Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Weeks #501-502 - Anything Goes

Welcome to Word Art Wednesday, and thank you for joining us.  Whether you're new to our challenge blog, or if you've been playing along for years; we want you all to know that we greatly appreciate you and the all the wonderful art you share with us.  It's so fun and inspiring to see all the pretty cards and projects you share with us.  We have another great challenge for you with our awesome sponsor, Stamp Simply Clear Stamps.  We've got lots of great inspiration for you, a brief devotional to encourage you, and loads of fun waiting for everyone, so let's get started.  Thanks again for joining us.

The beautiful word art/scripture was created, as always, by our dear friend Karen Murray.  For those of you who have inquired about her word art/scriptures, you can always find loads of these beautiful designs here on her blog (and the link/logo is always on our left-hand side bar as well).  This scripture is Psalm 147:3 and it reads, "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds".  This verse can be interpreted both literally and figuratively.  Let's face it....ALL humans get wounds.  We get physical wounds and we get emotional wounds.  When we get a large cut (through surgery or an accident), the surgeon will use stitches, staples or glue to "bind up our wounds"; but they MUST be bound up and dealt with in order to heal properly.  The same is true of all our (physical and emotional) wounds.  PRAISE GOD that He is always there for us to heal our broken hearts and bind up our wounds because He cares for us ALL so very much.  When we have physical wounds, God uses doctors to help us and then He does the remainder of the healing for us by comforting us, easing our pain, and by pouring Himself on us through the Holy Spirit who comforts us.  The same is true of our emotional wounds.  When we leave these wounds to ourselves and don't include God, we tend to spend a whole lot of time wallowing in our sorrows.  We tend to "vent" to the (sometimes) wrong people, and we complain about our sorrows to others who ultimately lend little support.  By coming to the LORD, Jesus Christ, first and laying our  burdens (physical wounds, emotional wounds, troubles and worries) at His feet and seeking His wise counsel; He gives us the exact comforts we need.  By including Him FIRST, He is able to send the right people into our lives who will give us wise counsel, He can literally heal ANYTHING He wills to heal, He comforts us emotionally and physically, and He will provide precisely what we need to have all our wounds bound up and healed.  Let's face it, friends....we're ALL going to suffer in this life.  But God has told us that He wants us to lay it on Him and let Him do the worrying and the problem-solving.  We suffer because we either don't give it ALL to Him, or because when we ask Him for help, we lack the FAITH that He can and WILL handle it.  God wouldn't tell us things like "cast your burdens on me" or "I will bind your wounds", or "I care for you" if He didn't mean it literally.  There is ONLY ONE GOD and His name is Jesus Christ.  He is the author and creator of everything, and HE LOVES YOU.  He wants to bind up and heal your wounds, to comfort you and provide for you and to heal your broken heart; but we each have to ASK Him to do it.  Let's not stress out any more.  Simply lay it at the feet of Jesus and watch Him as he heals our broken hearts, binds up our wounds, and blesses us beyond imagination.  He is that good....ALL the time.  Praise God.

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 AWESOME sponsor for this challenge:
Our friends at Stamp Simply Clear Stamps are
sponsoring this challenge.  One very lucky entrant
will WIN their choice of either any two (2) stamp sets,
OR any one (1) die-cut set AND any one (1) stamp set
from the Stamp Simply Clear Stamps collection.
How AWESOME is that?  These high-quality stamps
and dies are perfect for creating the most lovely cards
and projects.  You can check out their FABULOUS
collection here at - Stamp Simply Clear Stamps.
Best of luck in the random draw, everyone.


AND NOW.......Another Lucky WINNER:
Our friends over at Heartfelt Creations
generously sponsored our precious challenge.
We LOVE this sweet shop filled with
lovely stamps, dies, flower molds, stamens
and SO much more.  One lucky person has
now won a generous $20 Gift Certificate
to spend at Heartfelt Creations.  How sweet
is that?  We hope you will stop by and see
everything at Heartfelt Creations, and to say
THANKS to EmmaLou and her team.  They
are so wonderful.  Thanks again to our friends
at Heartfelt Creations. The lucky winner of
this AWESOME prize is Lucky Entry

The Top 3 Honors Go To Our Friends:

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.

AND NOW....Here's some inspiration to get you started:

From The Stamp Simply Clear Stamps Design Team
Julie Gearinger Using A Godly Man


And Deb Felts Using Stamp Simply

AND NOW From Our Design Team.........
Our July Guest Designer, Dottie Seubert

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

6 comments:

Jennifrann said...

I won? Yippeee!
P.S. Love this week's Word Art!

jordanbev5@yahoo.com said...

Congratulations to the winners and gorgeous inspiration too!

Karenladd said...

Congratulations to the winners and thank you for another fun challenge. The DT samples are just so beautiful!

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Wonderful blogging shares as always the verse and thoughts shared are a real encouragement .. God bless you all.Thanks for Sharing, God bless and keep you safe, and all those you love, hugs Shaz in Oz.x

{Wonderful Words of Life - Shaz in Oz}
{Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz}

Granmargaret said...

Thank you for the challenge. Lovely work by the design team. Karen thank you for your comments on my blog.

Janis said...

Congratulations to the winner and Top Picks!!
Fabulous DT samples. Guest Designer Dottie's card is esp beautiful with the soft colors and the flowers and butterflies! Thank you for another lovely and inspiring challenge!
<3 J

jwoolbright at gmail dot com
HerPeacefulGarden.blogspot.com