There Is Hope...

Well, today, instead of working on the Scavenger Hunt I have scheduled for tomorrow (what was I thinking?!!...it was a suddenly "I think I'll host a Scavenger Hunt"!  HUH???) I got on Pinterest and got swept away into my imagination.

Someone had painted a creature (?) that had big huge eyes that looked so cool because they had two white spots and the top of the iris was darker than the bottom giving it an almost clear "eyeball" look! ..... "Hummmmm", I thought, "wonder if I can do a eye like that?"  That was hours ago, and this is what I ended up with:

But, what is actually in my notebook (I wish they made composition books with blank pages).  This took hardly any time... 30 minutes maybe?  It was the add ons that took a while...

The leaf and flower aren't really in my notebook, I added those so you could see what I used to make the butterflies and bushes.  Those are separate png files that I brought into CorelDraw and started messing with (tracing/ungrouping/filling with color/moving nodes around, etc)... I would be happy to go into more detail but I'm guessing not many folks have Corel, most have PS and things would be done differently there.

At first I was thinking it looked like a turtle head because of the thin neck but when I decided to go with a butterfly for it to be looking at, I wanted it to be a caterpillar so I had to cover the neck up... with a "bush" (aka. a bunch of leaves copied and pasted).

There are so many scriptures that could go with this that I have a hard time choosing...

Jeremiah 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you,....

Zachariah 4:10 (NLT) "Do not despise the small beginnings for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin....

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV) "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new"

? more ?

I don't know, you choose one...gotta love that whole metamorphosis thing!

Important to know though is THERE IS HOPE!!!

used: fountain pen w/ brown ink to sketch, 2 color pencils, 2 watercolor pencils, and 3 markers (not because I need all those different things but because that's what is within reach of my PC

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To Sell:

Sterling Silver Butterfly Charm

Sterling Silver Butterfly charm $7.50 (S/H incl. USA Only)

THREE Scavenger Hunts!

HI!  If you are here for the Hunt, please click the HOME button for instructions...

Whatever He Says DO IT!

Most of the pictures are ones I purchased from a Clipart Company a while back...all except this one:

I am going to leave the rest because I think they help  make the point.

Before I go there though, I can't explain why I put what looks like stone around the picture ?!?!  I didn't mean to go there, I was just trying to fill white space and the "stone" just evolved.  I was going to try and video how I did it but I'm not sure where my tripod is ???  One day I'll show you.  

In the meantime the story behind the picture....

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One day I was reading the story of Jesus at the wedding feast and his first miracle. When I got to the place where Mary tells the servants to do whatever he says I had a “Suddenly”. A sudden revelation…. That’s it! WHATEVER HE SAYS DO IT! Seems so simple now, well duh?! But that has been my motto since that day. WHATEVER HE SAYS DO IT.

The story:

1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."
5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."



11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.(John 2:1-11)

I started thinking about all the different stories in the Bible where people DID do what the Lord told them to, and all the ones that DIDN'T.  Each had a result.

Examples: (not in order)

The Lord told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden... they did and we have all been paying for it since!

The Lord told Joshua to march around Jericho ... he did and the walls came tumbling down!

The Lord told Moses to strick the stone one time to get water ... he struck it twice and wasn't allowed into the promise land

The Lord told Sampson not to tell anyone where he got his power... he did and lost it, they gouged out his eyes and enslaved him.

The Lord told Noah to build an ark... he and his family were saved.  (I LOVE the faith of Noah!  Can you imagine?!)

The Lord told Lot to leave Sodom and "Don't Look Back!" ... his wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.

The Lord told Abraham to sacrifice Issac... he was going to and he got God's promise of more decendants than can be counted.

I think you are probably getting the point... story after story of obedience/disobedience, all with results! 

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Life Lesson:

To Sell:

Sterling Silver Whale Charm ...

SS Whale Charm $6.50 (incl. S/H USA only)

Don't Get Mad At Your Donkey!

If that makes no sense at all then read:

In Numbers 22 of the Bible, there is a story about a man named Balaam trying to do something that displeased the Lord so the Lord sent an angel to block his path....

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21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. 22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road.


24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat her again.

26 Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"


29 Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."


30 The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"


"No," he said.


31 Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.


32 The angel of the LORD asked him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. [c] 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her."

