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

Encouragement From God | Thankful Thursday

We are edging our way to the weekend. I don't know about you but this has been a crazy week for me. I have not had a normal day since Sunday! But I am so thankful that even in the crazy times God will meet us where we are and get us back in a good spot. Amen?

Many of you know that I have been in a season of waiting and expectancy since Thanksgiving 2020. I mentioned it here on my blog before and in some videos, but I was really battling the past couple of days and so this morning I took some time to be still and opened my prayer journal. I just asked Him to speak as I was listening. I didn't know what else to say that I had not already said. He blessed me so much and I am excited to share with you the scriptures He gave to me!

I will share the scriptures below. If you need more encouragement, feel free to watch the video I will include at the bottom of this blog post.

PSALM 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

MATTHEW 28:29 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

2 CORINTHIANS 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.

DEUTERONOMY 31:8 And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

JEREMIAH 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

PHILIPPIANS 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

PSALM 56:4 In God I will praise His Word, in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

JOHN 10:27-28 (27)My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: (28)And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. 

PSALM 1:2-3 (2)But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. (3)And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall propser.

JEREMIAH 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

PHILIPPIANS 3:13-14 (13)Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (14)I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

EPHESIANS 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

In this video, I spent some time sharing about my spiritual journey, explaining where I am, and in the middle of recording this video I received a text message and wow! God is turning things back around. He is helping me to not only go forward, it felt like I was launched forward a lot! I am so excited about what He is doing in my life and I am hoping that something I share in this blog post or in that video will be strength for your journey and light for your way. 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

Sacrificial Love | Thankful Thursday

The LORD impressed on my heart to carve out a section of my blog to share what I am thankful for. I started it on a Thursday and decided to call it "Thankful Thursday." Each week I share what I am thankful for. Come back each week so we can count our blessings together.

Hello friends!

Welcome back to another Thankful Thursday post! It is already Thursday; my, how time flies! I have prayed for God to give me direction for what He wants me to do on my blog each week. I sensed He was wanting me to share how I creatively journal my faith. I wasn't sure how that would fit in to a Bible study Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, or Fuel For The Weekend post. I continued to pray and I sensed God leading me to be creative with how I share what I am thankful for. The projects will evolve and sometimes I will have a tutorial, like today, and other times it will just be a project share for inspiration. I hope you like the new direction Thankful Thursdays is going.

I want to continue to put the emphasis on my blessings and not on the products I use to create projects. My focus is on God and while I have proved you can be thankful without a project, I am excited for this new path He is leading me on. I have been a paper crafter for over two decades and I have taught many scrapbooking, card making, and paper crafting classes in those years. I taught small children, tweens and teens, adults, women's groups, youth groups, children's church, Sunday school, taught in a brick and mortar scrapbook store and even hosted events in my home. I love having a creative outlet to express my faith and I am so thankful our God, the great Creator, has allowed me to share these projects with others.

I got a new Bible from Faith Heirlooms and it is so cute! It is covered with strawberry fabric and has an adorable bow on the side. It is micro size and I love anything tiny! I quickly made a prayer journaling card to put in my Bible and I want to show you how I did it. It is very simple and one of the easiest designs to get started for those who enjoy paper crafts but may not know where to get started.

Let's take a look at my new micro size Bible. It is in New Living Translation (NLT). My favorite translation is KJV, but I do like reading other translations as a part of my personal Bible study time. It helps me when I read the same passage of Scripture from various other translations.

Isn't this Bible so sweet? I love, love, love strawberries so this was the one I knew I wanted as soon as I saw the pattern, but they had many other beautiful fabric covered Bibles to choose from. 

To make the prayer journaling card, I chose a piece of kraft colored card stock by a brand called Echo Park. It was on sale at JoAnn so I was able to get a pack of 50 sheets for only $2.50. I cut my piece of card stock to measure two and a half inches wide by four and a quarter inches tall. The size you want to make will depend on the size of your Bible, or your preference. These measurements are what worked for my tiny Bible.

The next piece I cut was Bazzill card stock in the color Ballet. It has texture on this paper with raised dots. I really like this patterned paper and how the pink pops against the neutral card base. This piece will go along the bottom so it measures two and half inches across by 5/8" tall. If I was in my own home right now and had access to my inks and daubers I would have inked the edges and that gives it a nice dimension without adding any bulk.

I used a tape runner I purchased from Walmart to adhere the Ballet pink card stock to the kraft colored card stock. It is inexpensive and easy to use. The brand I am using here is called AdTech. You can use a coupon to get this adhesive at big box stores, but I found the best price at Walmart.

I placed the Bazzill card stock just a short distance from the bottom of the kraft card stock. You can eye ball how far up you want it to be. I preferred not to have the pink piece flush with the bottom of the card, but it is up to you if you choose to make one of these cards.

