Word Art Wednesday

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Anything Goes - Challenge #509-510

Welcome back by Word Art Wednesday, everyone. I hope you're all ready for another FUN challenge. We have an AMAZING sponsor, Pretty Little Studio. We also have some awesome inspiration to help get everyone motivated and inspired. There's a short devotional to read if you'd like, and a whole lot of excitement waiting for everyone again in this challenge. For those of you who enjoy praying, and do pray; I have a prayer request (on behalf of Word Art Wednesday) and it's one that all of us here at WAW appreciate prayers regarding. In fact, it blesses all of YOU ultimately as well; so I do hope you'll pray about it if the Lord lays it on your heart. I'm busy working on the Sponsors' Calendar for 2022. Things are filling in nicely and we have some AWESOME new companies sponsoring us this coming year; but there are still several spots (challenge weeks) that need a sponsor. I also ask that you pray for our awesome sponsors - that God would bless them/their business for being so very generous to our FUN crafting community. I trust that our gracious Lord will have all the spots filled in no time, and we PRAISE HIM for that. Then, when our new Sponsor Calendar comes out in 2022, and you see all those AWESOME store logos on our sidebar; you will know that YOU had a part in praying for, and watching God provide those sponsors......AND knowing that His hand of blessing is now upon all those amazing companies He provided as our sponsors. There are SO many generous companies out there in our crafting world, and we are being SO BLESSED by their generosity throughout the card challenge world. We are all SO blessed, right? Be sure to give thanks. And with all that said...let's get started with this challenge.

The lovely word art for this challenge was, as always, created by Karen Murray using the verse 3 John 2, which reads, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth". When these words were originally written by John, they were being directed at a young man/friend of John who was already saved. This letter was later shared with the church there; so most or all of these people were also already saved. That is, they had already called upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ (God in human flesh) to save them from their sins. Because they were more "mature" Christians; they were being told by John that God desires for them to also prosper and be blessed in other ways as well (financially, with good health, etc.). Since they already had their salvation (it tells us "their souls did prosper" which assures us they were already eternally secure); God wanted them to have an abundance of blessings in every aspect of their lives. The same is true for us today. Of course God wants, first and foremost, for every man/woman to be saved. Once we are saved and begin to grow in His knowledge, holiness, grace and wisdom - our soul prospers because we are eternally secure. But this verse clearly tells us that the LORD wants so much more for us. When we are living for Him and walking with Him/growing in His Word and getting closer to Him....He desires that we are happy, healthy and blessed. Praise God! When we completely trust in Him and we are truly content in our hearts and lives with what we already have (what He's already given us); then He is faithful to give us much more. He needs to know that we are ready and mature enough to handle His abundant blessings. When one is mature in their Christian walk, He knows that person will use all those blessings to bring Him praise, to draw us ever closer to Him, and to point others to Him. Are you lacking anything? Health, money, blessings or otherwise? Come to Jesus. Lay your sins and burdens at His feet. Let Him know that YOU want a soul that prospers, as well as ALL He has waiting for you. The first step is up to each of us individually - CALLING on Him for salvation. Next, we start truly living for Him. Then.....just watch how God will BLESS your life with ALL the wonderful things He desires for you.

As always, you are welcome to save the word art to your computers; but you are never required to use it in order to play along in our challenges or to win. We welcome you to share your all 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 altered or digital art (not just limited to cards). You may link up to five (5) projects each week, for a total of ten (10) entries per two-week challenge. 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 as we share it. 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 the guidelines. Please know that this doesn't mean we are judging anyone. We're simply attempting to honor God and follow His rules. Let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for your understanding and participation.

Check out our WONDERFUL sponsor for this challenge:

Our friends over at Pretty Little Studio are sponsoring

this challenge, and that means someone will win an

ADORABLE prize package from this sweet shop.

Pretty Little Studio carries many cardmaking and

scrapbooking packages and products - each with a

1950's-60's vintage theme including flashcards,

stickers, ephemera, and other little snippets to give

your projects whimsical touches that will make you

smile. Be sure to stop by Pretty Little Studio

to look around; then come play along for your

chance to win this fun and fabulous prize.

AND NOW.......Yet Another Lucky Winner:

Stix 2 Anything is an AWESOME store.

They're located in the UK, but they ship

ALL over the crafting globe, and beyond.

They carry a wide variety of Adhesives such

as Two-Sided Tape, Crafting Helps,

fun items like Door Hangers and SO much

more. One lucky person has won a FAB

Adhesives Package from Stix 2 Anything

It's Entry #8 - Fabiola

Our Top 3 Honors Go To Our Friends:

Entry #9 - Donna Walls

Entry #74 - Jackie C.

Entry #132 - Arlene Kruse

Please email Karen if you'd like a

Top 3 or Winner's Badge for your blog.

All winners must also email Karen

to claim prize (per the Rules Page). Thanks!

May God bless all our AWESOME sponsors.

