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December 30, 2017

Wrapping 2017 Up!



"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." ~ Colossians 2:6-7. 


1. Several of the ladies in a Bible Study I attended awhile back told me that I think about things differently than they do. I'm not exactly sure why -- maybe it's the way my brain is wired or that creative bent I have (well, everyone has a creative bent as they were also made by a creative God, but perhaps mine has been exercised a little more -- smile!), or it's my generation,  but I've noticed something about words.  I have a "I Did It" list that I check off as I progress through it. If I write a "To Do List," I feel overwhelmed, pressured to perform, then procrastinate and feel guilty if it doesn't get done, however, as soon as I write things into my "I Did It" list, I have the goal written there to refer back to, but there is no pressure to perform and I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I check it off. I also use the word "doodle" (such as those mushrooms over to the left) instead of "drawing." "Drawing" makes me feel like I must complete a masterpiece, but doodling is fun play and I don't have to create a masterpiece when I'm just doodling for fun! So, I appreciate the fact that I can use reverse psychology and words in different ways to motivate myself to try. 👍

2. Who inspired you to write?  My mother, a former teacher, taught me how to write my name with my right hand in block letters which I practiced all through kindergarten and first grade and eventually, Mrs. Dougherty, my second grade teacher showed me how to write cursive. In junior high school,  Mrs. Powers taught me to type, which I still use today. And in high school, Mr. Anderson, our Latin language teacher, taught a calligraphy mini-course which I took, then along comes Stephanie Ackerman who taught me her style of lettering. With all of them, I practiced their way of writing for awhile and eventually have formed my own style of writing -- what I liked I kept and what I didn't, I discarded. I've been told I have pretty cursive handwriting, but that only came after lots of practice. I'm really thankful to be able to write and create using my fingers. 

3. Having to deal with knuckle-heads from time to time reminds me of my appreciation of Jesus' patience with the knuckle-heads he had to deal with in his earthly existence. How many times did he have to explain something again to one of his disciples? 👼

4. I appreciate good listeners and I dislike call-waiting. In my opinion, call-waiting is rude and gives the active caller the impression that they aren't important when the callee switches over to another person calling in. That's why I refuse to have it on my telephone. That's what voice mail is for, "Leave a message please and I'll return your call; this call is important at the moment and has all my attention. When we speak, you'll have my undivided attention too."


5. Finished up my Documented Faith dividers and working on my testimony pages. I finished filling in this page. Have 2 1/2 more glue-book pages to finish. Thank you, God, for Stephanie. Bless Her in the coming year of Documented Faith 2018 with wisdom, grace and much patience for her slow scholars.  In Jesus name, Amen! 🔆

Only God can make a Tree! (turn your sound on)

December 23, 2017

Surpassing Grace Gift


"In their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" ~ 2 Corinthians 9:14-15. 


1. I have Attention Deficit Disorder. A component of ADD can be clumsiness. Not only is my brain short-circuited, because the enzymes that are supposed to bridge the gap between nerves are missing (like potholes in a road), a sports doctor told me it can also affect my muscles in the same way. Since childhood, I've been teasingly called GRACE, because of my grace-less state. smile! You know about splats on hard surfaces? I'm well acquainted with them! However, there is another meaning of GRACE and that is undeserved kindness. I love God's GRACE when I fall short of perfection and I'm very thankful for that. Amen! 

2. Stephanie says we will be studying about God's promises this next year. My words for 2018 will be "FOLLOW THROUGH." Thanks be to  God, he is faithful to follow through on ALL his promises, and like him, I need to follow through and keep my promises also. If I say it, I should mean it or not say it at all. 💖

3. A FREEBIE printable quote is available from one of my favorite artists: Mary Engelbreit and it is about Gratitude! Thank you, American Greetings!

4. They say opposites are attracted to each other and as I'm cold natured (cold hands, warm heart), nothing is better than crawling into bed under the blankets and quilts,  then nestling into the warmth of my husband's back. Sigh! Thank you, Lord, for keeping me warm on cold winter nights. 

