Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Ecclesiastes 3:11

Annie’s Ink-Lings

  This Week's Scripture Focus:  Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything 

beautiful in its time.

All things in creation are made by God for His pleasure and glory, and there is a beauty in them all.  He governs and orders all things according to His will.  Some things are done immediately by Him, as in creation.  Others are made by instruments, and some are only permitted by him.  Some He does Himself, some He wills to be done by others, and some He suffers to be done.  However, in all, there is a beauty and harmony.  Everything is done in the time in which God wills it shall be done, and it is done in the time most fit and suitable for it to be done.

We have the world so much in our hearts, are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things, that we have neither time nor spirit to see God's hand in them.

Blessings,

Annie

Elegant Thanksgiving Wreath

Annie’s Ink-Lings

Need a quick card for Thanksgiving?  Here  is an idea that can be whipped up in just a few minutes.  For a background, emboss the card using Sizzix Elegant Wreath folder, or your choice.  Daisy punch several times from scrapbook paper and cream card stock to make a decorative flower.  For the flower center I used a tiny flower punch and a tiny starburst punch, with a jewel in the center.  I used a couple of pieces of green grosgrain ribbon for the leaves.   I used my Stampin' Up Classic Label punch to punch the cream label and then stamped with Inkadinkado #99450-K, and colored the fruit with Prismacolor pencils.  The card size is 51/2 x 41/4, top folded.  Quick but still a bit elegant!

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving and special blessings,

Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling - Psalm 138:1

Annie’s Ink-Lings

  This Week's Scripture Focus:  Psalm 138:1

"I will praise You with my whole heart."

David boldly declared that he would hold nothing back in his praise to God.  His praising God would be done with all his being, with his whole heart, with the whole force of his life.  David intended his praise to be done with joy and enthusiastic eagerness. 

To praise God with the whole heart leaves no room for any other motives to divide our devotion to the Lord.

I need a broken heart to mourn my own sins, but a whole heart to praise the Lord.  If ever my heart is whole and wholly occupied with one thing, it should be when I am praising the Lord.

Blessings,
Annie

Book Review: In the Footsteps of Jesus, One Man's Journey, by Bruce Marchiano

Annie’s Ink-Lings

In the Footsteps of Jesus, One Man’s Journey, 

by Bruce Marchiano

This is a book written from the heart of the author, Bruce Marchiano, who portrayed Jesus in the movie, “The Gospel According to Matthew.”  It is his personal testimony of the effects that playing this roll had on his spiritual life and in his personal life.  One of the things that I found so encouraging was that he related how wonderfully God worked in his life and then shares that he is nobody special.  God wants to relate to each one of us right where we are.  Bruce talks about his background and details about how he came to be in such a film. He gives insight to his thoughts, feelings, and attitudes leading up to and during the filming.  You come away feeling as if you were on location with him during the shoot.

Bruce's writing is so fresh and conversational that you feel he is sitting in your home and chatting with you about what matters most in the world - Jesus!  Although he was a believer before playing the role of Jesus, I feel he was very transparent about what was in his heart and thoughts as the Holy Spirit led him to know a Jesus that he previously didn’t fully understand. 

It was an encouragement to me to read Bruce Marchiano's testimony about his amazing journey of following Christ and his life changing experience of portraying Jesus in the film.  What he shares is from the heart as he bares his soul in this book and the greater knowledge he gained of who Jesus really was. After reading the book, you feel as if Bruce is a friend who has shared an intimate part of his life with you.  More importantly, he reveals to us the Jesus who is a friend to us all, not a solemn or sad Messiah, but a man of joy and love.  I believe it will deepen your own relationship with Christ as it did with Bruce - it did mine!

Blessings,

Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling - Galatians 6:9

Annie’s Ink-Lings

  This Week's Scripture Focus:  Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary of doing good, 

for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Doing good involves yielding to the Spirit and exhibiting the fruit He produces—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When these things are dominant in our lives, doing good is the inevitable result.