We appreciate them all SO very much. We

pray for them, and for God's hand of blessing

upon their businesses. We're SO grateful.

Here's Some Inspiration To Get You Started

Jeanne Jachna From the Pretty Little Studio DT

Using Miss Sadie Rose, Patchwork Journalling

Cards, Such A Lady Die-Cuts, and various

Stickers from Pretty Little Studio

And this card also by Jeanne Jachna which uses their

Frosty Collection, Snow Cream Die-Cuts, Hug in

A Mug Journalling Cards, and Fruitcake Stitches

Clear Stickers

Our Talented September Guest Designer, Kailash Naidoo

Natalie Houston

JoAnn Atterbury

Coming Soon

Maxine Diffey

Gail Scott

Holly Lau

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Anything Goes #507-508

Hello, and thanks so much for stopping by again to play along in our FUN challenge. We have another really great challenge waiting for you all, and we couldn't be more delighted than to have YOU share your art and play along with us. God has blessed us SO much, and we have another AWESOME sponsor for this challenge, Stix 2 Anything. We also have a talented new Guest Designer joining us for the month of September, and that's Kailash Naidoo. Let's get started with our challenge, and thanks again for joining us.

The word art was created using a beautiful verse of scripture, Psalm 91:4, which says "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler". This is one of my favorite passages. I remember first hearing and studying it when I was still rather young; and I recall pondering whether or not it was literal (his feathers/wings and all). I've come to the belief (me personally) that it's literal. Although we are most certainly created "in His image", we also know that He is God (unique in every way) and I just believe that has to be (at least somewhat/somehow) a literal element to this Biblical truth. What I do know FOR SURE is that it means He (God/Jesus Christ) is AMAZING; and that He will cover and protect us from ALL that surrounds us. I know for certain that we can TRUST Him completely, and that his TRUTH (that He alone is God Almighty) will be our shield, our fortress, and safe place (from the enemy) and our "buckler" which again means a strong and sure defense. We can always rest assured that when we place our trust in God alone and seek Him, He is always going to watch over us, protect us, and lead us into what is best for us. Praise God for WHO He is, WHAT He has done, for HOW He watches over us, and for WHEN He will come again to take us to Heaven with Him FOREVER. Is the TRUTH of Jesus your shield and buckler?

Check out our AWESOME sponsor for this challenge:

Stix 2 Anything is an AWESOME store.

They're located in the UK, but they ship

ALL over the crafting globe, and beyond.

They carry a wide variety of Adhesives such

as Two-Sided Tape, Crafting Helps,

fun items like Door Hangers and SO much

more. One lucky person will win a FAB

Adhesives Package from Stix 2 Anything.

And Now....Another LUCKY WINNER:

The Project Bin was the fun sponsor for

our last challenge. The Project Bin carries

many sweet stamps and dies in a variety of

themes. You can find all their amazing

products here in The Project Bin Store.

One lucky person who played along in our

last challenge has now won a $15 voucher to

spend at The Project Bin. That lucky person

is Entry #21 - Allisa

The Top 3 Honors Go To Our Friends:

Entry #8 - Dottie Seubert

Entry #68 - Gloria Shirr

Entry #171 - Heather Mills

Please email Karen if you'd like a

Top 3 or Winner's Badge for your blog.

All winners must also email Karen

to claim prize (per the Rules Page). Thanks!

May God bless all our AWESOME sponsors.

We appreciate them all SO very much. We

pray for them, and for God's hand of blessing

upon their businesses. We're SO grateful.

Here's Some Inspiration To Get You Started

Our September Guest Designer, Kailash Naidoo

Natalie Houston

JoAnn Atterbury

Ginny Maxam

Maxine Diffey

Gail Scott

Holly Lau

Coming Soon

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Weeks #505-506 - Anything Goes

Welcome back, everyone! It's time for another awesome challenge here at Word Art Wednesday, and we're so glad you've chosen to join the fun. We have another FUN sponsor, some great inspiration, a brief devotional, and loads of fun waiting for you. Let's get started with our new challenge. You may never actually know how incredibly grateful I am for your participation in our challenges and your willingness to share your time and talents with us here at Word Art Wednesday. YOU are what makes it a success.

