God Works

I know that God listens to all our prayer and he answers.  I really do believe that and when I see actual evidence of an answer to prayer, evidence of God working in someone's life, I am always deeply moved, often to tears.  It thrills me to know that God is answering prayer and doing something in someone's life.  It always makes me really grateful that we have a God who cares about every detail in our lives.

This page was inspired by such an occasion:

I started off with a bright yellow backround:

I tore up a card backround which I hadn't used and gessoed over again to tone it down:

then fun with texture paste, stenciling, stamping and journaling in the round:

Today was yet another day when I  had evidence of answered prayer.  The weather forecast was really bad with heavy rain due all day.  It was also the day for the funeral of Doris, an 83 years old friend in my church.  We prayed that we would get a little window of dry weather around the funeral - it would have been so dreary standing in the rain around the grave.  The Lord didn't just keep it dry, He gave us glorious sunshine both at the grave and afterwards when we were having refreshments.

May you find evidence of answered prayer and God working in your life too.

Fulness of Joy

In Thy presence there is fulness of joy.

Ps 16: 11

This is one of my very favourite scriptures!  When we are with Jesus, in His presence, we get joy.  Not just joy but FULNESS of joy.  I love that expression.  To have joy is wonderful, but to have fulness of joy is amazing and we get that by being in His presence :)

I wanted to make a card using this scripture and thought that the free stamp which came with the Craft Stamper July issue would be perfect.  Its a lovely Mackintosh-inspired stamp by Chocolate Baroque.  I decided to do the I ought to use this more!  challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge so I used my daughters lovely old watercolour set which she no longer wants and I've had in my stash for ages.  Although I've used watercolour pencils and I love my Derwent Inktense Blocks I've never used proper watercolours before!

Some people might ask, how can we get in His presence, what does it mean???  To me it means being quietly in some place - that doesn't necessarily mean alone in a room, you can be with Jesus in a crowd too!  I like to quiet my mind and turn my thoughts to Him.  I start to think about all that He has done for me, for my family, for us all and that leads me into thanksgiving.  I think about what He is like as a person and as God - He is loving, kind, patient, generous, faithful, merciful.  He is someone I can depend on, who is always there for me.  He is holy, mighty, awesome.  He is my Healer, my Saviour, my friend and my God.  So when I am with Jesus, in His presence, I am thinking not of myself but of Him.  And I get joy... because in His presence there is fulness of joy.

May you  have a joy-filled day.

I'm linking up at:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
Word Art Wednesday
Create with Joy Friendship Friday

You can never have too much JOY!

We've been away again, this time for an extra holiday to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary :)  We went to Teesdale which is in the north Pennines and stunningly beautiful at this time of year when all the wild flowers are out - it really is my favourite place in the world.  We did lots of walking and of course we fished the wonderful River Tees.

I took my Joy journal and only a very few supplies - my Derwent Inktense Blocks and a couple of paintbrushes, a pencil and rubber and a black pen and a white pen.  However, we were out most of the time so I only did one page!!!!

Pleasures can satiate, but real joy - the joy that comes from knowing the Lord Jesus as our saviour - never satiates.  You can never have too much JOY! 

It felt wonderful to be in beautiful Teesdale enjoying and marvelling at God's creation.

Here's the Tees where we fished:

Carpets of wildflowers everywhere:

Lots of birds everywhere and wonderful birdsong:

 Oystercatchers, there were loads of them at Selset Reservoir:

And the view from the cottage where we always stay:

We'll be going back again next year!

I'm linking up at Art Journal Every Day
Create with Joy Friendship Friday
 Creative Every Day