Summer break

Fiona and I have exchanged a few emails over this and have decided to give this series a break over the summer. There are a few reasons for this.

Firstly, we are both away at various times over the next few months, and trying to keep the regular posts and plan in time to write the studies as well as posting them at the correct time will be rather difficult.

Secondly, we feel that we need to spend some time catching up with previous studies, looking again at the study and actually making the LO etc to go with them. I know I have several to do still and really want to do them as I am very pleased with the set of ATCs that is evolving.

Thirdly, a break will give everyone else a chance to catch up, or even to start if you have seen these and wanted to join in and not yet done so.

Over the summer Fiona and I will be coming back to these threads and looking again at the characters we have studied, both those we have completed LO etc for and those we haven't yet and will hopefully be posting on the threads, we would like to invite everyone else to do the same. Use the break as a chance to catch up, consolidate, refresh and think again about the journey each of us is making.

The next new study will be posted on September 7th.

Samson

Judges 13-16

Samson’s is a story of what might have been.

Samson had a good start in life. His mother and father were godly people who brought up their son in obedience to the command given by the angel. No razor touched his head from birth, no wine or fermented drink passed his lips. Samson grew up with such committed parents and a knowledge that the Lord had a purpose for him in his life.
What a blessing it is to have godly parents; those who will pray for us, those who will bring us up in the knowledge of and obedience to the Lord. How difficult it is to be such parents. Children were never always submissive and obedient to their parents. Children often kick against their parent’s ways of life. How many Christian parents continue to cry out in prayer for their children? We should pray for family life, for Christian families, for Church families that our young people might grow in under godly influences.

Samson lived in difficult days. The people of Israel had fallen into evil living. They had forgotten and abandoned the Lord who had given them into the hands of their enemies, the Philistines. This is the familiar pattern of the life of Israel during the time of the Judges. The word of the angel is that Samson would ‘begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.’ (Judges 13:5) Begin is an interesting word; perhaps what is meant is that delivering God’s people from their enemies is too big a work for any one human, indeed only the Lord Jesus could achieve the ultimate deliverance of God’s people. Yet, for his time, Samson was a Judge, a deliverer of the people and for this he was given great strength from the Lord.
There has never been a time in human history when it was easy to be of the people of God. There have always been enemies, always been those who would oppose us, just because we are the Lord’s people. As often as we are encouraged by the story of Samson; that the Lord will provide a deliverer, that strength is from the Lord for his people that they might stand in him, so often are we also challenged by the violence of Samson’s story. We have learned the painful lesson of the Crusades and Inquisition that we cannot grow the Church, build the Kingdom, and defeat God’s enemies by the sword or army. The Kingdom of Christ is not established by military strength or violence but by enduring the violence of crucifixion, by praying for our enemies and loving them and by knowing the triumph of the cross and empty tomb made real in our lives by the presence of God’s powerful Spirit. (“‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” Zechariah 4:6).

Samson was a fool with women. In chapter 14 Samson sees a Philistine woman and is swept away with desire for her; an enemy woman, someone from a foreign nation. Samson’s marriage to this woman leads to nothing but trouble; for himself, his parents, the girl, her parents, the nation, everyone suffers because Samson is a fool with women.
In chapter 16 Samson falls for another Philistine woman, Delilah. He has clearly leaned nothing from his marriage to the woman from Timnah.
The fruit of the Spirit is self control. Yes, it does mean that we are to control our desires. There are some relationships that are not good, to say ‘but it feels right’ is not any kind of godly justification for improper relationships. We live in a society which hates self control. The mantra of the age is ‘if you want it, you can have it’. But this is not God’s way. Our Father has given us all things in Christ Jesus our Lord, but we want those things he will not give us. And our Father has held them back from us because he knows they are not good for us. How little do we trust our God when we allow our desires to run riot and lead us into disaster.