We need this encouragement to not grow weary in doing good because of our own natural weakness and the opposition of evil spirits and evil men.  The best intentions for doing good can be easily derailed. We often feel there is so much work to be done that we cannot possibly do it all. There are so many needs, so many calls on our time, energy, and finances, that we can easily become exhausted and disheartened.  Doing what’s right is not easy in a fallen world, especially when it seems no one notices and there is little recompense for all our troubles.

Growing weary in doing good is an ever-present danger in the Christian life.  Overcommitting ourselves is a primary cause of weariness among Christians. We want so much to contribute and to respond to God’s love by pouring ourselves into ministry for His sake that we risk burnout. Discernment is essential. We need to choose wisely and always allow time for rest.  God will provide for each need He wants to fulfill. He will provide the means to accomplish His ends.

Paul reminds us to look past our labors to the prize at the end:  those who persevere in doing good are promised to reap rewards. When we become disheartened, the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit brings relief and gratitude to our hearts and glory to God.  Just like the sower of seed must wait for the harvest, the Christian must wait patiently for the rewards that will inevitably come to us from God. We will not give up, because our Lord is faithful. “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

(Based on Galatians, McArthur New Testament Commentary.)

Blessings,
Annie

Milk Can Arrangement

Annie’s Ink-Lings

Today’s card was made with one of my favorite stamp sets.  I really like the country, old-fashioned look.  You can color the image to make it appropriate for any season.  This brings back memories of when it was popular to decorate your front porch with a milk can.  Yes, I had one on my porch!  It was always fun to walk in the fields or woods and find items to make a bouquet.  Now, in my area, it’s hard to find cattails.  One of the things that I really like about this stamp is – you guessed it - the cattails.   

You might think my card took a long time to make, but actually it takes very little time.  Copic markers make coloring really quick and easy.  Fussy cutting took the most time, but even that went quickly, and I love to do it.  Now it's your turn!

Card Stock Measurements

White Card Stock Base  8½ x 5 inches

Patterned Paper Panel 5½ x 2½  inches

White Card Stock Panel 4 3/8 x 2½ inches

Red Specialty Paper Panel  4 5/8 x 2¾ inches

Red Specialty Paper Strip  5½ x 5/8 inches

Supplies

Stampin’ Up Country Home Stamp Set

Stampin’ Up Cup of Cheer Dies – the Bow die

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad

Misti or Clear Blocks

Paper Trimmer

Tape Runner

Fussy Cutting Scissors

Make Art Play Station (if you have one or just a ruler)

Copic Markers Coloring Chart

Milk Can:  YG61 Pale Moss, hi-lighted with G99 Olive

Milk Can Rings and Handles:  E55 Light Camel and E39 Leather

Catails:  E55 Light Camel, dots with E39 Leather

Small Berries:  R35 Coral

Leaf Branches:  G99

Artichoke:  R39 Garnet

Dark Leaves:  G94 Grayish Olive

Light Leaves:  G40 Dim Green, hi-lighted with BG01 Aqua Blue

Notes

1.  Remember – when stamping with polymer stamps, you need to leave the stamp on

           the paper for a longer time in order for the ink to transfer.

2.  Red and White panel is mounted with 3-D tape.

Layering Directions/Measurements

1.  Red Specialty Paper Strip ½ inch from left side of card.

2.  Patterned Paper Panel ¾ inch from left side of card.

3.  Red Specialty Paper Panel 1 inch from left side of card.

So glad to have you here today.

Blessings,
Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Ephesians 1:4-5

Annie’s Ink-Lings

This Week's Scripture Focus:  Ephesians 1:4-5

 

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Please note that in this journaling I am addressing only the meaning of the words "chosen" and "predestined."  This is not an argument either for or against Arminianism or Calvinism.

I encourage you to do your own research if you have been touched by this journaling.  This is one of the mysteries of the bible that we may never truly and completely understand while we are present on this earth.  But one thing is certain:  if we are a believer, we have been chosen by the grace of God, and not by works.

* * *

 God chose we who are in Christ to be His children in His wisdom, power, and love, so our proper response as His children is to live in obedience to Him. We are to be "holy," a word meaning "set apart." We are also to live in a way which is without blame.

