Friends Fill You With Smiles Card---My 2nd GDT Card for the Monday Greetings Challenge at The Outlawz!

Hey there, fellow Crafters.  I usually don't post anything on Mondays but this entire month, I was honored to be invited as GDT for one of The Outlawz Challenges---that is Monday Greeting Cards.  It's quite late posting this today because I just came from my favorite hobby, and that is---shopping!...LOL  While I was out and about, I was reminded of the prayer which my son (7 years old) utter before we eat at our dining table.  He said,  "Thank you, God, for creating us even though you knew we would sin."  The first time I heard him said that, I was in awe because that just gave me a glimpse on the working of the Lord in my son's life.  I attend a Bible school and have learned a great deal from the years I've been going.  In explaining things to my boy regarding behavior, discipline and life in general, I would end up taking Him to the scriptures to explain our existence and why we need Jesus in our lives.  I would hope he listened to everything I said but I don't have a way of knowing till he expresses what he learned in words and in deed.  What came out of his mouth that day he first said it, was something deep and I knew that the Holy Spirit has imparted into this young mind a glimpse of God's Love! 1 John 4:8 tells us,  "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."  God's very nature is LOVE...It's Agape (self-sacrificing)!  God is the Author of Love and without Him showing us, we will not know LOVE!  You see, God can live without man but man cannot live without God.  We need to reconcile this reality in our hearts---that the LOVE of GOD prompted Him to create us.   Why?  Love cannot exist without a beneficiary---it must be willingly given and is only perfected when the recipient, in his own free will, love God back .  God did not make us robots, without a heart and an ability to decide our actions.  Genesis 2:7 declares, "Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."  He gave us a spirit (to commune with Him), a soul (to think, to decide and to feel) and a body (to commune with one another and adopt to the earth He created for us).  Yet, history showed the high treason man committed to a God who gave him his life---thus the Fall!  BUT GOD HAD A PLAN!  At the darkest hour of man in Genesis 3:15, He provided a HOPE of a coming Savior (Seed of the woman) that will bruise the head (authority) of the serpent (Satan)----No other than JESUS CHRIST!  He is the perfect demonstration of God's love for mankind.  He was faithful to God till the end of His life---spotless, blameless!  He is the ONLY WAY by which man can be saved---from the beginning to the  end! (John 14:6) I would lie to anyone if in an attempt to please everyone, I would say that you can worship different gods based on your religion.  God provided one solution for man's salvation---the Man, Christ Jesus!  I would like to share with you the following verses to show how much God values each and everyone of us:

"God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross.  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  (Philippians 2:8-11)

"See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  (1 John 3:1)

"In my Father's house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."  (John 14:2-3)

You see, God wants me to love Him back out of a willing and grateful heart.  He did everything necessary to take me back from the hands of the enemy without my own effort.  My only part is to believe (trust) that I have complete victory through what Christ did for me.  How awesome!  How gracious that when He revealed Himself to me, I fell truly, madly and deeply in love with Him.  If you are in search of true love and are looking in all the wrong places, open your heart to the Lord!  He is willing to take you no matter how ugly, broken and blemished you are.  He will show you the true beauty that lives inside of you and once you reconnect with Him, you'll be able to share the same  grace and love He has given you in your everyday relationship with other people.

So, here's my GDT and inspiration card for you today highlighting fun and friendship.The image is from Make It Crafty featuring "Sam and Dylan Fishing" which I colored with my ProMarker/Prismacolor/Spectrum Noir markers.  I used a 5.5-inch white CS for card base and embossed a white CS with my Cuttlebug.  I used a grey and blue CS for matting, added some brads, incorporated a sentiment from MMDesigns and stitched all over this card.  This is what I like about male cards, you don't have to embellish it a lot.  Simplicity is the key!

FRIENDS FILL YOU WITH SMILES CARD:

 

FRIENDS FILL YOU WITH SMILES CARD LAYERS:

FRIENDS FILL YOU WITH SMILES CARD INSIDE:

 

FRIENDS FILL YOU WITH SMILES  CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX:


*** WANT THIS CARD?  AVAILABLE AT MY ETSY---HERE! *** 

I hope you enjoyed this card as much as I did making it.  Don't forget to visit The Outlawz Challenges and enter your card to the Anything Goes Challenge at Monday Greeting Card Challenge.  There are lots of prizes to be won.  If you haven't been to The Outlawz site, you need to sign-up before you can upload your entry since this is a private group.  It's pretty easy and the Crafters there are very warm and helpful...Have a wonderful week and see you on Wednesday for another inspirational card feature for Word Art Wednesday.