ABC Scripture Challenge {Word #1}, Anchor

Welcome to our first challenge for the year 2011. I am so excited to see where God leads all of us this year. He has already been laying some things on my heart, and I am keeping detailed notes as He brings them to me! If you missed the introduction to this challenge, please see my post here for complete details. So, let's get started with our first study.

Early in December as I was working on my Bible Study Fellowship lesson, there was a question at the end of the lesson that asked “Will you ask God to anchor your mind to Him? How will you choose to fill your mind with Him this week?” That was such a powerful and eye-opening question to me. Wow, anchoring myself to God. I have never thought of it in that context before. This is something I have really been thinking about since then, and thus I thought it would be a great word for us to start with this year.

Challenge Word #1: Anchor

How many of you have been in a storm at sea? Probably not many of you but you can certainly imagine how scary it would be. Even the storms on land can be very scary at times. Think of the disciples as they were out on the Sea of Galilee. The twelve disciples along with Jesus went out on a boat that was big enough to carry all of them. They had not gone out in a storm yet once they were out on the water, one caught them without warning. Matthew 8:23-26 says “Then He got into the boat and His disciples followed Him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.”

Look at Jesus’ response to the disciples, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” It seems so easy to love God and share our joys with Him but when the going gets rough, we panic just as the disciples did. Or maybe you are the other way, when things are easy you leave God out of the picture but the minute something gets tough, you cling to Him. No matter which one of these describes you, our faith should be strong in all things—during the good and the bad. If we are not anchored to God, we drift. We waiver in our relationship with Him, and then we feel like we will drown in the “storms of life.” God not only knows what is going on in your life, He has the power to help you deal with it. We need to be anchored to God just as a ship is anchored to the ocean floor. And this isn’t just once we need to do this but daily. We need to wake up purposely anchoring ourselves to Him so that we can stay firm and secure with Him through our day instead of drifting with the waves. Will you anchor yourself to God today, tomorrow, and the days ahead?

My 5x6 page uses the brand new Memory Box papers and the new ODBD set called "Anchor" that will be released in February 2011. The scriptures I chose were:

Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Hebrews 6:19 “The hope we have is an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast.” Papers: Basic Grey Marjolaine, Memory Box Brioche, Paper Trey Ink cs
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs Anchor
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink walnut stain and pumice stone, Memento tuxedo black
Embellishments: Tim Holtz tiny attacher and journaling tickets, October Afternoon alpha stickers, Basic Grey Sugar Rush chip alpha, Paper Trey Ink just the ticket border die and rustic twine, Derwent watercolor pencils

So, that's my page. Now it's time for you to study and create! :) And be sure to use Keyword ABCSCRC11 when posting in any galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of our previous lessons, please visit this post here. You may want to bookmark that page so you can easily find all of the studies for this year.

And in closing for today, remember that whatever comes your way in 2011, God knows what you are going through. He has a purpose behind it. Anchor yourself to Him daily, and know that in time “this storm will pass” and you will have grown with Him through it. He can provide strength in any circumstance. He is our anchor, our security, our hope. Many blessings to you,