Samson misused his gifts. Having been given great gifts from the delivering of the people of God, Samson misused them. He was betrayed by Delilah and his great strength was taken from him, the judgment of God upon him. Rather than defeating the Philistines Samson is captured by them and put to public shame, grinding in the prison. And yet, God has not abandoned Samson, in one final display of strength Samson has the greatest victory over the enemies of God’s people in his own death.
It is hard for us to understand the mercy of God. We would have washed our hands of Samson a long time ago. The mercy of God is greater than our patience, thank God for that! God will deliver his people and has given gifts to his Church, through the members of his Church for the achieving of his purposes. God will build his Church, God will overcome his enemies and he longs to use us in this great work. This should not, must not encourage laziness or carelessness in us as we follow Samson’s example and abuse the gifts God has given us. Rather it should be a great encouragement to us. Our God wants to use us in his wonderful work. God will strengthen us with gifts fit to achieve his purposes. Can we not trust him enough to use the gifts he has given us for the glory of his name?


Reflection
How can we help and encourage Christian parents in bringing up their children within the family of God?
What can we do to see the fruit of self control grow within us?
Is violence ever right? Can we ever use violence to achieve God’s purposes?
How can we encourage others, and be encouraged ourselves, to use the gifts God has given us in his service?

Journey's with God's People. Mary and Martha

Be Still.

I have chosen to look at two characters this week, sisters who we meet in the gospels, Mary and Martha. I have chosen to write about them this week because what I learn from them fits in with what God has been saying to me on a personal level recently and that seemed like a good place to start, especially as I wanted to look at these stories in more depth.

Luke 10:38-42

John 11:1-44

John 12:1-3

We come across Mary and Martha several times in the gospels. They were sisters to Lazarus and lived at Bethany. It seems that Jesus often visited this household and it was the place he stayed before the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. In many ways it is the most complete picture of 'home life' we see in the New Testament. We see the household made up of two sisters and a brother, all of whom seem to be God fearing Jews, certainly when Lazarus dies the house is full of people from the synagogue helping to comfort the sisters. Lazarus is not one of the twelve chosen apostles, but he is described as 'the one you love' (John11) and Jesus is moved to tears at the news of his death. This is a close relationship. Martha we often dismiss as one who was too busy to listen to Jesus, and yet her faith is shown is shown in John11 where she is clear that if Jesus had been there Lazarus would be alive, and where she confesses Jesus as Christ. Then to complete the family we have Mary. Mary whom anointed Jesus' feet with costly perfume and dried them with her hair (John12), Mary who fell at Jesus feet in her distress (John11), Mary who sat at Jesus feet to listen to his teaching and simply be with him.(Luke10).

There are good things to say for both these women, and things we can learn from them, things I have been learning from them. Starting with Martha, I see her as someone whose relationship with Jesus was long lasting and secure. Twice we see her upbraiding Jesus for situations she is not happy with. She asks why Mary isn't sent to help her and she asks why Jesus wasn't there to stop her brother from dying. She is confident to approach Jesus and she is taken seriously, Jesus replies to her positively, leading her finally to confess him as Christ. She is also shown as being someone who likes action. During one visit of Jesus she is shown as being busy with preparations, when Lazarus dies it is Martha who rushes off to meet Jesus and then brings Mary to him. This busyness is often shown as Martha's failing and I think this is why I identify with her. It is good to serve, and the way Martha buckles to and does what is needed is a good example, but it is also too easy to hide behind the business and words and miss out on the 'something more' that God has for us. Speaking for myself here, I find that it is easy to find worthy things to do to fill the time, the church needs people willing to serve, but sometimes we let it become about the job rather that the relationship. Even the way we pray can become like this. I find there are times when I can be full of words, spending time praying for others, for the world, praying in tongues, praying in praise and worship...all with lots of worthy words, even coming with the confidence Martha showed in approaching Jesus with her own situations and yet it can be very hard to stop, to learn to be still with God, to learn to receive rather than give. This was a lesson Martha needed to learn, it is a lesson I need to learn and it is a lesson many of us need to learn.

We are all used to those uncomfortable silences when we meet up for the first time with people, when we are beginning a friendship of any sort and everything suddenly goes quiet as everyone present casts around for something else to say. Silence makes us feel uncomfortable, so we seek to fill it with words. As we develop a relationship we become aware that sometimes we do not need to speak, a look, a touch, or just being together can mean as much, if not more than words can. There are times when I, and think probably everyone comes to God in the same way, we fill the silence with words, but there are times when we need to stop and be silent, just being in God's presence. To let God be God and do the thing we can't. Time to sit and receive from God as part of our worship instead of trying to give. It is a challenge that, like many, I am finding difficult, and one God keeps bringing me back to as I grasp it in my head but then find it difficult to really learn and practise.

