I realized that I have never posted my “Garden Tea Party” fabric collection from Studio E Fabrics!  The collection is based on my Antique Victorian Pansy collection, but with a contemporary twist for fabrics.  Those of you digital crafters will recognize quite a few of the fabrics and see some new coordinates that were created to complete the collection.  LINK TO GARDEN TEA PARTY

The first fabric shown is a stripe that can be cut in many different ways to help add great pizzazz to your quilting or fabric projects.  Each length of fabric has 4 repeats of each stripe per yard so it is as economical to use as possible.  The second is a panel fabric that can be used to create place mats, tea cozies, aprons, pillows, curtains or other fun projects.   If you’re a quilter or love to sew home crafts or clothing I hope you’ll really enjoy the blend of contemporary and classic that we tried to accomplish in this collection.  Also, with the digital clip art kits that are available and ink jet printable fabrics, the sky is the limit in what you can create with the combination!

Overall there are 8 fabrics offered in 2 or 3 colorways to make your projects easy to customize to your own style and taste.  If you create something with my fabrics, I would LOVE to see it.  Feel free to leave your information in the comments section and I’ll email you personally.  I’d love to feature any projects that have been made (Cheryl, that’s a hint!!!)  I have another collection that will be releasing at the Spring Quilt Market and will bring that to you as soon as it is released.

This 21 pc, brand new Deja’ Brew Coffee Holidays kit coordinates with Audrey Jeanne’s Deja’ Brew Coffee fabrics available from Studio E Fabrics.  Those who sew might have a great time combining digital art and fabric for crafty products!

There are 7, 12″ papers included in this kit.  Mix and match with the Fall/Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday clip art kit to create your own packaging for special gifts, make greeting cards or print on fabric to make coordinating items to decorate your kitchen with.  There are 4 frames (one with text), 7 art pieces and even a sigtag for use on the internet.  The possibilities are endless!

Coordinates with AJ226 Deja’ Brew Clip Art Kit, AJ227 Deja’ Brew Paper Pack, and AJ229 Deja’ Brew Freebie.  All art copyright Audrey Jeanne Roberts.  All files are 300 dpi pngs or jpegs.

This paper pack coordinates with my new Deja’ Brew Digital Clip Art Kit, but with its contemporary color palette it can be used for much more than coffee-oriented designs.

There are 12, 12″ digital papers included in this kit for $2.98.  There is a third kit in this series that I will have out in another couple of days (hopefully!)  That kit is “Deja’ Brew Holidays” and has fall and winter art with a coffee theme.  All three kits color coordinate for your use.

Also, I have a FREEBIE bookmark and gift tag set that is available at this link:  LINK TO FREEBIE IN AIMEE ASHER STORE

LINK TO KIT IN THE STORE

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  1 Thess 5:16-18  Be joyful always; pray continually;  give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  NIV

COMMENTS:  I’ve been watching people for many years.  I am fascinated by watching how people weather the storms in their lives.  It seems that the same storm that swamps one person and begins to send them underwater elevates another person to a new place in their walk with Christ.  What makes the difference?  What makes one person  bitter and other better?

I’m not sure what the entire answer is but here are a few things I’ve observed over the years.  ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING.  Circumstances come and circumstances go — God’s will as expressed in the scripture above isn’t about the circumstances — it’s about our response to them.

An attitude of gratitude carries us to victory especially over difficult circumstances.  When faced with terrible struggles, those who lead a joyful life find their proper perspective by looking first to God.  They recount what He has done in their lives in the past and begin to expect Him to bring them through the current situation as He has many, many times before.  They express gratitude.  They look for the good that can be brought out of difficulties.  They ask God to use their current circumstances to touch others.  They ARE NOT “ME” CENTERED, but are others and God-centered.

So far in my life, I have not yet met a continually depressed person whose life is characterized by a spirit of gratefulness and thanksgiving.  For those that struggle with depression, I know that it can be a physical issue, a mental issue and a spiritual issue.  Without discounting the physical aspect, there are ways that you can take control of your thoughts and choose to express gratitude for what you have and look up to God to make a way out of the darkness you feel trapped in.  Your focus and attitude can change your feelings.

