100 Days of Grace and Gratitude: Days 43-49

Day 43: Alone With God

As a mom with young kids... alone time is not something I know a whole lot about these days. It can be easy to think, 'How can I spend alone time with God?' Honestly, I get it. But even if it's just a few minutes here and there... oh what a difference it makes in getting me through the remainder of the day. Sometimes it's time after the kids have gone to bed...or before they awake as I read my Bible. Sometimes it's while doing the dishes or folding laundry... even just tuning everything else out and finding that minute among the chaos makes such a difference.

For this page, I knew I wanted a die cut from this particular Jen Hadfield collection. With it's muted colors and sweet florals, this collection always makes me think of peace, calm and quiet... perfect for this particular devotion. When I found this bike image, I loved the idea of just hopping on a bike and the peace and time to think that doing so brought me as a child and knew it was the perfect image to portray the idea of going off and having that time with God.

Day 44: Put On Jesus

As this page might suggest, this devotion was all about putting on the Armor of God. I had previously done other pages on the subject- with much more literal interpretations (depicting actual armor), so I knew this time I wanted to do something a little different. After some searching through my journaling stash I found this great sticker from Illlustrated Faith that seemed to be the perfect... He will fight for you. Isn't that a great message? I went with a bold black and red color scheme to pull the page together. This is one of my favorite pages from the week.

Day 45: Compassionate God

Oh how blessed are we to have a compassionate God? Have you ever really stopped to think about that? How many times have we fallen short? How many times have we messed up? But God forgives us, He shows us compassion, He loves us despite out shortcomings.

As I read this devotion, a phrase stuck out to me, "It's okay, I love you anyway." I loved this. What a great reminder. It's a very simple message, but quite the powerful one if you ask me. So, when I went to journal this page, I kept it very simple and really just focused on these words. I left plenty of room, perfect for going back later and jotting down more thoughts.

Day 46: Hope Is...
Overflowing with hope... isn't that something we all crave to be? Some days that can be harder than others though. I think we all need that reminder where our hope comes from. It is not from anything in this world, but in God.

For this page, I kept thinking about the idea of a teacup filled to the brim. Well, I didn't have any images of teaCUPS, but I came across this die cut from the Jen Hadfield 'My Bright Life' collection and I knew it was the perfect fit. The flowers were bright and beautiful... just as hope is. What better way could there be to represent hat hope then?

Day 47: His Word Is For You

Isn't it amazing to consider that despite being written so long ago, God's word offers the perfect application to our day to day lives!? I certainly think it is. God's word is never changing and just what we need... always. Each and every one of us.

Again, I created a very simple page using an Illustrated Faith clear cut and some alpha stickers--- getting a little creative to create a makeshift 'E' as I seemed to be completely out!

Day 48: Live On The Fullness of Today

If ever there is a verse that I need to read over and over and over again... it's this one. I am a worryer- there is no denying that. Of all the verses regarding worry in the Bible, this is likely one of my favorite because of the specifics given. The food you will eat, the clothes on your back. If you've ever struggled with finances, you know these worries very well. I know I do, so I find a lot of comfort in these words. If God provides for the birds, He will certainly provide for us too. And regardless of my fears, He always has done just that.

For this page, I immediately knew just the image to use. Actually, from the moment that I saw this die cut, I'd had this idea but had not gotten around to journaling this verse yet. I was happy to see the verse featured in this devotion and getting this idea put to paper. It's a simple idea, but it's one I will turn to time and time again.

Day 49: The Light of Life

I love the scriptures talking about light because it is such a great visual that we can ALL understand so easily. Even as little children we have this unspoken knowledge that light is better than darkness.

For this page, I used an Illustrated Faith die cut that is just perfect for the message...a lightbulb lighting up the dark. I wanted to create a dark background to really contrast that, so I stenciled a black design. I absolutely love how this page turned out--- another favorite from the week for sure!