A Time for Everything...

God appoints a time for everything.

We so often want to see him work quicker, and too often to our own time frame.

We are reminded beautifully in Ecclesiastes of how God works in his time.

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens: ² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

The most important thing is to know God, seek his will and wait on him to work in his time.

Please ponder and pray, and create something in your time, please leave a comment as we would love to see what you create.

While we're on the subject of time, we have an important announcement to make. The current Salt team have decided to make this the last challenge for the foreseeable future. We are so grateful to all the followers and participators over the last 2 years or more.

We would like to thank all those who have been part of the Salt team
Esther
Gillian
Casey
Kimberly
Julie
Mona
Tanis
Melita
Nikki
Gina
Kim

God bless you!

We will be keeping the blog online so it can continue to be viewed, and in the near future we will be updating it to include Christian websites and blogs that we recommend.

Ruth

Being part of the Salt team has been such a blessing. Not only the discipline of crafting for Christ on a regular basis, but the spiritual challenge of the thoughts expressed by my fellow team mates. So often I have heard the Lord speaking through them. Let us keep being Salt and Light in the communities we live and in the virtual ones that we encounter online.

Pauline

Although I've only been part of the SALT design team for a relatively short time, I've found myself being blessed in so many ways by it. Firstly, there's the new friendships formed with others on the team. I've found everyone so supportive, always willing to share their faith journeys and what has helped them when they've encountered difficult 'life' situations. The second blessing is the spiritual growth I've experienced as we've wrestled with the challenges, discussing them and sharing our thoughts. Thirdly, it has been such a privilege to share a little of my faith through my crafting with everyone who follows the SALT blog. I will miss all of this and much more.

Hazel

I have been privileged to be part of the Salt team since the challenge blog started at the beginning of August 2007. It has been a pleasure to get to know so many gifted Christian crafters both within the team - past and present - and those who have shared their creativity with us in response to our challenges. I have been encouraged and blessed by so many and have formed friendships that I know will continue. I'm thankful to fellow team members for their prayerful concern and fellowship and also for the challenges that I've been presented with, not only to help develop my crafting, but also to enable me to delve deeper into the scriptures. I hope and pray that this blog will continue to be a blessing to any who still come to visit.


Lythan

I have been with Salt from the beginning and have so enjoyed being challenged to express my faith creatively. The team have been such an inspiration and prayerful support to me. Thank you Saltinies, past and present for all that you have shared!

Freedom

In the UK today a referendum is being held. At present, the UK uses the 'first past the post' system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. What we are being asked today is: should the 'alternative vote' system be used instead?

I'm not going to get into any for or against discussion, but simply to reflect upon the freedom we have in this country - freedom to have our say, whether or not we exercise that freedom by voting - we have the right to choose.

It got me thinking about freedom in a wider sense, conscious of the fact that for many Christians throughout the world there is a lack of freedom - a lack of freedom to speak openly about their faith, with the threat of persecution.

If, like me, you are blessed enough to live in a peaceful part of the globe, please pause and thank God today for our freedom - and if you are not in that position then I pray that you will be given the strength and courage to maintain your faith in difficult circumstances.

True freedom, of course, is ours only if we put our trust in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. Jesus said: 'So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.' (John 8:36) We can enjoy that freedom regardless of our physical or geographical state. I am enjoying that freedom - are you?

The Great Commission

Before I introduce the challenge for this week, we have some Design Team news - Kim is stepping down from the SALT team after having been involved for a considerable length of time. We're all sad to say goodbye to her, having been inspired by her reflections and thoughts on the challenges and having enjoyed the fellowship we've had on the team. Thank you Kim for you for everything you've done for the SALT blog, for your insights on the challenges, and for the friendship we've been able to have with you.

We hope you will join with us in wishing Kim every blessing.

__________________________

It’s not quite Ascension Day (40 days after Easter), however, since the Easter celebrations are now a few days ago, in today’s challenge I (Pauline) asked the team to reflect on Jesus’ final teaching to his disciples. The words of that teaching are found in Matthew 28:18-20,

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

When I was a child, I learned the following song, based on these verses;

God's spirit is in my heart
He has called me and set me apart
This is what I have to do
What I have to do
He sent me to give good news to the poor
Tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more
Tell blind people that they can see,
And set the downtrodden free
And go tell everyone
The news that the kingdom of God has come
Just as the Father sent me
So I'm sending out to be
My witnesses throughout the world
The whole of the world
Don't worry what You have to say
Don't worry because on that day
God's spirit will speak in your heart
Will speak in your heart

The Easter story is a powerful one, but it does not end with the resurrection of Jesus and the restoration of our relationship with God the Father. Jesus is calling us to allow him to work in and through us. The Great Commission is for us all and is made possible by Jesus’ completion of his great mission on earth.