This scripture is a command.  Notice it doesn’t say “Feel joyful.  Feel prayerful.  Feel grateful?”  Instead it says “Be joyful always.”  What’s the difference?  Choice, pure and simple.  I can choose to be joyful.  I can choose my attitude and usually the feelings follow.  If I wait for the feelings to take the steps toward the action I’m usually waiting and waiting and waiting….

When dreary thoughts come, try this exercise.  Think about what God has done for you in the past week, month, or year and thank Him for His faithfulness.  When you feel overwhelmed and depressed or perhaps feel that no one cares for you — ask God to show you someone who you can make a difference in their life today.  Turn your thoughts outward rather than inward.

If you wish someone would call to cheer you up, find someone to call and cheer up!  Be joyful!  Spread joy!  Be thankful!  Spread thanksgiving to others.  Find someone who is doing a great job and tell them so!  Do you wish someone would take notice about what you are doing for them?  Do you feel unappreciated?  Trust me we ALL have to admit to feeling this on a regular basis, LOL!  Look for someone else that is doing kind things and express your appreciation.  These actions can go a long way to lifting your depression and blahs.

Joy is contagious!  Gratefulness is contagious!  Living in an attitude of thanksgiving produces great joy and satisfaction in our lives — without our circumstances changing one bit and if they do change?!  Whoo hooo hoooo!  IT’S PARTY TIME!

PRAYER:  Lord, sometimes I find my eyes become downcast and I become so focused on my own needs that I can’t break loose of depression and heaviness of heart.  Show me how to be joyful.  Help me to learn that joy is an action not a feeling.  Teach me the attitude of joy and gratefulness.

Remind me of all you’ve done for me in the past that I might express my heart of thanksgiving towards you in a new way.  Let thanksgiving fill my heart and my mouth so that I can be filled with your presence and joy.  Show me others who are in need of the joy of the Lord today and help me to be bring a ray of light to their dark and dreary world.

I finally was able to spend a morning getting a new digital clip art kit into the store!  This one has been long awaited by many of you.  It’s my Deja’ Brew Coffee Collection.  For those of you that are quilters or love to sew you may have already seen the fabrics that debuted in January with Studio E Fabrics.  This digital clip art kit coordinates with the fabrics and if you love to sew the possibilities are endless.  You could design and print your own coordinating pieces on printable fabrics such a Pabric (www.pabric.com) and create a whole kitchen decor between the items you print yourself and the fabric panel from Studio E or the coordinating fabrics!

For those that don’t sew you’ll also find plenty of ways to use this artwork, especially if you love to create your own gift/food products for gifts or as a crafter.  If you don’t sew, try using the coordinating fabrics as your “gift bag” by cutting out large circles of fabric with pinking shears, putting your cookies, chocolate covered coffee beans or other goodies inside the fabrics and creating your own gift tags, product toppers or other packaging options.

There will be a paper pack to coordinate and a Deja’ Brew Holidays that contains both fall and winter designs that coordinate.  Look for them in the next couple days if everything goes okay.  Enjoy!!

I promised!  Here’s the newest Birthday Cupcake Clip art graphics from Audrey Jeanne’s Expressions.

LINK TO “WE CELEBRATE YOU KIT IN STORE $5.48″

This art was just created and is perfect for celebrating not only birthdays but other special occasions and achievements since the wording is “We Celebrate You!”  There are lots of different very fun and special cupcakes, three birthday candles, intricate borders including a corner border so you can create any size paper, frame or border that you would like.  If you click on the pictures they will enlarge so that you can see the intricate patterns that form the details of these art kits.

I plan on creating a gift bag, tag and greeting card kit in the next few weeks (fingers crossed!)  So look for a new Abigail Scott kit soon.

There are 16 pieces in this beautiful, hand watercolored BRAND NEW art kit by Audrey Jeanne Roberts. Made up of very detailed and elegant artwork, there are 4, 12″ papers, 3 tea labels, 4 large art pieces suitable for card fronts, 3 tea cup elements and two incredibly detailed borders.

