The Challenge

Good afternoon Y'all!!!      I hope and pray that wherever y'all are today that you are blessed and happy and safe.      It seems like this world we live in is getting crazier by the second.      That's my take on it anyway.      What are the answers?      I don't know.      Well, I do too, but it seems if it involves admitting that we have an issue with sin in our lives, no one wants to deal with it.      If it involves asking God to come back into all the places we have removed Him from, that's not gonna happen.     If it involves acknowledging Christ is Savior and Lord, well, that just isn't gonna happen in a lot of places.      This is the same issue over the whole planet, it always has been.      People serving their greedy lusts and pleasures.      Not serving and ministering to those who need it.      Sometimes we think it takes a massive movement to bring about change.      That's not necessarily so.      One person may not be able to change the whole the world, but one person, you, can change the world you live in.     You can change what takes place in your own home and that is changing the world for those living under your roof.      You can change how you behave around others that need need a good influence.      You can change how you treat others when you're doing your daily tasks.       Those things DO change the world for those who happen to be in YOUR world.      And that's a great change.      I said all that to share what I'm gonna share below.      Please read it with an open heart and see if it's something you might be able to do.

THE CHALLENGE, if you choose to accept

It's been a long dreary dark day here today.      Jesus is still shining in my heart though.      It seems for me, some of the closest times in my life with the Lord is when I'm in my kitchen, doing something.      It seems my mind easily goes to prayer and thinking on the good things He's done for me thru the years.      He has revealed Himself to me in many ways, right in my kitchen, one of the very places that we prove ourselves to be servants.      Now granted, there's just 2 of us, but stuff still needs to get done, it's always better if it's done with a servants heart.

I have had a heavy heart, as I'm sure most of us have.      I soon realized my heavy heart was coming from a place of fear and not love.      When I realized that, I asked the Lord to forgive me for that.    It's hard to admit that, but it's true.       In midst of this, I asked the Lord to show me how He wants me to respond, act and behave thru this world wide ordeal.      Fear has no place in me, or you, or any one of us anywhere.

What the Holy Spirit showed me, and He has shown me this several times over the years.      It's hard to take ourselves out the frays of whats happening around us, or what can be happening around us, and focus on others.      But He showed me that I need to challenge myself, for at least the next 2 full solid months, until May 15th, at the very least.      How am I going to challenge myself?      By asking God to break my heart over the very things that break His heart.      Be very careful about praying that prayer.      Those are some the most powerful words that you will ever ask God. So don't do if you're not serious.      But if you are serious and want the challenge, go ahead, join me in this prayer challenge.

Lord, break my heart over the things that break Your heart!!      When He shows us what breaks His heart, then ask how we can make that better, or if we even can make it better, or if it may be something that we just spend time praying over.      Take this virus out of the mix and there is still a tremendous amount of problems on the face of this globe and I believe that God's people can make a difference.

I would love to see this take place all over the world.      Lord, break our hearts over what breaks Yours.      If you will join me in this, I would love it if you will let me know.      Consider it, pray about it and join me in this challenge.      At the very least, the very minimum it will cost you is time in prayer and that is time well spent.

So while we are hunkered down, lets do something positive with our time, praying over the very things that break Gods heart.

Thru it all, remember that God is in charge of it all!!!      He loves you and wants to be in relationship with you thru the shed blood of Jesus Christ.      Make sure you are in a good relationship with God thru Jesus.      He sure loves you and so do I.      hugs, love and safety, patty.

I accepted the Challenge...

Ohhhh, does that sound ominous and foreboding?   Well, I did accept a challenge and I wanted to share it with y'all.

It has been pretty cold in my neck of the woods the last few days, how about where y'all live?   I remember hearing on the news sometime Tuesday,  that every state in the United States of America had temperatures below freezing, 32*,  at some point and time that day!   Folks, that's a cold wave and a half!   I do hope and pray that everyone is making it through this cold spell ok.   Awh, before we know it, we'll be fussin' about how hot it is!   hahaha    Kinda look forward to that, too!

Now back to the "Challenge".    It's not a duel or a fight to the death or anything like that, it's a "fun" challenge.   One of the ladies on one of the groups I belong to posted this challenge for making a card:  It has to open down the front;  it has to have orange on it somewhere;  and it has to have coloring of some type on it somewhere.   Those were the only three criteria that I remember, hopefully I got it right.   Anyway, I had a blast working on this card.   It is picture intensive, but I can't help it, I feel like I grew by leaps and bounds during this challenge.   I think I may be able to leap tall buildings in a single.........well, no, not really, but I may be up for another challenge.   hahaha    And now, for the pics:

I used my Sizzix postage stamp die .  I measured how wide the die is and x that by 2.  Then cut my cardstock at just about 1/16th or so shy of the total width.  Then measured in from the cut sides to half the width of the die and that's how I got the fold.  You want to make sure that you have some hinges left on the sides of your stamp otherwise your doors will fall off. hahaha  Ask me how I know?  No, don't, just take my word on it, you want hinges!   I also used this die to cut the orange that was a requirement for the challenge.

I took another sizzix die and cut some closures, that will come a little later.

This just gives you an idea of the size as compared to a quarter.   I also took my distressing tool and made the card stock really supple then I inked it lightly with my brown ink.

This shows how it will close.

The inside shows where my coloring is.   I used my water color pencils and then a water blending pen to blend the colors.   I took one of the pieces I messed up, hahaha, and trimmed away the outside of the stamp and that is what I stamped my image on.   If you look closely, you can see a border of orange around the stamped image, I inked it up because I wanted it to stand out, so to speak.

I cut the orange in half and used it to cover the front of what I will call the doors of my card.   Then I used bisque colored perfect pearls on each little nub of the stamp.   I took the image I wanted to place on the front and cut it at an angel and the scor-taped it to the front, after I had inked up the edges a little.

 This is a little better pic.  I got the light on it a little better.

 And also this one.

Now, this is where I used the closure.  I made a little band to go around it to hold it shut.   Again, just plain white Georgia Pacific card stock, distressed and inked.  I glued the closure to the band and opened it out flat and used glossy accents on it.  I just put a single coat on it.   That really helped to make it look more like a belt.  I was happy with it.

Then, I used my perfect pearls and made me some little rivets on the closure to give it a finished look.

Just another shot of the closed, finished card.

And this is a close up of my little closure.  I am really happy with the whole thing!   Oh, I forgot to mention that I used different colors of blingy, glittery goodness on my flower on the front of the card.   It doesn't show up really well, but I did take notice of it in this pic, and I didn't want to forget the "bling"!

Well, this is my take on the Challenge.    I so loved doing it.   I am so thrilled with the outcome of it.   I hope that there is something here that you can use on your next project or in the future.

As I leave you this evening, I want to share a fav scripture with you:

Psalm 91:1 "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty".

God is our shelter and refuge.   The writer of this Psalm trusted God to see him through any dangers and fears that may have come in his life.   This is the picture of how we are to trust God and give Him all our fears and exchange fear for faith.   We must dwell in and rest in the shelter and protection of Almighty God.

I hope that you have found shelter and refuge in the shadow of the Almighty!   God loves you and wants to be your safe place to fall!

I hope y'all enjoyed your visit here today.   I pray for y'all to have a blessed and peaceful evening.    I hope you come back soon, because I have soooo much more to show you.

Hugs and be blessed, Y'all!  Patty