Be My Valentine!

Here's a little Valentine for you today!  A heart embellished graphic that carries a reminder of just how valuable your heart is!  

It's so important to guard your heart because, as we discovered in a beautiful passage in the Bible, that's where life starts, that's where the issues of life spring from.  We like the way Proverbs 4:23 says it best:

"Keep a vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts.

We've been learning just how important keeping a watch over our hearts really is and it led us to another beautiful discovery... our hearts will follow what we treasure. It's true!  Just listen to the way a man named Matthew said it:

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matthew 6:21

So we're choosing to re-evaluate what is really important in this life and with God's direction we're discovering true treasures and blissfully letting our hearts follow.

Happy Valentine's Day,
The Velvet Lime Girls

Thank-you to Evergreen Enterprises and FlagsRUs for choosing our Valentine's Day themed artwork BE MINE - My Heart, My Treasure to grace their garden flags and Sassafras Doormats. 
We appreciate you all!

You're Loved

We're sending you a Valentine sentiment today to remind you of just how very loved you are. It's a tender, heartfelt expression from God, the one who knew you before you were born and who has promised to never leave you.  Just listen to the way he talks about you:

"You are precious and honored ... and I love you."  Isaiah 43:4

Whoa...precious, honored, loved.  That beats any box of chocolates, flowers or sweet sentiments you may or may not receive this Valentine's Day.  YOU are LOVED by GOD.

So tuck this little Valentine in your heart today and let it's sweetness just melt-all-over-your-soul.

You are so loved,

The Velvet Lime Girls 

P.S. Thank-you to Legacy Publishing Group for the Valentine's Day gift to us of this coaster ... with our artwork!  They've also featured our artwork on calendars, cards and stationery.  Love working with this great team! 

Chocolate

Happy Valentine's Day! We hope you've had a little chocolate by now on this beautiful Valentine's Day.  If not, let your heart sink into to this sweet message today.  It's a lighthearted graphic inspired by a deadline that Marybeth was working on late at night ... 11:23 p.m., to be exact. 
Chocolate takes on a new meaning that late at night.


Our graphic inspirations usually have a biblical reference in the bottom right corner, but this one is a totally different.  This reference is inspired solely by our art director, Marybeth, at precisely 11:23 pm. Chocolate lovers everywhere will understand.

Happy Valentine's Day from The Velvet Lime Girls!

YOU- A Sparkling Jewel!

With all the love-shaped sentiments swirling this week, as Valentine's Day approaches, our hearts were drawn to a favorite "love-expression" from the One who loves us the most. 

"Oh, afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.  I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels and all your walls of precious stones."  Isaiah 54:11-12

Wow.  Now that's real love.  A promise to each of us that even when we're feeling a bit "storm-tossed", "not-comforted", or "afflicted", we will be made established, firm and as rock-solid as a precious stone.

We've always been a bit intrigued by that word "antimony" mentioned in the first part of this expression. What exactly is it? We were pretty sure it meant something good.  Today we discovered that this substance has a very, unique characteristic.  It's "resistant to fire".  Yeah, it's actually used as a "fire-retardant". So, the promise above took on some new meaning for us today, a deeper expression of love and care actually.  It's as if God is not only letting us know He'll shape us up into a precious jewel, He's saying, no matter how hot the "fires" or challenges may burn in our lives, He's wrapping a fire-resistant shield around us. He's "setting our stones", our lives, in antimony. It's fire-resistant. It's real love.

So, today, if you're facing a few "fires" in life, or feeling as rough-cut as these raw stones above, remember you have a real lover of your soul who is waiting to "set" your life into antimony... into a fire-resistant, firm foundation. A settled place, a beautiful place, a loved place.  A place where you will become a sparkling jewel, a battlement of rubies, a wall of precious stones.  Oh, you are so strong wrapped in His love.

The Velvet Lime Girls