This kit would be perfect for making all kinds of printables including teabag covers, greeting cards and to decorate gift bags for Mother’s Day or other feminine gift giving occasions. Use it to create scrapbook pages of a special day or High Tea, the uses are endless.  This artwork is extremely detailed and life-like. This kit can be used to create your own cards, craft with or for scrapbooking.

I have been very, very, VERY busy this past month and have really missed being able to write a little here every few days.  I’m hoping that I’ll be back on a more normal schedule in a few weeks once Surtex starts.  Actually most of my work hasn’t even been doing new art for the show, but fulfilling manufacturer’s requests for artwork and designing products.  I’m very “itchy” to get creating again soon, but also very, very, VERY thankful for the work in a time when many in my industry aren’t working.

TOMORROW I’ll be drawing for the twice monthly FREE digital clip art kit.  Just post a comment on any post in the month of April and you’re entered!

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  Isa 40:28-41:1
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

DEVOTIONAL:  I thought I would write something I was currently very familiar with… being weary!  Weary is more than tired, it is tired beyond easily being refreshed.  Weariness is an accumulation of a long season expending a great deal of energy.  When we grow weary we also can be easily overcome — by sickness, by discouragement and by the enemy of our souls.

Sometimes we have no choice but to walk through seasons where we are required to give out more than we have within us.  When those seasons come, how can we get through them in a victorious manner?

We can turn to Him who never grows tired or weary and who freely gives us His strength if we just ask Him for it!  During this season of long days (and even long all-nighters) I love to remember this verse and ask God to give me His strength for the task.  I especially love the “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.”  I used to be on the front end of that scripture but now find myself on the other end of life and my strength isn’t what it used to be.  But God’s strength can enable me to run and not grow weary, walk and not faint!

PRAYER:  Lord, I have tasks to accomplish that are greater than my strenth can handle.  My day is long, my time to rest and renew is short… please refresh me with Your strength.  Make my hands strong enough for each task, help me run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.  Renew my strength like the eagles and let me mount up on the winds of the storm to soar in your strength.  AMEN

LINK TO ANTIQUED VICTORIAN PANSIES QUICK PAGES KIT IN STORE, $4.98

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

My friend, Lucy Hampton brought an image that I had placed in my blog to my attention today.  I created it some time ago promising a kit to come shortly, well….  I had forgotten about the kit altogether and it was “lost” on my hard drive!

I had created six, 12 inch premade scrapbook pages and they were just sitting there waiting to be uploaded to the store.  It’s a little scary when your hard drive(s) are so big you can lose your work and not even remember you were working on it.

Ah well!  These are perfect for spring, so the timing is great.  If you scrapbook, you know how much time it can take just to find your pictures and develop your theme.  With quick pages all you have to do is drop your photos in behind the layer, size them and then print out your page.  If you don’t have a printer that can print 12″ pages, you can take them to office supply stores and have them printed onto photo paper very economically.  In fact some of my friends that scrap, feel it’s better quality at a lesser price than it costs to print at home!  You can also reduce them to 8″ size and print them on letter-sized paper to use either in an 8″ album or even place and 8″ page on top of a piece of 12″ store purchased paper and add a little bit more to complete your own unique page.

If you don’t scrapbook, consider the other uses for quickpages.  You can reduce the size, add a photo and some text and create your own announcements, invitations or greeting cards.  You can even send an image like these with your photos to your favorite photo lab via email and print out beautiful Wedding Invitations, Bridal Shower Invitations, Tea Party Invitations or create your own greeting cards.  I especially love receiving photo greeting cards, my refrigerator is covered with them.

Thanks so much for the reminder, Lucy!

