The Blessing of Time - Faithfully Yours Challenge

Hello and Happy Friday! I'm not sure where this week went, but it sure did go by fast! I am hoping to have a productive day today. I have a couple of projects that I need to finish up today. I have a closet in my dining room that's been turned into what I call my "craft closet" and I've been reorganizing it this week. It has most of my sewing supplies, some of my favorite cookbooks, my home organizing system (kind of like a master plan book, but it's in a file organizer.....I need to share about this, too!), my Bibles and prayer books, kid craft books and holiday books, Gracie's art supplies, and a big file crate that has all of the holiday and religious holiday activities, crafts, and recipes filed in it. Whew! That's a lot for one little closet! lol That's why I've been trying to reorganize it, so that I can use that space as best as I can.

Anyway, sorry I got off topic....lol..... I wanted to share with you my "The Blessing of Time" layout that I did for the "A Year of Blessings-2010" Challenge at Faithfully Yours. You can see the blog post talking about this theme by clicking here. It took me a little while to think of what I wanted to do for this theme until one night when I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep. I usually sit in bed and read for a couple of hours and sometimes it's hard for my brain to stop, so
that I can go to sleep. lol But, I was super tired and I think that sometimes God uses that time in me to chat. So, this popped into my head and I pretty much didn't have "a satisfied mind" (as my mom always says) until I worked on and finished the journaling for this layout. I must say, that God is pretty persistent with me and He has to be, because I am pretty stubborn. lol

Here's my layout and my journaling.....I think the journaling pretty much explains everything.... ;-)
Journaling:

Lately, it has become painfully obvious to me of how much the Lord has blessed me with the gift of time. It is painful, because I am realizing how much of this precious time I have actually wasted. I have wasted so many years......years that I should have spent with my eyes turned towards God, not my own desires and wants. Times when I let myself get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life and not willing to give up any of my “precious time” to spend talking to the Lord. I have been so selfish with this blessing of time that God has given to me. Here is the amazing part though. God’s time isn’t like mine and thank goodness for that! And, even better......God is always wanting to forgive me and to give me more time to work on my faults and short-comings when it comes to my ever-stumbling walk in faith. Well, now it is my time. My time to begin again. My time to pour my life, my love, my heart and soul towards God. It’s all that I can do. Stand back up, brush off my knees and get back on the narrow path that leads to the never-ending love and compassion that God is wanting to give to me. Oh Lord! How I need your help! I can’t do this without you. I know that now. I have failed so many times. Wasted so much time. Please help me use the blessing of time in ways that focus on You, help me remember to pray, help me remember to turn to you and scream and cry when I’m mad or upset, help me to humble myself and remember that only with your help all things are possible. I know in my heart that all of the other parts of my life will be so much better, just by spending time with you. Yes, there will still be hard times, but they will be so much easier to bear. Thank you, Lord. Thank you so much for this amazing blessing of TIME.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time
1 Peter 5:6

Digi supplies from:
Weeds & Wildflowers Design- Cherish Every Moment (all of layout except for the following)
paper leaf - Weeds & Wildflowers Design- A Better Me
Clock Face - Faithfully Yours

I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoy doing faith-booking pages. My head gets so full of everything and goes a mile a minute sometimes. It can be hard for me to calm it down so that I can sit and have quality prayer time. But, when I am working on a layout, the creative-thinking part calms my mind and I am able to think so much clearer and then the idea comes t my mind and the words start to flow and before I know it, my scrapbook page has turned into my prayer and the time I spent working on it my prayer time. It's taken me quite a while to figure this out, but I know that God has known this about me since I was created because He created me this way for a reason. He blessed me with this grace of creativity and He knows that it's the best way for me to talk to Him.

And now it's time for me to be creative in a different way! lol My little one wants me to build a house out of blocks with her. lol I hope that you all have an amazing day today and are able to spend some time doing something creative and crafty!