Remember if you create something based on the challenge, leave us a comment and link to your blog or gallery. We love seeing what people create!

Pauline



Hazel


Lythan
Ruth

Jesus Suffering and Resurrection

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die John 11:25

With the coming easter season we are reminded of what Jesus did for every single one of us. How he took away our sins and he died on the cross for us. Now if i did not know the rest of the story i would think WOW. I have to say i am in many ways not ready to die, i think very few people crave suffering or look forward to death. I hope when my time comes that i am brave and have faith knowing that it is only the beginning.His suffering and Death was only the beginning of the story as it will be for us.Christ gave us a victory that we did not deserve or earn .He has liberated us from fear. He gave us a glimpse of the wonder of eternity and joy with him. Happy Easter Everyone He is Risen..

The Servant King

We are now approaching Holy Week which begins with Hosannas on Palm Sunday and ends with Alleluias on Easter Sunday. And in between comes the awe and sorrow on Good Friday. Which layers on the meaning of Palm Sunday as we watch Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem in triumph but in a way that inverts expectations. He comes, not as a warrior, but himbly on a donkey. He comes, not to wage a battle against the Roman oppressors but against sin and death - the oppressors of the whole world. His victory does not come with the slaughter of others but his own death upon a cross. And he finds time to share food with his friends and humbly wash their feet. What a wonderful Saviour!

This challenge is to reflect creatively on what the Servant King means for you. If you feel led to join us this week on our challenge, please leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or online gallery. We'd love to share in your creation!

Pauline Hazel
Lythan


Ruth

Coveting

Now there's an old fashioned word that you don't tend to hear too often.

In our church's children's club, they have been learning about the Ten Commandments.  My husband Tom has been taking it in turns with our Pastor to do the little talk with the children.  Today he will be covering "Do not covet".  We had some discussion last night as to what that actually means.

I have to confess it is not a Commandment I think about that often, and find it difficult to apply to my own life.

Does it mean that you should not desire to possess anything that anyone else has? You shouldn't be greedy? You shouldn't want anything you don't actually need?

As Tom and I were chatting, he said he felt the essence of the Command was teaching us that we shouldn't desire to be somebody we're not.  That by desiring the possessions of others, it is not only their belongings we want, but who they are and the lifestyle they might possibly have.

As a crafter and someone who loves looking at other people's Blogs for inspiration I can often fall into this trap.  I sometimes think - if only I had that new product that person used, my cards would look just as beautiful as theirs, and then maybe I’ll have as many followers as them and be asked to be on design teams like them...and so on.  Can you see how the desire for a thing turns into wanting to BE someone else.

God requires us just to be us.  To be accountable just for ourselves.  To come to Him just as we are, with all our faults and gifts, imperfections and hopes.  To be made complete by Him, through the work of Jesus.  To the live the life we have been given, to do the tasks he has set and created for us to do, to love the people around us and to share the love of Jesus with everyone we meet.

So rather than get down and feel ever so guilty about all the times I have coveted, I am going to look to Jesus, to remind myself I have been made perfect by him.  That God has a plan for my life and it's my job to find it and follow it, and with God's help run the race set before me.

The Cure for Worry

Thanks so much for joining the SALT team for another challenge. This week it was my (Kim) turn to set the challenge and I chose the topic of worry. I have a tendency to worry and thought this would be an excellent study for me, especially as we all face such uncertain times in our world. I read through a sermon by Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the topic and it was a real blessing. My notes below are from the sermon Worry: Its Causes and Cure, based on the Scripture verse from Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

First, what is worry...Jones describes it this way, ".....worry is something positive that comes and grips us and takes control of us. It is almighty power, an active force, and if we do not realize that, we are certain to be defeated by it. If it cannot get us to be anxious and burdened and borne down by the state and condition of things that are actually confronting us, it will take this next stop, it will go on into the future. Worry about the future is so utterly futile and useless; it achieves nothing at all. The result of worrying about the future is that you are crippling yourself in the present; you are lessening your efficiency with regard to today, and thereby you are reducing your whole efficiency with regard to that future which is coming to meet you. In other words, worry is something that is due to an entire failure to understand the nature of life in this world. The result of sin is that there is always a problem in life. The great question is, how are we to face those troubles?"