Our word art was created using the verse 145:8 which says, The LORD is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger and of great mercy". As we've discussed in the past, the word LORD (all caps) in the Old Testament refers to God the Father (Yahweh God) and in the New Testament, Jesus Christ (the same person). This verse tells us that He is gracious which means He expressed his merciful love for us through His sacrifice on Calvary. It also says that He is full of compassion which means that He truly cares for us in the most intimate/personal way. He wants to know us and to help us become more like Him. This verse tells us that He is also slow to anger. And because we are to strive to be like Him, we need to learn how to control our anger so that our actions will reflect His gentleness and self-control. He will give us all these things if we simply ASK Him for these attributes. Remember, once we are in Christ, we become a new creature and He will always help grow us into who He wants us to be - a happier, more self-controlled person who will draw others to Christ by being a proper example in this dark world. Finally, this verse tells us that God is "of great mercy". Again, if God wasn't "of great mercy", He could have saved His precious time and not suffered and died to provide a way for us to bridge the gap that our SINFUL NATURE creates - separating us from Him. A sacrifice had to be made in order for that sin gap to be covered; and HE, the LORD, was the only One who could cover our sin because ONLY He is God and ONLY He is sinless and pure. It's because of His great mercy that He paid the price for us, and the reason why He is gracious, full of compassion, and slow to anger. He wants us to be like Him. He wants us to call on Him for our salvation, ask Him to guide our lives to be more like Him, and to help us point others to Him so that they can have their sin gap bridged, and find their way to an eternity with Him. Praise God that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. You can ALWAYS count on Him.

Check out our AWESOME sponsor for this challenge:

The Project Bin is our AWESOME sponsor

for this challenge. The Project Bin carries

many sweet stamps and dies in a variety of

themes. You can find all their amazing

products here in The Project Bin Store.

One lucky person who plays along in

our challenge will win a $15 voucher to

spend at The Project Bin.

NOW....Here's Another LUCKY WINNER:

The one and only CAS-ual Fridays Stamps was our

previous challenge sponsor. If you're not yet

familiar with CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, you

will want to pop over and check out all their

WONDERFUL stamps, dies, stencils and many

crafting/stamping supplies. You'll also find lots

of great inspiration on the wonderful

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog.

NOW......One lucky person has WON an

awesome stencil package valued at over $25

from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps. That person

is Lucky Entry #28 - Christine Miller

The Top 3 Honors Go To Our Friends:

Entry #7 - Lois/Lil' Artsy Woman

Entry #107 - Lori Podolsky

Entry #217 - Cynthia O.

Please email Karen if you'd like a

Top 3 or Winner's Badge for your blog.

All winners must also email Karen

to claim prize (per the Rules Page). Thanks!

May God bless all our AWESOME sponsors.

We appreciate them all SO very much. We

pray for them, and for God's hand of blessing

upon their businesses. We're SO grateful.

Here's Some Inspiration To Get You Started

Cynthia Olheiser, Our August Guest Designer

Natalie Houston

JoAnn Atterbury

Ginny Maxam

Maxine Diffey

Gail Scott

Holly Lau

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Anything Goes - Weeks #503-504

Welcome to Word Art Wednesday Challenge Blog, and thanks for joining us. We have another really FAB challenge waiting for you. All the amazing cards and projects you share with us continue to impress us, and we want you all to know that we consider each of you WINNERS in our book. We wish that everyone could win the prize each challenge because we really want you to know how grateful we are to have you play along with us. We try our best to get to everyone's blog to leave a comment; but if we do happen to miss you, please still know how much it means to us that you join us so faithfully. You are all SO super talented.

Our word art/scripture for this challenge is 1 Peter 4:7 which says, "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer". This is pretty straight-forward, but we can still find so many blessings in these words that will help us to be prepared for God's return. As I was studying this verse, I found a wonderful article written by Daily Verse. There are several advertisements in this article; but it is a wonderful explanation of what Christ expects of us, and how we (children of God) should live (it's well worth reading). Many people try to predict when Christ will return. But truth be told, NONE of us knows when He will come back for His people. This is why we must be prepared always. Although we don't know when, it is imminent that He WILL come again. Before that happens, we WILL face persecution - to what extent we don't yet know. Rest assured that this world IS NOT OUR ETERNAL HOME. We need to keep our thoughts pure, our hearts fixed on Him, and we need to always be ready to share the gospel freely with others. Remember that EVERY HUMAN will spend eternity in one of two places - Heaven or Hell. As believers in Christ Jesus; having accepted His gift to us, we can be certain that we will spend our eternity with Him in Heaven. However, it needs to be of great concern to us that there are so many lost souls who are on a path straight to Hell (a literal fiery pit of eternal anguish); and it's up to each of us to share the good news of salvation through Christ Jesus with them when given the opportunity. When we are getting prepared for what's to come, it's like being prepared for anything else. If we aren't "sober" physically and emotionally, we won't be ready. This verse encourages us to be clear-minded and not distracted by drugs, alcohol or anything else. It also tells us to be in a spirit of prayer. Living right isn't difficult; it's a blessed life that allows us to be ready for whatever comes our way. God is always with us as we go through this life. We can't all be missionaries, but we all can pray for and support missionaries. We can't all go out and share the Gospel, but we can all pray for the lost to have open minds/hearts when God does send someone into their lives who will share the TRUTH with them. And most of all, we all can prepare our own hearts to be in a right place with Him so that we are the example of His love that will draw others to Him. I do encourage you to read THIS ARTICLE that explains this verse in detail (just ignore the ads...LOL). PRAISE GOD that He is coming again. Will YOU be found ready?