Mary seemed to grasp this. We don't hear many of Mary's own words, she is shown as a more meditative person, but a woman of great depth of feeling and emotion. Three times we meet her, each time she is shown at Jesus' feet. The first time she is sat at Jesus' feet listening to the discourse between Jesus, the disciples, Lazarus and maybe others. There is no mention of her joining in, no discourse with her, she is simply learning, a disciple sat at the feet of the Master. The second time we see Mary she is great distress, her brother has died, and maybe she is feeling that Jesus has let them down, she throws herself at Jesus feet, prostrate in desperation and sorrow. This is the only time we see her speak, and her words echo those of her sister. The third time we see Mary is when she anoints Jesus' feet prior to the triumphal entry. Here she is knelt at his feet in worship. Like the first time she is not mentioned as speaking, but her actions speak louder, she wipes his feet with her hair, anointing them with a very costly perfume. This is a prophetic act as well as one of worship, she is preparing him for the grave a week later. We learn from Mary that the place to be, to learn, in distress, in worship, is at the feet of Jesus.

Martha shows us the need, Mary shows us where we have it met. Both women knew Jesus, both had relationship with him, and both knew what it was to be with Jesus. One found it easier than the other maybe, but both were welcomed.

Discussion

Which of the women do you identify with and why?

Craft Challenge

The craft challenge is as usual, to create anything you like inspired by Mary and Martha. I have been doing a whole series of ATCs for these challenges and mine is at the head of this post. We would love to see what you create so do post a link here or on the faithscrappers forum.

Character 7 - Zacchaeus

The story of Zacchaeus is found in Luke 19:1-9 and is probably well known to you all. Zaccheus was a tax collector, and considered a traitor for working with the Romans. He was also, as were most tax collectors, crooked and a cheat. He lived on the margins of his society, despised by those around him.

Yet something compelled him to go and seek Jesus, he wanted to see him. We are not told why Zacchaeus had this desire, just that he did. Perhaps a reminder to us that even the most unlikely of people can be seeking Jesus and we need to careful not to write anyone off.

Jesus knew Zacchaeus was up the tree and stopped to speak to him and invited himself to his house. This was something unexpected and out of the ordinary. Nice people did not go to tea at a tax collectors house! Yet it was because of this personal encounter with Jesus that Zacchaeus’s life was transformed and turned around. A lesson here for our evangelistic endeavors – it is meeting the personal Jesus that transforms lives. For many people we are the demonstrators of Jesus love and care here in the world. We need to demonstrate to those who are on the fringes of society, who are despised and hated, we need to do the unexpected and reach out to them where they are, to bring to them the love of Jesus.

Once Zacchaeus repented he then made active restitution – he gave back what he had taken and with interest. He demonstrated his inward change with outward action. It is not enough to follow Jesus in our heads or hearts alone, we must show our faith by our outward actions and our changed behaviour.

The main things that I took from the story of Zacchaeus were: to be open to people seeking Jesus and to be ready to respond to them, we are Jesus ambassadors here on earth and need to be ready to speak about him to everyone and not to forget about the marginalised, true repentance requires action.

FOR FURTHER THOUGHT:

1. What people in your local community would be the modern day equivalent of tax collectors? How can we reach them with the gospel?

2. Are you ready to talk to someone about Jesus and the gospel if the circumstance arises?

3. In our own lives has repentance been followed by active changed behaviour?

Craft Challenge

I have done 6x6 LO for my characters, but you could do any size LO or ATCs or anything else you can come up with.

Please leave a link to your creations.

Journey's With God's People Character 6 - Esther

For Such a Time as This

The story of Esther is familiar to most of us. One of the historical books of the old testament, it tells the story of a Persian King, who on being displeased with his wife, the Queen Vashti, deposes her and looks for a new Queen. A young Jewish girl, Esther is taken into the harem and prepared as one of his choices. She eventually becomes his Queen. Her uncle, Mordecai, learns of a plot against the King and Esther is able to warn him. The King's favourite, Haman, plots against Mordecai because he will not bow to him and decides to massacre the Jews within the Persian Empire. Mordecai calls on Esther to risk her life in approaching the King to save the Jews. After prayer and fasting Esther invites the King to two banquets during which Haman's plots are revealed and he is first required to honour Mordecai for saving the King's life and then later hung on the gallows he had built to hang Mordecai on. The Jews are saved and the festival of Purim is instituted to remember these events.

