Scripture Series: Thy Spirit is Good Center Step Card---Join Us for Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hello there, Crafty Peeps!   It's time for another Word Art Wednesday (WAW) Challenge and a free Scripture Word Art that you can download for free from the WAW site.  You may use it in your projects you link to our Challenge (not mandatory) or as a wonderful inspirational message for your projects.  I have featured it in my card today and it comes from Psalm 143:10 which says,"Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness." 

My Life Application Bible blessed me with a wonderful exhortation of Psalm 143 that I would love to share with you.  It says, "David was losing hope, caught in paralyzing fear and deep depression.  At times, we feel caught in deepening depression, and we are unable to pull ourselves out.  At those times, we can come to the Lord and, like David, express our true feelings.  Then He will help us as we remember his works (Psalm 143:5), reach out to Him in prayer (Psalm 143:6), trust Him (Psalm 143:8), and decide to do His will (Psalm 143:10).  David's prayer was to be taught to do God's will, not his own.  A prayer for guidance is self-centered if it doesn't recognize God's power to redirect our lives.  Asking God to restructure our priorities awakens our minds and stirs our wills.

Time and time again, we experience difficulties and many storms in life.  One moment, we are overwhelmed with joy and the next, we are bombarded with many trials that takes our joy away.  We go through a roller coaster of emotions and many of those trying moments seemed to get the very best of us.  Though I appear strong on the outside, yet inside of me is a constant battle to drown out the negative forces that tries to take me down.  Unlike others that could cope up easily with pain and challenges, I have tendencies to dwell on the emotional aspect of circumstances that could easily lead to depression.   Before I came to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, I kept so much pain and frustration inside me that stole my trust in those closest to me, my hope for a bright future and my zest to life.  Nobody knew how all these negative thoughts of life was eating me up inside because I was good in hiding them from public view.  Yet deep inside was an indescribable feeling of heaviness and  emptiness at the same time.  I thought to myself---"nobody cared!"  In my desperation, I cried unto God!  I called on the Lord before but something was different the very night I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ.  I was tired of hiding and carrying the heavy burden of emptiness and frustration and leading a life that I thought was meaningless and purposeless. I knew deep down my very core that He was the Only One who could help me and make something beautiful of the mess I was.  That was nearly 3 decades ago...Today, I am still  a living witness of the grace, goodness and the love of Almighty God through Jesus Christ!  From the time I came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (Born-again, John 3:3), the Holy Spirit of God lives inside of me and I am never alone in facing all the storms that are coming my way.  Like before, I still have the tendencies to overthink things but the Holy Spirit reminds me that I don't have to carry the burdens on my own.  I can place it all upon Him and with His strength through me, nothing is ever too heavy!  Psalm 34:17-19 tells us, "The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears; He delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”  Surely, taking God's righteous way of living prescribed in His Word (the Bible) always brings peace, hope and trust for a brighter day after every storm.

As a believer, we are not exempted from the storms of life that seeks to destroy our soul (mind, will and emotions) and spirit (intuition, communion and conscience).  Because I have an intimate relationship with the One who calms the storm and settles the raging seas, I can live in perfect peace and joy no matter what comes my way.   The Bible contains the promises of God to us.  So, when we pray,  declare His promises to our circumstances---and the Holy Spirit of God, in agreement with God's Word, will keep you in God's perfect peace always. 

For this Card, I used an image from Stampendous called "Campground" that I watercolored using my Stabilo 68 markers.  The base is white CS, cut and scored to make a 5.5 inches center step card design.  The DP is from Heidi Grace, the brads from Recollections and the glitters from Stickles (Crystal).  Lastly, I ran this card through my sewing machine for some regular and fancy stitching. 

 THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD

 THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD LAYERS

 THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD SIDE VIEW

 THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD INSIDE

THY SPIRIT IS GOOD CENTER STEP CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Creative Knockouts---Something to Say
Time-out---Inspired by Words
Der---Vacation
Not Just Cards---ATG
Sweet Stampers---Summer
Creative Crafters---ATG
Worldwide Open DT---ATG

There you have it, folks!  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 each week.  Wonderful prizes to be won from our wonderful sponsors---Newton's Nook ($20 GC) and Poly's Paper Studio (Digital sheet) .  So excited to see what you come up with.  Anyway, cheer up and let the peace of the Lord overtake you today.  I serve a good and faithful God---Jesus Christ!