National Day of Prayer | Thankful Thursday

Hello friends. Today is National Day of Prayer. It is a time of fasting and prayer for many of us. Some may have prayed in a group before work or school; others may have a special ceremony at church or elsewhere. We are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing. That is very possible to do. It is to have a direct line of communication with our Heavenly Father who will meet our every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus according to Philippians 4:19.

In our world today, we have so much to pray about. There are issues in our cities, states, our country, our government leaders, and in our world. We have personal issues we are dealing with as well. There is no shortage of things to pray about.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus. Whatever we are facing, we can, and should, take it to God in prayer, asking our Heavenly Father, with gratitude. We are promised that when we take our problems to God and spend time with Him in prayer, we will receive the peace of God to keep our hearts and minds through Jesus. What kind of peace is it? It is the peace that does not make sense. It is peace that will cause others to look at you and wonder, "How can you go through all that and still have peace?" It is only peace that comes from God. Jesus said in John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. We may be facing some scary situations and we begin to allow fear to take up residence in our hearts, but Jesus is telling us not be worried or afraid because He gives us His peace.

We can confidently go to our Lord Jesus and ask anything we need and we know that He is listening to us and will help us in our time of need. 1 John 5:14-15 reads, And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, we know that we have the petitions that we desired Him. The key to this verse is that we ask according to the will of God. We cannot ask for selfish requests so we can be popular, have more money to spend on vain things, or to promote ourselves. We are here to carry out God's plan for the world and if more money or material possessions will cause us to stray or glorify self then we already know we are not going to receive those things. We must be in line with God's will.

A very popular verse, one that many of us have heard and/or quoted many times is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14. I feel that it is so important to include in today's blog post. It says, If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. It is no secret our land needs healed. If we take the confidence we just read about and humble ourselves, pray, seeking God's face and not His hands, and repent of the evil and wickedness then God in heaven will hear us and forgive us and heal our land. America is a very sin-sick nation. It is time we return to our Savior Jesus Christ and repent of the wicked ways we have done and allowed in this nation. It is time to honor and bless God as a country. We must become humble again. We need to seek the face of God, not to get more blessings and things from Him, but to spend time with Him and honor Him and love Him.

I am so thankful there is a day set aside to pray and fast, for those of us who will do that. I am going to spend time praying and seeking God about some big needs in my life and in this world. I know He will hear and answer me. I have confidence that He cares about us and the things we care about. I hope that you will be praying, too.

There is nothing like praying to God and Him answering prayers. I love to prayer journal because there are so many things that we can look back on and see God's fingerprints all over. We see how we struggled and how God answered and how we grew. Many of you know that we, at Blue's Blessings, have three prayer journals available on Amazon now. You can see the Men's Prayer Journals here. We have a Women's Prayer Journal here. And we have Youth Prayer Journals which is an interactive workbook with devotionals, prayer prompts, memory verses, SOAP Bible study pages and room for note taking, plus so much more. It is a wonderful gift for graduations, Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays, or anytime.

This Thankful Thursday I am thankful for the gift of prayer. I know God hears and answers the prayers of His children. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Prayer Journal | Thankful Thursday

This Thankful Thursday post is very special to me. God told me to start a business called Blue's Blessings and that is what my family and I did. God guided me as I designed a prayer journal for women. It is truly beautiful and I do not say that to boast. It turned out so much better than I ever could have imagined. I have created a video flip through of this beautiful prayer journal and I want to share it with you. I am so thankful God allowed me to be a part of this wonderful tool for Christian women.

As we take a look in the pages of this prayer journal, you will see that there is a page where you can customize this prayer journal for free. We sell these prayer journals in our Etsy shop here and if you want one, they are only $10 plus shipping. I am so proud of these prayer journals and I get so many great testimonials from those who have purchased one.

Please do not misunderstand me. These prayer journals are simply a tool. You can pray without a notebook anytime, anywhere. There is something special about recording your prayers. You literally can look back at past prayers and see God's hands all over your requests. I am simply amazed at my personal spiritual growth as well. You can use any notebook you want but we have put a lot of thought and attention to detail into these. I think you will enjoy yours. Take a look at this video and if you want to pick one up, allow me to thank you in advance. 

Thank you for spending some time with me this week. I enjoy counting my blessings with you. There is always so much to thank God for. What are some of the things you are thankful for?

I hope you'll come back tomorrow and see what I share in our Fuel For The Weekend blog post to help us kick off the weekend! God bless you friends!

~Bridgett Owens

Envelope Video Tutorial | Thankful Thursday

This Thankful Thursday Tutorial is how to make envelopes using a We R Memory Keepers Punch Board. I purchased mine from Stampin' Up! when I was a demonstrator and it has been such a wonderful tool. It is an investment that I am glad I made. I have made envelopes for Blessing Card Packs in my Etsy shop: Blue's Blessings. I have created different envelopes for Blue's Blessings subscription boxes when we used to do those. I have made small envelopes to tuck into my Bible and keep lots of prayer sheets and cards inside. I am very thankful for this punch board.

