Assurance of what's not seen

Hello everyone! It's Sunday and time for another Stampin Sisters in Christ challenge! This week I am the hostess and I have chosen Matt. 6:6 for this week's Scripture.

"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."

My challenge to you is to make a card or project that has something hidden from first view. It could be many things! It could be an envelope, a pull out, doors that open to reveal something, a Joy Fold, a Flip Flop or swing card, a Magic card, Slider or triple slider, explosion box...anything that has something you don't see at first glance. I hope this doesn't seem too hard for you to play along. When you think about it... almost anything can have something hidden from first view... even if you just have a sentiment inside. I hope you'll get creative and play along!

I wrote a devotional which is posted on the Stampin Sisters in Christ blog so I won't copy it here, but I do hope you will stop by there and read it.

EDIT: Well it seems that SSIC is having some technical difficulties and cannot post my devotional so I WILL put it here! LOL! Sorry for the length of this post now, but here it is:

Have you ever been with someone whose motive is to impress everyone with THEIR achievements, abilities, etc. How do you react to someone like that? For the most part, most of us are not impressed at all! We see that person for who they really are… self indulgent, prideful and not at all interested in anyone but themselves. They are generally not interested in relationships… only self promotion.

Well this is exactly what many of us do to the Lord. Sometimes I think we “play” Christianity. We love to talk the talk, but that doesn’t mean we are walking the walk! Somehow… we are more concerned with making other people think we’re great Christians than we are about really loving the Savior and walking in close relationship with Him, and doing the things that please Him.

Imagine a relationship that doesn’t include some deep intimate conversation! Imagine how your spouse or child would feel if the only conversation you ever had with them involved lists of requests or demands…. No times of sitting and listening to what THEY want to tell you… no times of praising them for jobs well done or just telling them that you love them! Needless to say… there wouldn’t really be much relationship! How can we expect it to be any different with our Lord? ANY relationship needs personal communion with each other… a time that’s special just between the two of you!

Prayer is one of the most intimate times we can spend with our Savior. I think the reason it is mentioned here in Matt. 6 in conjunction with the warning to not practice our “righteousness” for the praise of men, is that we basically tend to pray in public differently than we do in private. Our prayers may be heartfelt, but the tendency is often to be talking for the benefit of others in the room as much as to our Savior. While God is not saying not to pray in public, what He wants first and foremost from us is for us to have intentional personal time dedicated to talking to Him…. and listening to Him. I think the reference to the inner room and closing the door is that we are to shut out all distractions, for our minds easily wander. God sees our hearts and hears our heart’s cry. He wants our hearts to be centered on Him…. loving Him, praising Him, seeking His will, seeking His forgiveness, yielding our wills Him, and trusting Him to meet our needs. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”. (James 5:16) Let’s press on for this reward!

For my card I used Our Daily Bread designs "Ask, Seek Knock" set for my door image, and the newly released Scripture Collection 7 for my Scripture which is behind the door. The dp is 7 Gypsies Savannah, The Paper Co. and K&Co. The base is Papertrey Dark Chocolate. I used THoltz Distress Ink to sponge distress. I stamped with Archival Ink and water colored the door. To get the inside of the door to be oriented right with the hinges on the right side, I stamped the door image onto plain rubber, then stamped that onto my cs and colored it to match the front. I added a little bronze lockset and key. I also added Ultra Fine Flower Soft in Sage and sewing. My sewing machine tension was messed up but I decided to go with it... it kind of adds to the aged look. If you ever have that happen, just pull the treads and the nice even holes will be perfect paper piercing!

Our Sponsor this week is Our Daily Bread designs!
The prize is a $15.00 Gift Certificate toward stamps
We want to thank Kelley for her continued support of Stampin Sisters in Christ!
This week we have been celebrating ODBD's Third Anniversary and there is a great Customer Favorite Scripture Contest going on. Check out this post for a chance to win.

For more inspiration on today's challenge, please visit my DT Sisters:
Chris, Linda, Peggysue, Miesje, Rebecca, Lisa , Kris, Sabrina, & MariLynn
Randi (is on leave)

I am entering this into the following challenges:
Delicious Doodles - dimensional project, Simply Create - monochromatic, Art Impressions Stamps Challenge - Punches or Die Cuts, Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Anything Goes, The Rubber Cafe - Monochromatic Colour, Little Red Wagon - office supplies (loose leaf paper), Crazy Challenge - Eyelets or Brads (key and lock are brads), Card Ideas -Chocolate, Caramel + 1 other colour - neutrals also allowed

Thanks for stopping by!
Grace