Reach out and touch someone!

Hi Peeps! Welcome to No Fear Friday, a day of the week when the Lord gets a hold of your fears and builds your faith, one prayer and step at a time.

I want to talk about friends today. Most times our fears stay fears because we don't let anyone know about them. If we are the only one fighting them, how can we win over our fears? God can do all things for sure but He also calls us to fellowship with others as well for they will help us when we can;t help ourselves.

I was reading in my Bible today 1 John 4:18. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear." What struck me was the commentary about that verse. Love prompts us to seek out other; fear causes us to shrink from others. Keeping fears and troubles a secret keep us under the power of the devil and away from experiencing the full love and healing of God because he fills us with condemnation. He makes us wonder what others will say if they knew such and such about us? They wouldn't want me to be their friend if they knew this about me.....

Condemnation is never from the Lord, always from the devil. If you let others into you your life that can love and support you and pray with and for you, you will be able to withstand the ups and downs that come with overcoming hardship much better than going it alone.

I have a dear friend who was going through a horrible time this summer. She asked me to pray for her because she couldn't then. What happened is she was able to open up more and more and she was then able to have the burden lifted somewhat by having someone else help her carry it and her. Her energy could now go to starting to pray for herself instead of trying to carry an unbelievable weight that one person is not meant to carry.

What I also want to say is that when you invite someone in to help you with your burden, you also need to be prepared to hear somethings that you might not like to hear. A true friend will be honest and let you know what's up. They might push you a little or a lot. But if you trust this person and do not fear them, you can trust that they are doing these things because they love you deeply.

If yo are that person who has been asked to help pray or help shoulder a burden, please ask the Lord to always help you to say or do what He wants you to do and that you will be able to do so in a Christ like manner, showing love and compassion while speaking the truth.

The Lord brought a great image I had learned about in one of my Bible studies. In battle, Roman soldiers would link the arms that held their shields.


By doing this they were an unbreakable barrier to the force that was trying to overcome them.  Their individual strength  and protection was nothing compared to when they held each others arms.

Then they were unstoppable.

Link arms with someone today if you have not done so already. Do not let fear keep you in a solitary place to fight alone.

As always, if you need me to pray for anything, please email me or leave me a comment and know that I will be praying for you and linking shields with you sister!


Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

Dropcloth Holiday Swag

I have recently refurbished a chair I found on the trash and had some left-over dropcloth material laying around. I wanted to make a new wreath for my front entrance but I don't make traditional wreaths too much. You can check out my spring wreath made from a silver tray here.

But I have been a crafting fool lately and I woke up the other day with this idea. This idea to make flowers out of drop cloth. Why drop cloth? I have scraps and I wanted to spend $0 on a new wreath. So could I pull it off?

I am over the moon with the results....

I started with some poinsettias

addeda abit of sparkle here and there....

then some roses....

and lastly some carnations or shredded flowers as I have named them.

I hot glued them to a piece of cardboard and added some gorgeous champagne and brown  ribbon I have been saving from a Godiva Chocolate box! Yes, It really was too pretty to throw away.

You can hang a swag anywhere.....

inside on a chifferobe.....

on an a old fireplace insert....

or on the front door as a sweet welcome. I can even attach it to a traditional wreath if I wanted....

but I think I like it as is.

Rolled Rose tutorial

Teacup Rose tutorial

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

Book Page Christmas Trees and Fall Fun

I saw a version of these trees in a Holiday magazine and decided to make these for the shop and put my own spin on them. I made the pots using the Lysol Toilet bowl aging method and then went to town ripping apart an old medical methods book. Had to be careful about not using the pages about female and male reproductive organs......almost put a diagram of a woman's hoo-hah (put-utz, ying-yang, whatever you call it...if you have a name for it.....boy this post is going down hill fast...) on the bottom of one of the trees. Good thing I was paying attention!

Acorn topper in keeping with the rustic theme

These will be great. Whoever buys these might be able to use them to cure the common cold using remedies from the 1950's.

And now into some Fall Fun!!

Burying big brother 

Now to be forever called the headless teenager.

Happy Reading!

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!