Challenge #129 - ANYTHING GOES

We welcome you all back for another great new challenge here at Word Art Wednesday.  We have been seeing such amazing growth in participation, and we've been SO blessed by all the beautiful projects you share with us each and every week.  What a joy to see the lovely creations you all make and link to our challenges using the gifts and talents God has given to each of you.  We absolutely LOVE seeing your sweet creations and having you fellowship and share with us.  Thank you!

Our scripture for this week is Psalm 73:28, and it reminds us that IT IS GOOD FOR US TO DRAW NEAR TO GOD.  But, if we're all perfectly honest with one another, we will admit that the times when we, as humans, tend to draw the closest to God is during times of adversity and trouble.  God allows troubles in our lives for that very reason.  It's sad that we often forget to draw near to God during the very good times, but it's just a simple fact that we draw nigh to God when we "need Him" the most.  If only we could realize that, in fact, we NEED HIM every minute of every day.  We should be drawing closer to Him at every turn.  But as God brings us through the valleys of life, He is faithful to us and will always be our refuge and our strength.  This is why we "declare all His works".  We need to remember (ALWAYS) to give Him praise for the times He has pulled us up when we've been down.  By drawing close to God ALL THE TIME, and putting our constant trust in Him, we are more fully able to declare His works and give Him the glory due His perfect and holy name.  Praise God for loving us enough to allow us to draw near to Him and experience His goodness in our lives always.  Don't wait for the next moment of adversity in your life.  Draw near to Him NOW (before adversity sets in), and declare His good works (always).  What a blessed life.

As always, you are welcome to save this week's free scripture/word art file to your computer, but are not required to use it in order to play along in our challenges.   We welcome you share your art with us; remembering that Anything Goes as long as it's family-friendly, and uses an encouraging or uplifting sentiment. This includes any type of art (not just limited to cards).  You may link up to 5 projects each week. The more you enter, the more you increase your odds of winning.  It is our desire that God's Word will be a blessing and encouragement to you each week. If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules under our page tab for "Challenge Rules".  Because our ultimate goal is to honor God, we have no other choice but to delete any entries that do not adhere to these guidelines.  Let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for your understanding and participation!

Here's this week's beautiful scripture/word art file.

We hope that it will be a blessing to you!

Here are this week's AMAZING sponsors:

Paper Temptress carries ALL the most popular
and beautiful crafting papers (plus sweet embellies)
They're offering a $25 Gift Certificate to their shop!
Click here to shop with Paper Temptress
AND

Moonlighting Designs/Moonlighting By Mary is
a LOVELY digital shop on Etsy.  Mary is offering
one lucky winner three images of choice.
Click here to see the lovely images available
now at Moonlighting Designs!  They're beautiful.

AND NOW.....Our Winners:

The lucky winner of a new stamp set from

the amazing Mark's Finest Papers is

Lucky Entry #178 - Alycia

AND

The winner of some new images from

the AWESOME Eureka Stamps is the lucky

Entry #21 - Angel/Carmen

AND

The lucky winner of the $10 Gift Certificate

to Yours Mine Paper Crafts is the very
lucky Entry #122 - DeAnne

We are SO VERY BLESSED!

We're grateful for each and every sponsor, and
we pray for God's blessings on their sweet shops!

Here's some inspiration from our Design Team
Linda Carson, Our April Guest Designer

Diane Noble

Matching Card and Gift Bag w/Tag Using

Lovely Paper Temptress Papers

Laura Lunsford

Using Paper Tempress Cryogen Papers

Lori Ulrich
Using Papers from Sponsor, Paper Temptress
Including White Velvet, Yellow and Deep Blue Crepe, Opal Mica

Carole Robb Bisson

Using Papers from Sponsor, Paper Temptress

Including Heavenly White Cardstock, White Glossy

Lustre, Raspberry Pop and Iridescent Vellum

Stephanie Wright

Using Papers from Sponsor, Paper Temptress

Including Navy Blue Leather, Ivory Leather,

and Opal Text Weight (Great for Embossing)

Jo Ann Atterbury

Using Multiple Papers From

Our Sponsor, Paper Temptress

Karen Letchworth
Using Papers from Sponsor, Paper Temptress
Digital Vellum (Scripture is Printed on This),
Aquamarine Mica/Metalic and Opal Mica/Metalic

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge #128 - Anything Goes

Welcome back for another great challenge.  And thanks SO MUCH for your participation in last week's awesome challenge as well.  We are continually blessed by the art you share, and the sweet posts you make that mention our challenges.  We're growing, and continuing to see God bless our challenge blog and we thank each of you for being part of what God is doing here at Word Art Wednesday.

This week's scripture, 2 Corinthians, Chapter 1 and verse 5, was written by the Apostle Paul.  Just like each of us, Paul had sufferings in life.  Although we don't know exactly WHAT Paul's suffering was, we know that (simply because he was human) he had struggles.  In this passage, Paul likens his sufferings with the sufferings of Christ (as he has done in other passages found in the Book of 2 Corinthians).  Paul learned to use his sufferings to somehow encourage others.  This is a great lesson for us, as we are each able to do the very same thing.  We can't let life's struggles define or control us.  But rather, we can turn them around and use them as a tool to draw others (even ourselves) closer to the Lord Jesus Christ.  There are SO many wonderful blessings found in God's Word, and this is one example of using an otherwise negative situation to draw people to a closer walk with Jesus.  This is a beautiful example of allowing God's Word to completely guide and shape our lives.  We will ALWAYS be happier, more blessed people when we learn to turn all our negative experiences into situations that allow us to glorify His precious name, and draw us closer to Him.  We pray that God's Word will always be a blessing to you, and that as you seek it and learn it, He will show you new ways to implement your struggles and life lessons into practices that draw us ever closer to our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As always, you are welcome to save this week's free scripture/word art file to your computer, but are not required to use it in order to play along in our challenges.   We welcome you share your art with us; remembering that Anything Goes as long as it's family-friendly, and uses an encouraging or uplifting sentiment. This includes any type of art (not just limited to cards).  You may link up to 5 projects each week. The more you enter, the more you increase your odds of winning.  It is our desire that God's Word will be a blessing and encouragement to you each week. If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules under our page tab for "Challenge Rules".  Because our ultimate goal is to honor God, we have no other choice but to delete any entries that do not adhere to these guidelines.  Let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for your understanding and participation!