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO PEONY COTTAGE BLUE 2 ART KIT IN STORE HERE, $4.98

I have the second art kit in the “Peony Cottage, Blue” series ready and in the store today.  This is a BRAND NEW art kit that I have hand water colored.  A beautiful a pink English Rose, and a floral cluster with tulips, peonies and roses are the foundation of this collection.  There is an 8″ x 8″ image suitable for a card front included and an elegant painting that is suitable for framing, along with 5, 12″ papers, 3 borders, 2 frames, 5 fun embellishments (two custom buttons, a tag, title banner and photo corners),  two small square art icons and an elegant rectangular floral swag complete the 18 piece collection.

This wonderful cottage-feeling collection will make you feel the warm, gentle winds of spring and the scent of roses on the air!

This artwork is extremely detailed and life-like.  It can be used to create your own cards, craft with or for scrapbooking.  The files in this kit are 300 dpi jpeg and png files.  Art copyright Audrey Jeanne Roberts, 2009  Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: 1 John 2:15-17  Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.  NIV

DEVOTIONAL: Continuing our discussion about the ways that we grow dry and spiritually empty, I’m sharing today about how we get too wrapped up in “the world” and all of it’s cares.  How does scripture delineate the difference between the natural world that we live in and “the world” which is considered sinful and a wrong place to dwell?  First, we need to recognize that God made us to live in this world.  We need to eat and drink and sleep and earn a living — that’s part of the life he wants us to live.  But if or when the pursuit of any of those things goes to the extreme, we begin to live in “the world,” not the kingdom of God.

If as we work to pay our bills, we walk with Christ in prayer and meditation and we seek to be used by Him in the course of our day — we’re in a great place.  Whether we run the board room as a CEO or we sweep the floors as a janitor, God wants us to dedicate the entirety of ourselves to HIm and His purposes.  But, If we make climbing that ladder of success our goal, we will find that we just may climb the ladder and discover it has been placed against a wrong building!  Achievement for the sake of achievement, honor or money will not last.  It will not satisfy.  In fact it will leave you more empty than when you started.  That can be ANY achievement, even “good” ones — if the achievement becomes more important than the one who created you to achieve.

If you have a home that is a place for your family to gather in love and delight in each other and the Lord, it’s a precious gift from God, but if you are consumed by the caring for that home so much that it crowds out your devotion for God and love of your family — it can be a curse.  The world is less a list of things and much more an attitude of our heart towards those things.

Of course the bible also identifies the world as sins we participate in.  We lust after possessions.  We crave pleasures.  We look at someone else’s husband or wife and covet them.  We yearn for bigger, better, more expensive cars, homes or other things — certain that they will bring joy to our heart.  Perhaps we yearn for financial security in banks, stocks, homes, gold or other physical riches.  Any and all of these can be “the world,” and rob us of a closer relationship with God.

Take time to monitor your thoughts a little.  Are you worrying?  What are you worrying about?  What consumes your thoughts?  Where does God fit into your routine, daily thought life?  Do you ever think about things farther away than next week or next month?  By this I mean, do you ponder the eternal value of each task in your life?  Do you think about how God might want to use you today?  Or do you only think about God almost as another commitment you need to check off your to do list to keep on track?

Spend time today asking God to help you see your “world” through His eyes.  It might be a very interesting and profitable exercise!

PRAYER:  Lord, help me to look at my world through your eyes.  What in it is in the right place and is balanced and what isn’t?  Help me to discern anything in my life that is drawing me away from growing closer to you and anything that I am putting my effort into that will not matter in the light of eternity.  Show me anything that is creating a dry and dead place in my heart and help me to remove it.  Show me how I can add things to my day that will be like springs of living water springing up to water my very soul.

Help me to see how I can make the most of mundane of chores or responsibilities.  Show me ways that routine tasks can build the kingdom of God and how I can experience a refreshing from you as I do the ordinary tasks of life “as unto the Lord.”  Lord, renew a right spirit within me, for I am dry and weary and in need of your refreshing.

LINK TO PEONY COTTAGE, BLUE 1 DIGITAL CLIP ART KIT IN STORE

New in the store, this kit was hand water colored from a beautiful Peony that grows in my yard.  Being a warm weather girl all of my life (San Diego born and raised) one of my very favorite things about living in the mountains is that I get to raise peonies, tulips and clematis — all plants that would not grow in San Diego because our winters did not get cold enough!