"According to the Lord, every day has its problems; some of them are constant from day to day, some of them vary. We are allotted our quota for each day. Very well; we must face that and meet it; and He has already told us how to do so. We must not go forward and tack tomorrow's quota on to today's, otherwise it may be too much for us. We must learn to realize that the God who helps us today will be the same God tomorrow. We must learn to take things to God as they arise. Live day by day; live a life of obedience to God every day; do what God asked you to do every day. Never allow yourself to indulge in thoughts about worrying about what tomorrow will bring. God gives us grace once and forever but He also gives grace to us in parts and portions day by day. Start each day by saying "Here is a day which is going to bring me certain problems and difficulties; very well, I shall need God's grace to help me. I know God will make all grace to abound, He will be with me according to my need". This is the essential Biblical teaching with regard to this matter; we must learn to leave the future entirely in God's hands."

"We can sum it all up by saying that, as we learn in wisdom to take our days one by one as they come, forgetting yesterday and tomorrow, so we must learn this vital importance of walking with God day by day, of relying upon Him day by day, and applying to Him for the particular needs of each day. The fatal temptation to which we are all prone is that of trying to store grace against the future. That means lack of faith in God. Leave it with Him; leave it entirely with Him, confident and assured that He will always be going before you. As the Scripture puts it, He will 'prevent' you. He will be there before you to meet the problem. Turn to Him and you will find that He is there, that He knows all about it, and knows all about you. May He, in His infinite grace, give us wisdom and grace to implement these simple principles and thereby rejoice in Him day by day."

I pray these sermon notes are as much a blessing to you as it was to me. I chuckled reading it feeling as if Pastor Jones had perhaps written it especially to me. :-) (The book that this sermon was in is called Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd-Jones). If you feel led to join us this week on our challenge, please leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or online gallery. We'd love to share in your creation!

Kim

Pauline Hazel
Lythan

Ruth

Stacy

Half empty?

Following on from Lythan's post two week's ago about Lent, I (Pauline) wanted to share today a little of what I've been doing this year. I decided that rather than give something up for Lent (mainly because my willpower is appalling) I would instead make an effort to Count My Blessings by using Christian Aid's make Lent meaningful suggestions. The idea is that you take the opportunity during Lent to celebrate and give thanks for even our smallest blessings, and to think about those in need around the world. The aim is to help people reflect on what is good in their lives and think of others for whom life is very different. You can read more about it here.

This week the focus has been on work, thinking about minimum wage (even earning the British minimum wage, you would be among the richest 11% of the world), those who have little or no choice over the way they earn a living or the number of children around the world who have to work to support their families. There are a few niggles at my work at the moment, nothing major, but I think both staff and pupils are ready for a holiday. However, I have tried to focus on how fortunate I am to have a job that I love while the majority of those I studied with 2 years ago are unemployed or in very short term positions.

I find it all too easy to focus on the negative things in my life - I'm definitely a glass half empty sort of person. I struggle with this, knowing that I am very fortunate in comparison to others and yet still finding minor complaints about daily life. By choosing to focus on the blessings in my life I've been able to focus on all that God does in our lives and how good He is to us. Psalm 100 says, "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God."

It has been a real blessing to me to NOT give up something for Lent this year, but instead to focus on all the good things in my life.

Trust

Today's challenge is about trust.

It's Hazel here - some of you know that my husband, John, is registered blind. He does have a little vision in his left eye, but nothing much.

Some years ago he applied for a guide dog - his first dog was Oscar, a golden retriever, who actually had to retire when he was only six as he lost his nerve and was unable to work properly. We still see him from time to time - his retirement owner brought him over to see us the day before his 13th birthday. Then John trained with Josey, a yellow labrador - they made a very good partnership, but, sadly, because of health issues, John had to say goodbye to her some three years ago and she is now enjoying early retirement with a couple in Sittingbourne.

As someone who needed to be guided, John had to put his trust in the guide dog to lead him correctly. I have to confess that I would find it hard to do that.

But, as Christians, that's exactly the relationship we should have with our Heavenly Father - put our trust in Him to lead and guide us through life. There are many scriptures that encourage us to do this, particularly in Proverbs and the Psalms, such as:

'Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.' Proverbs 3:5-6

and

'Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.' Psalm 143:8

Just like the blind person who is being led by the guide dog, we are not aware of the dangers that we might be about to encounter, but out Guide is and He will lead us aright if we put our trust in Him.

