Scripture Series: They that Seek the Lord Card---Join us for an Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hello everyone!  It's been a whole week since my last project and I'm just amazed at how time flew by too fast.  I also can't help but notice that the world is turning crazier each day.  I am having a difficult time looking for positive things to watch daily on TV, for example.  I would like to think that with the hundreds of programs available each day through the Cable,  it will be easy to find something with moral values.  But no, it's always been a challenge and so, I end up watching mostly  Christian programs and movies.  To hear people testifying on what the Lord has done in their lives surely encourages me and builds up my faith.  I rejoice with people who have allowed the Lord into their lives.  Most of them have followed their own destructive paths and almost lost their lives.  Yet, at the nick of time, they call on the name of the Lord in desperation!  At their rock bottom, they heard the Lord knocking at the door of their hearts.  They opened the door and allowed the Lord to come inside and rescue them.  Tears rolled down their faces as they recall that very special moment of their encounter with the Lord Jesus.  I love how one man said, "I could have been killed in the streets at the kind of life I was living but the grace of God preserved me and gave me another chance.  This great mercy that God had shown me compels me to love Him back.  His love compels me to love Him back!"  Wow!  I tell you, I felt every emotion from that man's testimony.  I may not have done anything close to what that man committed in his life yet, I too, have experienced rock bottom in a different way.   Due to many problems I've experienced with my family in my  younger days, my frustrations and hopelessness got the best of me!  Home was a chaos and I was not finding any sincere support from friends.  Not knowing my purpose and my future sent me to the pit of depression.  It's as if I am living in colorless world---everything has no meaning!  There's something inside of me that is craving to be filled yet no human being can satisfy.  I look for answers in all the wrong places through people and relationships and they all failed.  I had prayed to die (yes, I did!) so I can escape that lonely world!  I didn't know where I could find answers .  But one day, at the fulness of time, God met me!  One faithful night,  in the comforts of my home and a Christian TV program in whom the Gospel (death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ) was preached, I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.  There was nobody there to persuade me, to cheer me up, to witness the cries of my spirit.  Yet I am certain of the presence of the Lord that took every bit of pain, heaviness and chains that kept me bound.  With just a prayer of faith and acceptance, I WAS MADE FREE!  This kind of freedom is unexplainable, as I felt a heavy load was taken of my chest and something in the atmosphere (in the spiritual realm) was forever changed.  And today, 24 years later, this   experience  comes back to me so often---as fresh as the day it happened.  What God has done for me that night compels me to love Him back.  He has turned my life around and no one can tell me that "God does not exist."  I've experienced His love and compassion that night and in all the years that passed,  He carried me through.  I serve a powerful, glorious, holy and magnificent True God who stands by His Word.  So, no matter what happens in here, my faith is secured in Him.  In Jesus Christ, I have a purpose in this lifetime as well as the eternal.  I need not be afraid for He is always right beside me.  I truly hope that anyone who is reading this message and have not encountered God in their lives would give the Lord a chance to prove Himself to them.   No matter how far you roamed, how deep the hole you dug for yourself, there is nowhere you can be that God will not be able to reach you.  He can pull you out of the deepest, darkest hole.  Just call unto Him with your whole heart! Like me and that man who have given his testimony---you'll find how the love of God would compel you to love Him back.  It's the only course of action after you experienced God's immeasurable love!  Sharing some verses that would tell you of God's love for you in Christ:

"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:9-11)

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin." (1 John 3:1-5)

Right now, I want to share with you my inspiration card for our Challenge at Word Art Wednesday (WAW).  It highlights the free Word Art (by Karen Murray) you can download at WAW site which comes from Psalm 34:10 which says, "The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." The whole world was created by God and everything on it feeds from the abundance of what the Lord has given.  Yet, after the Fall of Man, we saw how death and many by-products of death have taken over. Man's (God-given) authority  has been handed down to Satan by Adam himself, through his disobedience.  Famine, hunger, sickness and diseases among many others ravaged man throughout his existence, including all of God's creation.  Though our situation and behaviors have changed, God remains the same!  He is still faithful and true and He has everything under His control.  We cannot undo the consequences of the sin that was passed along through Adam by our doing good works.  Unless we die in our old self (in Adam) and be born-again (in Christ), we are doomed!  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord  and Savior and believed that His finished work on the Cross is sufficient to save us from sure death (spiritual, physical and eternal), we are born-again into God's family.  Our featured verse simply means that as we seek the Lord and depend on Him daily, He takes care of us.  He provides our every need, we are not lacking in any good thing.  We need to be careful in assuming that a "good thing" is always what we pray for especially when it comes to material things.  God knows what is good for us, we don't!  We can pray for our needs but we have to be confident that He takes care of every good thing we need even when our everyday situations seem to contradict it.  He tells us not to worry about anything for if He takes care of all His other creation, how much more can He not take care of us whom He loves?  God wants us to depend upon Him for everything---that means in time of need or plenty.  

For this Card, I used an image from Mo Manning called "Crafty Cat" and colored it with my ProMarker/Prismacolor/Chromatix markers.  The base card cut and scored to make a 5.5" inches square card.  The DP's and the CS are all from my scraps (what a way to use those left-overs).  I die cut the scallop circle using my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug.  The huge flowers are from Prima with a brad top from Heidi Grace.  I stamped some little hearts to the image from Studio G stamps and added some white nail head gems from Imaginisce.  Lastly, I did some fancy and regular stitching all over this card.  I love how the colors and design come together.  So happy with it!   

 THEY THAT SEEK THE LORD CARD:

THEY THAT SEEK THE LORD CARD LAYERS:

THEY THAT SEEK THE LORD CARD SIDE VIEW:

THEY THAT SEEK THE LORD CARD INSIDE:

THEY THAT SEEK THE LORD CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX:

This Card is entered into the following Challenge:

DP2 Challenge---Favorite Creation of 2014

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 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 Shoppe 3130 (giving away some wool felt) and Iralamija Shop (giving away some digis).  You don't want to miss out on these wonderful prizes so, make sure to join our Challenge.   Have a blessed day, everyone!