5. I've heard some wacky reasons why people don't celebrate Christmas. Why get hung up on the date or season of the year or what you think our church fathers replaced. Zero in on what matters most -- the reason we celebrate -- it is because JESUS WAS BORN! We should celebrate His birth with a hallelujah praise party, because, thankfully, God, in his mercy,  sent Jesus to this evil world as an innocent baby to SAVE ME (and you) from sin. In my opinion, the devil wins if we don't celebrate the KING OF HEAVEN's birth! Amen?! Imagine what it would be like without Christmas. . . 

and now. . .


"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:18
❤❤❤

December 15, 2017

See What I Got for My Birthday!!!

1. I received Stephanie Ackerman's new book for my birthday! Ain't that cool beans? Thank you dear! 


2. Today I visited a doctor and my husband asked me to ask the doctor for a generic or cheaper brand of one of my medicines. So the doctor gave me a cheaper version -- Yippee! Instead of having to pay $200.00 or $180.00 a month at Walmart, I only had to pay $12.00 at the hospital's pharmacy! 👍 PTL! 😇

3. I'm thankful that my father-in-law is on the road to recovery from his 4 month ordeal with his health and that my mother had no broken bones when she fell the other night! 

4. I received a precious gift in the mail today from a girlfriend. She gifted me with a small Bible of her father's. Thank you Debbie! I had a small student Gideon New Testament that one of my Sunday School students had given me that I carried in my purse, however, the Bible was stolen from my hospital room. Perhaps the person who took it thought it was a cell phone and if they did, I bet they soon discovered their mistake! smile! I hope it does them much good. Perhaps I shall meet them in heaven some day!  


5. I'm thankful for encouragement!

"Let us come before him with thanksgiving, and extol him with music and song."

~ Psalm 95: 2

December 02, 2017

Gifts of Gratitude

GIFTS OF GRATITUDE

 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs  with gratitude 
in your hearts to God." 
~ Colossians 3:16

♩  ♪  ♫  ♬  ♫  ♪  ♩ 


1. Our Pastor has been preaching on Queen Esther and this week he wanted us to remember important grace markers or turning points in our lives and church. One way he said to do this as a church was to record our "Gifts of Gratitude" to serve as samples of testimony to God's providence and faithful working in our lives. He mentioned several praises he had recorded in a blank journal during our morning services and two he mentioned were mine.  I stood up in church to thank God the Sunday after our accident when the semi truck totaled our car for sparing our lives and then asked the congregation if they didn't know Christ to please get right with him today as we never know when our lives may be snuffed out. Accidents can happen in split seconds!  The second one was about replacing ungratefulness so praise could be given instead: I choose to thank God even when I don't feel like it, so I  thank God for reminders of His goodness to my family this year.


2. And speaking of family, I'm thankful for my birth family as I value grace, kindness and forgiveness more highly now. 


3.  I'm thankful for the jumpstart (wind-up towel snap!) from two friends who nudged and inspired me to write about two people for my History Nut of Missouri blog. One person wanted Mark Twain. I mulled it over for awhile and after watching a PBS documentary on Twain, I decided to write about his mother, Jane Clemens, instead. I'm also extremely grateful to find enough information for a 300 word biography about her. The other person was Walt Disney. As to those two guys, I wasn't sure I ever wanted to write about them as both already have had tons written about them. Well, if either of my friends want to come to Missouri to visit their heroes, they'll know where to go as I always try to find all the places that might feature
them in my home states such as a museum, park, etc. and list it below their biographies. 


4. While I can understand their need to get out of the cold, I don't appreciate Mickey and Minnie setting up housekeeping in my house and making a mess. This gal can't get down on my hands and knees to scrub like I used to and I really appreciate those long handled sponges that allow me to reach the back recesses of kitchen cabinets via a kitchen chair. Like my mother would say, they are the greatest thing since sliced bread! smile! 



5. I mentioned several posts ago that I have a hard time shutting down the brain at times. Part of the ideas zipping and  zooming through my brain are creative ideas, so I'm known in some circles as an idea generator, however, I also have to give myself permission get creative and use some of those ideas.  


