as you are to the Lord and He will be the One to bring about a change in your life through the power of the Holy Spirit.  That way, He gets all the glory and honor!

Oh wow, I surely had a certain message in mind but God led me to go a different direction.  And that's perfectly alright because I am here to speak of the will of my Father in Heaven.  God's heart is love and compassion and He does not want anyone to perish.  It's made clear to us in 2 Peter 3:8-9, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." But make no mistake about it.  God is also a righteous Judge who will bring judgment to everyone who followed the ways of their father (Satan) and live according to their fleshly desires.  These are people who are unrepentant, cold-heart-ed, lovers of sin and haters of God.  Those who despite the many opportunities to come under the saving knowledge of Jesus, have chosen to trample on Him and have encouraged others to do so.  There will be no mercy left for them if they die in that spiritual state and they will live eternally outside of the presence of God (absence of every kind of good things).  Read God's Word and you will not be left out in the cold! (Or should I say "Hell")

Anyway, we have a wonderful Word Art (by Karen Murray) you can download for free which we highlighted in today's Challenge at Word Art Wednesday (WAW).  It features the scriptures in Micah 7:7, "Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me."  This is a very timely verse in my life right now as clouds of uncertainties have tried  to put me down these days.  It's easy to quote verses to those in need but to hold onto it as you go about difficult circumstances in your own life brings it to a greater level.  It's believing (trusting, clinging, adhering, to stick onto) in the love and faithfulness of God and the fact that He always backs His Word when all  things that are happening around  us suggest the opposite.  It is looking beyond the veil and knowing that a greater blessing is waiting behind it.  That means going against the dictates of my mind, will and emotions (feelings).  I  am not new in this battle but I am certainly not a pro.  Each encounter, I have to look at the finished work of Jesus Christ, apply His victory in my life and allow the Holy Spirit to work in me.  It's not fun at all but I would say, there is no other choice. Jesus is the Only Source of my victory.  I cry oftentimes and pour my heart to God and many times, I don't even know what to say.  But I have experienced His love and I know I am not alone.  He hears every cry and in my uncertainties, He gives me the assurance of His Word.  I may be in a difficult situation at the moment but I know that one day, I will see this as just part of the many challenges that God had delivered me from and yes, I will bring honor and praise to Him for.  As the prophet Micah unfolded the horrible fate of the Jews in his time because of their sins, he know where his faith lies and can boldly declare God's Word.

For this Card, I used a very cute image from Time for Tea called "Geeky Girl" which I colored with my ProMarker/Prismacolor markers.  I've been wanting to buy some images but budget is too tight.  A few days ago, I saw that the digis are discounted and was able to buy a few.  Oh, thanking the Lord for it!  I don't think I would like her to look Geeky so I made her trendy instead.  I love it!  Anyway, the base card is Kraft, cut and scored to make a 5.5-inches square card.  All the DP's are from Paper Studio.  I stamped all over the panels using Tim Holtz clear stamps and the swirls from Inque clear stamps.  The butterflies were stamped and punched using an MS punch/stamp, glittered using Stickles (Crystal) and decorated white nail gems from Imaginisce.  I also applied some Glossy accents to the image's glasses as requested by my hubby and it looked great. I decided to make this a fun card hence it does not follow my traditional straight lines/design.  Lastly, I went crazy stitching all over this project.  Hope you love it!

 LOOK UNTO THE LORD CARD:

 LOOK UNTO THE LORD CARD LAYERS:

 LOOK UNTO THE LORD CARD INSIDE:

LOOK UNTO THE LORD CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX:


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

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Crafty Girls---ATG
Crafting with Dragonflies---Use a freebie (The sentiment freebie is HERE)
Creative Moments---ATG/Swirls and Pearls
Digistamps4Joy---Use Dies or Punches
Divas by Design---Make it Sparkle
Little Red Wagon---Yearning for Spring
Paper Shelter---Animal Magic
Penny's Paper-Crafty---Guys and Girls
Scrapper's Delights---Bling It Up
Simon Says Stamp---ATG with Pearls
Fantastic Tuesday---ATG
TTCRD---ATG
Top Tip Tuesday---Stitching
Tuesday Throwdown---ATG
Artistic Inspirations---For the Kids/ATG
Card Mania---Use a Sentiment
Craftin Desert Diva's---Glitters
Cutie Pie---Spots and Dots
Digi Sketch---ATG
Eureka Stamps---Add a Butterfly
Fitztown---Stitching
Love to Create---ATG
Love to Scrap---ATG
Make It Monday---ATG
Make Something Monday---Stamping

My Craft Creations---ATG
OLLCB---Fashionista
Scrapbook Stamp Society---ATG/Option:Make Your Own Flowers

There you have it friends!  Hope you enjoyed browsing at the pics and reading this post.  Please don't forget to join us at this week's WAW Challenge by linking your "Anything Goes" projects.  You can use the free Word Art I featured here in your entry but it's not mandatory.  As long as your creation is family-friendly, inspirational and uplifting, you can enter up to 5 projects to have more chances of winning.  Our sponsors for this week are The Flying Unicorn (awesome prize), Classy Cards 'N Such ($15 GC) and Daydream Designs (3 digi sets) .  You don't want to miss out on these wonderful prizes so, make sure to join our Challenge.   Have a blessed day, everyone!