Record the Good!

1. DOCUMENTED FAITH = I watched a You-Tube video by May-May. She was using the same spiral bound art journal that I was and I saw how she overcame two problems I thought could happen. One is that the pages are perforated next to the spirals. I had been adding a strip of masking tape to the backside of the pages to prevent it from coming apart and I also wondered about oopsies and if that happened I would have to start over on a fresh page (no matter how hard I try to be a neat crafter, invariably I'm still a mess magnet. smile!) May-May solved those two problems by crafting on a half -sheet of white cardstock and then gluing it to the art journal page. I've done the same, but also cut 1/4" inch off one side to make it fit perfectly. Here's May-May's cute version and mine =

I made a mask of flat, transparent packaging to trace around to create the space for my scripture. I could have made the scallops by hand, but decided to try out the new stencil I made with a Sizzix die on another piece of clear packaging. Then I colored the dots in with magic markers. I also added color around the edges with a Tim Holtz round sponge dauber and stamped the unknown tea cup twice - once on the cherry paper and then on the pink cardstock. I don't have any tea cup/pot dies, so I fussy cut out the pieces and glued them together. I also had a teapot favor that I've had for years which I used to trace around, cut out and then added the dotty shadowing like the cup had. The dots in the background was made by hand with a fine-line sharpie. Thank you, Jesus, for the flow of this creative idea through a sister-in-Christ vessel (i.e. May-May)! 

2. RECORD THE GOOD! = As my doctor said to do, record the good, so I'm recording the good that happened last week! We got a new-to-us car! Yay! Ever since last year, after the semi smashed our car, my husband has been driving his father's pick-up. It's old, shabby, and has over 400,000 miles on it, but it's been a good truck despite its age. But my dear hubbin thought it was time to get us a new car and he's been shopping quite a while and found several he thought would do. I've been praying that God would supply us with a good car and if it wasn't his will for us to have one of those cars he was looking at, then prevent the sale in some way (and several were sold before I had a chance to try out the front passenger seat! smile!). So last week, he took me to the car lot where he saw two cars he wanted me to review and I saw this pretty red car and said, "O Look, What a Pretty Car!" My husband said, "Don't even look at it.  We'll never be able to afford that one." Well, guess what? The two cars he was looking at, had been sold and the pretty red car was in our price range and I could get in and out of it easily so we brought it home! Then Sunday, one of my friends said, "You know red cars are known as targets, don't you?" And I said, "No way, I've been praying for and over this car! This red car is my heart-gift from God!" smile! Thank you, Jesus, for providing a pretty car in one of my favorite colors! 

3. THE FAITHFUL FEW who read my blog = THANK YOU! 👼

4. ELD. ROBERT WEBB = I'm thankful for Brother Webb. He not only pastors the historical church my 2nd & 3rd great-grandparents, Griffin & Margrett (Scaiefe) White and Enoch & Elizabeth (Moore) Scaiefe  attended in Clay County, IL, but he has graciously shared his knowledge of Primitive Baptist history. I just recently learned of another ancestor of mine who was a Primitive Baptist minister, making that three so far, and he said probably more! Amazing!

5. I found this thankful Bible verse and just had to doodle it!

Amen? Amen!

The Company We Keep

1. SOUL FOOD = I rested my phone in a heart wire mason jar holder  on its side this morning on a shelf above my kitchen sink and while it was playing my grateful heart praise playlist on YouTube, I was having a praise fest while I did dishes! It was WONDERFUL! I was soaking up all that wonderful soul food and ideas just flowed! And so another playlist was begun -- "Spoken Words of Gratitude!" (I linked it in over on the  side menu too!) 

"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart TO THE LORD, always giving THANKS to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." ~ Ephesians 5:18-20. 


It's one thing to thank God during the good times, but it is much harder to thank God during the trying times. Sometimes it feels like we are always in the valley, but according to my doctor, I need to zero in on the good moments that occur everyday,  RECORD THEM either in my brain or on paper, like the mountain-top experience I had listening to music above, and be thankful for those things. Then I'm to be good to myself by doing the things that make me happy like my creative stuff, genealogy, being with supportive people and un-think the unhappy moments with the people and things I cannot control, which is easier said than done as I have been told that I have a good memory.     

One of my girlfriends recently said that she, at times, has felt like taking stock in an umbrella company!  Umbrella's are good "shields" to hide under when the devil rains on parades, don't you think?  smile! 

 

"He who walks with the wise grow wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." ~ Proverbs 13:20

"Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." ~ Hebrews 5: 13-14

"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." ~ Luke 6:40.

"Brothers (and sisters too), stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults." ~ 1 Corinthians 14:20

"As water reflects the face, so a man's heart reflects the man." Proverbs 27:19

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." ~ Luke 6:45


2. REST = I heard a mama of four active boys with a new baby say today she was thankful for rest. I remember when our son had colic, then febrile seizures from chronic ear infections, and he grew into a very active little boy. I especially remember feeling so  thankful for my husband when he came home from work and kept our son actively engaged while I cooked our supper. It was our son's daddy time until supper was on the table and my peace time.  Ah! It was good! 

3.  TOOLS -- I'm thankful for my dictionary and thesaurus. Both books makes words and concepts clearer to my understanding of what the Bible teaches me. 

4. YUMMIES! -- Took a panful of the blueberry muffins made with a recipe from the cookbook I mentioned in my last post over to my girlfriend's and to my mother's and they disappeared quickly. I'm thankful for the good fellowship we had at both places. Then we took my father-in-law out to eat for Father's Day at Cracker Barrel and our son discovered a JARWARE Honey Dipper for sale in their gift shop while waiting to be seated, so one came home with us. I was excited to find it as the glass one that my husband bought broke the week after he purchased it. This one is plastic and hangs down inside a 16 oz. mason jar from the screw-on jar ring. I also looked at their website and there were other nifty things made for jars. Thanks, sonny boy! I have a thing for canning jars! 😉

Did you know that you can microwave rice? Place 3 cups of water, 2 pats of butter, and 1 cup of rice in a microwave safe casserole dish with a lid. Cook it on high for 5 minutes, then 20 minutes on half power. Let it sit for a few minutes to absorb all the water, add a little milk and your sweetener of choice (I used honey this morning).  Yum!

God is great!

God is good!

Let us thank him 

For our Food!

Amen!

5. DOCUMENTED FAITH = I told you last post I would show you some of the artwork in my scripture faith-book art journal. Sometime ago, a friend (thank you!) gave me a notepad with tea cups on it and I've been saving the used sheets because I didn't write over the tea-cup illustration and thought I might make use of them in an upcycle project, as I did here. I used a dotty stencil for the outside border and then water-colored between the dots in a lattice pattern. I'd like to recycle some transparent flat packaging into a stencil/mask to make the opening for the next one. I think it would go a lot quicker than having to use a ruler to trace around. 

#documentedfaith

I've also have begun a collection of sorts too by saving tea-bag envelopes and tea-tags to use in the faith-book too! 

I'm thankful I found that Salted Caramel flavored tea at Walmart. It is YUMMY! (Tim Holtz Stencil). I plan to make use of the 45 some tea-related rubber stamps I've collected as well.