Sunday, March 19, 2017

Challenge Blog Launch...Our First Sunday

Welcome! We’re so glad you are here to help us launch our new challenge blog, Mustard Seed Faith challenges. We’re excited to get started sharing our faith and sharing creative talents. Every woman on the design team has a deep love for Jesus Christ and they are amazingly talented as well!

Our key verse is Matthew 17:20, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you.”

We intend this as a challenge blog for everybody, from those whose talents are just budding to those with advanced skills. We all started somewhere. For each there was the very first time we picked up a stamp and some ink and pressed it onto paper. I remember how my husband struggled to find something complimentary to say years ago when I made my first card! “hmmm, that’s… a card honey!”--was about all he could find to say! So don’t be shy! Take that mustard-seed sized bundle of talents and put them to use and watch them grow!

Often we’ll have a short devotional to accompany the challenge. This week I’m starting things off and I usually get a bit personal with my interpretation since a) I’m no bible scholar and b) we understand best how the Lord works in our own lives, better than we understand how he works in the lives of others.

I chose the imagery of the mustard seed for this blog because there are days when I feel my faith is so small, it must be smaller than a mustard seed. I certainly cannot move mountains. And I would imagine there are others who feel the same.

God isn’t literally asking us to physically move a mountain, just to trust Him to do His work through us. We don’t even have to generate that mustard seed’s worth of faith to begin with—since all good gifts come from the Father (James 1:17), in fact every gift, even that gift of mustard-seed sized faith is supplied by Him. And if we trust in Him, He promises to make that faith grow. We don’t move the mountain, God moves in us to increase our faith and to turn that tiny seed into a flowering plant that can impact the world around us.

So this challenge blog was born as a way to reach out and encourage each other—to encourage each other to grow in our faith in Jesus Christ and to encourage each other in our creative endeavors.

Overall though, this blog is not about the team members who graciously lend their inspirational talents and thoughts. We are here, to borrow the slogan from one church I really admire, “to make Jesus famous.” Because it isn’t about religion, it’s about relationship with the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-3) So if you come to this space, know that we will be sharing our love for Jesus Christ and our joy about the wonderful gift of salvation he offers to each and every person who puts their faith and trust in Him.  Wishing you God’s blessings.

On to the creations from our team! Please visit their individual blogs to leave a comment! Our challenge this week is to use the color yellow somewhere in your creation, yellow for the beautiful bloom of a mustard plant's flower!



Today we will go in alphabetical order and first up is Diane Noble from Missouri!

Next we have MariLynn DeGroot, also from Missouri!

Nancy Nickel joins us from Saskatchewan! 
Jeanne Turner from Ohio!
Tracey Fehr of Manitoba!
Traci Major from Colorado!
Now that you've seen the creations from our design team, using all shades of yellow from across the spectrum, time for you to create! Please use the link tool to add your piece of art using some shade of yellow.

Again, this week's challenge: use any shade of yellow. 


23 comments:

  1. Thanking Nancy for the invite. Beautiful cards ladies.

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    1. Thank you for visiting Sandy, we hope to see you here often!

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  2. What a wonderful new venture!!! I'm so happy to see a faith based challenge back again! All the samples from the design team are fabulous!!! God's richest blessings to you all!

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    1. Thank you Grace! We're so happy to have you visit!

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  3. Love your first devotional, Peggysue! I'm so looking forward to this new faith venture. And what delightful sisters to have as traveling companions! God is so good!

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  4. Good luck on your new challenge blog. Fabulous projects from the design team.

    I can't seem to get the linky to appear, here is my entry for the challenge.
    http://craftysonia1.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/have-little-faith-mustard-seed.html

    Crafty Hugs Sonia xx

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    1. Thank you for visiting Sonia and for posting an entry! The linkup appears to be working, but since we just started there will be some bugs we will need to work out.

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    2. Glad it's all up and running ♥

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  5. Well done on this new venture, and may our Lord bless it. I am still having problems seeing the linkup however. I am in South Africa. The message says "This InLinkz widget is not allowed in this website. You can still view the linkup here" but when I click on "here" it takes me straight back to the blog home page?

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    1. Good day again! I got in touch with InLinkz and was told the trouble was due to a particular feature we needed on our account, which the customer service person enabled. Hope that fixes things? Thank you again for stopping by!

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  6. Are you on facebook? I am there, you can send me your photo through FB and I can try to upload it for you?

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Thank you for the challenge. Lovely cards by the design team. I also had troubles with the link but after closing down and reopening I managed to add my card. After adding my card I now see the same message as Margaret.

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    1. Thank you for letting us know about this Granmargaret, I think we solved that issue. We will see how it goes for the next one!

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  8. How exciting is it to find this blog! It is wonderful to use stamping to share the love of Christ with fellow bloggers. I'm thrilled to be joining this first challenge. Thank you for the inspiration DT! Hugs, Autumn

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    1. Thank you Team Clark! So glad you found us!

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  9. Love every one of your creations. Do you have to do only cards or can it be layouts as well? This is a wonderful challenge and one I will certainly join in on when I can.

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    1. Hello Sharon! Thanks for asking...it can be anything, a layout, a bible journal, mixed media, an altered object like a birdhouse or teabox...anything, except for a few future challenges where we might do a sketch challenge.

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  10. Great challenge theme and loving the DT samples. Happy crafty week, Angela x

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    1. Thank you so much for taking the time to say so, Angela!

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  11. I'm very excited to find your blog! Loved reading your devotional. I didn't see a place to follow you blog, so perhaps you could include a follow button. Thank you for this wonderful challenge and for a place to share our love and trust in Jesus Christ.

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    1. I did add another option, thank you Sara for the suggestion. We have either follow by email or follow another way, towards the bottom. We are still tweaking, so suggestions are welcome!

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  12. Oh, Peggysue, what a wonderful faith-based challenge, and thank you for sharing the beautiful devotional. May God be glorified. I'm so glad I saw the challenge from Traci Major's blog. Hugs and love to all!

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Thank you for blessing us with your comments and participation. We hope our post today has both blessed and inspired you!