With prayerful encouragement ...

We recently joined a new church, and imagine my excitement when I heard that they have a CARD MINISTRY. This is something that feels like it's right up my alley!

When I approached the coordinator, to offer my services, I had to chuckle a little on the inside because she sounded so dubious about accepting my offer to donate my handmade cards. I understand however that she was probably worried about how to shake me off if they were terrible. I really feel like the card making is a strength of mine though, and if she knew me better, I think she would know that unless I'm confident in something, I simply don't volunteer. This is NOT strength, it's just a protective measure. I hate to fail.

She agreed to take six cards from me, and she mentioned that she's looking for cards to express a message of prayerful encouragement. I printed a couple of Certainly Celery card bases on my computer in a couple of different fonts, and then built cards to go with them. This is one of the two that I've made so far. I stamped the flowers, then colored them in with markers and cut them out. The large flower is mounted on dimensionals, and except the base, all the cardstock on this card is made from scraps. The other card I made is a totally different design, but came out as incredibly blurry photo-wise, so I'll try to upload that tonight because I did get a picture, but didn't get it downloaded.

When I showed my cards to the minister's wife, she gasped and pulled me into a tight hug, practically towing me down the aisle of the church to Joyce, the card ministry coordinator who hadn't seen the cards yet. I'm now hopeful about setting up a women's day at the church where I can maybe get volunteers to help me with stamping and assembling. I think it would be so special for church members who were needing solace to get something made for them by their church community.

I don't talk of church, religion or God often on my blog, but I wanted to leave off on this post with a quick footnote of how right it felt to be making something for this purpose. I will also make cards that will go to parents of new babies, which is a joyful occasion, but I also am very hopeful that my cards will be sent off through the ministry workers and that they might help someone feel better in a time of struggle. Do any of you out there have experience with a card ministry? Any tips or hints? I know that when I originally volunteered, I did so because as an avid stamper I ALWAYS have extra cards, and I was so happy to give them for a good purpose! If you have cards that you'd like to donate for use by our church, please contact me and I'll get you my mailing address.