Autumn Sympathy

A few days ago we had a special celebration at chapel with the theme "Rejoice."  It seems both appropriate and ironic that I took the leaf from my name tag and used it to create this sympathy card.

The sentiment is from Peddler's Pack (2001) stamped in CTMH Cocoa ink.  I grabbed paper from my scrap drawer so I have no idea where the brown or green papers came from.  The middle mat is CTMH Goldrush cut with Fiskars deckle edge scissors and sponged with CTMH Autumn Terracotta.  The acorn and leaf charms are from Buttons Galore & More.  I am entering it in the Less is More: Autumn challenge.

The lady for whom I made this card has just buried her second husband.  Praise God that we do not grieve as those who have no hope.

 

Until next time,

Becca

Pumpkin Mojo

It's been a long time since I posted.  Lots going on around here, but nothing of monumental importance...or even blog-worthy.  So, I'll just get straight to the card.

This card combines two challenges:

• Mojo Monday Sketch #264
• Heart2Heart: Halloween or Pumpkin

I used the Fall Favorites stamp set, edge distressor, paper piercing tool, and ribbons from CTMH.  I also used Copic markers, though they did not blend as well as usual because I didn't use great paper.  I really love this scarecrow, and have had lots of fun coloring him.

Now...for something completely different.

My friend, Terri Haynes wrote a book called Love Simplified. She self-published it and, I'll be honest, that made me nervous.  But Terri sent me a copy of the manuscript and I finally got a chance to read it today.  Yep, I read it in one sitting.  She totally sucked me into her story from the first page. Her heroine, Tempest Day, is a relationship expert who has helped many people find love but has never fallen in love herself.  When she exposed on national television as a fraud, she agrees to become the star of her own reality show to prove her seven-point compatibility system really works. 

Not being a reality show person, that part made me nervous, too.  (Reviewing the work of someone you call friend is not an easy thing sometimes.) But Terri handled the show part with more class than pretty much every reality show I've ever stumbled across while channel surfing.  The background insight made wonder how much she knows about TV production first hand.  I felt like I was behind the scenes.

So, if you are looking for a great story and want to support an author directly, go to Amazon or Terri's blog and purchase a copy of her debut novel.

Until next time,
Becca

A Woman's Purpose

"I could not even fulfill the one reason God created women."

This heartbroken woman spoke of her inability to bear a child.  Another woman lamented her single status because she had no husband to whom she could be a "helpmeet." After all, that's why God created women. 

While I have no wish to diminish the pain of one who can't bear a child or who has remained single despite a fervent desire to marry, truth compels me to expose their faulty thinking.  God did not create women to be wives nor to bear children.  God created women for the same purpose he created men.

Genesis 1:27 says, And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.  The preposition in translates into as  thirty-five percent of the time.  It puts a slightly different slant on this verse.  Read it again, this time substituting as:  And God created man as His own image, as the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

Man (as in mankind, both males and females) was created to be God's image bearer on earth.  Notice it is what we were created TO BE.

Let's look at Genesis 2:18. Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man (Adam, male species) to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him."

The problem with humans is we tend to look at everything in light of what we are TO DO rather than who we are TO BE.  If you read this verse with TO DO glasses on, you see women as servants, there to help Adam complete his tasks.  But if you switch out the TO DO glasses and put on the TO BE glasses, it reads something like this: Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to bear the entire responsibility of being My image alone; I will make another who is suitable to help him meet this image bearing responsibility by bringing her uniqueness to the earth."

Now that's an entirely different perspective on what it means for women to be the "helpmeet" of men.  And it has nothing to do with being married, nothing to do with bearing children, nothing to do with anything TO DO.  It's all about who we were created TO BE.

How does that change the heartbroken cry of the barren or single woman?

Until next time,
Becca

So Happy Together

My friend is getting married today.

While that is always great news, this time it's more.  You see, just over two years ago, her husband was killed in Afghanistan.  He was the first chaplain to be killled in combat since the Vietnam War.  She was left with three boys aged ten, seven, and one.

Chaplain Goetz was in my husband's same Brigade.  They deployed at the same time.  And they had only been gone about a month of their year-long tour when it happened.  My husband flew to the other side of  Afghanistan to "cover down" until another chaplain could be deployed to fill the gaping hole left by Chaplain Goetz's death.

I watched his widow cope with raw grace.  She became my hero.

And she is getting remarried today.

This card combines two challenges:

 

Mojo Monday Sketch 261

H2H Rolling Along

 

Specifics:  CTMH Avonlea WOTG, Slate Ribbon, Grey Wool ink and cardstock, Buttercup cardstock, rhinestone button, Versamark, White embossing powder.  Non-CTMH: lace and silver ribbon, white embroidery floss, scallop edge scissors, Tombow adhesive tape runner.

 

I created my background paper by rolling only the edges of the Avonlea stamps in Versamark and embossing them in the white powder.  My color coordination would have been better with the new Slate paper from CTMH, but I didn't have it so I warmed up the cooler tone of the Grey Wool with Buttercup.

 

Did I mention she is marrying a man with seven children of his own?  For a woman who suffered eleven miscarriages, she feels it is God's way of restoring that which she lost.

 

Blessings upon blessing, to you, my friend.

 

Until next time,

Becca