Swept Away!

Good Tuesday to you!  I have been a busy bee lately due to some unforeseen issues at work which have kept me away from my art closet.  I send up praises today to my Father in Heaven for so many answered prayers and things will begin to heal in our office!  Thank you Lord!

Since it has been crazy for me, I will share a past page that I did with some help from my daughter!  I always get tickled when I see videos from fellow crafters and you see the little hands of their children go in and out of frame as they attempt to help mom with her art!  My sweetpea is not so little anymore, but she loves to help me and direct my crafting! LOL!!

I don't always let her put her two cents worth in (my OCD rears it's ugly head), but will occasionally let her pick out the stencils I could use or my paint colors.  On this journal she helped me rip pages out of magazines that we thought had cool colors or texture and she picked out the butterfly and I picked out the bird.

I gesso'd my page first and added some teal and sea foam paint with a brayer and then added torn pages from magazines, craft paper and book text to the page with Mod Podge.  I usually put the pages first and then lightly gesso over top, but decided I wanted to see the elements more prominently for a mish mashed, hodge podged kind of look.  Then we just added more paint color over top through several different stencils in my old stash that she liked.  She picked out a colorful butterfly and I just loved this little bird that we wanted to add because we both thought it had a nature feel to it.  I added some washi tape and then with an old toilet paper roll I keep on my craft desk, I added some circles with Liquitex black ink.  We both love nature so we added the "swept away" sentiment and "wish" description on the page because we love the outdoors and constantly wish to be there as nature sweeps us away with lovely thoughts of peace and gratitude!  I love charcoal and I use it a lot in my journals, so I rounded it out by adding shading here and there with charcoal and around the edges to finish.  It was a quick, easy and fun "together" page!

Nature represents so much about the Father and His love for us to me.  We are a camping family and take every opportunity to be out in God's beautiful creation to convene with Him and each other. Nature brings me a comfort and a peace that makes me feel as though I am swept away in my Father in Heaven's arms.  It is my greatest "wish," or "the deepest desire of my heart" to be with Him in that way.  When I am out on a good hiking trail, I feel Him all around me and no matter what circumstances of life or the day the enemy tries to lay before me, they are all put under my feet as I walk with an assurance and a peace with my Father on the earthly trail.  His Word assures me that "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemies before you, saying, destroy them!" (Deut. 33:27) That's how our Father in Heaven is, if you allow Him to dwell in you, then you are afforded ALL the benefits of dwelling in Him!

I share with my daughters all the time that the enemy is on a leash and he can do nothing that God doesn't know about it!  He gives us all power and authority through Jesus Christ to trample on the enemies head!  He's under our feet!  The enemy knows that, but he wants to know if you know that! Put him in his rightful place today and allow the God of all peace and comfort sweep you away in His loving arms assuring you that He is girding you up with the strength of His protection as He casts out the enemy before you!  You are MORE than a conqueror!

You be blessed today as you allow the deepest desire of your heart be to dwell with the Father!