Did you know that apprenticeship to master craftsmen might have taken 3 to 7 years just to get to the journeyman level? A child of ten or so was sent to a master in order to be trained in a trade of some sort and the apprentice got on-the-job training by following the master's directives and laboring for him in his workshop. Then after reaching the journeyman level of mastery, there was even more study to become a master craftsmen. The training would be meticulous and somewhat arduous at times, but after learning, for example, to paint by studying and reproducing a master's work, the student would learn the art of painting well. 

As a Christian, I'm in apprenticeship to the Master Craftsman.  His word says to: 

"See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
~ Exodus 25:40. 

"They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: 'See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
~ Hebrews 8:5

So I'm studying the Master Artist's craftsmanship (am drawn to the creative verses in the Bible) and learning how to create arts and crafts according to the patterns shown me. I don't always get it right, but I'm working on it.  I learn by copying too, but give credit where due for the inspiration. That's the right thing to do as "plagiarism" is stealing somebody else's work and calling it your own. That's why we must give God credit for his creativity. The world and the heavens didn't happen just by accident. There was a designer and I can imagine His pleasure of coloring the sky, stars and the sun, the garden of Eden (Weedin') and molding and baking the first man, Adam and putting him and his mate, Eve, into the garden to take care of it. 


" Hope is the special gift of the Lord for the creative edge of our lives in which we realize that if anything of lasting value is to be done HE MUST DO IT. Our only task is to discover what He's doing, where He's breaking through, and then, join and follow Him." 
~ Lloyd Ogilvie. 

November 24, 2017

A Recipe for Christmas

". . . give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

A Recipe for Christmas
By Colleen Myers

I have a treasured recipe
That makes a happy Christmas day
Just read this closely and you'll agree
It really works that way.

You take one song of praise
With thanks to God above
Mix this with a smile and then
Stir in lots of love!

Add some deeds of kindness
Pour in some words of cheer
Unselfish giving you will find
Should then be added here!

Stir in a prayer for peace,
Of goodwill you add a lot;
Bake this recipe well, my friend
And share it while it's hot!


" . . . for out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks." ~ Luke 6:45c


November 11, 2017

Firestorm Relief - Rain!




1. Found some die-cut heart tags out craft shopping yesterday and brought a package home with me. Thank you, Lord, for reminders of your love and care!


2. Heard from a California pen-pal that it's been raining! I prayed for rain as a relief from the firestorms that's been occurring out there and I'm glad that God listened and responded.  Read so many stories of people who have lost loved ones and their homes. Homes can be replaced but the loved ones can't. I pray now that God will bring comfort to those who've lost loved ones and healing for others who survived. 

3. Thankful for finding enough elements (mostly from food packaging) for two more glue-book pages. I posted them here in my google plus collection. I'm still working on circles (eternally round), crowns, fruit of the spirit, friendship tea bags, names God calls me and one more that I haven't decided yet as to what I want to collect. Something from this list here. Playing with the idea of Veggie-Tales. Or stripes (Joseph's coat of many colors), that would be easy to do. Or continue on with the helping hands idea. What do you think? 

4. A friend sent me an email and reminded me of the Little Free Library. Wouldn't it be cool to set up a box full of children's gratitude books in your neighborhood? Can you imagine what attitude changes could occur if kid's began reading about being thankful? I have a few books listed here. Thank you, Mark! 

5. GOOD NEWS! My husband's cousin doesn't have cancer in his liver after all! The biopsy showed it was just scar tissue! Yippee! Praise the Lord! Thank you, Lord, for answering our prayers! 😇

GIVE GOD A THUMBS UP! 👍

October 25, 2017

Praise from My Pastor



Blessings to you!  I hope you are doing well.  This last week we have had partial power in the main church building.  We didn't have use of the furnaces, soundbooth / projector, hallway and office lighting and some lights in the sanctuary and downstairs. We had an electrician come out Monday.  He said we have 3 phase power and that one of the phases was completely out. The good news is this is our electric company's responsibility and someone from the utility company will be out this week to fix it at the pole outside at no cost to the church.     

The better news is the electrician did find a bad breaker downstairs.  It was buzzing and could have caused an electrical fire.  It cost $300 to replace.  How is this "better news"?  If the power outside had not gone out we wouldn't have checked the breakers or had an electrician out.  Instead of a burned down building we had a breaker replaced.  I'll take it! 

