Challenge Blog Launch...Our First Sunday

Welcome! We’re so glad you are here to help us launch our new challenge blog, Mustard Seed Faith challenges. We’re excited to get started sharing our faith and sharing creative talents. Every woman on the design team has a deep love for Jesus Christ and they are amazingly talented as well!

Our key verse is Matthew 17:20, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you.”

We intend this as a challenge blog for everybody, from those whose talents are just budding to those with advanced skills. We all started somewhere. For each there was the very first time we picked up a stamp and some ink and pressed it onto paper. I remember how my husband struggled to find something complimentary to say years ago when I made my first card! “hmmm, that’s… a card honey!”--was about all he could find to say! So don’t be shy! Take that mustard-seed sized bundle of talents and put them to use and watch them grow!

Often we’ll have a short devotional to accompany the challenge. This week I’m starting things off and I usually get a bit personal with my interpretation since a) I’m no bible scholar and b) we understand best how the Lord works in our own lives, better than we understand how he works in the lives of others.

I chose the imagery of the mustard seed for this blog because there are days when I feel my faith is so small, it must be smaller than a mustard seed. I certainly cannot move mountains. And I would imagine there are others who feel the same.

God isn’t literally asking us to physically move a mountain, just to trust Him to do His work through us. We don’t even have to generate that mustard seed’s worth of faith to begin with—since all good gifts come from the Father (James 1:17), in fact every gift, even that gift of mustard-seed sized faith is supplied by Him. And if we trust in Him, He promises to make that faith grow. We don’t move the mountain, God moves in us to increase our faith and to turn that tiny seed into a flowering plant that can impact the world around us.

So this challenge blog was born as a way to reach out and encourage each other—to encourage each other to grow in our faith in Jesus Christ and to encourage each other in our creative endeavors.

Overall though, this blog is not about the team members who graciously lend their inspirational talents and thoughts. We are here, to borrow the slogan from one church I really admire, “to make Jesus famous.” Because it isn’t about religion, it’s about relationship with the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-3) So if you come to this space, know that we will be sharing our love for Jesus Christ and our joy about the wonderful gift of salvation he offers to each and every person who puts their faith and trust in Him.  Wishing you God’s blessings.

On to the creations from our team! Please visit their individual blogs to leave a comment! Our challenge this week is to use the color yellow somewhere in your creation, yellow for the beautiful bloom of a mustard plant's flower!

Today we will go in alphabetical order and first up is Diane Noble from Missouri!

Next we have MariLynn DeGroot, also from Missouri!

Nancy Nickel joins us from Saskatchewan! 

Jeanne Turner from Ohio!

Tracey Fehr of Manitoba!

Traci Major from Colorado!

Now that you've seen the creations from our design team, using all shades of yellow from across the spectrum, time for you to create! Please use the link tool to add your piece of art using some shade of yellow.

Again, this week's challenge: use any shade of yellow. 

An InLinkz Link-up