What do you Give to God

 "I don't ask back what I give to God" was an answer to a question I had ask someone a few months back. I have often thought about this and I must honestly say.  I love that reply.  Like most every night, I can't sleep due to insomnia and other health issues that relates back to my breast cancer diagnosis.  As I ponder on this statement, "I don't ask back what I give to God", I think about all the things we often ask of the Lord. Like praying for others, for there is so much sickness and troubles at hand. Praying for ourselves. We often pray and ask God to move in situations that we often have no way out of or no control of the outcome; that only God can work out in our favor. I know we all are guilty of praying for specifics in our lives. We can't always see at the time we pray what is ahead for us but God knows the intents of the heart and what's best for us even when we don't understand the why's, or the struggles. So, with all that God has given to us through His wonderful Mercy, Grace, and Forgiveness; what are you giving back to God?  Is it going to church and serving Him like you know you should? Is it a promise you made but forgot/forsaken that promise? Are we freely giving to God what is already His in the first place? Are we giving tithes/offerings like the Bible says? (ouch, touchy subject there, but true). When we look back over our lives and when all is said and done can you truly say, "I gave God the best to my ability that I had or could? So once more I ask, "What are you giving back to God?"

They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. Mathew 22:21 KJV

And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him. Mark 12:17 KJV

And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. Luke 20:25

Jesus Loves Me, Valentines Craft DIY

If you are like me you love to craft but don't always have the budget to do so. Well, with Valentines Day coming up. I wanted to get a head start. I began looking on Pintrest to get some ideas for gifts and church. I found one inspiration from this picture.  All the materials I used to make this, I already had on hand.  So I literally spent nothing but time on this. 

This is the inspiration peace behind the craft that you will see in the blog post.  Since my budget is $0.  I had to get a little crafty and make do with what I had to come up with something I could give to my sister for Valentine's Day.  

So I printed off this copy of the Song Jesus Loves Me 

 I dipped it twice in some cold coffee letting the paper dry completely between each dip.  The more you dip, the darker it becomes and fragile.  So be careful. This is what it looks like after two dips into coffee, 30 secs to 1 min per dip. 

 8x10 Canvas Before PIC

After I painted the canvas

 I just dipped a paper towel wrapped around my fingers and rubbed until I got the color I wanted, you can go light or dark depending on your preference.  I let my canvas air dry, but you can use a hair blower/dryer if you choose to.  

This is the song after I had it stained and dried. I stained the song by dipping into coffee and drying between each dip.  mine was stained twice. 

I put mod podge onto the painted canvas and then placed the song, cut to size onto the "glue".  Then I applied mod podge to some vinyl I had free hand cut into the shape of a heart using a stencil. Then I attached a treble cleft I had printed out on my printer and because my ink was low, I colored it with a black sharpie Marker, then I laminated it and cut it out.  while cutting out the treble clef, some air bubbles came in it but I ran it back through the laminator and it fixed that issue very easy.  

This is the final product. I am HAPPY with the way it turned out.