You are more loved than you know

Just a quick post, as I am reflecting on my love relationship with Jesus. Tonight I would like to make one point for you all. This relationship with Jesus is THE most important relationship in all of my life, all of every single persons life. It isn't something to joke about, take for granted, or ignore because....well.... you just don't feel  like it right now.  It is life or death.  Jesus gave His absolute ALL to be in a love relationship with you. He simply wants to do life with you. 

Oh, I understand if you feel the weight of your past choices seem too unbearable to face but try TRUST.  Just give it a try. Open up your heart and ask Jesus to reveal himself to you. Trust him with your heart. Trust Him to reveal His heart FOR YOU! Anything you believe keeps you separated from Him is a lie. There is nothing that keeps you from Him except for doubt.  You can face him. There is NOTHING you have ever done that can keep Him from being head over heels in LOVE with you!  It is an amazing, all consuming love.

He gets it... we mess up. We will always and forever mess up. It is our messing up that is the foundation of our relationship with him in the first place. Our mistakes are what leave us deeply needing to invite Him into our lives.  It is the very thing that leaves us AMAZED at His deep love for us. Be vulnerable and let Him meet you right where you are! He is just waiting to show you the depth of His incredible love for you! Don't wait a second longer.

I loved the quote above and the excerpt below from an article written above by Timothy Keller. See if it speaks to you as well. 

" The gospel is the good news of gracious acceptance. Jesus lived the life we should live. He also paid the penalty we owe for the rebellious life we do live. He did this in our place (Isaiah 53:4-10; 2 Cor 5:21; Mark 10:45). We are not reconciled to God through our efforts and record, as in all other religions, but through his efforts and record. Christians who trust in Christ for their acceptance with God, rather than in their own moral character, commitment, or performance, are simul iustus et peccator- simultaneously sinful yet accepted. We are more flawed and sinful than we ever dared believe, yet we are more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope at the same time."

-Simply Sublime

Beloved, Delight & Love - God's Speaking Straight to our Hearts

There are certain words that seem to resonate deep within my soul. Words that can come in the form of a whisper and still leave me breathless. Words that are hard for me to fully, or to be completely honest even partially, receive and yet I deeply long for them.  I believe I was actually created for them. 

Thinking back through my early faith building years I remember a very profound instance where God opened my eyes to my desperate need to not only hear these precious words of love he was speaking over me but to receive & believe them as well. 

It was about 10 years ago, we had a few dear friends that met in our home every week for small group. One of our Pastors was a member of our dynamo group. I am telling you, this guy has a way about him - he LOVES Jesus! When you are around him you want just a smidgen of his passion for God - he knows Him and he LOVES HIM - no doubt about it. 

One evening as we were going around the room sharing our stories our dear Pastor friend turned to me and he spoke words that would forever change my view of who God truly is.  He turned to me and spoke these simple words: 

"Kim, God LOVES you, He DELIGHTS in you... He thinks you are SMART!"

I literally could not take it. The impact these few words had on me were like an earthquake cracking the wall of a dam... the floodgates were opened and my bound up need for a desperate kind of deep abiding love was visible for all to see. Tears began to stream down my face and the reality of my false beliefs centered in insecurity were exposed. That evening, and far beyond, I would ponder on why those words spoken in that moment, by that person would be so powerful, so deeply meaningful to me. 

Somehow the voice of a friend speaking God's truth into my very personal, longtime hidden, thought/heart life opened up a hunger for more of God's word. It was like a balm to a long festering heartache that had been fiercely protected in secret. The love of the Father identified & located the unspoken pain buried deep within me, it broke through the protective barrier and ministered straight to my long awaiting broken spirit by words from the truth of His word. Simply  B E A U T I F U L ! What a love story. 

He literally came after me and pursued me in complete, trusting love - and He still does. His word never disappoints. He LOVES us and is just waiting to show us that He is the rescuer of our souls. He is where we find the desires of our heart. His word brings us LIFE! It is POWERFUL! It will even meet us in the areas where we aren't aware there is a hurt yet. He is our comforter and our strength. He LOVES to come to our rescue - His words show this over, and over, and over again. That is why I LOVE IT! 

One of my very favorite things to do is pick a theme and make out scripture cards. Give me some index cards, a fine point sharpie & a Bible and I am on my way to some quality Jesus time. Digging through the words to find the treasure waiting for me...ahhh.  I can't tell you how much I enjoy this process - searching up my favorite version of the verse and writing it out - maybe even adding in a little doodle factor.  For me this is an adventure - it keeps me in a place where I am excited to see what God has been waiting to show me. 

This weeks set of cards was made up of :

Psalm 51:6 esv

Psalm 139:17 msg

Psalm 52:16 net, esv, the voice & Young's Lit

Psalm 52:8-9 amp

Matt. 6:30 msg

Rev. 3:19 msg

Psalm 27:5 msg

1 John 4:18 msg

1 John 4:16 esv, cev

Psalm 54:4 net, esv, living Bible, Names of God Bible

Matt 28:18-20 niv

Read through them and see if you can figure out what my theme was. 

Now get creative and start having fun digging in God's words. If you are like me and love to doodle this is a great activity - fun for the kiddos too. 

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Psalm 51:6, ESV)

-Simply Sublime

James: Mercy Triumphs Bible Verse Memory Pocket Book

If you have been following my posts you know that I LOVE my laminated memory work book that I made to go along with my James Bible Study by Beth Moore. I pack it with me everywhere I go. When I have a few minutes somewhere I whip it out and soak in a few more lines. 

Well after several friends requested I make them a book I decided to drop a few out in the market for those that it might bless. I have listed a few in my ETSY store. If you are local you can purchase one and I will deliver it to you to save you on shipping. The full description is in the listing. 

Visit my ETSY store

$20

                                      -Simply Sublime                    

Memorizing the Word, Transforming the MIND with James: Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore

SCRIPTURE MEMORY BOOK

click to purchase in my etsy store

Feeling crafty? Below I have a HOW-TO create your own handcrafted version.

I LOVE a good Bible Study - in addition I LOVE to create systems, projects - to bring a concept to life.   Well in this new study I am participating in at our Church - Beth Moore's 

James: Mercy Triumphs 

there are several different levels you can choose to participate in. One option in the study is to memorize the entire book of James. Yes you read me right.... the ENTIRE book. Now we do have 5 months to accomplish this - so broken down enough this is VERY DO-able! The key would be to finding a system that works, a system that you will stick with. 

Many people have offered creative ideas about how to accomplish this. Sheet protectors with a chapter per page. Index cards. Use the first letter of each word to spur your memory. For the auditory learners say it out loud to yourself. All of these GREAT! 

Well I decided to take the ideas I knew would work for me and PRETTIFY them. Yeah - I made that word up. I like it though! Don't you? 

After a few minutes cutting and pasting scripture into my graphic program I decided to see if anyone else had  already accomplished this & had it to share out in cyberland. Sure enough I found this lovely blog by Laura @ Lauraboggess.com who created 3 x 5 cards. 

(you may need to scroll down her page a little to find this link - it is a hotlink that says "PDF" after some photos of her journal with the cards posted on the pages.)

On this blog Laura decided to spread verses out over 54 weeks but to keep it simple I decided I would memorize 2-3 of her weekly cards each week to fit them into my 5 month timeline. This made my task at hand SO MUCH easier. 

I printed out one copy of the cards and trimmed each one down to the size of the border. There are 54 cards total. Once they were all stacked up Week 1 to Week 54 I began trimming my craft paper to 3 1/2" x 5 1/2". 

As this was my first attempt I ended up making my pages one sided, one week card placed on the front of the page and the back of each page is blank. (for the current ones I am making for friends I decided to put the weekly cards on the front and back of each page to decrease the number of pages total = less materials)

Once I had enough craft paper cut I began using a wee bit of adhesive to tack the scripture cards onto the craft paper - just enough to hold it in place temporarily. After this phase was completed it was time to run them through my heat sealer. I LOVE ME SOME Laminated Pages!!!! Did I sound like Beth there? :) 

As with all laminated projects trimming with a small border of the protector left around the edges is important to keep the seal - also remember to round corners as they can be quite sharp. 

I have a Zutter Binder System for Wired binding projects and I always DELIGHT in the finished product when using it. Love the finished look. You could also one hole punch the corner and use a ring binder. or use two or three ring binders down the side to hold them together. 

As you can see this is my first book I made which is quite thick - the new ones are about half the thickness of this one. Which will make them so, so easy to pack around in your bag, everywhere you go.  Now here is what makes this SUBLIME.... are you ready?

This great tip came from my Mentor...With the laminated pages you can have whoever checks you use a DRY ERASE pen and highlight areas you need to improve on without interrupting you mid-way. How AWESOME is that? No really... 

and isn't this just the CUTEST?

If you don't have access to a heat sealer you can go to your local office supply store and they can laminate for you. They can even bind it. Now - this is just my idea of what will work for me. I love it SO MUCH I want to pack it in my bag, hold it, even HUG it!!! I know call me crazy. 

-Simply Sublime!

UPDATE: I have created a thinner, easier to pack around version and I have it for sale in my etsy store. So if you don't feel like making your own you are just one simple click away from being able to buy one or link here.