bow

working on Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2016

what's free?

making an easter card

quoted from a Good Friday missionary update I received from a family serving as missionaries in very rural China.

"The common US expression “Freedom isn’t free” describes how the blood-and-tear sacrifices of our militaries over two and a half centuries have secured for our citizens a freedom all can enjoy, though most do not fully appreciate its cost. In like manner, believers across the world enjoy a freedom in salvation which, although free for the taking, was never free for the giving, and most do not fully comprehend or appreciate its true cost.

If ever inclined to do so, sinful human beings can forgive others who’ve wronged them, simply “out of the goodness of the heart”; yet this is something that God could never do. Such arbitrary, inconsistent, and likely short-lived “forgiveness” finds little comparison to the forgiveness God offers (Matthew 18:21-35), for it truly costs us nothing. In reality, our holy and just God could never forgive sin simply because He’s kind and loving, for it is neither kind nor loving (nor holy nor just) to let a debt of sin go unpaid. God’s forgiveness had a cost: His forgiveness finds its kindness, love, holiness, and justice in the work of Jesus Christ, in the shedding of His Son’s own precious blood on the cross (Hebrews 9:22).

We often (redundantly) describe salvation as “God’s free gift,” and Scripture also speaks of our having been “freely justified” (Romans 3:24, ASV) and how God will “freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32, ASV; 1Corinthians 2:12, ESV), yet these descriptions are fully people-centered. We must never forget that—divinely speaking—our justification was far from free. At great expense to Himself, God provided the world with a Gift, the life of His own dear Son. In His death, Jesus “paid the ultimate price” for our redemption, and this cost—having satisfied our sin debt outstanding—is the very basis of divine forgiveness.

Christ’s sacrifice was so complete that when He “bought us with a price” (1Corinthians 6:20), His payment didn’t simply save us at a moment in the past, but instead continues to save us even now (1John 1:9). The death of Jesus Christ so many “Good Fridays” ago is truly the lynchpin to all history, human and divine, for it is the epitome of God’s immeasurable love, the declaration of His impossible mercy, and the foundation of His every grace. So as you celebrate this historical event this week, please remember: although it has cost us nothing, spiritual “freedom isn’t free.” "  AF family

Directly quoted from a missionary update I received; this family serves as missionaries in very rural China

your hope is?

cross stitch design

shine brighter

when it appears that things are not going along swimmingly......

the light shines even brighter :)


Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: [he is] gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. ...
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.  psalm 112: 4, 7

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.  ephesians 3:16-21

Hopes Abandoned? Come Now!

Hope 5x5 Abandoned, Julie Shiel; xenya.etsy.com

  Hopes 5x5 Abandoned by Julie Shiel, Xenya.etsy.com
Come ye weary, heavy laden, Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you're better, You will never come at all!
Not the righteous, not the righteous, Sinners Jesus came to call;
Not the righteous, not the righteous, Sinners Jesus came to call.

"Come Ye, Sinners" lyrics by Joseph Hart

matthew 9:13

Caught the moment

Caught the Moment 5x7 Metallic Print by OneSixPix.etsy.com

Someone mentioned to me about living in the moment - it sounded ok at the time...but it kept bugging me.
It should -
it isn't about the "moment", although, I have spent anguished and despairing moments in the past, when just to make it through the "moment" was impossible by myself

It is about Eternity - seems so far away, and most cannot understand it - but it is about eternity.  This is the moment to decide, not just where to be for all eternity, but whether to stay dead in sin, or live in Christ right now - now - you can LIVE from this moment on :O) 
Putting off the decision, drops you into eternity with no way out .  And it is worse than you imagine....likewise, in Christ Jesus - is more life, more precious, more free, more hopeful, more joyous than you can imagine.......it is a fact.

Truth is non negotiable.

the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by  Jesus Christ  john chapter 1, verse 17