Of Marriage and Weddings. . .

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. 

 2 Thessalonians 3:5

Weddings are always such a special time and a sweet remembrance and symbol of the Lord's love for His bride, the church. As John Piper wrote in This Momentary Marriage, "The meaning of marriage is the display of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his people."

Oh, that we would honor Him in our marriages; that we would be faithful, loving, submissive, respecting self-sacrificing and that we strive to live together as the Lord has called us to live until death do us part. So often, it seems that the focus these days is on THE WEDDING, while the marriage is secondary. I'm not so sure that's what we see in the Bible. Rather we see the focus on THE MARRIAGE and the wedding being the door to that blessed covenant of companionship that the Lord established at creation.  May He give us grace to honor Him!

PROJECT DETAILS. . .This gift set was prepared for a sweet sister whose bridal shower was held recently. The little black coaster set is one where you can put a photo behind the glass. At the last minute, I decided the red stock inserts were not very complimentary, so prepared four inserts with various scripture verses, stamped over the beautiful stencil from Layers of Color. The paper, flower and swirls on the card were a result of my first trip to our new Hobby Lobby store. . .what a blessing. I love being able to shop for my supplies at a store that is operated on biblical principles and that sponsors advertising at all of the major holidays sharing the Gospel: the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ! The lace was a gift/giveaway from Abby at Little Birdie Blessings.

Supply List
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs, Layers of Color, Verve
Card Stock: SU Basic Black and Very Vanilla
Designer Paper: The Paper Studio Vintage Black Toile and Damask
Ink: Memento Black, Versamark, SU Sahara Sand
Accessories: Vintage Lace (from Little Birdie Blessings) Prima swirls and crochet trimmed flower, Marcasite embossing powder, SU Tulip Frame embossing folder and crochet trim ribbon, plastic candy bag, Spellbinders Labels 17 dies; Layers of Color Botanical Swirls Stencil; Target gift card.
Challenges:

• Our Daily Bread Designs
• Stampin' In Time ~ Favorite Scripture SNTODBD47
• Little Birdie Blessings Thursday Scripture Challenge
• The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge SSS133 

This has come to be one of my more recent favorite scriptures as it reminds me that God's love is conditional. . .conditioned upon the perfect work of Jesus Christ! It reminds me that for the joy set before Him, He (Jesus) endured the cross and is even now, seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 12:2) interceding for His people. 

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. 

 2 Thessalonians 3:5

It is a prayer for spiritual blessings. Two things of the greatest importance the apostle prays for:—1. That their hearts may be brought into the love of God, to be in love with God as the most excellent and amiable Being, the best of all beings; and this is not only most reasonable and necessary in order to our happiness, but is our happiness itself; it is a great part of the happiness of heaven itself, where this love shall be made perfect. We can never attain to this unless God by his grace direct our hearts aright, for our love is apt to go astray after other things. Note, We sustain a great deal of damage by misplacing our affections; it is our sin and our misery that we place our affections upon wrong objects. If God directs our love aright upon himself, the rest of the affections will thereby be rectified. 2. That a patient waiting for Christ may be joined with this love of God. There is no true love of God without faith in Jesus Christ. We must wait for Christ, which supposes our faith in him, that we believe he came once in flesh and will come again in glory: and we must expect this second coming of Christ, and be careful to get ready for it; there must be a patient waiting, enduring with courage and constancy all that we may meet with in the mean time: and we have need of patience, and need of divine grace to exercise Christian patience, the patience of Christ (as some read the word), patience for Christ’s sake and after Christ’s example.                            ~Matthew Henry

Blessings! jme ~ SDG