The book of Esther is, again short enough to be read in one sitting, and the dramatic way events unfold is compelling enough to hold anyone's attention. The book is unique in the Bible in one respect, it does not mention the name of God, and yet “though the name of God be not in it, the finger of God is, directing many minute events for the bringing about of his people's deliverance. The particulars are not only surprising and very entertaining, but edifying and very encouraging to the faith and hope of God's people in the most difficult and dangerous times.” Mt Henry.I have read the book many times, and different things have stood out to me, but for this study there are three things that have occurred to me.

The first sounds odd to our modern ears and sensibilities. It is that Esther 'knew her place'. In ch1 we meet her predecessor, Queen Vashti who is portrayed as proud and arrogant and her downfall came when she was summoned by the King and refused to leave her own banquet and friends to attend to him. To us, this sounds as if she had a good case, but to the King it showed disrespect, and disobedience, and worse set a wrong example to all the other women in the Empire. Esther however is shown to be a contrast to this. She is seen as accepting advice, pleasing all around her, being obedient to her Uncle and then those in charge of the Harem. We might prefer to see ourselves as strong independent women who know their own minds and may find it hard to reconcile that with this portrayal of the two women. There is however another way we can look at this. We can see in Esther a woman who was secure in knowing who she was. We can see a humility that was real rather than show, one that was willing to accept advice and authority, but also when the time came to step up and act. Her previous humility was maybe what saved her when the time came for her to act in disobedience to usual tradition and command. It is often said about poetry that in order to break the rules, you must first need to know how to keep them, for Esther the same thing applied. I think once we learn to be secure with who we are, and in Christ we are children of God, then we can freed from the worry of trying to 'keep our position' up. The humility that Esther showed is the same humility that Christ showed, the humility that we are enjoined to show. (Phil2:5-7) Humility is not an easy lesson, not often one we want to learn, and yet, it comes not from talking ourselves down, thinking badly of ourselves, but from a quiet assurance of who we are that then frees us to think well of others and act well towards them. Esther's humility meant she knew when to accept authority, when to listen to good and wise advice and when a choice came she also knew when and how to act, again with humility and wisdom.

The second point I see in the story of Esther is found in ch4. This is where the plot has been made against the Jews and Mordecai is asking Esther to help. Esther has said how anyone approaching the King without being summoned may be put to death unless the King specifically chooses to pardon them. Mordecai then pushes Esther further and asks 'and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?' (Esther4:14) There is assurance here, assurance that God has our circumstances under control and a challenge to consider what God has placed us here for. Wesley in his commentary on this verse says “Who knoweth - It is probable God hath raised thee to this honour for this very season. We should every one of us consider, for what end God has put us in the place where we are? And when an opportunity offers of serving God and our generation, we must take care not to let it slip” Some of the time we may know when we have the honour of serving God and our generation, other times we may do so unaware, but we can be sure that God is working his purposes out and has a plan and purpose for us. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer 29:11) This story is in some ways a story much more akin to our modern world than other of our favourite OT stories. There is no big miracle in this story, no angel to stop a Lion's mouth, no stopping of the sun, no rolling back the sea to make a dry path. In this story we see a different form of miracle. We see people praying and fasting, seeking the right way forward and then acting, prompted and strengthened by God. We see how God uses situations and people to carry out His purposes and protect His children. There is an encouragement for us in this story, an encouragement to remember that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom8:28) We see in this story of Esther an example that we do not feel is too far beyond us. We may not be married to Persian Kings, but we can seek God and take up the opportunities He gives us in our generation, we can serve God in 'such a time as this' today.

The final thing that grabbed me as I read Esther was the institution of the festival of Purim. This is one of several times when we see a festival instituted in order to remember a specific event. There are also other memorials set up, such as stones to mark the crossing of Jordan when the Children of Israel entered the land. Remembrance is shown to be important, even the very clothes people were required to wear were designed to remind them of God's law. (Num15:38-40). Throughout scripture we find God saying how He remembers His covenant with His people, the rainbow in the sky is a sign of that (Gen 9:13). We are also told over and over again to remember what God has done for his people, remember where we came from, remember God's laws and ultimately to remember Christ, 'And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." ' (Lk22:19)

Discussion/Meditation Questions:
1.How do you define humility and how does it co-exist with self-confidence?
2.What place has God put you in just now and how can you serve God and your generation where you currently are?
3.Remember, what has God done for you that you can share with us?

