Joyful Consolation

I know we're probably all thinking about and praying for Haiti right now. How could we not when the people there are suffering so much? I know I'm thinking about them nearly every minute of the day.

When I was stamping last night I wanted to use a Scripture stamp and this one from Psalm 94 really stuck out at me. The anxiety in Haiti is great, but those who know Christ there can feel His consolation even in the midst of disaster. He is still with them. He knows suffering.

We were reading in Romans 8 the other night and these words could not have been more timely in helping us understand such a tragedy as this big earthquake:

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

The earth groans, waiting for its redemption from the curse God placed on it when Man first sinned. And we who are on this earth suffer along with it. I don't know if Haiti is cursed like Pat Robertson said, but I do know that the Bible says we are all under the curse of sin until we are redeemed from it. And Christ is the Redeemer to deliver us from it. His death on the cross was done to redeem us. The Bible says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21).

He became sin for us. Wow. And we become the righteousness of God through Him. Double Wow.

But even after our redemption from sin we must live in this sin-filled world and live with the consequences that go with it. Suffering comes in many forms, and tragedies like this one are some of the worst. But I believe that God allows this suffering so we will learn to care for one another. Because, really, if everything always went our way and life was super easy, what kind of people would we be? It takes suffering to bring us out of ourselves. Look at how the world is responding to Haiti's misery. It's beautiful to see people all over the world dropping everything to help.

Okay, end of sermon. :)

I got to play with my ATG 714 last night and I love it! The first time I loaded the adhesive in was a bit tricky, but I know that will get easier each time. It's a bit harder to use and get used to, at first, but it definitely sticks well. I'm sure it will get easier the more I use it. Of course, I need to give my card time before I'll really know how well the adhesive holds. I'll report back later. So far, so good, though! It's so nice to make a card and not have messy glue everywhere. To use, you hold the trigger down and roll across your paper. I found that it was easier to keep holding the trigger down and not lifting the applicator up when turning corners on the paper. If I lifted it and then turned, some of the adhesive snapped back. I hope that makes sense.

BTW, I got the PaperTrey Ink order in today and will try to play with the white cs soon. I'll let you know what I think later.

It's been awhile since I did a Roses in Winter 3D rose, and I needed something for this week's Mojo Monday card (Week 121) that would make an impact where the circle would be. The wide, blank area on the left was perfect for a word stamp, so I selected a Scripture, as I mentioned above. I thought the rose would be a nice accent to the Scripture, so I made my dp choices and proceeded to pick the rose color. I went with SU Bordering Blue as it was the closest blue I had to the colors in the dp. I stamped in the blue and then sponged a little Antique Linen Distress Ink over it in places. Then I used a sponge dauber to sponge the edges with black ink. The leaves were done with SU True Thyme (retired) and black to keep the muted theme going. I also sponged True Thyme around the edges of the Scripture piece.

After running the dp section under the rose through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder, I sponged the Antique Linen ink over it to cover the white cracks in the embossed part. Then I sponged black lightly around the edges. I added the black polka dot ribbon and clear gems to jazz it up a bit. I also sponged black lightly around the plain dp behind the circled piece to keep the look uniform.



I used the Perfectly Paisley embossing folder on the circle dp. Also used lots of dimensional stickies to pop the rose, the piece behind it and the Scripture section.

Hope you have a blessed day and please keep Haiti in your prayers, as I'm sure you already do.

Recipe

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Roses in Winter, Scripture stamp from Impressions of Faith

CS: White Confetti, Basic Grey Granola collection, black

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, SU Bordering Blue, Antique Linen Distress Ink, SU True Thyme

Other: Cuttlebug Perfectly Paisley and Swiss Dots embossing folders, Nestabilities Curved Rectangles die, black polka dot ribbon, sponge daubers, 3D-Dots, Sticky Doos, clear gems