Obedience

Apologies for the lateness of this post.

I have to confess I hadn't realised it was my turn to post until this afternoon, when it was past the deadline. Although I have been online, I haven't been checking in with the Salt girls as I ought to have. I need to overhaul my priorities. Praise God that he sends people to nudge us in the right direction.

As a family we have recently taken the step of moving back to the church we left 3 years ago. It is in our home town, and we believe God has a work for us to do there. In the weeks leading up to the transition, I have been very mindful of the Lord speaking to me gently but firmly of things that I have to lay aside in order to serve him effectively. As you can imagine, the reasons we left in the first place were not happy, so the idea of coming back to a place of hurt is not an easy one. However, the Lord can provide such healing when we seek his will, and on hearing his voice, obey. I am reminded of a chorus we sang as children.

O B E D I E N C E
Obedience is the very best way,
to show that we believe.
Doing exactly as the Lord commands,
doing it joyfully (woopee)
Action is the key, do it immeadiately, and joy you will receive.

We obey because he first loved us, and in obeying we find peace and joy in the perfect will of God, what a great place to be!

Continue in Prayer

My topic today is taken from Colossians 4:2 "Continue in prayer." I have been thinking a lot lately about prayer and it's importance in the life of God's children. As a busy wife and mother it's often difficult to find time for a meaningful conversation with anyone!! And yet, prayer is most important especially when we are busy! I remember hearing this quote from John Wesley, "I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it." When I read the morning reading from January 2 out of Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon which used this verse as it's text I was convicted to be more prayful this year. Here is an excerpt of that reading:

It is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred Writ is occupied with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts, or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord;" and just as we are about to close the volume, the "Amen" of an earnest supplication meets our ear. Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling Jacob—there a Daniel who prayed three times a day—and a David who with all his heart called upon his God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have multitudes of commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives. If He has said much about prayer, it is because He knows we have much need of it. . . .If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father's face, and live in thy Father's love. Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of His love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto for this year must be, "Continue in prayer."

We'd love to see what you create using this inspiration - please leave us a link to your project. Thank you for joining us today.

Julie

Hazel



Pauline

Kim

Lythan

Love is in the Air

Even in our local supermarket you can’t escape the signs that it is nearly St Valentine’s Day. The cuddly toys, cut-price boxes of chocolates and large displays of cards to choose from to help us show our love to partners, potential partners, friends, parents and perhaps even our teachers (there is a wide choice of cards to peruse!!)

Historians trace the origin of St Valentine’s Day to the Roman Empire, although a young priest called Valentine gave the day its name and clearer meaning. There are various legends about Valentine himself (I’ll leave the very interested among you to your own research!) but many believe the 14^th February to be an opportunity to celebrate love, and not just romantic love (remember those teacher cards I mentioned earlier?)

The Bible is full of passages talking about love – our love for God, God’s love for us and love that we have for one another. I’ve been reflecting on some of these passages recently because of a situation a friend has found herself in and I have to be honest and say that some of the seemingly ‘simple’ passages present us with some of the greatest challenges.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'^a]"> This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' Matthew 22:37-39

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. . .And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Excerpts from 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

God’s love transcends all of our human definitions of love to the point that we perhaps cannot fully understand it. For me, the crucial thing is that God’s love is unconditional. It does not depend on feelings or emotions. He doesn’t change the love He has for us based on how we make Him feel or how ‘loveable’ we are. He loves us, created us to be in a relationship with Him, and sacrificed His only Son to restore that relationship. Even though we may struggle to comprehend it because of the limitations of language or understanding, the fact is that God is Love and as Christians we can rejoice in that fact, not just on one day, but 365.

The Beatitudes

Sadly, we say goodbye to Esther from our design team. Esther says, 'Having taken on more responsibilities since my son has started school, I don’t find myself at my craft table as much, let alone blogging. I think it is wise that I step down.' She goes on to say, 'I hope Salt continues to go on from strength to strength and it will continue to be used for the glory of God.' We already miss Esther, who was one of the founder members of the Salt team - she has encouraged and blessed us, not only with her gorgeous crafting, but with her care for our team and in sharing her spiritual journey with us. Thank you, Esther, for your love and friendship.

The Beatitudes

For this fortnight's, challenge I (Hazel) thought it would be good to look at the Beatitudes:

Matthew 5
1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes. Sadly, sometimes they are mistakenly seen as a blueprint for how we are to be saved, something for us to strive to attain – but rather, as Spurgeon said, they are ‘the marks and evidences of a work of grace in the soul.’ It is only possible to truly possess the qualities Jesus commends if we experience the salvation He offers. They are the characteristics that should be evident in every Christian.

As Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones said: ‘Happiness is the great question confronting mankind. The whole world is longing for happiness and it is tragic to observe the ways in which people are seeking it.’ In the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is saying that if you really want to be happy, to be blessed, then here is the way.

The characteristics identified in the Beatitudes are not ones that come naturally to us, but are produced by grace and the work of the Holy Spirit.

I hope that you enjoy seeing the crafting response of the team - please visit their individual blogs to read what they have to say.

Our challenge: It would be lovely if you could join with us in creating something that is your response to these sayings of Jesus - or perhaps concentrate on just one of them. We would love to see any crafting that is prompted by these words of Jesus - please leave us a comment with a link to where we can come and see your creation.

Thank you to those who follow us, leave us comments and join in our challenges - we hope and pray that you are blessed by our little corner of the internet - combining our two passions of faith in Christ and crafting.

Hazel

Pauline



Stacy

Kim (to read journaling, click on photo to enlarge)


Lythan

Ruth

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News from our friends at Scrapbook News and Review magazine:

They are pleased to announce that they're adding a new monthly feature to their online publication - Faith Full Cards - and they're looking for submissions! The focus for these projects is 'faith-based' and they should showcase Bible verses, inspirational quotes and/or images.

Please follow these instructions for submissions:
*All projects must include a complete supply list and contact info.
*All images should be named with the contributor's name, and project title. Example: Mary Smith_Valentine's Greeting.jpg
*Image should be no larger than 550 pixels on longest edge.
*Please email submissions to ahouse@scrapbooknewsandreview.com by the 1st of every month.