I Love Butterflies - A Dose of Encouragement

Where do I begin?


I cannot remember when I was not interested in something which had a butterfly on it.

Most people who know me well will be able to tell you that

 I love Butterflies.

I have Butterfly 

     necklaces,    rings,    scarves     &    brooches

 - not sure how many I have but because of these items many people know I love butterflies 


Over the years my family have bought me scarves, vases, bags and necklaces at Christmas time all decorated with butterflies.


Even the Ladies who came to the International Christian Club of Brussels knew I loved them as I was often found with a butterfly brooch pinned to my jacket.
When I was leaving Belgium to return to live in Northern Ireland I was given a lovely white lace Butterfly brooch from one of these ladies as leaving gift.

Isn't it beautiful?

My daughter even had a mug specially printed for me with butterflies on it for my Birthday one year and I featured it in a humorous blog post called 3 More Coffee Mugs

I have bought myself bags with butterfly designs, clothes with butterflies & room decorations with butterflies.

Then there was the time Fred and I spent a lovely afternoon in our home in Belgium taking pictures of the butterflies that were on a bush just outside our lounge window -  I was going to miss the Butterflies

It just makes me smile to see butterflies around the house and in our garden with our Buddleia (butterfly) bush here in Northern Ireland too and we manage to get some nice pictures of the bush in full bloom

 with butterflies around it each summer.

Why do I love Butterflies?

Because they are beautiful, intricately patterned, delicate creatures.

They are also a great reminder of new birth in that they start as caterpillars and turn into beautiful butterflies.

Just like I was once a person marred by my sin and through God's Love and the Grace of Jesus I was able to experience a new birth and share Christ's beauty.

I love to share about the butterfly in Kids Work that I would do to explain to the children that God offers them a new life in Jesus through His blood because of His Love for them.

Children hear that Jesus died on the cross but they need to know that He did this for them individually and that His beauty can become their beauty.  They need to know that he didn't stay dead but rose again and is still alive today so that they can know He talks to God about them and shares in all their feelings.

Children need to feel loved and secure above all else and Jesus wants them to accept His love and assurance that He will never leave them.

But you and I need to know exactly the same thing.

There is something very important that we all need to know.

You and I need to know we are loved and that we are safe and that there is a God planned future for us.

You and I need to experience this new birth and know that we can be beautiful in the eyes of our creator because of His Son.


There is one last Butterfly I would like to share with you today

This Butterfly sits on the Vanity Unit in our ensuite and I see it every day at the start of my day and the end of my day.


I believe in miracles.

Do you?


The Butterfly is an example of a miracle in that it changes from an ugly creature to a beautiful one.

Can you believe in Jesus and experience Him work this miracle in your life too?

How to Organize Craft Punches

Over the years I have collected a lot of Craft materials 

but not used all that I gathered together into my Craft Armoire.

One of the reasons for this was that I had not organised my supplies in the best way to make sure I would regularly use them.

I had found many storage items large and small for storing my crafts but now I was determined to get more organised.

Today I'm going to tell you about how I organised my 

PUNCHES

BEFORE

Originally I had my punches in square matching cardboard boxes of 

3 different sizes 

grouping 

the larger border type punches together in the largest box on the right

 

and 

the small & medium sized ones together in the small box on the left.

Then a mix of small & medium sized ones 

together with the large ones that were leftover from the large box 

in the medium box below

Yes you can clearly see it was not a good arrangement for storage

1. Sizes were mixed together
2. Types were mixed together
3. Subjects were mixed together
4. Boxes had to be opened to even try to remember what punches I had
5. Punches on top of punches meant ones had to be lifted out to see the others.

I also tried using clear plastic boxes to store them thinking I could maybe have the same types or same subjects together and see through the sides.

This was the result:

I only got two boxes used when I realised I was going to need 4 of them if I wanted to keep them well sorted and 4 of these boxes would take up much more space.

If I didn't want to use 4 then it would always mean that some punches were on top of others and I would forget what I had and every time I was thinking of using a punch I would still need to go through all the punches which meant I would still be moving and opening boxes and to be honest I'm too lazy for that.

So I was back where I had started!!! 

Then I saw an interesting item one day online in Ikea's Kvissle Series

It's called the Letter Tray

With this item 

1. I would not have to lift one box off another and open boxes and then sift through punches lying on top of each other
2. I would be able to see all the punches in one section without even touching any of them.

So I got all my punches out again 

and started sorting them into subjects & types like borders,  designs, 

ANIMALS

PLANTS

So off to Ikea and I bought the Kvissle Letter Tray

I knew beforehand that I would have a choice of places to keep the tray unit as it could fit unto a couple of different shelves in my Craft Armoire (Ikea give you all the dimensions) 

and I knew it would be so much better than my previous system for my punches and I was right.

