Musical Mondays ~ 10,000 Reasons

I hope you've heard this one by now. There was one service that I heard it going in, while in, and going out - and I listened every time. One of my favorite worship moments last week was hearing and watching 6,000 people in Georgia worshiping Jesus together. Can't get enough.

Enjoy.

Psalm 103

English Standard Version (ESV)

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

103 

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

² 

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits,

³ 

who forgives all your iniquity,

    who heals all your diseases,

⁴ 

who redeems your life from the pit,

    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

⁵ 

who satisfies you with good

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

⁶ 

The Lord works righteousness

    and justice for all who are oppressed.

⁷ 

He made known his ways to Moses,

    his acts to the people of Israel.

⁸ 

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

⁹ 

He will not always chide,

    nor will he keep his anger forever.

¹⁰ 

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

    nor repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ 

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

¹² 

as far as the east is from the west,

    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

¹³ 

As a father shows compassion to his children,

    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

¹⁴ 

For he knows our frame;^[a]

    he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ 

As for man, his days are like grass;

    he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ 

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

    and its place knows it no more.

¹⁷ 

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

    and his righteousness to children's children,

¹⁸ 

to those who keep his covenant

    and remember to do his commandments.

¹⁹ 

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

    and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ 

Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

    you mighty ones who do his word,

    obeying the voice of his word!

²¹ 

Bless the Lord, all his hosts,

    his ministers, who do his will!

²² 

Bless the Lord, all his works,

    in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Photography Friday ~ Now Is The Time To Worship

I snuck into the final worship songs of Easter last weekend - just because.

What a sight.

I'll spare you the details, but I took about 50 no-flash shots with both my camera and my phone and had to do some serious work in PhotoShop to bring this to life. 

This tiny girl, sitting on dad's shoulders, the only one with her hands held high in that worship moment. It's both revealing and comforting to generations before her and generations after. A little thank you to that parent, as he drives her, holds her, teaches her. 

Faith truly is God-given. 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Matthew 5:5 and Psalm 37:11 also came to mind that day: 

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

But the meek will inherit the land
    and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Creative Thursday ~ Kraft at SoS

So Scrap Our Stash is back up and better then ever! It's been one of my favorite ideas in scrapbooking, as I have been on almost a complete no-buy for years now. I'm not in this to be famous, I'm in this because it's my preferred art and it will hopefully preserve a few memories. And I certainly have enough stuff already to work with!

So our first challenge was to use 50% kraft and 3+ metal. You know when I hear a challenge like this, I tend to go a little overboard. :) So my layout is about 95% kraft and 5 metal. When I hear kraft, it's more about the raw color to me. So I started by gathering every single kraft item I could find. I wanted to use some naked laser chipboard pieces, but it didn't work this time.
Click for kraft it up label on SOS
Click for my layout on SOS

There is no ink on this layout and the only patterned paper is the outside frame, which I added because the page was a little too boring without it. The brown you see is all rub-on or transparency. Remember those old Heidi Swapp letters? Still love those after all these years... I had actually forgotten the metal, so gathered a few bronze brads and scattered those around. I actually really liked the way this one turned out, and that makes for 4 out of 4 of my last pages monochromatic. Not trying to, I just prefer it right now.

Anyhow, onto the good stuff.

Not Yet Glasses by Lindsey Krauss. Supplies: Paper: Jillibean Soup, Basic Grey, Graphic 45, Letters: Vivamerica, Corrugated shapes: Jillibean Soup, Chipboard: Junkitz, other, Rub-on: Scrap Within Reach, Frame, Transparency: My Mind's Eye, Brads: Making Memories, Letters: Heidi Swapp.

Where can I go from your Spirit?... All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139

Photography Fridays ~ look, ma...!

...no wheels!

Ooh - this is fun! Haven't posted a Friday in a while! You should know by now that I just love snapping the moments - we got one a little less than two weeks ago!

For a while, I wished that this picture was "better" (I had two dogs playing about as I held the camera for these shots). I wished that it was centered, everyone in focus, everyone in frame. But you know what? These are what the moments are about! Take them when and how you can get them! 

(p.s. I wonder if our God ever gets to feel like this, arms up, celebrating, watching His children go free? Always or never?)

Psalm 118:5

Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free. 

Scripture Sunday ~ Deuteronomy, 1 Peter, Genesis, Psalms (multiplied blessings)

I'm posting this on Tuesday night of a very, very good week so far. :)

¹² “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. ¹³ He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples.
Deuteronomy 7:12-14a


² May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
1 Peter 1:2 ESV


 ¹⁷That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Genesis 22:17


No! I am not pregnant! I am talking about blessings. I am seeing blessings of all sorts multiplied all around me as a direct result of believing and living the truth of Gospel. It's truly awesome.


¹¹ For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. 
      He gives us grace and glory. 
   The LORD will withhold no good thing 
      from those who do what is right.
Psalm 84:11 NLT

Scripture Sundays ~ Short days and cold nights

I'm sending this to my MOPs moms this week - this winter darkness is really getting to me this year. Maybe it's the lack of snow? Because cold and winter without snow might not be worth it!

You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; 
   my God turns my darkness into light.
Psalm 18:28 NIV