Today's video tutorial is quick. If you want to purchase some envelopes we will be having those available May 1. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Tomorrow we will go LIVE on IG and Facebook with a look at all of our new products and you can see the envelopes I will have available in the shop in case you want the envelopes but you don't have the punch board.

I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to creatively journal my faith including making videos and blog posts like this. I hope that you will be able to watch our LIVE event tomorrow at 7 p.m. Indiana time! Enjoy today's tutorial and if you make an envelope let me know! If you want some envelopes of your own, let me know! I will have two different sizes available in the Blue's Blessings Etsy shop available May 1. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

7 Bible Journaling Essentials That Won't Break The Bank | Thankful Thursday

 

If you want to study the Bible you only need a Bible, quiet time to listen, and a prayer from your heart requesting Holy Spirit teach you what He wants you to know. Nothing fancy. You can even use a Bible app for free on your phone if you do not own a Bible. There is nothing like opening up the physical Bible though and turning the pages, seeing the highlight marks, and reading familiar passages.

If you want to do some Bible journaling or creatively journal your faith in a notebook, I have a video today that gives you seven ideas that can get you started and some affordable options for those who are just starting out. I hope it helps you choose some things to get you started.

I have links in the description box of the YouTube video for products I mentioned from online shops. There is of course our shop, Blue's Blessings, and then Faith Heirlooms where they have beautiful covered Bibles in different sizes and beautiful bow clips. I also like stickers from Nashs PrintWork. These store names are clickable links so you can click on the name in this blog post and go straight to the store.

I am thankful to have a creative outlet to journal my faith. I use a lot of different notebooks to do this. I have used micro Happy Planner notes. I use different size Traveler's Notebooks inserts. I have made note cards, blessing cards, and decorated inside my Bible. It is all a personal preference and the way you choose to creatively journal your faith is completely up to you. You can pick an expensive notebook, use a sheet of copy paper, or make a junk journal with junk mail and other items many may toss in the garbage. It is up to you and what you want to do.

There are things I did not cover like stencils, painting, stamping, and more. I just wanted to share some essential items to help you get started. As I say in the video it is by no means an exhaustive list. And some of these items you may not want to even use at all. For instance, I like a metal ruler. If I use a slicing tool like an exacto knife, I am not going to damage the metal ruler like I could a wooden one. I can stick alphabet stickers on the edge of the metal ruler and easily place my word down in the precise location by having the freedom to move it about the page. So for those reasons and others I enjoy the metal ruler. It was only $1 at the Dollar Tree. It is a great tool for many uses besides measuring and affordable, as well. But, watch the video to see what essentials you think you may want to try to get started.

I am so thankful for having a creative outlet. Our Heavenly Father is the ultimate Creator. He is the original. We are to be like Him, so when we have a desire to creatively journal our faith, we should do so to honor and please Him. It's nice to get compliments from others who see our work, but the main focus should be in honoring God and worshiping who He is. It should not be on the stuff we do or do not have. I am thankful to have a lot of tools and supplies but I have been doing this for 21 years so I have accumulated a lot over time. It is not something I recommend anyone rush into. Take your time and see what you like. Ask a friend if they can let you try their stamps, or paper trimmer. If you have a local scrapbook store, stop in and just see if you can get a tutorial on how some of the items work. If not, there are a lot of video tutorials showing how to use different products. If it is something you want to try, then go for it!

Thank you for hanging out with me today! I am so excited to share this video with you. Let me know if you have any thoughts, comments, or questions. I would love to help you as we creatively journal our faith! God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Blue's Blessings | Thankful Thursday

Welcome to my Thankful Thursday blog post! The LORD impressed on my heart to carve out a section on my blog to share what I am thankful for. I call this my Thankful Thursday blog posts. I will continue to share what I am thankful for each week, so be sure to come back to my blog and we can count our blessings together.

In September my friend Amy and I were talking about what kind of job I could have that would allow me to be home more, share my faith, and make a positive impact on others. The idea kept coming up that I would like to create a faith-based subscription box for kids around the age of 11-14 years old. The more we talked and threw out ideas the more we realized God was calling me to do just that. After much prayer, consideration, and talking with my family we decided to go for it and call it Blue's Blessings. I have been in children/youth ministry for 26 years. I have been in big churches and small churches and have taught many kids and I have taught few kids. I have been involved in women's ministries, hosted many Bible studies in my home, and created countless kits for a myriad of crafting events. I also led a card ministry for over a year at a church in Indiana. 

It has been a pleasure and a great honor to work on, design, put together, and pray over the curriculum and activities that we made available in our first launch. I am so thankful for each and every kid that received a Blue's Blessings subscription box. I have enjoyed hearing the positive feedback as these kids receive their boxes. For more information on Blue's Blessings you can visit our Facebook page here, our Instagram feed here, and our Twitter here. We are currently working on getting our online store up and running, an update is soon to follow. 

God has truly taken a dream He gave me and made it a reality; something my family and I can do together to further the kingdom. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18- 
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens