Esther provided the
SALT design team with this week's challenge; growth. Please visit the
blog to read her write up and to see the other member's beautiful artwork! And if you're inspired to create something based on this week's challenge word, leave a comment on the
SALT blog with a link back to your blog or gallery.
As it sometimes happens, God has provided us with a topic whose timing is perfect for many of us on the team.
Mona posted a thoughtful post on growth from 2 Peter, this was before we knew of Esther's challenge word, and our family has had some struggles over the past few weeks that I believe God is using to aid in our spiritual growth so I was most encouraged when I heard the challenge!
I've been reading through a series of short stories from
Keepers of the Faith with my kids in the morning and a few weeks ago we did a study on patience. Since the books are written for children, the author used an example of how plants grow...little by little...to demonstrate the way God has ordered our planet and our lives. We don't plant a seed one day and have a full grown tree the next. We have to be patient, care for the plant, give it water and sun, and wait for it to grow. Like plants, we spiritually grow...little by little. We are not saved one day and spiritual giants the next, even though most of the time we wish that would happen! We have to care for and nurture our souls by the daily watering of God's Word and prayer and we have to exercise patience as we wait for God to produce that good fruit in our lives.
One of the verses noted in the study is 2 Peter 1:6, which states, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." This verse reminded me of that "little by little" growing pattern. We start our walk simply based on faith in Christ but as we grow spiritually, we develop other positive traits, such as virtue, self-control, perseverance, etc. We don't immediately exhibit these characteristics the moment we are converted. However, the more we lean on Christ, examine our own hearts and motives, acknowledge and confess our remaining sin, and faithfully do those things which we are commanded to do...praise God...we will grow! We will become more patient, we will show more love, we will exercise more self-control, we will overcome "pet" sins that can so easily sidetrack us, we will become more Christ-like in our attitudes, actions, and deeds. We can rest confidently in the knowledge that God will accomplish everything He has promised believers. What an amazing and powerful God we serve!
I used the 2 Peter verse on my card, which is yet another nod to
Michelle Zindorf's style. With this card I didn't follow a tutorial...I did it all by myself! Alright, let's be honest...this is really basic but it's about as wild and crazy as I get doing a Zindorf-inspired card all by my lonesome! LOL!
I used my laser printer to print out the verse on a piece of cardstock and then cut out the shape with a Nestibilities die. To begin, I used a sponge to apply a small circle of yellow ink for my moon and then punched out a 1 1/4" circle to mask a portion of the yellow before applying a layer of pale blue with my brayer. Using a sponge, I applied a deeper blue ink on the left hand side of the page before stamping images from the
Papertreyink "
Life" set in black ink. I went back with my white gel pen to add highlights to the flowers and finished off the panel by sponging a tiny bit of black ink on just the left edge. The rest of the card creation is self-explanatory....at least I think it is...if you have a burning question, by all means leave me a comment and I'll provide you with an answer! Unless the question has something to do with calculus, then I'll be of no use at all... :-)
Here's a close up shot of the panel...you can also always click on any photo on my blog for a larger image as well.
Have a wonderful day and remember..."little by little".....
Esther provided the SALT design team with this week's challenge; growth. Please visit the blog to read her write up and to see the other member's beautiful artwork! And if you're inspired to create something based on this week's challenge word, leave a comment on the SALT blog with a link back to your blog or gallery.
As it sometimes happens, God has provided us with a topic whose timing is perfect for many of us on the team. Mona posted a thoughtful post on growth from 2 Peter, this was before we knew of Esther's challenge word, and our family has had some struggles over the past few weeks that I believe God is using to aid in our spiritual growth so I was most encouraged when I heard the challenge!
I've been reading through a series of short stories from Keepers of the Faith with my kids in the morning and a few weeks ago we did a study on patience. Since the books are written for children, the author used an example of how plants grow...little by little...to demonstrate the way God has ordered our planet and our lives. We don't plant a seed one day and have a full grown tree the next. We have to be patient, care for the plant, give it water and sun, and wait for it to grow. Like plants, we spiritually grow...little by little. We are not saved one day and spiritual giants the next, even though most of the time we wish that would happen! We have to care for and nurture our souls by the daily watering of God's Word and prayer and we have to exercise patience as we wait for God to produce that good fruit in our lives.
One of the verses noted in the study is 2 Peter 1:6, which states, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." This verse reminded me of that "little by little" growing pattern. We start our walk simply based on faith in Christ but as we grow spiritually, we develop other positive traits, such as virtue, self-control, perseverance, etc. We don't immediately exhibit these characteristics the moment we are converted. However, the more we lean on Christ, examine our own hearts and motives, acknowledge and confess our remaining sin, and faithfully do those things which we are commanded to do...praise God...we will grow! We will become more patient, we will show more love, we will exercise more self-control, we will overcome "pet" sins that can so easily sidetrack us, we will become more Christ-like in our attitudes, actions, and deeds. We can rest confidently in the knowledge that God will accomplish everything He has promised believers. What an amazing and powerful God we serve!
I used the 2 Peter verse on my card, which is yet another nod to Michelle Zindorf's style. With this card I didn't follow a tutorial...I did it all by myself! Alright, let's be honest...this is really basic but it's about as wild and crazy as I get doing a Zindorf-inspired card all by my lonesome! LOL!
I used my laser printer to print out the verse on a piece of cardstock and then cut out the shape with a Nestibilities die. To begin, I used a sponge to apply a small circle of yellow ink for my moon and then punched out a 1 1/4" circle to mask a portion of the yellow before applying a layer of pale blue with my brayer. Using a sponge, I applied a deeper blue ink on the left hand side of the page before stamping images from the Papertreyink "Life" set in black ink. I went back with my white gel pen to add highlights to the flowers and finished off the panel by sponging a tiny bit of black ink on just the left edge. The rest of the card creation is self-explanatory....at least I think it is...if you have a burning question, by all means leave me a comment and I'll provide you with an answer! Unless the question has something to do with calculus, then I'll be of no use at all... :-)
Here's a close up shot of the panel...you can also always click on any photo on my blog for a larger image as well.
Such a beautiful piece of Art, Kim - and thank you for sharing your thoughts - what a great challenge this is x
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful Kim as it what you shared!
ReplyDelete