Scripture Series: Rejoice Evermore Center Step Card---Time for Another Anything Goes/Family- Friendly Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hello there, friends!  Wow, February is done and we are now  on the third month of the year.  Days are passing by too fast and so, we are bringing you another inspirational Challenge from Word Art Wednesday (WAW).  As always, we are highlighting a Scripture Word Art (you can download for free at the WAW site) coming from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 which tells us, "Rejoice evermore.  Pray without ceasing."

As I looked into the context of Paul's letter in 1 Thessalonians, it centers on the message of encouragement and preparedness as we live in the last of the Last Days.  The Church in Thessalonica was comprised of new believers and needed to be taught and reminded of the tenets of their faith in Christ.  It was vital for their maturity---to avoid being deceived (falling into all sorts of temptation given their pagan culture) and discouraged by persecution.  Paul needed to empower them with hope and warn them about the "Day of the Lord."  In order to understand the significance of our featured verses, we need to examine what this "Day" is about encouraging us to rejoice and to continue in prayer.  

My Life Application Bible defines the The "Day of the Lord " as a future time when God will intervene directly and dramatically in world affairs.  Predicted and discussed often in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:6-12,  Joel 2:28-32, Zephaniah 1:14-18) the Day of the Lord will include both punishment and blessing .  Christ will judge sin and set up His eternal kingdom.  I also found another article pertaining to the "Day of the Lord"  at Gotquestions.org and it says, "The New Testament calls it a day of “wrath,” a day of “visitation,” and the “great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:14) and refers to a still future fulfillment when God’s wrath is poured out on unbelieving Israel (Isaiah 22; Jeremiah 30:1-17; Joel 1-2; Amos 5; Zephaniah 1) and on the unbelieving world (Ezekiel 38–39; Zechariah 14). The Scriptures indicate that “The Day of the Lord” will come quickly, like a thief in the night (Zephaniah 1:14-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:2), and therefore Christians must be watchful and ready for the coming of Christ at any moment. Besides being a time of judgment, it will also be a time of salvation as God will deliver the remnant of Israel, fulfilling His promise that “all of Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26), forgiving their sins and restoring His chosen people to the land He promised to Abraham (Isaiah 10:27; Jeremiah 30:19-31, 40; Micah 4; Zechariah 13). The final outcome of the Day of the Lord will be that “the arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:17). The ultimate or final fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the Day of the Lord will come at the end of history when God, with wondrous power, will punish evil and fulfill all His promises."  

Anyone who placed their faith in Jesus Christ and living in accordance to His Word would agree that we are living in a world that is hostile to Christianity.  The persecutions are not just something we read about.  We heard of our brothers and sisters being slaughtered---beheaded or burned in many countries by radical Islamic terrorists whose ideology thrives on killing people who don't share their insanity to their false doctrines and their false god.  Though there are many other false religions/teachings in  this world and are deceiving many, none of them is brutally and literally killing people (physically) in keeping with their belief system.  Our country have allowed them to creep in  our society by not enforcing our laws on Immigration and borders under the false claim of compassion to push a one world agenda.  As a result, we are literally welcoming, supporting  and feeding these savages to kill us.  Some may say, this is harsh but I am merely stating the Truth. Islam and it's minions have made clear their intentions to destroy, take over and enslave every country and to abuse our women and children in tons of video you can find in social media.  Make no mistake about it, we are seeing that everywhere in the countries that embraced them amidst these countries government and media cover-up.  Therefore, we must support every  effort or our newly elected President, Donald Trump, to annihilate ISIS and their supporters from the face of the earth.  Those who are radicalized (citizens or non-citizens) who expressed their support for this savage group should be kicked out (stripped off their citizenship), monitored and should be treated as enemies of our country.  In the President's address to Congress yesterday, we are to take a good look at the men and women representatives of our cities and states and see who were those who didn't support the President's statement to get rid of ISIS for good.  These people are no longer wolves  in sheep's clothing.  They have come as wolves and it's for all the world to see.  Only the blindest of the blinds will take this lightly.  

But for us who are still operating with wisdom and discernment, we thank God for it is in Him that we are able to see clearly the deception that has succumb many.  As we see the Day of the Lord unfolding, we should not dwell on the chaos but in the hope of what it means in the timeline of God.  We need to rejoice as we focus upon our future in Christ for behind the chaos is the fulfillment of our eternal existence in the presence of the Lord where victory and eternal bliss is certain.  No Sin, Death and Darkness shall exist in that period.  True joy, true peace and true love shall be the order of the kingdom with our King, Jesus Christ.  Though for a while, we have to painfully endure the product of people's ungodliness (lawlessness/rebellion), we need to pray continuously for the salvation of souls and for the good of our nation and the entire world.  While the Holy Spirit is working in the Church (Born-again believers, John 3:3) in this period of grace, we are to continue to bring the Gospel (Good News---death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ) to every nation at all cost.  There are still many of them out there who would come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ for it there's none, this world should have long been destroyed.  I love God's instruction to us in Ephesians 5:15-20 and it says, "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,  speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

For this Card, I used a couple of Stamp and Die Combos (Happy New Home and Pocketful of Sunshine) from our wonderful sponsor this week, Taylored Expressions.  I colored the images with my Touchfive Markers.  I used the coordinated dies to cut the images while others were fussy-cut.  The base is white CS, cut and scored to make a 5.5 inches center step design.  The DP's are from Recollections, the white nail head gems from Imaginisce and the glitters from Stickles (Crystal and Gold). There's some inking to create the clouds using Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass) and die-cut the circle and scalloped circle using Nestablities.  Lastly, I ran it through my sewing machine for some wonderful stitching.  I'm very happy with the result. 

 REJOICE EVERMORE CENTER STEP CARD

REJOICE EVERMORE CENTER STEP CARD LAYERS

 REJOICE EVERMORE CENTER STEP CARD SIDE VIEW

 REJOICE EVERMORE CENTER STEP CARD INSIDE

REJOICE EVERMORE CENTER STEP CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Crafting by Designs---ATG
Inspiration Destination---ATG
Crafty Addicts---ATG/CAS
A Bit More Time to Craft---ATG
A Perfect Time to Craft---ATG
Create with TLC---ATG
Classic DT---ATG
Crafts and Me---Springtime
Crafty Awesomeness---ATG
Craftyhazelnuts---Patterned Paper
Creatalicious---ATG /Lots of Green
Digistamps4Joy---ATG with Optional Twist
Eclectic Ellapu---Spring
Love to Scrap---ATG
Not Just Cards---Spring
One Crazy Stamper---ATG
Paradise of Stamps---Spring
Rubber Dance---Color Challenge
Sweet Stampers---Add a Sentiment
World Wide Open DT---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 several times in two weeks.  A great prize awaits our winner from our wonderful sponsor---Taylored Expressions ($25 GC) .  So excited to see what you come up with.  Anyway, meditate on the goodness of the Lord and rely on His promises.  Expect only wonderful things from Him each day.  We serve a good and faithful God who never leave us nor forsake us!