Craft Challenge
You may want to keep an ongoing record of these challenges, doing the same thing such as a small LO or an ATC or tag each time, or you may want to do something different for each character, something unique to them. We leave that choice up to you. I have done an ATC which is shown at the top of this post. We would love to see what you create, either leave a link here, or post in the gallery on the Faithscrappers Forum.

John the Baptist

John is the last of the Old Testament prophets and bridges the gap between the Old and the New Testaments. His name means “God is gracious”, this is a special sign to indicate that a new age was coming to Israel – the age of grace.

When the angel promised Zechariah that he would have a son and that he was to call him John, the angel said that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth and that his mission would be to prepare Israel for the coming Messiah. John’s life clearly demonstrates that this promise was fulfilled. He called a great many people to repentance and baptism in water. His message was very clear and delivered in a powerful manner.

John was very humble in spirit and describes himself as “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”. He says of his task that it is to “call attention to the One who is to come… whose sandals I am not worthy to untie”. He clearly knew what his task and purpose was and he was happy to obey. He knew that Jesus’ ministry would be greater than his, “He must increase but I must decrease” John 3:30.

The things that struck me about John was that he had a clear sense of his mission, that he obeyed God fully, he told his message clearly and powerfully, he was humble. He always pointed the way to Jesus and not to himself. In our Christian life do we always point the way clearly to Jesus, are we humble, do we obey God. When we serve God do we always give Him the glory?

Further Thought:

1. If you were to give your testimony would it be as clear as John’s. Why not take some time to write out your testimony and then share it with someone.

2. John Ruskin said “Really great men have the feeling that greatness is not in them, but through them”. Do you agree with this? How are we to be humble in our lives?

3 Preaching has been defined as “a manifestation of the living Word, by the written Word and through the spoken word”. John achieved this. Pray for your own minister this week that God would help him/her to be clear in the message they bring each week and that through this message people would be drawn closer to Christ.


Craft Challenge

Challenge is to create something based on this character. I have made a 6x6 LO but you could do ATCs or anything else. Please leave us a link to your finished work.

A Journey with God's People - Hosea

Today we are looking at a less well known character. Hosea, one of the so-called 'minor' prophets. Called minor not because they were any less used by God, or less important, but simply because they are shorter and less well known. Their import, authority, and message is as great as any of the 'major' prophets. Talking about these prophets Matthew Henry says “ And so in the Christian church there have been many burning and shining lights, who are not known to posterity by their writings, and yet were no way inferior in gifts, and graces, and serviceableness to their own generation, than those who are; and some who have left but little behind them, and make no great figure among authors, were yet as valuable men as the more voluminous writers.”  Even in this there is something for us to take hold of, no matter what we think of ourselves and our position, we are valuable and usable by God.

Often when reading the prophetic books of the Old Testament, it is hard to remember where they fit into the history described in the historical books. They are neatly sectioned off  and somehow we often read them separately. So, lets start with a brief look at where Hosea fits in. In the generations following David and Solomon, as part of a judgement for sin, the Kingdom of Israel was split into the two; the larger Northern kingdom of Israel made of 10 tribes, and the smaller Southern kingdom of Judah made of the remaining 2 tribes. These two nations had separate kings and were independent entities, but with the same culture, history and often the same problems.  There were good and bad kings and the countries went through cycles of sin and a temporary repentance, often dependant on the leadership of the King. Hosea prophesied to the Northern Kingdom during it's last 30 years. He was about a hundred years after Elijah and Elisha, about 30 years after Jonah, and contemporary with Amos who was also a Northern prophet. At a similar time, but for a longer period Isaiah was prophesying to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. At the time Hosea began his ministry Israel was  going through a stable and prosperous period, but had turned from God and found other interests. During his ministry the country began to feel more and more threatened by Assyria and for a brief time went through a form of repentance, but that did not bear fruit and despite the threat they once more went their own way and the end of Hosea's ministry saw the fall of the Kingdom to the Assyrians. 