Here's this week's beautiful scripture/word art file.

We hope that it will be a blessing to you!

Here are this week's AMAZING sponsors:

Mark's Finest Papers is offering one stamp set
to a lucky participant.  Check out ALL the
amazing stamps at Mark's Finest Papers.
AND

Eureka Stamps is offering one lucky winner
five (5) images of choice.  They have SO
many wonderfully sweet images.
Click here to shop Eureka Stamps.AND

Yours or Mine Paper Crafts is offering a
$10 Gift Certificate to their lovely shop
Click here to shop with Yours Mine Paper Crafts

And now...Our Lucky Winners:

The winner of their choice of any stamp
set from the LOVELY My Craft Spot
is Entry #63 - Tammy Hobbs
Click here to shop My Craft Spot
AND

The winner of the $10 Gift Certificate to
Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps is the very blessed
Entry #183 - Paula Jennings
Click here to shop at Sweet 'N Sassy

We are SO BLESSED!

We're grateful for each and every sponsor, and
we pray for God's blessings on their sweet shops!

Here's some inspiration from our Design Team
Linda Carson

Diane Noble

Outside/Front of Card

Inside of Card with Scripture/Word Art

Laura Lunsford

Lori Ulrich

Carole Robb Bisson

Using Big Cats Stamp from Sponsor, MFP

Stephanie Wright

Using Stamp from Sponsor, Mark's Finest Papers

JoAnn Atterbury

Karen Letchworth
No Art This Week

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge #127 - Anything Goes

Praise God!  It's almost time for Easter.  This is a beautiful time of year for us all to reflect on what Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, did for us on the cross to provide a way for us to get to Heaven.  In this week's passage, John 11:25, Jesus tells us that "He is the resurrection, and the life" - since these are the words of Jesus, it shows us once again that Jesus really IS GOD, and He is telling us that "he who believeth in me, though he were dead (even if a person dies physically), yet shall he live" because we can receive eternal life in Heaven with Him because of His great sacrifice for us.  We will never die spiritually.  We have the choice of where our spirit will spend eternity.  Praise God for making a way for us to ENSURE that we can spend that eternity in Heaven with Him.  If  you have any questions about salvation, the Easter story, or the perfect plan God had for us when He offered Himself as the only worthy sacrifice for our sins, I would strongly encourage you to find a really good Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church to visit this Easter.  There are men (and woman) of God who can help answer all your questions, and you will find SUCH blessings through the fellowship of other Christians by getting involved in a local church.  We encourage you to always continue growing closer to Him, and to get all your questions answered in a way that will allow you to grow and mature in your walk with Him.  It's such a blessed life.  We wish you all a joyous and blessed Easter, and even more importantly, a blessed life - living for Jesus.

We thank you for sharing your art with us, and we look forward to seeing what you will create and share this week.  Our challenge is open to everyone, and if you have any questions at all about the rules and guidelines for our Anything Goes challenges, just refer to the Challenge Rules page.

As always, you are welcome to save this week's free scripture/word art file to your computer, but are not required to use it in order to play along in our challenges.   We welcome you share your art with us; remembering that Anything Goes as long as it's family-friendly, and uses an encouraging or uplifting sentiment. This includes any type of art (not just limited to cards).  You may link up to 5 projects each week. The more you enter, the more you increase your odds of winning.  It is our desire that God's Word will be a blessing and encouragement to you each week. If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules under our page tab for "Challenge Rules".  Because our ultimate goal is to honor God, we have no other choice but to delete any entries that do not adhere to these guidelines.  Let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for your understanding and participation!

Here's this week's beautiful scripture/word art file.

We hope that it will be a blessing to you!

Here are this week's AMAZING sponsors:

The ADORABLE My Craft Spot is offering
one very lucky winner their choice
of any stamp set in their LOVELY shop!
They carry stamps, dies, seam binding,
jute, and SO much more.  FUN STUFF!
Click here to shop My Craft Spot
AND

Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps is offering
one lucky winner a $10 Gift Certificate
to their lovely shop.  Click here to
shop with Sweet 'N Sassy

AND NOW......Our Winners

The winner of the $10 gift certificate to
the awesome Loves Rubber Stamps

is Entry #79 - Susie Moore

AND also....

The winner of five (5) adorable images

of choice from Milk Coffee Stamps

is Entry #86 - Desire F.
AND
...for the third prize Karen offered last week,
the winner of a pile of beautiful wool felt
is lucky Entry #18 - Gail Scott

We are SO BLESSED!

We're grateful for each and every sponsor, and
we pray for God's blessings on their sweet shops!

Here's some inspiration from our Design Team
Linda Carson, Our April Guest Designer

Diane Noble

Laura Lunsford

Lori Ulrich

Carole Robb Bisson

Stephanie Wright

JoAnn Atterbury

Karen Letchworth

An InLinkz Link-up