photo editing – Michelle Lesley

Happy Wednesday, Ladies! It’s time to kick off our next Bible study:

…..with a fun title pic contest!

What does the Bible say about discerning between true and false doctrine? How does God regard false teachers, and how are we to deal with them in our personal lives and families, and as the church?

Have you ever read the book of Job? When we think about Job’s story, our minds usually turn to the theme of suffering, and how to suffer well as Christians, but did you realize another major theme of the book of Job is discernment? Job’s three friends come to him in his suffering and comfort him with … false doctrine. Job is well on his way to believing them when his true friend, Elihu, steps in and, though he’s not perfect, does his level best to correct them.

The theme verse for this topical study in discernment comes from Elihu’s speech in Job 34:

Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know; for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.
Job 34:2-4

This 11-15 lesson study will help us to be wise women who pay attention to what God says about discernment and how to avoid false doctrine. It will show us how to test words as the palate tastes food. It will teach us to know what is good, so we can choose what is right.

But before we get started studying, how about a little fun?

You’ve probably noticed that I design a title picture for most of the Bible studies I write. Here are a few past title pics I’ve designed myself:

But sometimes, I like for us all to share in your creativity. Y’all have sent in some beautiful and creative entries in our past title pic contests – indeed, the title pics for The Sermon on the Mount, The Women of Genesis, Living Stones, Imperishable Beauty, and other studies, were all designed by readers – so, once again, I wanted to get some of you involved in the design process for our new study.

You can see the rest of my Bible study title pics as well as those designed by my readers at the Bible Studies tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page. Take a moment to look them over to get a feel for my style and the general appearance I like my title pics to portray.

If you enjoy and have a knack for photo editing, or you know someone who does, I’m accepting submissions for title pictures for the Choose What Is Good study. If your submission is chosen it will be used each week of the study, and you’ll be credited (name and website, if any) by watermark. I’d love to be able to offer a huge cash prize, but, hey, we’re small potatoes here. This is just for fun and maybe a little publicity for your site, if you have one.

Contest Guidelines

☙ Ladies only. Sorry guys! :0)

☙ You must use images that don’t require attribution. Pictures you’ve taken yourself are fine, as are images from sources such as Pixabay, Pexels, Freely, Unsplash, StockSnap, or other stock photo web sites. Please include the image source web sites you use along with your submission. (You cannot just grab and use any old picture off the internet. Photographers own their images and usually require permission, attribution, and often a fee, for their use.)

☙ Title pics should be landscape (a horizontal rectangle) with a width of 2000-4000 pixels and proportionate height. I prefer JPG images, but PNG is fine, too, if necessary.

☙ Your title pic must contain the full title of the study: Choose What Is Right: A Study in Discernment (Be sure to double check your spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. You can omit the colon after “Right” if “Choose What Is Right” and “A Study in Discernment” are not on the same line. See my image above. Notice that “in” is the only word not capitalized in this title.).

☙ Since I use the title pic background image for each lesson’s suggested memory verse, please send a blank copy (no words on it) of the picture you’re using along with the title pic you design.

(In case you were wondering, the image on the left is **not** a design style that’s likely to be selected.)

☙ If your submission is selected, I’ll be glad to watermark it with your website address (please submit your picture without any watermarks) if you have one, as long as your web site doesn’t conflict with my statement of faith or my beliefs outlined in the Welcome tab.

☙ Deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m., Monday, February 27, 2023.

☙ E-mail your title pic submission along with a blank copy of your image, your full name, web site address (if any), and the source(s) you used for your image(s) to MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com. You are welcome to submit as many images as you like.

☙ Please don’t be offended if your submission isn’t selected. If I peruse all the submissions and I’m just not “feeling it,” I may still elect to design one of my own.

☙☙☙☙☙

Think about how the Bible describes and defines discernment, Scripture’s posture toward false doctrine, and the necessity of sound doctrine, and try to capture one of those themes in your image.

Happy designing!

Titus Bible Study

New Bible Study Kickoff and Title Pic Contest

August 3, 2022August 2, 2022 Michelle Lesley

Happy Wednesday, Ladies! It’s time to kick off our next Bible study:

…..with a fun title pic contest!