Before the world was created, God made the decision that all those who believed in Christ Jesus would become children of God.  By that decision, He chose who would be allowed to be his children.  The word chose comes from the Greek word eklegomai, (ek-le'-go-mī )which means “to pick out, choose out a person or thing.” 

By making the decision that only those who would become believers would become His children, God predestined us.  Predestined comes from the Greek word proorizo (proh-oh-REE-zoh) and it means “to make a decision beforehand.”  This means that God determined ahead of time whom He would adopt as His children – the believers.

God has chosen us and yet we are responsible to believe.  He gives us the gift of faith and all who have faith are granted the ability to come to Jesus and will come – no exceptions.

In the beginning before anything was created, God chose and predestinated us to be adopted as children of God by our faith in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Isaiah 61:11

Annie’s Ink-Lings

  This Week's Scripture Focus:  Isaiah 61:11

For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

The prophet Isaiah is comparing how a garden grows seeds planted in it to how God brings forth righteousness and blessings in our lives.  We can’t get inside a seed and press a button to make the seed grow.  The blessing of life and growth is miraculously within the seed, placed there by God.  We can’t “make” something grow, but we can provide the right environment for the seed to bud, grow, and be fruitful. That’s also how we receive and flourish in God’s blessings. We can’t “make” or “manufacture” them, but we can put our hearts and minds in the right environments of faith, fellowship, and obedience, to see blessing grow and flourish.  In this passage, righteousness means deliverance, which is a reference to the coming Messiah, who will provide the means of deliverance for all nations.

Blessings,
Annie

Thankful Mice

Annie’s Ink-Lings

So much has been going on that I’m very happy to finally get around to making some Thanksgiving cards.  It appears that I was feeling whimsical today and didn’t realize it.  My intent was to make a nice autumn Thanksgiving card.  However, when I spotted the little Thankful Mice stamps in my “Holidays” drawer, I knew it was time to use them again.  So, my original plan was put on hold for another day.  The little pilgrim mice and slice of cheese are so fun to design with.  It’s really great to have the matching dies, so no fussy cutting.  The card is fairly straightforward, so I felt directions weren’t really needed, except that I used foam tape to mount the mice for a nice 3-D effect.  Just follow the picture and have fun.

Measurements

8 ½ x 5 ½ inch card base

5 3/8 x 4 1/8 inch panel

5 ¼ x 4 inch panel

Stamps, Punch, and Dies

Lawn Fawn Thankful Mice #LF36 and Coordinating Dies #LF37

Sizzix/Lori Whitlock Sentiment Circles & Stamps #66234

Joy Crafts Cardmodel Circle #6002/0599

Stampendous H091 Thanksgiving Time stamp

Stampin’ Up Painted Harvest set:  I am thankful for you

Stampin’ Up Bird Builder Punch

Copic Markers

R01 Pinkish Vanilla

R30 Pale Yellowish Pink

N1 Neutral Grey No.1

E13 Light Suntan

R56 Currant

G46 Mistletoe

100 Black

Hope you enjoy the card.

Blessings,
Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling : Matthew 9:16-17

Annie’s Ink-Lings

This Week's Scripture Focus:  Matthew 9:16-17

16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.

17 Nor do they put new wine into old wine skins or else the wine skins break, the wine is spilled and the wine skins are ruined. But they put new into new wine skins, and both are preserved.”

We all understand about patching – new cloth to new cloth and old cloth to old cloth or it won’t work.  The parable in these verses is that Jesus is saying that the Pharisees and their old system is the old wine skin and that what Jesus teaches is the new wine skin.

Jesus is saying that there is no way that what He teaches can fit into the system of the Pharisees, because the message He is giving is of an internal holiness, of a real repentance, of a heart attitude that can never fit in the ritualistic system, because the Pharisaical system couldn’t contain it or hold the truth.

The Pharasees’ Judaistic, traditional, legalistic, formal, self-righteous externalism was in no way able to either mesh with the ministry of Christ nor was that system able to contain the ministry of Christ.

Based on a sermon by John MacArthur.

Isn't it wonderful that just by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we become like a new wine skin!  And that is the only way we can be filled with His new wine.

Blessings,

Annie

Masculine Nature Card

Annie’s Ink-Lings

I'm really loving the Rooted in Nature stamp set from Stampin' Up.  This is especially a great set for making masculine cards and for nature themed cards.  I saw a card on Pinterest using this stamp set, which gave me inspiration boost.  As I was formulating an idea and looking for papers to use, I found in my stash a sheet of green card stock with embossed leaves.  Just perfect for the background!  

I used my Misti to stamp the tree trunk slice with Fresco Tuscan Earth.  Then I very lightly inked the stamp with Fresco Amaretto Truffle and overstamped the previously stamped image.  This gave a really nice dimension and texture to the image.  The three little dots in the lower right corner were made with a 1/8 inch hole hand punch.  After gluing them in place, I added a touch of Spectrum Sparkle Pen –  Crystal Clear.   

This is a quick and easy design for a birthday card or by changing the sentiment it could be a nice thank you card -- actually just about for any occasion!

Card Stock

White

Light Brown

Green Embossed Leaves Card Stock

Measurements

  White Card Base

• cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" score at 4 1/4"

Green Embossed Leaves Card Stock Panel

• cut at 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

Bottom Panel Layers 

• Brown -  2 3/8" x 4 ¼ "
• DP 2 1/8” v 4”

Top Panel Layers

• Light Brown - cut at 3 ¾” x 3 ¼”
• White – cut at 3 ½” x 3”

Tools

Paper Trimmer

Foam Tape

Tape Runner

Glue Bottle

Poker-Picker-Upper

Metal Awl (Poking Tool)

Scissors

1/8 inch hole punch

Spectrum Sparkle Pen –  Crystal Clear or Wink of Stella

Thanks for joining me today.

Blessings,

Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Hebrews 11:6

Annie’s Ink-Lings

This Week's Scripture Focus:  Hebrews 11:6

You can never please God without faith,

without depending on Him.  Anyone who wants

to come to God must believe that there is a

God and that he rewards those who sincerely

look for him.

Faith pleases God more than anything else does.  The Christian life is dependent upon faith.  We stand on faith; we live on faith.  Faith is loved and honored by God more than any other single thing.  The bible teaches that faith is the only approach that we have to God.  No man has sins forgiven, no man goes to heaven, no man has assurance of peace and happiness,

until he has faith in Jesus Christ.  You may be saying, “God, I believe you are a great person, but I do not believe your Word; I do not believe what you say.”  Belief comes before Faith.  In order to please God, you must believe Him and have faith in Him.  Perhaps your faith is small and weak.  It does not matter how big your faith is, but rather, where your faith is.  Is it in Christ, the Son of god, who died on the cross for your sins?

Faith is the connecting power into the spiritual realm of God.  Faith makes Him become a tangible reality to our sense perceptions of a person.  Faith is the basic ingredient to begin a relationship with God.

Blessings,
Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Matthew 11:11

Annie’s Ink-Lings

This Week's Scripture Focus:  Matthew 11:11

I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist.  Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!

My Study of John the Baptist

We are taught that God knew us even before we were born and that He had a plan for our lives.  Even as it is true today, so it was in biblical days.  John’s days were destined by the Lord.  He was born with a specific purpose and timing in history. 

            Truth – God has a specific calling and purpose for our lives today.

God knew exactly when John needed to be born and into which family John should be born to, as he was to be the forerunner of Christ at a specific time in history.  God’s timing was not late or early; it was right on time.  John was a relative to Jesus Himself.  When Mary went to visit Elizabeth to announce her own miraculous pregnancy, the Bible says, “the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 1:41)  Even before his birth, John’s purpose was being aligned. God was calling.

            Truth – God’s timing in our lives is perfect.

While John was born into a priestly family, he did not take up his father’s work and serve as a priest.  It was God’s will that John lived in the wilderness until the day he was revealed to Israel.  In this way, he would not be contaminated by the corrupt religious system of his day.  Luke 1:80 says, “he grew and became strong in spirit.” Prophets were known to use the isolation of the desert places to grow spiritually over time and to focus their message on God.  He was a Nazarite from birth and was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb. Although John was a prophet, he did not perform any miraculous signs.   