I have paired the peony painting with pink roses in two varieties — wild roses and cottage roses.  There are also some beautiful small yellow wildflowers thrown in for a little bit of spring sunshine.  I painted four coordinating paintings that will each anchor their own art kit, the peony, a pink English rose, a coral tulip and a pink iris.

I must run!  I’m dashing out the door to meet my hubby and drive to San Diego for the weekend and see our grandson.  The funny thing is I’m leaving BEAUTIFUL, clear blue skies and 70 degrees to head into San Diego’s cloudy and 60 degree forecast, LOL!  Don’t tell anyone how really wonderful the weather is here in my mountains or they would want to move here

LINK TO HAPPY EASTER 2 CLIP ART KIT IN THE STORE $4.98

Three more Easter/Spring Digital Clip Art Kits have been released today.  There is a second Easter Clip art featuring two Easter Bunnies, more Easter eggs, papers, tags and other fun art.

The font used in making the word art with this kit is AJ’s Whimsical and it is available in the store in case you would like to coordinate all of the elements.

LINK TO HAPPY SPRING ALPHA IN THE STORE $3.98

There are also two alphabets that have been created to coordinate, one is a plain, striped, stamped 2 1/2″ tall alpha bet with two different versions of every letter in a large size and a third version in a smaller size.  This will allow you to create word art or titles that are “Upper” and “Lower” case even though the letters are all capitals.

LINK TO DECORATED HAPPY EASTER ALPHABET IN THE STORE $4.98

The second alphabet is a coordinate to the plain alpha and it is decorated with bunnies, chicks, eggs and flowers for Easter.  There are two totally different versions included to make creating words easier.  Mix and match the two alphas to create an endless supply of word art!

LINK TO HAPPY EASTER CLIP ART KIT IN STORE  $4.98

A couple of new kits to debut today!  I got some painting time in last week and created some brand new Easter art for children (naaah, my grandson had absolutely NOTHING to do with my motivation, LOL!)  There are 4-5 more kits in this collection coming over the next few weeks.  I hope you’ll enjoy them.

LINK TO ABIGAIL SCOTT’ S HOPPY EASTER TREAT BAG KIT IN STORE  $3.98

Also I’m reviving our “Abigail Scott DESIGN Studio” brand of printable digital crafting kits.  There’s a new kit using the “Happy Easter” art.  This is a fun kit that is very, very quick to assemble making it perfect for  doing treat bags for a classroom full of kids, a few kids in the neighborhood or perhaps for your own children or grandchildren.

I have also uploaded two of my previously released fonts to the store.  I have a couple more that I hope to get up soon as well.  Thanks for your patience!

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  Job 4:4-6
Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.
But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.   Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?  NIV

Eph 3:12-19
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.  I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. NIV

DEVOTIONAL:  I’m continuing with our theme of understanding why our hearts become dry and shriveled spiritually.  When we experience dryness, how can we overcome it?  I’m tackling one of the most common reasons I have seen people pull away from God and that is their disappointment with Him over unanswered prayer or unexpected suffering.

All of us decide in our heart just how God “should” respond to our prayers or  circumstances, whether we realize it or not.  If God “fails” to perform as we wished, it is very easy to get discouraged, disappointed or even angry with Him.  When someone we love suffers and God doesn’t seem to be in the situation or someone that is dear to us is not healed but instead passes away, when the job we believe is perfect for us goes to a less worthy candidate, we can begin to harden our heart towards the Lord.

There are two different responses to suffering in the verses above.  One is from the book of Job and is a comment from one of Job’s friends who is observing him going through terrible suffering, with no apparent reason.  He believes that if Job is as righteous as he claims he wouldn’t be suffering.

The other is Paul encouraging others not to be discouraged at Paul’s own suffering on their behalf, but to be built up, filled with God’s love, encouraged and even empowered by it!