The story of Hosea, the man, is tied up with the prophecy's he brought. We are presented with the story of his marriage and family as part of the prophetic word. In Hos ch1-3 we see Hosea presenting his story. Told by God to marry an unfaithful woman he does so and she bears three children to whom Hosea gives names prophetic of the relationship between God and Israel.  She goes off with another man or men and ends in slavery. At this point Hosea buys her back and she spends a time in seclusion. Although the story of their marriage does not continue, the seclusion is for a time and there appears to be the promise that it will end and their marriage restored. This story is shown as being initiated by God, that it is no accident that Hosea's personal experiences prepare him for his ministry, prepare him to bring prophecy to Israel and prepare him to understand the heart of God. This is a ministry Hosea could not have had without his own personal experience of the suffering and pain of unfaithfulness. We are not shown Hosea's emotions, this is not a story told as tear-jerker, it is told to show the consistency of God's love. Hosea sees the heart of God revealed through his own pain and he then speaks out, sharing from a deep and personal understanding of God's pain and grieving over sin and His love and longing for His people to return to Him. 

We all go through difficult and sometimes painful circumstances. We all have things in our lives that we do not understand. None of this is a bar to God using us, nor is it a bar to God revealing himself to us. The things we learn of God during those times are often the things that bring us closest to the heart of God, and often the things that give our testimony power. We may not be called to be prophets to a nation, but we are all called to be prophets (someone who brings God's word) to our communities, our friends and our neighbours. The word we bring is the word that is seeded and grown in us as we seek God in the darkness.

I've not gone into a lot of detail about the prophetic word Hosea brought to Israel as this is more a study of Hosea himself, but I think to understand Hosea more and to begin to grasp something of the revelation he had of God's love, we need to look at his teaching. The book of Hosea is only 14 chapters long and can easily be read in one sitting. Sometimes it is good to do this and see the whole message as one. I think the message can be summed up one word, LOVE. Hosea preached the same message that we do, that God provides a way back to himself. Although he does list and speak against some specific sins Israel was committing, he makes clear that the underlying sin is the rejection of God, the God to whom Israel was betrothed in covenant relationship, this is seen as the nations adultery.(eg 4:1-3) In ch1:10 and in Ch 12 we are shown parallels to Jacob and to the children of Israel in Egypt, showing that exile, even for sin is not the last word and that there is redemption from exile. In ch11 God is shown as a caring parent, one whose love is stronger than the child's rebellion and esp in 11:8 we see a conflict that tears at God's heart, the conflict between wanting to love and cherish and the need to chastise. We see a love that suffers and does not want to punish and correct, but a love that is also holy and just and knows it must be done. Hosea identified with God's love and suffering, he had a revelation of the heart of God, a  heart torn apart.

The final chapter of Hosea shows what is to come, repentance and restoration. This speaks of both the return from exile which would eventually come and of Christ. It calls for a deeper repentance than that seen in ch6, which was more a form of words, of turning to God with no recognition of sin, in the presumption that God would receive them and the threat from the Assyrians would go away, a presumptuous 'repentance'. The repentance that ch 14 is calling people to is one from the heart, one that comes with a recognition of sin that is missing in ch6 and calling to God for salvation. This is where we see God rejoicing in restoring his people to himself, a foreshadowing of what happens when we turn to Jesus, Ch14 shows the return of the people of Israel to God during and after the Exile, but it also shows a relationship between God and man that became a reality in Jesus, the ultimate expression of God's heart for us.

Discussion

What has God revealed to you about himself through your circumstances, or your experiences?

You are valuable and usable by God...sometimes we don't believe this and sometimes we put obstacles in the way of being used by God, why is this and what can we do about it? (No, I don't have the answers!)

Anything else this study or your own reading of Hosea prompts?

You may wish to comment here or to join the discussion on the FaithscrappersUK Forum.

Craft Challenge

You may want to keep an ongoing record of these challenges, doing the same thing such as a small LO or an ATC or tag each time, or you may want to do something different for each character, something unique to them. We leave that choice up to you. We would love to see what you create, either leave a link here, or post in the gallery on the Faithscrappers Forum. I've chosen to do an ATC or set of ATCs for each character and mine for Hosea is here: