Word Art Wednesday

Welcome to this week's Word Art Wednesday challenge!  We are so excited to have repeat participants every week and hope that if you've never participated this will be the week you start!  It's so easy.  Create something encouraging and family-friendly, post it in an online gallery or you blog and link it to our challenge post for this week.  We'll choose winners from among our participants.  This week's sole sponsor is Our Daily Bread Designs.  They have a generous gift waiting for a winner!  We don't have any scripture art for you today, but will focus instead on the lovely stamps and dies you can find in our sponsor's store.

My sample:

Kelly Holland, owner of Our Daily Bread Designs, generously supplied our team with a set of our choice.  I chose the set Anchor My Soul and I just love it.  It has special meaning to me for a variety of reasons, one certainly being it's just beautiful. 

This month is the fourth anniversary of my dad's passing from life to life in heaven.  When I received the doctor's prognosis of his terminal cancer, I decided he needed to hear it from family.  I drove the 20 minutes it takes between our house and my parents' home and I can tell you it seemed like hours.  I struggled to hold back the tears so I would remain calm and composed when I told him.  I wanted to be strong for my precious daddy.

My father has always amazed me and in so many ways he has been a rock in our family.  We all greatly respected our patriarch.  As I shared the news with my dad, his response was as solid as he'd always been.  He paused to contemplate the news for only a moment then said, "So be it. My anchor holds."  His anchor was Jesus and he new his Savior had a firm grasp on his soul.  He would not be moved by this experience.  His anchor did hold, and three weeks later my faithful, preacher-daddy pulled anchor and sailed home to his precious Jesus. 

The following year, in the fall, my mother, sister, son and I went to Ireland.  It was a lifetime dream of my mother (and all of us!), so we just decided to go.  We traversed the southern region of the country and every place we visited was our new favorite.  We all felt like the country of my mother's ancestors was home to us too.  We traveled to the southeastern tip of Ireland to Hook Head peninsula and toured the lighthouse there. 

The history of this place is amazing and nearly everywhere you go in Ireland you feel like it's a step back into the past.  As we were leaving the lighthouse, we passed this huge anchor. 

To me it was so significant and symbolic.  Here we were in Ireland, where my dad had promised to take my mother some day.  This scene took me instantly back to the day I shared his prognosis with him.  This anchor was a beautiful reminder of my dad's faith and his unwavering trust in his Savior. 

My dad's hope was not anchored in a medical treatment or anything the doctors could do. His certain hope was anchored in who Jesus is.  These torn piece from the hymnal, Solid Rock, exemplifies my dad's faith.  In every high and stormy gale, his anchor held within the veil.  And when the veil was torn away and he saw his Savior face to face, he knew in an instant that Jesus had indeed anchored hs soul and he was home. 

My anchor is the that same Anchor...Jesus.  I know He will hold me steady regardless of gale winds of life or death.  My trust is in Him. 

You can find this beautiful set in the Our Daily Bread Designs store HERE.

Thank you for stopping in today.  I hope you'll head over to Word Art Wednesday's challenge blog to learn more about our challenge and how you can earn the chance to win a generous gift from our sponsor, Our Daily Bread Designs.