Someone might just call this a coincidence, but I'm giving praise to God for His watchful care and providential hand.  

grace and peace,

Pastor Eric Forgrave
Church: 816 763-6891

October 23, 2017

Thanks to Trees




1.  Thanks to Trees -- Found this book thrift shopping this last weekend. Didn't know so many products came from trees-a renewable resource. As we set out to do our weekly errands, I noticed that the trees in our neighborhood were beginning to turn to their glorious fall colors of red and gold.  I have a photo of one such tree on this blog -- click on the label "Tree" below this post.  Did you know that God created trees in the beginning of the world and set two in the center of the Garden of Eden? 

"Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground -- trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." ~ Genesis 2:8-9. 

2. I'm thankful that God lovingly created the family with one man (Adam), one woman (Eve) and their children (Cain, Abel, Seth & others)! And from a descending family came our Lord and Savior who died on a cross made from wood. The Tree of Life had a part in the story of Salvation from the very beginning. 

"The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead -- whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree." ~ Acts 5: 30.

3. Thanks be to God for his gift of life -- did you know that we will be able to eat from the Tree of Life in the paradise of God someday? I pray that I shall be one of the overcomers! 

"On each side of the river [of life] stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. . . No longer will there be any curse." (Rev. 22:2b, 3a); "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (Gal. 3:13); "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness." (1 Peter 2:24); "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God." (Rev. 2:7)

4. Thanks to God for shepherds (ancient tool -- wooden staffs) -- When was the last time you told your pastor how much you appreciate his faithful service to you and your family? Send him a card before the end of this month as October is Pastor Appreciation Month!


"The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching." ~ 1 Timothy 5:17.

5. Thanks for the comforting lap of Jesus -- ADD people sometimes have non-stop creative brainstorms. I think all day long and sometimes pass along what I think are good ideas to others, however, I must guard against becoming conceited. Thanks be to God that he understands my heart when others get the credit for those ideas, comforts me, and then reminds me that I'm only a vessel of the ideas that really come from him. Lord, help me let my prideful hurt go. 



"What, after all is Apollo? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe -- as the Lord assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7); "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, do that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 5:2-4); "because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:14-16). 






ADD/Depressives have a hard time letting go of the inconsequential, because our thinking caps are stuck on "go." That's why we need a good prayer team gathered around us, ready and willing to pray for us and I do, thanks be to God. 

October 11, 2017

Thankful I'm Alive Day!


I've been enjoying Hangar's patients' videos of the creative ways they have found to adapt to their challenges. Along with those stories, in YouTube's video roll, came a story of a triple amputee.  He, just a rash teenager then, experimented with drugs and as a result of a train accident lost three of his limbs. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Cameron turned his accident/limb amputation anniversary into a I'm Thankful to Be Alive Day! which he has celebrated every year since his accident! Every day is a new day! 

So today. . 

1. I'm thankful to Be Alive too! 

2. I'm thankful for normal eye pressures! 

3. I'm thankful for fabric passed forward by a friend! Thank you, Karen! 

4. I'm thankful for being able to attend a historical marker dedication and meeting my husband's "new" cousin and his wife. 

5. I'm thankful that my father-in-law came through surgery successfully. 



October 02, 2017

Grateful for a New Day!


I'm Thankful For:


1. Monument stones and Heart stones. The heart stone above is our Pastor's oldest daughter's most recent addition to her collection of heart shaped rocks. Thank you, sweetie, for sharing and allowing me to photograph your heart stone! 

2. Childhood stories = "[Good] Stories should be told over and over, so they aren't forgotten." ~ Rev. Eric Forgrave

3. Kind words!

4.   21, 487 NEW mornings that I've received God's mercy, grace, and love since I was born!  "Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." ~ Lamentations 3:22-23. 

5. Smiles! 


September 25, 2017

FREE Gratitude Quote Printable

Found this today!

Crafty Secrets has this Gratitude Quote and one other as a FREE printable on their blog 

You could print them out and use one of them on a bookmark to give to a friend or use on a tag to insert into a pocket or tuck into a junk journal or faith-book. Would also make a great little favor for each person at your Thanksgiving dinner table. Whatever. . .