You will suffer at some point in your life.  You will be disappointed in God.  You will be disappointed in others.  You will become discouraged or saddened when the innocent suffer and the guilty appear to go free.  Life isn’t fair.  Life doesnt’ treat those we love fairly.  Will you pull away from God at this point or run toward Him?

I share with you the counsel of a wise saint of God who encouraged me early in my walk with the Lord.  She said, “A God you can control and manipulate isn’t much of a God my dear.  When life doesn’t go as planned, when God doesn’t do what you want — that’s when you have to decide ‘Who is God?’  Are you going to become your own God or will you let Him be?  Will you trust that He understands more than you and is working His purposes or will you pull away?”

Sometimes we will see in our lifetime the “Why” answered.  The job we wanted disappeared a year after we would have gotten it.  The home we were so sure was perfect for us sold before we could buy it, and a better one appeared soon thereafter.  But most often, like Job, we will never see the amazing plan of God, hidden in our suffering and the power of what He accomplishes through it.  Do you think Job might have gone through his suffering differently if he realized that multiplied billions of people would know his story and be encouraged by it?

If you don’t understand, praise God anyway.  If you’re hurting, choose to hand that hurt to Him and ask Him to use it to bless you and others.  If life is unfair — and it is, turn to the one who is perfect and who loves you perfectly.  If you’re angry with Him, tell Him that — He’s big enough to handle your temper tantrums.  The bible tells us that there are only two “gods,” the true God, our loving heavenly father and the false “god” of this world, Satan.  When you reject God as being “unfair” and turn away from Him you turn toward the “god” of this world… do you think he’s going to be fairer?!  Of course not, he wants to steal, kill and destroy you and everybody and everything you love.  But God loves you, trust Him in the middle of your pain and ask Him to help you through it.

PRAYER:  Lord, I am discouraged and weary.  Life isn’t going as I hoped or planned.  It seems like you are so far away from me and uncaring.  I know that isn’t true, but it feels like it.  Help me to praise you in the middle of the pain.  Help me to trust you when all I trusted in seems to be failing.

Restore my trust in You where I have allowed doubts and anger to destroy it.  Show me that you truly are God, You are real, You are powerful and You are sovereign over my life.  Please show me where my assumptions about You as God are off and teach me who You really are.  Please God, help my suffering to not be in vain but to be used to build me up and strengthen me that I might in turn strengthen others.

LINK TO GARDENER’S BENCH CLIP ART KIT IN STORE  $4.98

Are you ready to head out into your garden (or wishing that you could?!)   Aren’t we all?  Well, this morning I put together this “Gardener’s Bench” Digital Clip Art kit that will bring a little sunshine indoors for you.

This is a BRAND NEW art kit that is hand water colored.  A beautiful painting of a gardener’s bench was the start of the collection.  There is a 4″ x 10″ painting image suitable for a card front or other uses as well as a smaller, rectangular composition from the same painting.

It was my desire that this kit would help bring a little sunshine indoors for you. There are 18 pieces in this kit, 2 card fronts, 4 borders, 1 tag, 7 art pieces and 4 coordinating papers.  The artwork is extremely detailed and life-like.  It can be used to create your own cards, craft with or for scrapbooking.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  1 John 1:5-10  This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.   NIV

DEVOTIONAL:  Continuing our theme of overcoming spiritual dryness and feeling far from God, I’m going to address the issue of sin.  Sin is considered by many to be an “old fashioned” kind of a word, something our culture has “grown past” and “evolved beyond.”  But guess what?  We all sin.  EVERYBODY sins, and everybody can be forgiven of those sins, but they have to humble themselves before God in order to have those sins forgiven.

Sin keeps us separated from God.  It builds a wall that cannot be breached, it must be removed and there is only one way to do that and that is by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Again, and “old fashioned” concept, but one that has never lost its power to change lives!

The word sin, means among other things to “miss the mark” as in an archer shooting at the target.  I miss the mark every day.  I start each day with the desire to live it perfectly before the Lord, but guess what?  I miss the mark — over and over and over again.  Some days I barely miss and other days I miss it by a mile — whether by little or by much it is still sin.  I strive to live according to his instructions but lack the power on my own to accomplish this goal.  Here’s where I can begin to feel dry and pull away from Him.

If I’m going to “sin” (and I will) how do I keep that wall from building between the Lord and I?  I need to walk towards Him and his light each and every day.  I need to seek Him out, starting by confessing my sin and seeking His power to overcome that sin.  I constantly ask the Lord to show me where I am sinning.  I need Him to show me where I am “missing the mark,” as I’ve discovered that I am pretty blind to my biggest flaws.  I need His help to show them to me so that I can ask Him to help me change and grow.

Sometimes it is great sins that separate us from God — like King David who sinned with Baathsheba and had her husband killed.  Great sins can sometimes begin with a small disobedience where we have walked away from something God required us to do and headed in the wrong direction.  When we do this we walk straight into darkness and our heart begins to harden against the Lord.

Sometimes small series of repetitive sins begin to build the wall between us.  It can be as simple as being too busy to seek His will before making decisions, or telling little lies, or gossiping about someone you know or …  A great wall can be built up of very small stones.  We need to treat all sin equally and be quick to confess those sins and seek God’s forgiveness.  A clean heart is a heart that is free to come to our Heavenly Father with joy and abandon.

PRAYER:  Lord, I think that I have allowed sin to begin building a wall between you and I.  I want to live in your light and I ask you to show me any darkness that is lurking in my heart.  Help me to see sin like you do.  Show me my sins and show me why it is that you hate sin.  You hate the consequences of those sins in my life and the damage that I do to others and you hate sins because they separate me from you.

Thank you that you have promised in advance that if I confess my sins you will forgive them and PURIFY me from them!  Purify me Lord, make my heart clean and give me the power to live a pure life.  Help me to draw more closely to you each day.  AMEN

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO EASTER EGG FAVOR BOXES IN STORE  $4.98

While I’m working on kits I got on a roll this morning!  These Elegant Easter Egg Favor Boxes are just adorable!  They’re the perfect size to fill with a few Hershey’s Kisses or other Easter candies.  The three eggs work beautifully together and can add an elegant touch to place settings at a family dinner, a women’s Easter brunch or other Easter gathering.  Add your own tags to them for place settings or to add all of the children’s names in a classroom.

There are photographic instructions included so it’s very easy to figure out how to put these together and even an older child could do these.  Cutting and scoring are at a medium difficulty skill level.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  Matt 11:28-30   “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  NIV

DEVOTIONAL:  Continuing on yesterday’s theme — when we are spiritually dry there are a few common reasons.  Sometimes we are in sin, sometimes we are disappointed with God or our perception of God’s “fairness,” sometimes we are caught up in the world around us and sometimes we’re caught up in worrying.  I’ll go over each of these in successive devotionals, but today I’m going to talk about the most common reason we get spiritually dry and that is we grow weary.

Weary, tired, exhausted, overwhelmed — these are the most common words I hear in my daily life when I ask people how they’re doing.  I bet you hear it/say it too.  We’re all doing too much, in too little time with little or no rest to restore ourselves.

Did you notice the “rest” in “restore.”  There is no restoration of energy without rest and there’s no shortcut to being refreshed.  Unfortunately you can’t plug yourself in like an electric car when you go to sleep at night to recharge in a few hours — it takes many consistent nights of adequate sleep to restore our bodies and with it our souls.

Jesus understands our weariness.  He wants us to come to Him, give him our weariness and burdens and find His rest.  I’ve discovered over time that His rest isn’t a magical formula, it’s a dramatic change about the way we approach all of life.  Are the tasks/assignments that you are stressing over, actually coming from the Lord or have you taken them upon yourself?  If the latter, His rest might come as you let go of the commitment.

Jesus pulled away from the crowds and sought communion with His Heavenly Father — even when it meant leaving the hurting masses.  Do you “leave” your family from time to time to go away and spend time with the Lord?  Most of us can’t physically get away, but we can go into our rooms each day and spend time seeking the Lord AND LEARN FROM HIM HOW TO FIND REST.