            Truth – God gives us the power to keep our heart and minds set on Christ, even in desert days.

John ended nearly four hundred years of prophetic silence and paved the way for the Messiah.  Isaiah prophesized of John as, “The voice of one calling in the wilderness: prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3).  John preached a message of repentance and baptism.  (To repent is to change our will in reference to sin, resolving to sin no more.)  “I baptize you with water for repentance.  But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

            Truth – Our mission in this life is to point others to Christ.

John lived solely to point others to Christ, and he was obedient to God’s purposes.  John was brave and was willing to speak truth, even if it meant his own death.  He didn’t let anything get in his way, but kept his heart set on Christ.  He was a strong and humble leader. 

            Truth – Humility and obedience to God matters more than what others think of us.

Jesus Himself said these words of John, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11)

            Truth – No matter what battles we face in this world, there is always true and unending freedom through Christ.  He alone is our Hope and Deliverer

Blessings,
Annie

Woodland and Quail Birthday Card

Annie’s Ink-Lings

Just got this birthday card finished for my husband, whose birthday is October 12.  We both love watching the Quail in our yard, so I'm sure he's going to love it.  The Stampin' Up Rooted in Nature Stamp Set and Stampin' Up Woodlands Textured Embossing Folder were just perfect to create the design I had in my head.  Can hardly wait to try my next design idea.

All the images were stamped on white card stock.  The Quail, the cross-section tree trunk, and two of the leaves were stamped with the Tuscan Earth, then slightly over stamped with Amaretto Truffle, using my Misti.  Fuzzy cut the images after stamping.  I used 3-D tape to mount the cross-section tree truck.  I typed and printed the sentiment with my computer.

Supplies

Stampin' Up Rooted in Nature Stamp Set

Stampin' Up Woodlands Textured Embossing Folder

PSX Quail #2358

Fresco Ink Pads:  Tuscan Earth, Olive Green, and Amaretto Truffle

Measurements

White Card Base 9 x 6 inches

Brown Panel 6 1/8 x 4 1/4

Embossed Panel 6 x 4 inches

Blessings to you on this beautiful fall day.

Annie

Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Jeremiah 31:12

Annie’s Ink-Lings

This Week's Scripture Focus:  Jeremiah 31:12

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.  Jeremiah 31:12

John Calvin says that God’s people would come to sing praises on the high hill of Jerusalem.  By these words, Jeremiah promises the restoration of the Temple.  If God had wanted for His people to have only quietness, wealth, and pleasure, then it would have been better for them to remain in Chaldea, which was great with fertility and pleasantness.  But their return to their own country was to be looked for chiefly that they might be separated from heathens, and might rightly worship God, and so dwell in the promised inheritance.  This is a reminder to us that we are strangers in the world, passing through until our heavenly rest – in the world but not of it.

If God’s people flowed to him in complete faith, He would grant them eternal freedom, much like what believers receive today through the Lord Jesus Christ.  If they  flowed together to the goodness of Jehovah, something better and more excellent than food and sufficiency is promised, and that is spiritual, that the people might ascend to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. 

When God said their soul shall be as a watered garden, He means that their abundance would be perpetual. God promises that the souls of the people would be as watered gardens, because they were not to be satisfied only for a short time, but were at no time to be exposed to want, or famine, or to any deficiency.

He says further, they shall again mourn no more when they are made free.  God’s blessing would be continued to them, so that the faithful would not be subject to the common miseries of men.  But God promises that he would be so favorable to his Church, that it would have a perpetual cause for rejoicing,  For whatever evils may happen to us, God shines on us by His grace, and thus all things turn out for our good, and are aids to our salvation.

* * * * *

Journaling from my study of a John Calvin commentary. 

I am so thankful for God's perpetual blessings and that my soul will be like a watered garden.  I pray that it is for you also.

Blessing,

Annie