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I live in Georgia and my niece, Ashley, lives in Louisiana. In 1999, she was having her third child.  I had not been able to be with her for the birth of her other two girls so I really wanted to try and be there for the third.  She was having it induced so we knew exactly when Savannah would be born.  I made my plans, but, there were things wrong with my car... air conditioner didn't work and something else just wasn't right so I took it in early that week for repairs.  When they called with a quote of over $5000 I told them to put it back together I was coming to get it...I couldn't afford that.  They told me "OK, but don't take a long trip in that car."   They didn't tell me what that meant, just that it wasn't safe to drive.  So, I didn't go to Louisiana that week.  I could have stood being without the AC but something else was making it unsafe ... ???... I didn't know what that was.


Early the next week I took my car to an independent mechanic a friend had suggested.  He plugged a hole in the AC for around $200 and replaced a 75 cent belt.  The $5000+ repair bill became $200+!!!  And, that 75 cent belt was the thing that had kept me from being where I wanted to be, when I wanted to be there!!!  ARGH!!


Friday of that week I got a call from my brother telling me that Tori, Ashley's oldest daughter, then 10 years old, was in the hospital and they didn't know what was wrong, but she could die!!!  I told him I would be there as soon as possible, dropped everything, and made the 8 hour trip to La, praying all the way.  By the time I got there they had diagnosed that she had ITP, a disease where the things in the blood that are suppose to kill off the bad things were also killing the good.  But, the good news was, Tori's blood count had gotten better so they released her from the hospital that night.  PRAISE GOD!


During that night Tori had a severe headache and threw up all night long.  The next morning, I drove Tori and Ashley to the doctor to see what was wrong.  Remember, Ashley had just had Savannah the week before and couldn't drive.  The doctor was very concerned and sent us to the hospital immediately to run tests ... It could be bleeding on her brain, a potential problem with ITP,  or, it could be meningitis.  The tests showed meningitis...in addition to the ITP!   Tori would need to stay in the hospital several more days and Ashley would have to leave her week old baby, Savannah, at home with her mom.


God is so good.  He had one grandmother taking care of Alex, the second daughter, another taking care of Savannah and I was there to drive Ashley back and forth to the hospital.  I was there when I needed to be there.  If I had gone the week before I couldn't have stayed another week because of work.  God had used a 75cent belt (my donkey) to have me exactly where I needed to be, when I needed to be there.


Life Lesson:

• Don't get mad at your donkey!  Whatever that little annoying thing is that is keeping you from being where you want to be, when you want to be there...there is a reason.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."  Proverbs 16:9

Tori and Savannah this past Christmas...

Tori and Ashley (the mom) this year 

(Tori will graduate from LSU Nursing School this December!  God is Good!)

LOVE MY GIRLIES!!!

To Sell:

A Sterling Silver Donkey Charm!  I gave devotionals at my last job and I bought a lot of charms to sell to help folks remember what I taught.  (I had made myself a necklace with about 20 different charms...like a charm bracelet... so they wanted one too...With all the charms together it makes a GREAT conversation piece! )

I even have some for past drawings so I have added several..  Tell you what, the first person to find all of them and let me know I will give you a charm of your choice....Call it a Scavenger Hunt.

SS Donkey Charm: $7.50 ( S/H incl. USA only )

SCAVENGER HUNT FREEBIE!

Click HERE for another FREEBIE

Just Keeping My Hands Busy...

I haven't had a whole lot of time to doodle the last few days but I found a couple things lying around so thought I'd post them....


This one is a TRUE doodle, in every sense of the word!  I had some 2.5x3.5 pieces of card stock sitting here next to my computer so, while I was watching something online I picked one up and just started at it. It isn't anything, but I kinda like it :-)  May have to use the idea for something ???

This one was about the same way but the actual goal was to see how many ways I could make that swirly vine look different.  I did it several ways just not sure where the other ones are ???  I'll look for them and show them later... I NEED TO ORGANIZE!!!


I just this minute decided to start adding something for sell every day.  I have a house full of art supplies and finished "stuff" that I NEED to sell!  So, I will be adding something different every day.  You will be AMAZED at the Stuff I have! 


FOR SELL:

Only $6+ S/H for 6 NEW CD Tins 5"x 3/8" 

I have more so ask if you want more and combine the shipping .

Fear Not

I haven't personally counted, but people say that "Fear Not" is in the Bible 365 times.

Yet another canvas to add to my ever growing pile of "one day I'll try and sell these" pile!  In the meantime I'll use it to remind ME!


Hummmm, the more I look at it though the more I think the large letters need to be thicker.... back to the drawing board but it should be an easy enough fix.


Hope all is well in your world today!


THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HATH MADE, 
I WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT!

What?

Just sitting here at my computer watching "Next Food Network Star" online while pinning on Pinterest.  There was the cutest ink drawing done by a guy from Germany.  LOVE!  Cute, scraggly, little dog so I decided to see if I could draw it.  I did, knowing that I couldn't post it here even though I colored my dog blue and it really was different, but probably shouldn't ...I just put a little version so you could see what I'm talking about.  I did both drawings with an Ultrafine Sharpie so I was committed to every line and could only cover up mistakes with more lines.....so, after I finished the drawing of the dog (pre-blue) it looked like it could be a raccoon with some changes, so I started over...hence the raccoon. 


After I finished the whole drawing and was about to work on this post I realized that I really did need to add a dog bowl in front of him so the "What?" made more sense. I drew the bowl on a different piece of paper and did that PSE magic to put it in front.


Raccoon are so funny!  You can not scare them!  They just look up at you like "WHAT?!  You are bothering me here."  Mine really has too much shame, they don't feel shame!


Hummm, I didn't realize that more than one raccoon is still raccoon, no "s".....never knew that!


Added the next day....
When I went downstairs last night there was a huge raccoon on my back deck in search of food :-).

You Have It NOW!

Its 1:00 am now and I wasn't ready to go to bed so I decided to make something really quick using the TTF I came up with this week.... I had the girl already.  I drew her several months ago and just never did anything with her.  I got the words from Pinterest, no idea who said them first???  

7 minutes, DONE! 
(gotta love those already drawn doodles!)

Obadiah

Today's book is Obadiah.  I had to give all the "end times and wrath of God on his chosen" a rest!  I was finding myself getting REALLY DOWN!

Yesterday (Wed) I did Jonah, because it was easy, I needed that kind of day. The AWESOME part of Jonah is that even though it is short it is FULL of life lessons!  One that actually brought me out of my funk.  I might as well be honest here, I really haven't been holding much hope for America because most folks have turned their backs on God...and that NEVER turns out well!  But, read the book of Jonah and see that God had every intention of "taking Nineveh OUT"  but, once warned, they immediately repented, fasted and prayed...and God changed his mind!!!....and they had never been a "Godly" nation!  There is hope for America!... even if I am the only person I know fasting a praying for the future of America I have got to give it a shot....though I would really love some help...hint hint.

OK, so back to Obadiah....

I figure since the Bible isn't in any kind of order, that MY brain can work with, I can read it out of order... I'm not trying to insult the guys that put it together, I know they were God led, I just get so confused sometimes.... Like Jonah was a prophet YEARS before Isaiah but Isaiah comes first in the Bible ???!!! ... I get it, the whole Major/Minor Prophet sort, its just that MY brain struggles with that.

OK! OK! Obadiah.  I THINK I have decided to show the "who/what/when/where" over to the left...(did this time anyway).  And, because of the whole "which came first" issue described above, I decided to add a time line, Adam - the fall of Judah and Jerusalem.  I also decided to start adding the map because I want to SEE where things happen.  I need to add more, like WHY God is so upset with Edom but I had to run out to do a little job....in the meantime...

Please note the "As you have done, it will be done to you" part .... sowing and reaping, sowing and reaping.... its one of those laws, kinda like gravity

Cheater Doodle

And today's "doodle" is a Cheater Doodle that took about 5 minutes to make using "Tagxedo".
All I did was tell it to go to Biblegateway, not having a clue what it would do. It pulled today's scripture from the site, striped some of the words (not sure how it knew what to strip?? I told it the font, shape and color combination to use and this was the result:

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36 NASB

Kinda cool, but it will take more playing time than I have today for me to figure out the best way to get the words that I want in it.  The thing that makes this site better than "Wordle" is the number of shapes you have to choose from!  Probably 30ish...hearts, stars, Word shapes, etc.  

Go HERE and play a while, see what you come up with!

