Friendship Series: Hugs My Friend Camera Embossed Card---Join us at Word Art Wednesday for Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge!

Hi Crafty peeps!  Here's the other card I made for our bi-weekly challenge that started  a week ago.  You can make an Inspirational/Anything Goes projects that you can link to our Challenge site, Word Art Wednesday (WAW).  You can also choose to incorporate the Scripture Word Art (you can download for free at the WAW site) or save it for future use. Check out my card that highlights the Scripture Word in my other post HERE.  I made this card exclusively to highlight images/sentiments from our sponsor this Challenge---Stamp Simply.

A good friendship is the foundation of all healthy relationships.  It needs one's utmost trust, respect, time and effort to stand the tests of time.  Anyone who spent years and staying strong in their relationships can attest to that. This also means that no matter what situations you encounter (because no relationship is perfect), you are to be fully committed to not easily give up and let go.

Jesus spent a good 3 years of His life and ministry by gathering, building and training His disciples.  As a perfect Man, He had to experience physical challenges and the limitations that time and distance had put us all through.  And as a Holy God, He had the knowledge of what He must do and go through and what His future entailed.  Though He didn't explain in great detail to His disciples what He must endure and give up to set mankind free from their bondage to Sin because of their limited understanding prior to His death on the Cross, He made perfect use of His time, strength and ability to demonstrate the love and ways of the Father for mankind. He ate, slept, walked , talked and suffered with them.  They marveled at the miracles they witnessed as Jesus showed them what "faith" and "obedience" to the will of His Father could do.  In His brief ministry on earth,  He showed us what the true ingredient of a perfect and loving relationship was all about---SELFLESSNESS!  1 John 3:16 says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."  And because Jesus only did what His Father told Him to do, we can be assured of our Heavenly Father's great love for us.  John 5:19 clearly reveals, "Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you,the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." We have this blessed assurance that when we place our trust in the Person of Jesus Christ, we entrust our lives to the One who loves us perfectly---the Father!  John 3:16 is the ultimate proof of the Father's love for us revealing this, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Nowadays, I find it alarming to see all  this promotion pertaining to "SELF LOVE." Many of the messages the entertainment industry, social and mainstream media is pushing to the masses has nothing to do with the truth of "loving your neighbor as yourself" which is next to the greatest commandment of all, "loving the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind." (Matthew 22:37).  Loving oneself can only find its true meaning not in the world, but seeing our worth in the eyes of God, our Creator.  Ephesians 2:8-10 says, "God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."  It is imperative that we value ourselves according to how God value and sees us (His masterpiece) so we can understand our purpose and reason for being.  Every time someone/something tries to destroy us, we have a strong core and reason for self worth.  And when we have a Godly perspective of ourselves, we will value our existence and treat others the same way.  But the dangers of worldly self-love is that it takes God out of the equation.  It's always materialistic and self-serving.  It centers on pleasing oneself and gets its validation from the world.  Jesus knows the love of the Father.  It is rooted in selflessness that He had to send Him (His One and Only Son) to this world to save the world.  Jesus embodied that same selflessness by obeying His Father and ultimately fulfilling His purpose to die on the Cross to redeem mankind.  If we truly value our worth and the people in our relationships, we should start by placing our faith and embracing the finished work (His death, burial and resurrection) of Jesus Christ at the Cross.  Once we are in Christ (Born-again, John 3:3), we can show our love for others by leading them to Jesus.  He is the true gift that keeps on giving.   

For this Card, I used an image and sentiments from Stamp Simply Clear Stamps called "Stick Family" and colored the image using my The Creative Expert markers.  The embossed camera image and other background elements are all from  Sizzix A2 Impresslits.  I added a bit of DP, some nail head gems from Imaginisce and some regular and fancy stitching.  Love it!

 

 

 HUGS MY FRIEND CAMERA EMBOSSED CARD

 

 

HUGS MY FRIEND CAMERA EMBOSSED CARD CLOSE-UP

 

 

 

HUGS MY FRIEND CAMERA EMBOSSED CARD INSIDE

 

 

HUGS MY FRIEND CAMERA EMBOSSED CARD WITH ENVELOPE

 

 

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Paper Shelter---Digital Image

A Bit More Time to Craft---ATG

A Perfect Time to Craft---ATG

Classic Design---ATG

Crafts Galore Encore---ATG

Craftyhazelnut's---Patterned Paper

Createful Heart---ATG/Black and Purple

Die-Cut Divas---ATG

Happy Little Stampers---ATG with Dies

LeAnn's World---ATG

Let's Craft and Create---ATG/Things with Wings

Love to Craft---ATG

Mirtillamente---ATG

Mix It Up---ATG/Paper Piecing

Morgan's Artworld---ATG

QKR Stampede---ATG

Creative Crafters---ATG

Worldwide Open DT---ATG

YSP---ATG

I hope you'd take the time to join us at our WAW Challenge.  It's Anything Goes as long as it's family friendly with uplifting and inspirational messages, you can link up to 5 projects.  Our sponsor this week is Stamp Simply Clear Stamps giving away 2 Stamp sets or a Stamp set and a Die-cut from their store.  I can't wait to see your projects  and leave you some encouragement on your Blogs.  Pray without ceasing and let God's promises inspire you to share the hope you have with others. 

 

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