Perhaps you would like to reflect on these verses:

'Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.' Psalm 25:5

'For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.' Psalm 48:14

'If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.' Psalm 139:9-10

Here is what the team have crafted in response to this challenge.

We would love you to join in our challenge and create something in response to reflecting upon 'trust' - please leave us a comment with a link to your post so that we can some and see your creation.

Hazel

Pauline

Stacy


Lythan


Ruth

Forty Days

If I had remembered in time that it was my turn to do the thought in the middle then it would have been the second day of Lent. As it is, it's a few days later... but I still have Lent on my mind. Early on in Salt history I set Lent as a challenge theme and discovered that not every Church celebrates it. That is the wonderful thing about bringing a diverse group of Christians together creatively - you learn so much!
Lent is the 40 days (plus Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter Day which act as a kind of preparation to meet the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus. It is a time of discipline that is to model the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for his ministry. A friend linked a wonderful animation of drawings about how Jesus spent his time in the wilderness that has echoes of the readings for the first Sunday of Lent - Genesis 3 and Matthew 4:1-11.
And so I want this video to speak for itself - to help you reflect on Jesus time in the wilderness and how it resonates for your preparation for Easter. Forty days is a long, long time
Watch here

Attitude

Have you noticed the Attitude change in people? I know there are many reasons for a person's perception in life the way they go about it and how they handle it. But have you ever caught yourself being sucked in? I do a lot lately to much negativity and stress makes life harder then it needs to be. I have been praying that God would fill me with joy and love in my heart so i can show people the positive. I read today something so simple and child like but I know it works " if your nice to me , I am nice to you if your mean to me , I am still nice to you". Gods says in

1 Kings 11:11 (The Message)

^11-13 God said to Solomon, "Since this is the way it is with you, that you have no intention of keeping faith with me and doing what I have commanded, I'm going to rip the kingdom from you and hand it over to someone else. But out of respect for your father David I won't do it in your lifetime. It's your son who will pay—I'll rip it right out of his grasp. Even then I won't take it all; I'll leave him one tribe in honor of my servant David and out of respect for my chosen city Jerusalem." So because of Solomon breaking the basic demands of the convenant and there by severely underminding the entire convenant relationship between God and his people. God took away the kingdom.

He also says in Romans 12:3 " For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you , Do not think of yourself more highly then you ought , but rather think of yourself in sober judgement in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."Because God has given the power there can be no basis for a superior attitude or self righteousness. We have been working on our 9 year who is very set in her ways , very bossy and kinda overbearing . I know what your going to say "already at nine??" I said to her today after Ruth had mentioned this verse, that she should think on it and pray.this quote kinda says it all "Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?" ~Dennis and Wendy Mannering. Can't wait to see what you come up with.....


Stacy

Pauline


Hazel

Ruth

Lythan

Truth

TRUTH - such a powerful concept.

So rooted in the character of God, important enough to make it one of the Ten Commandments yet so easily dismissed in day to day life. I've lost count of the times when people have told me they had to tell a 'white' lie, or when I have exagerated or underplayed a fact so save face. Often we try and justify these things but u

ltimately they do offend our Holy God who knows the truth and wa

nts us to be truthful about ourselves and to speak truth.

The meaning of the word truth has been slightly twisted by the way it is used. In a recent sermon I heard the preacher explained that the phrase 'being true to yourself' was often an excuse people give to why the behave in a certain way. Yes we should face the reality of our sinful motivations, and acknowledge when we have failed God, but the truth is we must not excuse it.
The TRUTH is, that God has created a way in which he will remember our sin no more, and that truth can set us free from the bondage of UNTRUTH. Our enemy the devil will so often through untruth at us and ultimately he does this so that our faith will weaken and our winess become useless. How we must keep reading the word of truth to remind us of the wonderful promises of God that he has never broken.
Please enjoy the pieces that myself (Ruth) and the team have created for your inspiration. Please meditate on how the Truth of God is a reality and how we can practice being truthful and speaking truth in love to others. We would love to see any creations you make on this theme, please leave us a comment and we'll pop by!

Ruth

Kim

Hazel

Pauline


Lythan

God's everlasting love

Hi, Hazel here with the 'in between' post. In a few days' time it will be Valentine's day and there seems to be a lot of love around atm - in crafting challenges anyway!

Our own current Salt challenge is about love - love for our enemies - you will find the post here - and it's not too late to create something and link for our challenge as we still have a week until the next one.