Corner & small border punches

Animals & Plants

Shapes

Large Borders

AFTER

It is now

       easy to open, 

 

              easy to see the punches,  

                     easy to lift them out 

and then maybe the most important fact of all 

it is

 

       so easy to return the punch to it's position - yes!

 

I will  NOW put each punch away as soon as I use it 

because 

it is just a matter of pulling out the right tray and placing it where it came from.

Doesn't it look so neat here in my Craft Armoire

even now when I got a few extra punches and put them in the wicker basket in front but that is easy to lift out and then I can pull out the trays.

NOTE to SELF

Please try not to be tempted to buy more punches

Reading Through The Bible - MICAH

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long and this one is another quite small book and it only takes 18 mins to read it according to Crossway and their lovely barchart

MICAH  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY

33rd book of the OT 

33rd book of the Bible

How Does it Start?

It starts right away in the first verse with the declaration that this is the Word of the Lord.  

It then sets the time frame by naming the ruling kings of the period and specifies Micah as the prophet this Word is given through.

 

"The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem."

What is it?

The Book of MICAH is one of the MINOR PROPHETS in the Old Testament which means it is a book of Prophecy.

How Long is it?

It has 7 chapters.

No other single book of the bible has 7 chapters but if you combine the 3 letters of John you would have a section with 7 chapters.

When was it Written?

It was written between 735 & 710 BC

Who Wrote it?

The prophet Micah who came from Moresheth also known as Moresheth-Gath which was a town of the tribe of Judah in ancient Israel.

 

Who was it Written to?

It was written to the people of Samaria & Israel as stated in verse 1

 

"The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem."

 

Why was it Written? 

It was written to express to the Israelites how they were not living righteously and to remind them that God had told them the right way to live with respect to God and others.

But it was also to tell them of the great blessing Bethlehem would be in the future as the birthplace of the Messiah in chapter 5 v 2

"“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”"

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Micah confronts the leaders of Israel and Judah regarding their injustice, and prophecies that one day the Lord himself will rule in perfect justice."  

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"Micah prophesied during the tragic and historic years surrounding the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom.  Micah predicted the event in Micah 1 v 6 and it came to pass between 10 and 15 years later in 722 BC"  

"Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field,
Places for planting a vineyard;
I will pour down her stones into the valley,
And I will uncover her foundations."

What is it normally well-known for?

This book is about justice and injustice and personally I feel that wonderful verse in chapter 6 sums it all up as to how a Christian should live.

• Act Justly to others
• Be Merciful to others
• Walk Humbly with God

However God also states throughout this book that He will

• Rule Justly 
• Show Mercy
• Lead the people in His ways

How does it end?

With Israel's confession of sin 

and 

the forgiveness of God

in chapter 7 v 18-19.

"Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities."

which finishes with those reassuring words 

"You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea."

 

The Overview Bible  gives us this

Quick outline of Micah

1. Israel’s injustice (Mic 1–3)
2. The Lord’s promise to rule Israel with justice (Mic 4–5)
3. The Lord’s expectations and judgment (Mic 6)
4. The Lord’s compassion and everlasting love (Mic 7)

Other Minor Prophets are 

Habakkuk

Haggai

Joel 

Jonah

Malachi

Nahum

Obadiah

Zephaniah

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

I Love the Colour Blue - Coffee & Conversation

Anyone who is around me for any length of time,

      anyone who just even looks at my blog,

           anyone who sees round our home

                can take a good guess

                     that one of the

                          "Things I Love"

just has to be

                    the colour  BLUE.

There is just something about the colour blue that I feel almost everything looks better in blue.

Blue and white together just make everything look so clean & fresh.

My Dining Room is Blue, White and silver with my dinner set of white with blue matching it 

My Living room has accent colours in blue

as well as curtains and cushions with a blue flower.

Our Sun Room's main colour is blue

My outdoor plant pots are blue

Our Patio Furniture is blue and white

My study (where I spend a lot of time) is decorated with pale blue walls and darker blue curtains.


A lot of my clothes are in shades of Blue.



Blue is a refreshing colour.

Blue is a relaxing colour.

Blue is a beautiful colour.

Blue is also an alive colour.

As long as things are made in blue there will be a happy contentment in my life.


People say Blue is a cold colour but not for me.

Blue never makes me blue, it always makes me brighten up.



The family tease me about the colour blue but then most of them have a favourite colour too - a colour they just feel contented with the one their eyes are drawn to when they go to buy clothes or decor for the home.

We are all different with different favourite colours, styles of clothes, jobs, home decor, cars, etc.

God has given us a variety of everything including colours.

If we were not different and unique we would never understand how we could be unique to God but we are and he knows more about us than we do ourselves.

He has given me a great sense of pleasure, contentment and peace in a simple thing like the colour Blue.

Can you stop and reflect on the uniqueness of what God has given you pleasure, contentment & peace in?