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

Challenge #126 - Anything Goes

Happy Wednesday once again!  It's time for another great new challenge here at Word Art Wednesday, and we're SO blessed that you have chosen to join us again.  We have a special THIRD PRIZE this week, so be sure to read the instructions on how to enter that prize.

This week's scripture/word art is 2 Corinthians 5:21.  I will simply share with you how this verse was explained to me, and how I interpreted it.  I hope that my simple explanation of what this verse means to me will be a blessing to you.  "For He (God the Father) hath made him (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us (meaning Jesus took our sin on Himself on the cross), who knew no sin (He was perfect and blameless - this is why He was a worthy sacrifice for our sin; similar to a lamb in the Old Testament being sacrificed for sin - the lamb had to be spotless and with no broken limbs/perfect); that we (those who have accepted Jesus' sacrifice and asked Him to save us from our sins) might be made the righteousness (perfection) of God in him (Jesus)."  So basically, what it's saying is that Jesus took our sin upon Himself so that we could experience God's righteousness.  WOW - how wonderful that God cares about us enough to provide the proper sacrifice for us to experience His righteousness, and be able to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.  What a beautiful and wonderful message from God's Word.  I will tell you, however, that reading other people's interpretations of scripture is always nice, and often helpful, but it's very important that YOU also get into God's Word and experience and interpret it for yourself.  It's like my pastor says, "don't just go to church and listen to the pastor and ASSUME that He is quoting God's Word correctly, and interpreting it correctly.  Examine it for yourself.  Read it for yourself.  Let it bless your life!"  God's Word is filled with rich blessings.  Let it bless your life and draw you closer and closer to Jesus Christ, the ONE WAY God provided for us to get to Heaven.

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 amazing and SUPER FUN store we all love,
Loves Rubber Stamps,
is giving one lucky winner a $10 gift certificate
to pick out the stamps of their choice.  How cool
is that?  Click here to shop Loves Rubber Stamps

AND also....

The adorable digi shop, Milk Coffee Stamps

is offering a second lucky winner

five (5) ADORABLE images of their choice!

Click here to shop Milk Coffee Stamps

AND
A third prize!  Leave a comment either here
or on Karen's Blog, letting us know
how you like to use wool felt.  You just may
be the winner of a pile of wool felt!
AND NOW........
Here are our winners:

For our prize from Paper Sweeties
Entry #122 - Grace N. has won the
$10 Gift Certificate to their shop.
Click here to browse Paper Sweeties
AND

For the super adorable Bugaboo Stamps
the second lucky winner of
three (3) lovely images of their choice
is Entry #76 - Niki1
Click here to browse Bugaboo Stamps.

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

On Family Vacation

Lori Ulrich

Carole Robb Bisson

Stephanie Wright

JoAnn Atterbury

Karen Letchworth

An InLinkz Link-up

Welcome our April Guest Designer, Linda Carson

We are blessed to have Linda Carson with us this month as our Guest Designer.  I hope that you will give her a warm welcome, and let her know how glad we are that she is willing to share her God-given talents with us this month.  Here is a little bit about Linda that she has chosen to share with us.  Welcome, Linda!

----------------------------------------------------

Hi friends of Word Art Wednesday!  My name is Linda Carson, and I hail from Arkansas.  Let me share with you ladies that Arkansas is the only state where you can find diamonds!  I found a diamond in stamping some 12 years ago as a ministry of encouragement and fun using God's Word.

I was elated when Karen invited me to be a Guest Designer for the month of April.  I love playing at Word Art Wednesday because of their love of the Lord, the scriptures used, and their personal encouragement with each entry!

I currently am on the Challenge Team of Our Daily Bread Designs, and I welcome you all to play along with us there as well.  My blog is Ink Stamp Color and I'd LOVE to have you stop by and visit some time!  You'll always be welcomed!  Thanks for having me here with you this month!

Challenge #125 - Anything Goes

We hope that wherever you are, that Spring is finally peeking through to say hello; and that things are beginning to "thaw out" in the more Northern areas.  For those who are lucky enough to live in warmer climates, it will soon be getting VERY hot.  There's never really any point in grumbling about the weather.  After all, our lives are SO incredibly blessed and we really just need to remember to give God praise in any and every circumstance.  He's SO good to us!  We praise and thank Him for each of you who stops by to share the beautiful art you create.  We love seeing your creativity, and having you play along in our challenges.  So, please always know that we are truly grateful for each and every entry.  If you're new to our challenge blog, please be sure to stop by our Challenge Rules page to become familiar with what types of "Anything Goes" projects meet our guidelines.  We want to assure that the art you share will qualify you for the fabulous prizes being offered by all our WONDERFUL SPONSORS each week!

We have a beautiful piece of word art this week, and we hope that it will be a blessing to you.  This scripture is from the Book of Isaiah Chapter 26 and verse 3.  It assures us that God will keep us in "perfect peace", which the Bible describes as an absolutely perfect peace and a state of true, genuine well-being.  That, in and of itself, is an incredible blessing.  What a joy to fully realize that God genuinely loves us enough to keep us in a wonderful state of well-being that will bring complete peace to our lives.  When we fix our minds on the things of God, and refuse to let ourselves be consumed with the worries of this world, He gives our deep inner person a genuine peace and joy that the unsaved world simply cannot understand or comprehend.  There's absolutely NO need for any worries when your thoughts are stayed on Him.  That's enough to bring a lasting smile to anyone's face.  God is just OH, SO GOOD!

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 super adorable Paper Sweeties
is offering one lucky winner a
$10 Gift Certificate to their shop.
Click here to browse Paper Sweeties
AND

The super adorable Bugaboo Stamps
is offering a second lucky winner
three (3) lovely images of their choice.
Click here to browse Bugaboo Stamps.

AND NOW.......
Here are this week's lucky winners!

The lucky winner who will get

$20 to spend on the stamps of their choice
from the AWESOME Verses Rubber Stamps
is Entry #125 - Billie A.
AND

The lucky winner of 3 sets of their choice
from the adorable Deedee's Digis
is Entry #126 - Dawn/Designs by Dragonfly

May God bless all our amazing sponsors.
We appreciate them all SO very much!

Here's some inspiration from our Design Team
Our March Guest Designer, Sandra Carey

Debbie Marcinkiewicz, Paper Sweeties Owner

Debbie is joining us this week to help showcase

Paper Sweeties, one of our sponsors this week.

Here's her card using Paper Sweeties stamps.

Diane Noble

Laura Lunsford

Lori Ulrich

Carole Robb Bisson

Stephanie Wright

JoAnn Atterbury

Karen Letchworth

Using Paper Sweeties Checkerboard Stamp

from their lovely Borders Stamp Set

An InLinkz Link-up