When stickers come on a clear backing sheet, you can easily see which size sticker to choose, as well as where you want to place it before sticking it down. Some stickers peel back up easily but others will tear your paper. These self-adhesive gem stones came in a package for one dollar at the Dollar General.

I decided to use two of the smallest sized light pink hearts flanking a middle sized silver/clear heart gem. I like how they look together on the pink strip. You can choose to skip these gem stones if you prefer to have a flat card. It doesn't bother me to have bulk on the cards. It makes my Bible chunk up, but I don't mind. If you like these gem stones but don't want to have the bulk in your Bible, you can keep these cards in a little envelope or pouch.

I have enjoyed this alphabet sticker book so much. I believe I got it from Michael's in the Recollections line but I am not sure. There are so many different sizes and types of fonts to choose from in this sticker book. It is so fun to make titles with these stickers.

I used the alphabet stickers to spell out ROMANS and the numbers 5 and 8 for the scripture reference. I had a bow header sticker from NashsPrintWork and I like how the silver bow looks just below the alphabet stickers.

I thought it would be cute to a put another gem stone heart in the center of the bow. It ties in with the three heart gemstones on the bottom of the card. And I like using them because they are so cute! Again, if you want a flat project, you can skip the sticky gems. The bow header is cute with or without the gems.

I wrote a short prayer on the back of the card. I used a new white pen that I picked up recently. I am not sure where I got it, but I am not a huge fan of this white pen. My favorite white pen to use is a UniBall Signo Gel Pen. It is so smooth and bright. This was bright enough to read but it skipped a lot and that's something I didn't experience much, if at all, from the UniBall Signo Gel Pens. Do you have a favorite white gel pen? Do you find your white gel pens skip, too? It definitely depends on what type of paper you write on that determines how much skipping it will do. I may try it on a smoother paper and see how it works.

To make this card stand out in my Bible, I decided to use an Avery tab on the back. The sticky part is see-through so it doesn't interfere with my writing. I love the shattered glass look. This is one design in a set of three. I purchased a pack of three at Walmart in the office supplies aisle. Have you tried these tabs yet? I have some in my main Bible. I love the different colors it picks up as the light hits it. It's so pretty!

I recommend to do any writing before sticking on the bulkier accessories. It just makes it easier to write, especially the prayer on the back. Since this Bible is NLT, I decided to write the scripture on this card using the NLT translation. It is Romans 5:8 "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Isn't that an amazing fact? You are so loved, and I am so loved, that God sent Jesus, His only Son, to die for our sins while we were still in sin. We did not love Him yet. We did not know Him yet. And that is the heart of God. He loves us that much!

Look at that top tab sparkle! It's so pretty! Don't forget to date your card somewhere so you can look back later and see your style change or progress. It is also great to look back and remember what you studied. If the goal is to use these as memory cards it would be fun to see if in a few months you can remember the verses, maybe quiz your family or friends.

I had a hard time writing on this card stock. I didn't like the way the white gel pen was working. I tried my ultra fine tip Sharpie pen and it was going out on me. The tip was nearly gone. So I had a fine point Sharpie pen and it would have been okay but I don't like the different tip sizes. But the point is I still wrote out the Scripture, reflected on it, thought about it, and so this card did what it was supposed to do, help me draw closer to God through my creative process of journaling. Doesn't it look so cute nestled in the pages of my micro sized Bible? I love it!

Here is a top view of the shattered glass Avery tab peeking out of the top of my Bible. If you prefer not to see your journaling cards sticking out of the top of your Bible, just leave the tab off and make sure you measure your Bible pages so you can cut the card base smaller than the pages of your Bible. I love having mine stick out so I am pleased with how that looks.

I like how this is already starting to get chunky. If I had used flat embellishments it wouldn't look like this, but it's so cute to me. I am excited to make tons and tons of journaling cards. The only drawback for this Bible is that it only includes the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. But it is just for me to have fun creating prayer/journaling/Scripture writing cards so I don't mind that it is not the full Bible. I would love to have a full Bible in the micro size though because I love it!

One last look at the tab. Those tabs are gorgeous and I love how the colors change depending on how the light hits it.

I am not getting paid or sponsored to share these tutorials. It is just a fun way for me to share my faith in a creative way. I make these projects anyway so I am happy to share on my blog how you can do this too. If you make any of these cards let me know in the comments below or tag me on Instagram @BridgettOwens78 and I will check it out.

So, in conclusion, this Thankful Thursday I am grateful for Romans 5:8, a sacrificial love that was not reciprocated until I encountered Jesus for myself. I am so thankful that while I was still in sin Jesus Christ died for me. He didn't just die for me, though. He rose on that third day and now sits on the right hand of the Father. He didn't just die for me, and rise again for me, but He is also coming back for me and all of you who are waiting on His triumphant return!

I pray that something I have shared today has been strength for your journey and light for your way! God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens