As the Father Hath Loved Me

Hello, All! It's Wednesday so that means it's time for a new challenge at the Word Art Wednesday Challenge Blog.  This week our focus verse is John 15:9, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love."  What a comforting thought!  Just as God the Father loves His Son, Jesus loves us.  Wow!  My first thought is why would He love me? So often I know I displease Him and yet He loves me!  That's mind boggling.  He loves you just as much.  Pretty cool huh?  One of the meanings of "continue" is to remain in a place, abide or stay.  So, we are to abide or rest content in God's love for us.  We're not to doubt it. Instead, because of God's love for Jesus and Jesus' love for us, we are able to abide in God's love.  When the world gets crazy, that's like a haven, a place of peace and safety.  That's comforting.

Whenever I think of God's love for us, I think of John 3:16, For God so loved THE WORLD..." (emphasis mine). For this reason, I chose to use the world map image from Deedee's Digis' All the World set.  Deedee's Digis is one of our fantastic sponsors this week.  Be sure to enter your family friendly projects so that you have a chance to win a voucher for some free Deedee's Digis. I used the pre-colored version and lowered the brightness of the colors in Microsoft Word.  Then I layered the verse on top of it.  After printing on patterned paper, faux stitching was added around the heart outline.  The heart was fussy cut with a slight border.  The edges were inked to add a distressed look.  I kept the design pretty simple so that the heart image and verse could be the focal point.  This card has lots of faux stitching, a few rhinestones and a leather twine accent.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Recollections
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye (Indie Chic 6x6 pad)
Stamps:  WORDart by Karen, Deedee's Digis (All the World)
Ink:  Distress (Antique Linen)
Tools/Embellishments: Staedtler fine tip marker (black), Gelly Roll gel pen (white), RealLeather Craft Lace by Silver Creek Leather Co., rhinestones (The Paper Studio), My Favorite Things Die-namics (Pinking Edge)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Craft Your Passion Challenge #250 -  Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Take Your Pick (I chose the color theme of using cool colors and I used kraft cardstock)
Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #233 - Anything Goes
Digi Choosday Week 8 - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #216 - Lots of Layers


Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you'll come back often.  Please stop by the Word Art Wednesday blog for your free digi and to see projects by the rest of the Design Team.