Monday, March 2, 2015

Love Your Neighbor!

Good Monday all my crafty friends!! I hope you all had a fantabulous weekend! Mine was very nice as we celebrated my daughters' 11th birthday!! Whoop, whoop!! LOL My husband and I started late in life, so whilst all my lovely friends have started having grandchildren, I still have young ones at home!!! I wouldn't take ANYTHING for either of my girls or change ANYTHING, but I do confess that sometimes I wish I was having that "life after kids" thing that everyone talks about, but then on the other hand, I still love "snuggling" with my babies!! If nothing else, they keep me young at heart!! :)))

Today, I will share Week 3 of my Take Me Deeper Journal Challenge over on His Kingdom Come. I'm still playing catch up, so this was last weeks journal page. Week 3's page was based on the scripture from JOhn 13:34-35 that says "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Do you know your neighbor? Some people live in a "suburbian neighborhood" and have "actual" neighbors and some live out in the "county," or "countryside" so your neighbor may be a mile or two down the road. But when you think about it, a "neighbor" could be ANYONE who needs a blessing in one form or another.

Let me take this one step further. The Old Testament said, "love your neighbor," but the New Covenant said "Love your enemies!" Oops! That could get some of our toes stepped on!! That, my friend, is a deeper and higher degree of love!! The true mark of Christian love requires us to reach out past our "own" idea of loving one another, requires divine power and this power is only given to those indwelt by the Spirit!! Our flesh doesn't want to love our enemies for any given reason that our flesh wants to justify, however,the Spirit cries out in the name of Jesus to love EVERYONE as the Father loves them, no matter what they may have done! The greatest example of that is the cross!!! As He was dying, Jesus cried out "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!" His love for His enemies at the foot of the cross as they stood waiting for Him to die, was evident even then!! Our flesh is weak, but the Spirit is STRONG!!!!

Jesus loved us so much that He sacrificed for us that, that expression would set us apart and give us a CLARITY of the Father's love for us, that we could love another, EVEN OUR ENEMIES, as He loves us!!!
I began this journal page placing on some Tim Holtz tissue tape here and there and then covered with a light coat of gesso. I then just pulled out my cheap Folkart acrylic paints and smeared on with a baby wipe. I stamped with some background stamps and then took another acrylic paint with an old credit card and dotted on here and there. I then distressed the edges with Distress Ink in Peacock Feathers.

I knew I wanted to do some little houses, so I just pulled out some of my scrapbook papers and cut pieces to make some cute little houses that were quite visibly different. It's easy to love someone that's the same as you are, but sometimes its harder to love someone different! First however, I took out this cute little "tree" stamp that I got in a bargain bin one time for a buck and stamped a tree line for the background. I then glued my house pieces down and did some shading for the hill/tree line and around the houses with my favorite Faber Castell Big Brush Pens.

I decided to do some Zentangle/Doodling inside the trees rather than color them thinking it would be just a little different and then I added some smoke coming out of the chimney's, again, making them coming out in a "different" way. Then I just simply stamped the cute little heart with wings stamp between the two houses symbolizing the "love" and colored it in with my Sakura gel pens and added my sentiment at the top. Voila! This was really a fun page to do! :)))))))

Won't you take the time today to examine your own heart regarding your neighbor and your thoughts towards them. It could be your street neighbor or the person sitting in the cubicle next to you or even that person you had a disagreement with and are having a hard time forgiving! They ALL deserve to be loved and not just "loved," but loved with the magnitude that the Father loves us......through the eyes of Jesus! His blood covers ALL!!!!

Blessings

10 comments:

  1. Yes, love thy neighbor...even when they are difficult to love! I Adore the cute houses and trees on this page Felicia :)

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    1. Thanks so much sweet Shel!!! It was all funness!! I like doing those "cutie" pages every now and then!! :))) Thanks for visiting and blessings to you! :)))

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  2. Love the houses and the trees too, great bargain! Love is the answer to everything, but sometimes we find it hard to do!!!

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    1. Thanks sweet Susan! And yes we do! The message ALWAYS ministers to me first, believe me!!! God revealed what this meant to me some years ago when I had an encounter with a difficult person and I had the opportunity to put His words into action! As you can expect, the situation was resolved with a blessing! God ALWAYS makes a way! :))))) Thanks again my friend! :))

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  3. Felicia, I loe your spread, and your thought is so noble, I wish we could learn to appreciate each other regardless to origin. Those houses are cute and the doodled trees are giving a real personal touch to it, well done dear Friend!

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    1. Thank you my sweet friend Ruth! :))))) I have to remind myself DAILY (I work in the public arena, facing all sorts of people daily) to love others as He does because sometimes I get tested in that area!!! LOL, LOL I try to get my Zentangle patterns in my art when I can, I miss doing it. I used to do it so much more than I do now!!! Thank you again for your sweet comment, AS ALWAYS!! Blessings! :)))))

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  4. I just love reading your blog posts Felicia!! You are such a blessing to me. Your journal page is so gorgeous!!! Love the colors and the theme. Life would be so much better if everyone loved there neighbor. Thank you for all of your inspiration!!!

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    1. YOU, Penny, my friend, are just the sweetest and just as much an inspiration to me! Thank you so much for your lovely comment! When I read comments such as yours, it let's me KNOW that I am doing the Father's bidding because you wouldn't be inspired lest He instilled it in me, so I give HIM ALL THE GLORY!!! I agree with your thoughts as well, we would ALL be living in a better world if we went about our daily lives looking through the eyes of our Father in Heaven! Blessings to you today sweet Penny! :)))))))

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  5. I'm in the same boat with the kid situation! When my mum was my age I was well into adulthood. But there's lots to like about these pre-teen years! They're old enough to look after themselves (most of the time) but they're still ready for a cuddle (most of the time). It's the teenage years I'm dreading! Lovely cake and a superb journal page! Your whimsy houses are so cute and I love the doodle trees as well. Some of my neighbours are easier to love than others, LOL, but I'm trying!

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    1. Zsuzsa, you ALWAYS tickle me!!! LOL, LOL As my mother always says, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" LOL, LOL I know exactly what you mean! But I am sure I am no picnic at times as well! :)))))) Thank so much for your comment and you and I will just have to hang in there through these teenage woes! I only have a few gray hairs right now, but look out!!!! LOL, LOL Blessings Zsuzsa! :)))

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