Scripture Series: My Expectation is from Him Card---It's Anything Goes (Family Friendly) Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I'm here to feature another project for another bi-weekly Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday (WAW).  We feature another Scripture Word Art that is free for you to download at the WAW site.  It comes from Psalm 62:5 which tells us, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him."  This is such a great verse and reminded me of my walk in the Lord.  Like David, I have to tell my soul to place its faith in God's promises in times of trials and uncertainties.

I remember my recent conversation with my 10-year old son when we discussed about trusting God even when our emotions are battling with us in doing so.  I told him that the erosion of someone's faith does not come without a warning.  One day you see friends that are so zealous in serving the Lord and you can tell from their actions that they are living and growing in the promises of God.  Then another day, you witness them struggle when the storms of life comes and nothing makes sense.  Each of us deal with life's situations differently.  I, for one, think of things deeply whereas others can just let go easily.  I think both ways can have its pros and cons depending on the end result.  Trials of life happens to everyone, in different degrees, moments and seasons.  Though each of us have various ways and means to deal with difficulties, I submit to you that without God, all our efforts are in vain.  I'm speaking primarily to all believers (those with personal relationship with Jesus Christ that are Born-again, John 3:3) that have made Christ the Lord and Savior of their lives.  Though trials come our way, we are not to think like the world does.  We are in Christ! When storms come our way, we are not alone to deal with it.  We should accept the reality that the Spirit of God lives inside of us.  He is constantly with us and is perfectly aware of everything we go through.  The sad thing is that although we are aware of this,  we live as if we don't have Him or have convinced ourselves that God stops caring or have abandoned us.  Then  we start to look inwardly and find reasons why God would possibly turn his face away.  If left for long in this emotional and mental state, our faith weakens,  our hearts bitter till we no longer find joy in our fellowship with the Lord.  

I know it is sad but I see this happen over and over again.  I've gone through similar phases in my walk with God and I am so grateful because the Holy Spirit wouldn't let me go so far.  Even in the midst of rebellion and sinful behavior, He reminded me of His love and forgiveness through what Christ did for me.  As a believer, we are always tempted to sin and many times, we fall into the trap. Yet the big difference is that we now have a choice and the power to get up, start over and learn from our experience.  We have the Word of God living inside of us and in our weakness, we are to depend upon His strength to carry us through.  I told my son that we should never allow our soul (made up of our mind, will and emotions) to decide and rule for us.  Our emotions are very unstable and if we make it the basis of our faith, we are going to fail.  The promises of God found in His Word is our life source.  John 6:63 tells us, "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."  Just like David commanded his soul in our highlighted verse above, we are to order our soul to align with God's Word.  Here's how I personally walk in faith..."When I don't feel like doing things for the Lord, I rise above the feelings and push myself to do it!  When I don't feel like reading His Word, I pick up my Bible and read.  When I don't want to come to Church to fellowship with other believers and sleep calls me back to bed, I step out in faith even if I have to drag myself to shower (usually half asleep) to start the day.  When I don't feel like lifting my hands in praise  and problems weigh me down, I lift them up anyway to honor the God whose been so good to me." 

You see, the life of a believer is not characterized by the absence of troubles.  We encounter lots of trials and temptations, aimed to stop us from fulfilling His purpose.  Therefore, our lives should not be based on how we feel or perceive things.  Instead, we are to live in accordance to the promises of God in His Word.  God's Word is true and eternal and is valid both now and forever.  Colossians 3:1-2 says, "Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

For this Card, I used an image from Saturated Canary called "Rose Red" that I colored using my Top Five and Prismacolor markers.  Some of you already know that Saturated Canary shop is going to close by mid of September as Krista (the owner, artist) is going to venture on other things.  It's sad as I adore her artwork and have quite a collection but praying for the best for all her future endeavors.  So, if you want to grab a few more images from her shop like I did, visit her shop.  I think you can still purchase it with 40% off with the code SC40 but you need to double-check this info at her FB page.  So, this creation is sort of a tribute to one of my fave digi stamp company.  The base is white CS, cut and scored to make a 5.5 inches square card.  The DP's are from K and Company and Paper Studio.  I layered flowers from Prima, punched some leaves with Fiskars, added some glitters (Stickles-Crystal), some brads from Recollections and Liquid Pearls (Silver) on the image's dress.  Lastly, I stitched all over this creation.

 MY EXPECTATION IS FROM HIM CARD

 MY EXPECTATION IS FROM HIM CARD LAYERS

 MY EXPECTATION IS FROM HIM CARD SIDE VIEW

 MY EXPECTATION IS FROM HIM CARD INSIDE

MY EXPECTATION IS FROM HIM CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Crafting by Designs---ATG
Crafty Creations---Use a Number (Scripture verse)
Crafty Gals---ATG
Creative Moments---ATG with Optional Twist
Inspiration Destination---ATG
Paper Shelter---Make it Digital
Simon Says---ATG
Crafty Addicts---ATG
Wonderful Wednesday---ATG
Crafty Sentiments---Lots of Layers
Deep Ocean---Things with Wings (Bird)
Die Cuttin Divas---ATG with Die-Cut
Digi Choosday---ATG
Lemon Shortbread---ATG
Retarte---ATG
Sunny Day---ATG
TTCRD---ATG
Crafting from the Heart---ATG
Craft Your Passion---ATG
OLLCB---Girlie
Simon Says Monday---A Stitch Up
Paper Nest Dolls---ATG


Make sure you join us at WAW Challenge.  You can use the free Word Art in your creation and link it to our Challenge but is not a requirement.  As long as it's family-friendly, uplifting and inspirational, you can enter up to 5 times this week.  An awesome GC of  $25 worth will be awarded to our Challenge winner by our awesome sponsor---Simon Says Stamp.  So excited to see what you come up with.  Anyway, cheer up as we meditate on the name of Jesus today.  There is power in His Name and it's available to everyone that believes.