September 21, 2017

3rd Week September


A friend said she writes 5 Things she's Thankful for every day before bedtime.
Here's mine for the week!

1. More Sunflowers by Gudrun Sjoden!!!

2. for handy pockets and cross-body purses

3. for Aunt Jeanette's advice on raising boys.
The Lord blessed her with four
and each had house chores as well as typical male chores.

4. clean water to drink, food to eat and shelter over my head

5. night-lights!

September 09, 2017

Another 5 Things!

Happy Mail Envelope Inspired by Stephanie Ackerman.

1. Sunflowers are blooming right now and they are so pretty.
I consider them my happy flower not to mention they are the state flower of Kansas!
Thank you, God, for giving them to us to enjoy!

2. I am so thankful for the arms of Jesus when betrayers and bullies are being ugly

3. Wise people and praying hands.

4. My sister kept telling her husband this last week she was so glad that they no longer live in Houston, TX. They experienced two floods while living there and
that was enough for them!

5. And my husband said he was thankful it was Friday! 

Another Happy Mail Envelope Inspired by Stephanie. 

August 28, 2017

Thanks for Encouragement to Doodle and Not Apologize for It

Thank you, God, for encouraging me through Stephanie to "Live Life to Express, Not to Impress." I've enjoyed doodling the scriptures that Stephanie has sent out weekly so far this year.  Click on photo to enlarge details. 

January 2017
February 2017
March 2017
April 2017
May 2017
June 2017
July 2017
August 2017
I MAY fill in MAY's "Trust" page with doodles and color later. It MAY depend on what the facing glue book page MAY look like. 😁  I just couldn't resist. . .🙄

I water-colored May's scripture page:

May 2017

September 2017

October  2017


November 2017.

December 2017. 

August 26, 2017

5 Things



FIVE THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR: 

1. Son! His birthday is Sunday! 👦

2. That wrinkles don't hurt! 👵

3. Happy Mail! 📭

4. The calming effect of water-coloring. 🖌

5. The fender-bender didn't damage the front end of 
our borrowed pickup last Saturday! 🚚




August 15, 2017

Thank you, God, for the Strong Rope of Promise!

Here's a story I once read or heard somewhere. I've probably got it mangled, 'cause I can't tell a joke for the life of me, but this is what came to mind: A man, lost in thought, was walking along a cliff above a rocky shore one day. He was so lost in his thoughts that he wasn't watching where he was going and stepped into a deep and wide crack that split the cliff into two. Sliding down towards the huge boulders that lay scattered underneath the cliff face, he managed to grab a thick vine growing over the edge, but he couldn't find a place to dig in with his heels and his toes so that he could climb out of the crack as the dirt crumbled under them. Desperate and clinging to that vine with both hands,  he began to cry out for help. Then a voice answered and said to hang on, that he'd be right back after he ran for a rope. 
When the person got back, he began to lower a rope over the cliff telling the man who had fallen into the crack to let go of the vine, grab the rope and he would pull him to safety, but the man hanging there, desperate with fear, couldn't let go of the vine. After a few minutes, the man above rolled up the rope and the man below, cried out, "What are you doing, where are you going, and why are you taking away my rope?" And the man above shouted down to man in the crack, "I can't help you, because you won't let go of the vine." 


I understand that man's fear of letting go of the vine. I have a real fear of heights. There is one particular high curving bridge with low sides that we need to drive over to get to the highway home from a town east of us that gives me the willies every time we go over it. I try not to think about the possibility of sailing over those low sides off into the wild blue yonder and squish that fear as the driver carefully makes his/her way around that curve as quick as they can. Thankfully, last weekend, we didn't have to come home that way, but knowing about the financial cliff we are experiencing at the moment -- no car and medical bills -- God showed me his love last Saturday as I was returning a too small shirt to a store in a borrowed car. Boy, was I excited when I saw that and I had to take a photo to share. Do you see it too? 



Life is really hard at times and it's wonderful when you've got promises to cling to. I was reminded of that yesterday when I was going through my Documented Faith-book of a quote of Stephanie's I had written down a while back. 