It doesn't come naturally to us to love our enemies - 'We love because he first loved us.' (1 John 4:19).

Sadly, human love can sometimes let us down, but God's love is everlasting - Psalm 136 is a testimony to this fact - so many times throughout the Psalm the writer says: 'His love endures forever'.

And He is so generous: 'See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! ' (1 John 3:1).

'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.' (John 3:16)

'Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.' (John 15:13)

We pray that you will respond to God's love and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.

Loving our Enemies

Hi, it's Pauline with this week's challenge. I asked the SALT team to reflect on Luke 6:27-36 where we are challenged to love our enemies. I had an interesting discussion with some teenagers recently where they were talking about how we behave when we are with friends, and how differently we behave when around people we are less comfortable with or who we don't like. Being in a Religious and Moral Education class, the talk inevitably turned to religion and it was suggested that people who follow a command such as 'love your enemies' are pushovers, weak-willed people who cannot stand up for themselves. However, one pupil, summoning every ounce of courage they had, said that they thought the strongest person was the one who could rise above what people were saying to them and not end up in a fight at lunchtime. As a side note I work in a school for pupils with additional support needs and behavioural issues, so fights happen regularly and not just at lunchtime!

"Turning the other cheek" has made it into the English language as an expression meaning to go out of your way to avoid a nasty confrontation. Even though provoked, instead of lashing out, you turn the other cheek. The natural human reaction is to retaliate. On an almost daily basis we have pupils getting into fights over the smallest comment. We work with a restorative approach where we try to help the pupils understand their own behaviour and why they reacted the way they did.

People who have known each other for years can sometimes get into arguments (parents with children, couples, friends etc); tensions that may have been simmering for years boil over once again. And with the boiling comes anger, and with anger a willingness not just to defend, but to strike back. To get an advantage. To have the last word. To wound.

Though Jesus' instruction to turn the other cheek is intended to mean when dealing with a sworn enemy, the principle applies to every area of our lives. Don't retaliate. Don't hit back. This isn't easy though! My layout shows a class photo from when I was in my final year at school. Not all the people in the photo were friends, some went out of their way to make me miserable (or so it seemed at the time). It has taken me a long time to come to a place of acceptance where I don't find myself bearing a grudge against people who made me unhappy. I can't say that I've necessarily reached the place where I can love my enemies, but I believe that I have reached a more healthy stage.

I hope you enjoy the team's creations on the theme. It's not an easy one to contemplate and I really appreciate their willingness to think about things that are not necessarily happy things to contemplate. Remember to link back to us if you create something on the theme. We'd love to see your interpretations.

Pauline
Stacy

Kim

Lythan

Hazel



Ruth

one little word

Did you choose your one little word this year?

My word for this year is LISTEN, I chose this word because i think sometimes i am just clearly not listening. I am very easily distracted with my computer or scrap booking or the phone. I am very easily irritated by my children and found many times that i just don't want to deal with it. So when preparing for this post i thought why not share my word. My word means to me that i need to take a step back and just listen to my kids, my husband and GOD. I really believe that he is calling me to live a life in grace. I read a blog post yesterday in fact that i can totally relate to you can read it here.

What i got from that post was that maybe i am looking to occupy my time, my brain or just plain bored. Whatever it is i could use my time more wisely and focus on GOD. In turn it will help me to listen to my life and focus more on my life and less on my computer.

God says in Psalm 46:10 " Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations , I will be exalted on the Earth" and what he is really saying is Attention, Attention See all the marvels of God, He plants flowers and trees allover the Earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons over his knee. " Step out of traffic take a long , loving look at me, Your God, Above politics and above every thing...............

Walking through the valley of the shadow of death

Thanks for the comments and creations on praying for holiness - we really appreciate your contributions. It is Lythan choosing the theme this time and as a Minister, at the moment my life is filled with funerals and terminal illness. Although this brings with it sadness - especially when the people who have died or who are bereaved are known to me - yet I am also left with a sense of hope in the resurrection and an awareness that through even this darkest of times, God is with me. I often liken bereavement to walking through the valley of the shadow of death from Psalm 23 - it is a dark and horrible time, but it is not a time of being alone "I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." as the Psalm goes on.
You may like to think about what the psalm says to you, or think about how you can comfort others.
Other verses that might strike creative thoughts in you are these
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers,
nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy he has given us
a new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

As ever, if you feel inspired to create a card, scrapbook page, or other project based on this week's challenge, please leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or gallery. We'd be delighted to share your artwork!
And here are the Salt team interpretations.

Lythan

Kim


Pauline

Hazel


Stacy

Ruth

Not in my strength...

Hi there Salt followers, Ruth here for our 'inbetweeny' post.

Just want to tak the opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Got a few thoughts for you today, and hopefully something to encourage you.

Most of my children and myself came down with a horrible flu like illness just before Christmas, and I feel like I have been chasing my tail ever since then. Generally I am quite a confident person, and am organised enough to get through the jobs I need to do at home and in the community. However there have been moments of late where I've felt a sinking feeling in my stomach when facing the day.

However, I have been reminded that it is not in my strength that the day should be faced, and it is not me that should be the centre of my world. Often when feeling down it's very easy to slip into a spiral of pity and woe. God wants better for us and of us. By coming to him again and again, laying our burdens before him, confessing our sins and re-dedicating our lives to him we can find our strangth renewed. More importantly we can get back on track and do the thing that makes us most happy and content - Glorify God.

So in those times of self doubt or even selfishness, let's look to God to be our strength and inspiration. In him we will find forgiveness and the motivation to keep living a life in honour to him.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say,

"The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?"

Hebrews 13v5-6

Pray for Holiness

Happy New Year!! We pray that your holiday and new year were blessed events and we look forward to what the Lord has in store for us in 2011!

Since New Year's typically brings with it resolutions, such as losing weight or exercising (both good goals by the way!), I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to also meditate on spiritual matters. If we seek to first renew the inward man then we can be sure that the outward man will also improve.

The Scripture verse for this week's challenge, Pray for Holiness, is from 1 John 5:15, "And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."

I tend to have a "I can do it myself" kind of attitude when I approach challenges and while I don't think that's necessarily a sinful attitude to have I do think it can prove to be a stumbling block to real practical and spiritual progress. I'll give you an example. I'm not a terribly patient person and I found out early on that having children is not for one who is lacking in patience. So...I prayed, I prayed and asked God to make me a patient person. Guess what? He didn't. You know why? I expected God to hit me on the head with some magical wand and turn me into a totally different person...pesto, chang-0...I'm now and forever more...patient. What I failed to realize is that God doesn't work that way. He works by us stepping out in faith, behaving in the way He's instructed us to behave in Scripture, and then relying on Him, through prayer, for the strength to do those things He called us to do.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones had this to say on the challenge verse, "We can pray that all the precepts, all the promises, and all the prophecies in the Bible with respect to ourselves may be fulfilled in us. "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification" (1 Thess. 4:3). If you pray for sanctification, you can be sure that God will sanctify you. It is God's will that we may know His love; ask Him therefore to reveal His love to you by the Holy Spirit, and you can be certain He will do so. And it is the same with all the various other promises that are in the Scriptures. "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. 7:7).

Are you concerned that you do not love as much as you ought? Tell Him about it; ask Him to shed His love abroad in your heart, and He will do so. Are you concerned about some sin that casts you down? Pray a confident prayer. It is the will of God that you should be delivered from sin; so pray for it. Are you concerned that your heart shall be clean? Offer David's prayer ("Create within me a clean heart, Oh God; and renew a right spirit within me, "Psalm 51:10) and I assure you, on the basis of the Word of God and His character, that He will answer you, and the blood of Christ will cleanse you from all sin and all unrighteousness. Go through your Bible, and make a list of the promises of God to you; then take them to God, use them in His presence, plead them, and you can be quite certain that you have your petitions. You already possess them, and in His own time and way God will give you a full realization of them and a full enjoyment of them."

It's been almost seven years since I became a parent and I still struggle with patience from time to time but since I confessed that I couldn't "do it by myself" and began to "ask, seek, and knock" while simply exercising patience and praying for strength, I have seen an amazing transformation; not only in my own attitudes but more importantly in the behaviors of my children and in my general mood during the day. The bottom line is that God has called Christians to live differently. We are called to live a holy life; the Scriptures promise us that whatever His will is for our lives (live holy), He will enable us to do. We simply need to grab hold of God's promises and never let go...Not only is He able to grant us the strength to live as we ought but I suspect that He delights to hear and answer our prayers. If we would only ask...

If you feel inspired to create a card, scrapbook page, or other project based on this week's challenge, please leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or gallery. We'd be delighted to share your artwork!!

Kim
Pauline

Hazel

Lythan

Stacy