Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Anything Goes #414 - #415

Hello everyone!  It's time for another awesome challenge here at Word Art Wednesday, and we're very grateful to have you join us for all the fun.  Our awesome sponsor for this challenge is Avery Elle.  We hope you enjoy their lovely card samples, and that you will stop by to check out their awesome store.  By the way...just wait until you see the sponsor list for 2020.  It's AMAZING!  God is SO good, and we PRAISE His name as He continues to bless our little challenge blog.  We're all set for 2020, and you won't want to miss a single challenge.

As we look at our focus verse, Psalm 100:4, it makes me think about how so many of us  often "pray" SO very casually.  We need to always remember that while, yes, we are approaching a friend...we are also approaching a sovereign, holy, omnipotent and perfect God - the Creator, Author and Source of EVERYTHING.  He is holy and powerful, the King of Kings; perfect in every way, and He deserves our utmost respect.  So, while we are approaching a friend; we still need to approach Him with the highest level of reverence and respect, and never take casually that we're speaking to God Almighty.  This verse reminds us that as we approach Him, we need to first "enter His gates" (start our conversation) with THANKS and tell Him how very grateful we are for ALL He has done for us.  We need to, second, enter His courts (approach Him) with PRAISE.  Tell Him He is holy, wonderful, and very much needed and respected in our lives.  It's important to acknowledge Him as the holy and wonderful God He truly is.  We need to "be thankful and bless His name"; meaning that we need to tell Him "I appreciate you, Lord, and I praise your holy, precious, wonderful name".  Praying shouldn't just be a quick, meaningless conversation as if we're just kind of "phoning it in".  Prayer isn't a chore....it's a great privilege.  What we say and how we say it really does matter.  Remember that God SEES OUR HEART and KNOWS our intentions.  When possible, it's also important to "get down".  By getting on our knees, or even on our face, we show Him respect and acknowledge that He is above us in every way.  We show submission and respect by doing this.  It's not "mandatory" in order to pray, but it does show Him that we recognize His holiness.  It's so important to TELL God how much we love and appreciate Him, how much we need Him and praise Him, to confess our sins and shortcomings, and to let Him know (through words and actions) that we respect Him for who He is and what He does for us.  Also, when we pray....we need to ASK of Him.  Praying actually means ASKING - otherwise, we are just praising Him (which is also fine), but when we are praying, He wants us to cast all our burdens on Him, to open up to Him and tell Him that we NEED Him.  ASK Him for the things you need in your life, and TELL Him how much you appreciate Him.  The Lord God, Jesus Christ, absolutely WANTS to hear from us.  Sure, He already knows what we need...but He wants to hear it from us.  He loves us more than we can even imagine.  If you haven't talked to a dear friend or relative in weeks, months or years; they miss you.  God is the same way.  You are SO precious to Him, and He longs to hear from YOU!  Let's all remember to approach Him with respect, PRAISE His holy name and lift it up with thanks, and then ASK Him to meet our needs....always giving Him the praise and glory for answering our prayers (even when the answers aren't the ones we wanted) and showing Him we respect Him.  God loves you, He deserves to be acknowledged as the Lord of our lives (and authority over all), and He loves to hear from us.  Let's  just remember to do it in a way that honors Him, pleases Him, and brings Him glory.  This is how we make our prayers effective...by following His plan for how we approach Him.  I hope that makes sense.  God is SO good, and He is always there for you, waiting to hear from you.

As always, you are welcome to save the free scripture/word art file to your computer, but are never required to use it in order to play along in our challenges.   We welcome you 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!
Here is this week's word art.  We hope
that it will be a blessing to you.
Check out our AWESOME sponsor for this challenge:
Our new sponsor for this challenge is the
AMAZING Avery Elle.  We are SUPER
excited to have their support.  Please stop
by to check out all their wonderful stamps,
die-cuts, stencils, and SO much more.  One
lucky person will win a very generous
$25 gift certificate to spend at
Avery Elle.  FUN FUN FUN!!

AND NOW......Our Lucky Winner:
Our sponsor for the last challenge was
The Project Bin.  This is a fun stamp
shop where you can find some really
unique stamp sets.  One lucky person
has won a $15 Gift Certificate to spend
at The Project Bin.  What a great prize!
It's Entry#216 - Diane Hover

Top 3 Winners:

Please email Karen if you'd like a
Top 3 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!
AND NOW.....Here's some inspiration to get you started:

Sponsor, Avery Elle Samples from DT Member,
Amy Kolling Using Polar Playtime

And One By Nicky Meek Using
Snow Fun, Polar Playtime and
Polar Playtime Die


Our November Guest Designer, Darlene Pavlick





Maxine Diffey



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

10 comments:

Gail said...

Our Life Group just talked about PRAYER on Monday - the devotional was right on with our conversation with God to be daily and come into HIS courts with thanksgiving -Happy dance to the winners today - wonderful work by the GD and Designers of this fabulous team - have a blessed day!

Darlene said...

GORGEOUS samples DT! Thanks for having me as your November Guest Designer ... it's always MY pleasure to create with you lovely ladies!! Happy Holidays to each of you!!

Marie Bingaman said...

Thanks for picking my treat box as one of your Top 3 selections! Makes my day! :)

Diane said...

Thank you so much for picking me for the random prize...so exciting...I have emailed you!!

Migdalia said...

Thank you for a wonderful challenges with beautiful inspiration. A lovely scripture too.
Have a wonderful day,
Migdalia Rodriguez
Migdalia's Crafts

Fikreta said...

very nice dt cards!

Janis said...

Beautiful inspiration from everyone!! Loving Amy's wintry pals on her sweet card.
Thank you so much for another wonderful challenge.
<3 J

jwoolbright at gmail dot com
HerPeacefulGarden.blogspot.com

Maryann scrapbooking said...

Merci pour ce nouveau challenge et le magnifique travail de la DT.
Bises.
MaryannG

Thank you for this new challenge and the wonderful work of the DT.
Hugs.

Tina Z. said...

I love your amazing inspirations, thank you!

Natalie said...

It's great to see so many entries. Thanks to all for sharing your creations with us! I wish I could visit every one but my schedule has been so difficult. Please know I appreciate all the effort! God bless!
Natalie - design team