"No Matter What: Everything Will Be Okay!" ~ Stephanie Ackerman

I have to take my eyes off my troubles and look up at him as I get down on my knees in my prayer closet with this verse in mind --  

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen [Jesus and his rope]. For what is seen is temporary [financial cliff], but what is unseen is eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:18. 

God, thank you for a visual reminder of your loving presence in my life!  Thank you for a strong rope I can grab hold of every time I need it! 


It's been a long dark night
And I've been a waiting for the morning
It's been a long hard fight
But I see a brand new day a dawning
I've been looking for the sunshine
Cause I ain't seen it in so long
But everything's gonna work out just fine
Everything's gonna be alright
That's been all wrong.
Cause I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be okay.
It's been a long, long time
Since I've known the taste of freedom
And those clinging vines
That had me bound, well I don't need 'em
Cause I am strong and I can prove it
And I got my dreams to see me through
It's just a mountain, I can move it
And with FAITH enough there's nothing I can't do
And I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And I can see the light of a brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And everything's gonna be all right,
It's gonna be okay.
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
Yes, I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be okay
Cause I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
And I can see the light of a clear blue morning
Everything's gonna be all right
It's gonna be okay.
I can see the light
It's gonna be all right
I can see the light
It's gonna be all right.

August 04, 2017

It's a Process!

The world has a mistaken notion about us followers of Christ. They think when we say we are Christians, that it's like a cup of dry soup mix -- pour the waters of salvation over us and we become instantly perfect and then when we don't measure up, we're called hypocrites.  I hate to tell the world, that we struggle just like everyone else, however, we have what they don't, a relationship with Christ. Some are better at listening to Him and obeying and others, for whatever reason, find it harder to yield to his sweet whispers.  Thankfully, God isn't finished with me yet, cause I'm an adopted daughter of THE King! 👸

Our testimony leader was speaking to us a couple of weeks ago about the sacrifice of praise. As he was speaking about the Hebrew sacrifice, I began thinking about what I could sacrifice in order to praise and thank God and it clicked into place. I've struggled all this last year with writing my blog posts every week like I set out to, sometimes wanting to quit and deleting this whole blog, but Jesus kept whispering "Persevere," which has become my strong rope to hang onto when I wanted to give up. I realized that I could sacrifice those "I don't want to" feelings and CHOOSE to be thankful instead. 

"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise -- the fruit of lips that confess his name." ~ Hebrews 13:15. 

I look up words in the dictionary I don't fully have a grasp on -- like mercy, for instance, one of the words in the beatitudes, that we were reading in church a couple of weeks ago. Positive words sometimes seem foreign to me, so when I ran across a possible meaning of mercy, I had to "chew the cud" and think about it. The sentence "It was just a mercy we had our seat belts on when it happened." grabbed my attention, because having just recently been in a car accident, I thought WOW! A heavenly reward for obeying the law! 

As far as Documented Faith goes, I've been working on my twelve dividers for my faith-book all this month. I've recorded my work here on my "Craftin' Bliss" blog and also assembled a couple of glue book pages that I decided I had enough pieces for. I uploaded those here on my "Taking Stock" post as well telling where I found some of the components for them here.  Stephanie showed us what she's been doing in her faith-book and it appears that she has a commentary going. 

I asked my husband what a commentary was and he showed me a book out of his personal library by C. H. Spurgeon called "Spurgeon's Devotional Bible." It looks similar to a study Bible, except that it has Spurgeon's own comments after various Bible verses in italic script instead of down at the bottom or in the middle of the two columns of scripture.  He told me that a commentary explains or illustrates key points; after Stephanie paraphrases what she is reading,  whether it be her Bible or an inspirational book, she uses her own quotes as a prompt to help her remember what she's learned. 

So, in closing, I said a few posts ago that I wanted to show you what Lynn Shokoples inspired me to make with the face of one of my pocket pages, so look below. Click on the image if you need to enlarge it to see details. I used one of Stephanie's images she sent us in a devotional (Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing your lovely talent with us!) and used Lynn's layout (Thank you, Lynn, for yours also!) to apply it to my gelli-printed background. That red heart and flower just pops off the page and draws your eye in, don't you think?