QUICK Pictures

Yesterday I was watching Kay Arthur and Joel Rosenberg on end times and of course they quoted a verse in Daniel so I pulled my Bible out to read Daniel, from the beginning of course.  As I was reading I realized that it is an awesome book to illustrate...it has lots of visuals.  But, my goal now is to actually study the Word more than "draw" like I did the book of James.  I don't want to get bogged down in the drawing.  My goal in James was to draw every single verse....not so with Daniel, I just want to highlight the stories so that I can look at my notes and see at a glance what happened.... Daniel fasted, Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar dream, S, M, A refused to bow to the statue and got thrown into the furnace...etc...That is one "want"... to draw the highlights.


Another "want" was to put it in a bound book.  Hummmm, how to do that jumping around like I do?! So, here you go... I printed out a bunch of sheets, front and back, with a light graph paper and center lines to keep myself "corralled".  Then I started stitching.  I stitched about 10 pages together with a piece of cardstock as the cover.  Now I have a bunch of little booklets that are 8.5"x5.5" with labels of each book.

The idea is to later take each little booklet and treat them like signatures in a hard bound book and I'll stitch them together and make them into a hardbound book.

Here is my start on Daniel:

Just FYI the colors around the sections are indicating a new king's rule.


OH!  Yes, of course I could have just bought graph paper but my new thing to do is USE WHAT I HAVE!


Speaking of that... I just want to document this date (on Monday June 18th) I FINISHED a whole thing of bologna.  (not all at once! over last week)  I have never, in my life finished a whole thing of bologna!!!  I don't love it, but its just so easy to throw a sandwich together so I would buy it...and end up throwing the majority away because it went bad.  That's all, I was just so proud of myself. :-)

Well? Are You?

I woke up this morning thinking about the rapture and how I have been waiting expectantly my whole entire life!  Well, since I was 10 or so.  Listen, I was raised Baptist and we had "revivals" once a year when someone would come and talk about the Tribulation Period and the Rapture and I was CERTAIN that I wanted to BE READY for the trip OUT OF HERE!  I DID NOT want to hang around for what happens afterwards!  So, I "rededicated" my life every single year.


Heck, I even based getting married around the rapture.  I said before I got married that "I could live with anybody for three years."  Yup, thought it was going to happen within the next 3 years ... that was TWENTY EIGHT YEARS AGO!!!  I won't even get into how STUPID THAT WAS!



But, I still wait expectantly knowing that at ANY MOMENT I could be outta here...WHOOHOO!!!!  Though I will tell you that it is starting to look like there will be some Pre-Trib, Pre-Rapture tribulation for the American church :-( ... but that's not what I'm talking about today.... 


Today the question is:

Mat 24:42

"Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

If you aren't sure you are ready HERE is a link that could help.




....
About the drawing:


I started out hand drawing it but then figured, why not use my new TTF I made this week....it is still "hand drawn" but ...  I was able to get it done quick enough that I have already made it into a T-Shirt at Zazzle  :-)

In The Last Days ...

2 Timothy 3:1-5


But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
For men will be: 

• lovers of self,
• lovers of money
• boastful
• arrogant
• revilers
• disobedient to parents
• ungrateful
• unholy
• unloving
• irreconcilable
• malicious gossips
• without self-control
• brutal
• haters of good
• treacherous
• reckless
• conceited
• lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
• holding to a form of godliness, although they denied its power

Avoid such men as these. 
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One of the things I miss most about life growing up is INTEGRITY!  You use to be able to trust people, and believe that what they said was what they meant, what they WOULD DO!  Heck, I can remember when deals were made with a handshake!  NOT ANYMORE!!!  And that breaks my heart.  But, we are living in the last days so ... oh well ...


I'm sorry guys, you don't spend the weekend studying Isaiah and come out with a happy drawing.  You could substitute America everywhere God is talking to Israel and it would fit perfectly!


That, and I'm sitting here watching/listening to "Epicenter" by Joel Rosenberg.....hummmm.... Buckle your seat-belt folks we are in for one rough ride!  I pray I'm right about a PRE-Tribulation Rapture!!!


Anyway, about the drawing... 

I'm fairly certain that I would have drawn it differently if I had started with the scripture.... I would have probably used a different word anyway.... But I didn't, I started with the word INTEGRITY(because I miss it!), finished the drawing and then looked for a scripture that would fit.  The actual picture took on a life of its own.  As I was drawing/coloring the word in different ideas came and went. I first thought I would draw weeds overtaking the word but that turned into the black tendrils because really, it is the evil of the world taking over and choking the good out of even "good" people.   More and more "Christians" have become lovers and friends of the world, so much so, that its really hard to tell one from the Non-Christian.  ESPECIALLY in business!!!  Like, try to find an HONEST person of INTEGRITY to fix your air conditioner!!!  No, I'm not bitter, just mad/sad that you can't believe folks anymore.


I know, I know, not one of the major prophecies that proves we are living in the last days, but definitely one close to home.  There are so many things about the end times that I can't control, but this is one...  I can make sure that I don't fall into one of the descriptions in 2 Timothy and I can hang tight to my INTEGRITY and DO WHAT IS RIGHT!!!  

IT MATTERS!!!

Think about it, if Jonah hadn't been in the boat, there wouldn't have been a storm. (Jonah 1:1-16)  


And when the storm came up while the disciples were crossing the lake and they feared they would die, I'm sure they were too glad to have Jesus in the boat with them! (Mark 4:35-41)


Oh, and remember that time the Israelites lost God's protection against Ai and men died because of just ONE MAN back at camp, Achan, who took some of the spoils of Jericho after God told them not to take anything? (Joshua 6:17 and Joshua 7).


Another one... everyone that Joseph was slave to prospered because of him. 


It REALLY DOES MATTER who you hang with!  You may end up in the middle of their troubles or their blessings.  
.

Matthew 6:26B

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Here's why....


I re-pinned an AMAZING picture today thinking it was real...but it was a PAINTING!!!  Unfortunately I didn't realize that until I tried to do "my version"....PITIFUL in comparison, but I still like it, and I still want it...but just not pinned!  OU, that would be bad!  


Anyway, anyway...

PLEASE DO NOT PIN

I was feeling pretty good about it because I just used what I had here by my computer...watercolor pencils and my Noodler's fountain pen with Noodler's brown Ink. ... then put all the green background in with PSE because I did it on a piece of paper out of my printer and it was already wonky...adding more water would have made it into a wad! ....I'm glad I did now that I can't really use it for anything!

But, the important part is the message... one of my favorites.  Matthew 6:26.

Look at the birds of the air, they do no sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not worth much more than they?

I LOVE THAT!!!

Just Finishing What I Started

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I didn't have much time to doodle today so I pulled out my "grab it and run" journal to see what was there.  I found a partially drawn face that I had started while babysitting a few weeks ago so I decided to see what I could do with it and just finished adding details and a bit of color to get this:

Notice the little girl that looks like she is looking up at the larger girl?  That is actually the little girl I was baby sitting...she was sitting on the floor looking up at the Mickey Mouse show ... I had drawn a quick sketch of the tv in front of the big girl so I had to erase that once I decided to finish the big girl.  Don't ask me why I decided to cram everything into that corner... ????  WHO KNOWS???


After I scanned the book I decided to delete everything but the big girl in PSE and add a quick background and some words... here ya go:

Well heck!  Now I wish I would have used cream instead of white for the background. :-( ... Amazing what you can see after seeing it with the black background of the blog.  I will probably be sorry later that I didn't take more time with it but...time was short today and its 2:30 A.M. already!  

I do like drawing faces... but then I don't know what to do with them!

THANK YOU!

Hi Everybody!  I just wanted to take this post to say....

I can't tell you how much I really appreciate you liking my little doodles enough to save the link back here.  If you ever read some of my words you see how insecure I am with my drawings so it gives me a happy heart when you like them.  THANK YOU!


And, a special thanks to anyone that pins the scripture drawings, I LOVE that we are getting the Word out there...bringing glory and honor to our Father God!  Seriously, they are ALL ABOUT HIM and this is my way to honor Him, in my small way.  THANK YOU for helping me with that!
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Relax, Your Day's Coming!

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It seems I spend a lot of my non-"God-thinking"-time thinking about what I'm not "DOing" for the Lord...or of all the wasted years of not "DOing"... or, I'm not DOing enough.    Yes, I'll admit it I want to be a God Pleaser .... (I know, I know, He is pleased by our faith in Him ...Hebrews 11:6 ...but DOing is easier :-) yes?)   Sitting on a shelf is HARD, HARD for me! (ou! I see a picture there)

But one day last year, as always, He answered my anxiety in His Word with the following revelation:

I actually posted this picture on my other blog last year but it was tucked away at the bottom of a full-of-other- things post and I don't think anyone even noticed it. But, I personally, think the message is too important to hide!  

RELAX! You have a purpose and when the time is right you will be right where you need to be.... if that is your desire...now, if you are in rebellion, I don't know, ??? that MIGHT delay your purpose ???

OU!  Just thought of another one.... Noah was 600 years old when he entered the ark!!!  Heck, even Jesus had to wait!  He was chomping at the bit at 11 to get started but he had to wait 19 more years!

Well heck!  Might as well make a Freebie out of the idea.... (man I LOVE my new TTF...I can just throw these things together!...I actually used both of them for this one)

Click HERE to get to DOWNLOAD.

Again, RELAX, BE STILL and JUST WAIT! (preaching to myself here, can you tell?)

OH!  One more thing... notice the ONE window on the ark?  I had them all the way across the boat then re-read the passage and it only hand ONE WINDOW!!!  OH MY GOODNESS!  I hope it was bigger than the one I show...think how dark it must have been while it was raining 24/7!  In there with all those stinky animals and its dark....hummmm..... how can I complain...about anything?!

TO SELL:

A Sterling Silver Tablets charm:

$7.50 (includes S/H USA only)

Suddenlies

This is one lesson I have learned about God...over and over.  There really isn't any point in worrying about tomorrow because the direction you are headed in today can change INSTANTLY without any warning!  

I suspect that when Ruth was following the guys reaping the harvest all she was hoping for was enough to support herself and Naomi....but God had other plans!

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. 

I really felt awkward drawing this one because I have NO CLUE what either scene actually looked like ???  I feel like I need to explain what it actually is! How do you show a wedding back then???  I had to make it all up! So, just imagine that what you see is Ruth picking up wheat after the workers and she's marrying Boaz, the land owner, at the bottom!

I Keep Going Backwards!

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So, I decided that I would start in Isaiah and study it the way Kay Arthur recommends.  HA!  That lasted about 5 minutes.  Anytime I read in the Old Testament, I am all over the place!  The minute I read a name or a place or a people group I want to know where they came from, or where that place is...so out come the maps and any chart I can find that will help me know who/where I reading about.  If you have ever tried to study the Bible you know what I'm talking about.  

I will admit here that when I read the Bible I tend to hear a verse somewhere that makes me feel good so I will go to that book and if it is small enough read the whole book, but most times I'll just read the chapter (for context) or maybe a little more, and read it like any other book .... I can then put a check off of my "to-do" list.  But, anytime I try to read in the Old Testament I get really bogged down in wanting to know the details.

Well, the other day I went from Isaiah, to Kings, to 1st and 2nd Samuel and finally threw up my hands and went back to Genesis to start with Noah!!!  I sat there and tried to map out all the "begats" on a "family tree"... Talk about an eye opener!

Here it is.... I'm probably the only one that can read it but I keep it in front of me now while I'm reading just so I can see who people are or where they came from.

Notice the little color dots?  Those are the enemy "ites".  I am placing the same color dot on maps and near the name in the text so that I can make that connect.  Like this morning I was so excited when one of the preachers I was watching on tv was talking about Ruth and the family moving to Moab and the  two Moabite daughters in law... I could actually visualize who/what/where without looking at it!!!  YES!!  

.... Remember? Lot gets rescued from Sodom before the destruction,  wife into salt, daughters got him drunk and had sex with him (UGH! UGH! UGH!) and one has a son named MOAB.... MOABITES!  Ruth was a MOABITE!... and the pink dot is across the Dead Sea from Judah.  GOT IT!!!

Draw your own tree... I totally recommend it!

I think I might go back and do it again with little pictures of major events that happened to each person but that will probably take more than an 8.5x11 sheet of paper!

Notes about the little colored stickers:
I decided that I needed little stickers ready for sticking ...mainly because the pages in my Bible (Hardback Inductive Bible) are SUPER THIN and I know the markers will bleed through to the other side.... so I took a 8.5x11" label sheet and cut TONS of little ovals using my vinyl cutter.  I then colored some with markers

Yes, I did think about making little crowns and triangles and other shapes but if I use too many labels I'll start making my Bible too thick!...because KA uses A LOT of markings!  I'll have to think about what will be the best use of labels.... But I have to say I reeeeally want to make some little crowns!  ha!