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Precious friend, I am reminding myself that no matter the season I find myself in, I can find rest, comfort and even happiness in the precious promises from Psalm 23. A sweet sigh of relief washes over me when I read the words, “Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me ALL the days of my life”.  

HE is The Good Shepherd. 

I am His beloved sheep and HE is my beloved Shepherd. I pray you can find comfort, rest and reassurance from this Psalm. And that you can find JOY in knowing that His sheep, no matter the season, have the secret of happy life, death and eternity.

I have been blessed to share beauty with truth-filled words of encouragement through my artwork for more than twenty years. But in all honesty, this monthly Encouragement Kit — Lemonade Reminders — was born out of a stress-filled big batch of lemons! 

The Kit became the beautiful result of a big stack of misprinted calendar art pages + a LOT of prayer + a calling to encourage women with scripture reminders + an open heart to try something new!

When I asked Pam about this design, she recalled painting the bird first, then searching for a hymn to go with it. The black and white bird resembles a black-capped chickadee, which is in fact a songbird. 

She then researched the backstory of this particular hymn and after reading about it, just soaked in the fact that suffering and sorrow is not new! People have been walking through it since the Garden. There have been countless people who God has worked through in the midst of great sorrow as they used words and songs to process their pain and write of His faithfulness in the midst of their storm... and there are countless more people who have come after them and are continuing to receive the blessing of their honesty and obedience. God continues to use their stories for our good and His glory! This gives tremendous HOPE!

Just like the bird keeps singing with hopes of his future days, and just like Bridgers wrote in his hymn, we can keep singing knowing Jesus is always with us! In all of life's ebb and flows!

We are including several products with our Fullness of Joy Path design since that is our theme design and verse, which will help you decorate for Fall.

But as we prepare to usher in Christmas, we wanted to include extra presents for our subscribers! One of the products is a flour sack towel with one our newest Christmas designs, the Wise Men. We are most excited about the reversible ornament with the Adonai Manger and Names of Jesus on it. 

As we enter into this season of Thanksgiving, we encourage you to "harvest" with a thankful heart. Our Lemonade Reminders Encouragement Kits are meant to plant seeds of truth on your heart and also to spread the seeds of truth to others. Continue showing gratitude to others, especially to God, for we owe all things to Him. 

I hope some of these ideas inspire and encourage you to tap into your creativity! You never know what a piece of art hanging on a wall might do for someone!

David had repeated encounters of having his enemies on all sides. He had been surrounded by danger. He knew tragedy. And David knew the depths of great sorrow over his own sin and the grief over the weight of the consequences birthed from those sins. And yet, he could write this psalm with great confidence!  

“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.

Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, endure forever -

forsake not the works of Your own hands”  Psalm 138:8

One of my favorite things about this ministry (that I also get to call my job!) is hearing customer testimonials, and testimonials in general about the products I make.

One of our long-time customers, Monica, shared part of her testimony with us. Since we knew our focus this week would be on 1 Peter 5:7, we asked if we could feature it in our blog.

Proverbs 3:5 & 6 gives us these reminders that almost seem like steps in a recipe. Reminding us:

1. WHO to put our trust in 
2. The need for a FULL commitment of spirit, soul and body
3. To Trust God not only in salvation, but ALL areas of life
4. A healthy distrust of self is acknowledging that we don’t know what’s best
5. Turning over every area of our life to His control… laying down our Self-will to embrace His will

"May the God of Hope so fill you with Joy & Peace in believing that by the Power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be bubbling over with Hope." Romans 15:13

Freedom is not free, it comes with a price! Just as each of us was bought at a price: the price of Our Savior laying down His life so that we may be FREE! Free from sin, Free from death, Free from the weight of our own destructive nature.

"So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." John 8:36

So, friend, receive the comfort from these powerful verses [of Psalm 139], BUT I also want to encourage you that even the discomfort can be useful! Welcome the blessing of the vehicle that leads you to the foot of the Cross!  

“Search me (thoroughly), O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23 & 24 Amplified