Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Anything Goes - Weeks #581-582

Praise God!  It's time for yet another FUN and FABULOUS new challenge here at Word Art Wednesday - the best challenge blog on the internet.  Why do I think it's the "best challenge blog" of all?  Well, that's an easy answer.  It's because here at WAW, our challenges are inspired by the precious holy Word of God, all our AWESOME sponsors are given to us directly from the hand of God's blessing and provision, we have encouraging devotionals to bless your life, we truly care about all our participants, and we praise God for everything that happens here.  Let's jump right into this FUN new challenge and see what God has for us this week.

The beautiful scripture that was used to create our lovely piece of word art is John 13:34, and it says, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another".  First, we need to understand just how much God really does love us.  When God created mankind, He saw that we were sinful by nature.  Because God is perfect and knows no sin, He knew immediately that our sin would separate us from Him and He didn't want that.  He loves us SO MUCH that He made a way to bridge the gap between Heaven and Hell so that we don't have to be separated from Him for all eternity.  He sent a part of Himself, His own flesh in the form of His holy Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to show us how to live.  He lived a sinless life, performed miracles, and proved that He really was God in human flesh by taking the sins of the world upon Himself offering His perfect sinless life to pay the sin debt of mankind.  That's LOVE.  In this verse, God commands us to "love one another".  Let's be honest, we're not always super lovable.  We're sinful and we get downright grumpy sometimes.  We need to remember that God loves us ALWAYS and UNCONDITIONALLY.  He doesn't necessarily approve of some of our behaviors, but He never stops loving us.  With that said, we have an obligation to love others that way.  That doesn't mean we're to love just the people who we like or who are nice to us.  It's a command to love everyone - ALL the time; the way God loves us - even if we don't agree with all their choices.  Too many times our wicked hearts will judge others and immediately dislike them based on all sorts of different things.  While we do need to live a pure life and separate ourselves from those with behaviors that would interfere with our fellowship with God, it doesn't mean that we can't love people.  We need to genuinely love ALL people.  In fact, we should love people so much that we truly remember to pray for them every day to recognize their sinful condition and find a relationship with Jesus Christ.  You see, every soul matters to God.  He created us all, died for us all and He loves us all.  Now that you and I have been saved by the grace of God (and I sure hope that you have been), we have a responsibility to pray for the souls of others.  Let's do our part here to love the way God loves - always and unconditionally.  Let's each do our best to show love towards all people and to pray for lost souls every day.  What this world really needs is more Christ-like love.  A whole lot more of Jesus, and a whole lot less of ourselves.  Endeavor every day, dear friends, to be the best version of yourself and to show God's love to everyone - through our thoughts and actions, through prayer and in our daily lives.  Let the LOVE of Jesus shine through you.  True love for others can actually be the difference this world needs to find peace through the ONE who bridged the gap between Heaven and Hell.  Love people.  It really is that simple.

As always, you are welcome to save the word art to your computer; but you are never required to use it in order to play along or to win in our challenges.  We welcome you to share all of your art with us; remembering that Anything Goes as long as it's family friendly.  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 an encouragement to you as we share it.  If you have any questions about the rules, be sure to read the complete list of rules found under our Page tab marked "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 our guidelines.   Please know that this doesn't mean we are judging anyone.  We're not.  We are simply attempting to honor God and follow His rules.  Please let us know if you have any questions about anything; and thank you for your understanding and participation.
Check out our AWESOME sponsor for this challenge:
Top Flight Stamps is a wonderful on-line store
that carries wonderful stamps, dies, stencils,
and lots of amazing and unique products.  They
also have a talented Design Team who share lots
of great inspiration on the Top Flight Stamps Blog.
One lucky person will win a generous $25 gift
card to spend at Top Flight Stamps.  Be sure to stop
by and check out all the amazing products at
Top Flight Stamps.  You'll LOVE what you see.


AND NOW.....Another Lucky Winner:
The WONDERFUL, popular and much-loved
Avery Elle Designs was the sponsor for our last
challenge.   This FAB store is filled with creative
stamps, dies, watercolors, storage options, inks
and SO much more.  One lucky participant has now
WON a generous $15 gift certificate to spend
at Avery Elle.  How exciting is that, everyone?
It's Lucky Entry #80 - Donna Perisic


Our Top 3 Honors Go to Our Friends:
Entry #79 - Lucy E.
Entry #89 - Stephanie S.
Entry #122 - Dawn E.

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:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

7 comments:

Carrie said...

Thank you for the beautiful word art and the reminder to truly love others as God loves us. May the Holy Spirit enable us to live a life of love.

Dawn Darlene said...

Wow! Thanks for a top 3 Honor!!!

Gloria Shirr (purpleglo) said...

Thank you so much for the prize I won for the blog hop. I opened it last night and was pleasantly surprised at all the wonderful items in the big envelope. I appreciate your challenges and also the fabulous DT who inspire us with their new creations. Have a fabulous day! Hugs, Gloria

https://purpleglocreations.blogspot.com

lichazul said...

Beautiful Challenger🤩👏👏👏hugs and blessing from Chile 🤗

Granmargaret said...

Thank you for the challenge. Lovely work by the design team.

DIANA L. said...

Thanks for the fun inspiring challenge

Bunny said...

Thank you for the challenge, y'all.