Start your time with Him with a simple prayer and ask Him to help you find out the root reason that you are weary and discouraged.  Then ask Him to lead you to the scriptures that will speak to your need.  It can be as simple as looking up “weary” in a good concordance and following the trail of scriptures.  Then I find that “pray-reading” the scripture is a great way to take it into my own heart and give the Lord permission to do the work necessary to change my heart.  The prayer at the end today is an example of how I like to “pray-read” the word.

If you are dry, or maybe you’re even in a long season of drought, you won’t feel restored over night.  You probably won’t feel different at all for quite a while, but I promise you, if you continue seeking His rest you will find it.  And with it you’ll find the refreshing rains of his living waters.  You’ll find the rains that bring forth the spring flowers.

PRAYER: Lord, you have commanded me to come to you when I grow weary and burdened.  I am so weary and dry right now.  I am so exhausted with carrying my burdens that I have come to you to find your rest.  Please show me what I need to do in my life.

You have told me that if I take your yoke upon my shoulders it will be a comforable and restful yoke.  My work will be less painfu, be more easily accomplished and lead to rest.  Help me to learn from you.  Teach me about where my life is out of balance and headed in a wrong direction and teach me what needs to be changed and perhaps more importantly, how to change it.

Thank you that you aren’t angry with my weakness, you understand.  You’re gentle and understanding and have a desire to lead me into your rest.  AMEN.

LINK TO RED POPPY FIELDS DIGITAL CLIP ART KIT IN STORE.

This kit is priced at $3.98.  There are 13 pieces, 2 card fronts, 1 border, 8 art pieces and 2 coordinating papers. I’m running behind, as I finished this kit last week and got it up at a Aimee Asher (www.aimeeasher.com) and but didn’t get it up here at my own site!  I have another kit almost completed that I will be putting up a little later today called “White Poppy Fields” and I promise I’ll put it up here AND at AAE at the same time.

I love red poppies.  I remember growing them as a little girl.  My mother had a retaining wall garden on the side of our house where our play house and play kitchen were kept.  I used to pretend that the dried seed heads were pepper shakers and used them to “season” my pretend food that I served my dolls.  I used to pick them and put them in a “vase” (which was usually a clean tin can) with water and enjoy their fragile and fleeting beauty.  It’s amazing the way memories are tied to songs, food and special items isn’t it?

These poppies were lovingly hand water colored to be used in creating greeting cards, scrapbooking, or other digital crafting.  I wish I had photos from our play kitchen days with the poppies in the background, that would be so special to scrap!

AND THE WINNER IS:  The first comment on the 7th of February’s post.  LINK TO POST HERE She will win this kit if she hasn’t already purchased it.  Congratulations (and I’m sorry Lambie I really, really tried!)

When I post the White Poppy Fields Kit today I’ll also have a devotional.  It’s been quite a while since I wrote one — mainly because I just haven’t had anything to say.  I’ve been going through a little bit of a dry place so that’s what I’ll write about.  We all go through those dry and weary places don’t we?  See you later today or early tomorrow.

This kit has 16 pieces in it and sells for $3.98 in my blog store.  I’ve created a pair of art kits that are perfect for a little boy or baby boy.  Use them for scrapbooking, card making or digital crafting.  Every little boy loves frogs and bugs and every little boy’s mother is exhausted from chasing him while he chases the bugs!  The word art that is included with this set has been one of my best selling crafting items for years.

Included in the art kit is 1 border, 5 – 12″ papers, 2 frames, 5 art pieces, 2 word art pieces and one 5″ x 7″ card front.

LINK TO SON UP SON DOWN DIGITAL ART KIT IN STORE HERE.

Included in this alphabet are all upper case, lower case, numbers and most punctuation.  There are also blank alphabet bases that you can add your font on top of to create your own alphabet.

The alphabet was created using my hand watercolored art and my hand lettered “Whimsical” lettering.  It sells for $1.98 in my store.  LINK TO SON UP SON DOWN ALPHABET IN STORE HERE.