What does God think about the way His church should operate? What are the qualifications and character traits of godly pastors, elders, and church members? What is your role in the Body, and why is it so crucial? God is a God of order, and He wants the church to operate in an orderly way – to glorify Him – as we worship, work, and witness.

…that you would set in order what remains…
Titus 1:5

In 1&2 Timothy: The Structure and Spirit of the Church, we studied the first two of the pastoral epistles. Titus: God’s Order of Worship brings us to the third and final pastoral epistle. The pastoral epistles are God’s instructions via Paul to pastors Timothy and Titus – and subsequently to all pastors – about the way His church should run. Sort of a “policy and procedure manual,” if you will. But pastors aren’t solely responsible for the smooth sailing of the church. We all contribute to glorifying God by learning and robustly filling out our roles in the church in a godly and orderly way. Over the course of approximately 5-8 lessons, we’ll learn how to do that from the book of Titus.

But before we get started studying next Wednesday, how about a little fun?

You’ve probably noticed that I design a title picture for most of the Bible studies I write. Here are a few past title pics I’ve designed myself:

But sometimes, I like for us all to share in your creativity. Y’all have sent in some beautiful and creative entries in our past title pic contests – indeed, the title pics for The Sermon on the Mount, The Women of Genesis, Living Stones, and Imperishable Beauty, and other studies, were all designed by readers – so, once again, I wanted to get some of you involved in the design process for our new study.

If you enjoy and have a knack for photo editing, or you know someone who does, I’m accepting submissions for title pictures for the Titus study. If your submission is chosen it will be used each week of the study, and you’ll be credited (name or website) by watermark. I’d love to be able to offer a huge cash prize, but, hey, we’re small potatoes here. This is just for fun and maybe a little publicity for your site, if you have one.

Contest Guidelines

☙ Ladies only. Sorry guys! :0)

☙ You must use images that don’t require attribution. Pictures you’ve taken yourself are fine, as are images from sources such as Pixabay, Pexels, Freely, Unsplash, StockSnap, or other free stock photo web sites. Please include the image source web sites you use along with your submission. (You cannot just grab and use any old picture off the internet. Photographers own their images and usually require permission, attribution, and often a fee, for their use.)

☙ Title pics should be landscape (a horizontal rectangle) with a width of 2000-4000 pixels and proportionate height. I prefer JPG images, but PNG is fine, too, if necessary.

☙ Your title pic must contain the full title of the study: Titus: God’s Order of Service (Be sure to double check your spelling and punctuation. You can leave the colon after “Titus” out if “Titus” and “God’s Order of Service” are not on the same line. See my image above.).

☙ Deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m., Monday, August 8, 2022.

☙ Please don’t be offended if your submission isn’t selected. If I peruse all the submissions and I’m just not “feeling it,” I may still elect to design one of my own.

☙☙☙☙☙

Think about – maybe even read – Titus and try to capture in your image the theme of the epistle or a key truth expressed by a certain verse.

Happy designing!

Psalm 119 Bible Study

New Bible Study Kickoff and Title Pic Contest

January 26, 2022January 26, 2022 Michelle Lesley

Happy Wednesday, Ladies! It’s time to kick off our next Bible study:

…..with a fun title pic contest!

What does God’s Word teach us about…itself? As we make our way through this lovely psalm, you’ll learn about loving God’s Word, the various ways Scripture helps us in our daily lives, and the reliability of God’s Word. But most importantly, you’ll learn about and increase in your love for the God of the Word.

Weighing in at a hefty 176 verses, Psalm 119 is well known as the longest chapter in the Bible, and is similar in length to Philippians and James. Think you can memorize it? I challenge you to try!

Psalm 119 will be an “expositorially topical” (an expository deep dive into a short segment of Scripture) study, similar to The Sermon on the Mount and The Ten. Over roughly 14 to 18 lessons, we will examine, along with the psalmist, the attributes of the God who breathed out Scripture, and the way He uses Scripture to grow, strengthen, comfort, reassure, and equip us.

But before we get started studying next Wednesday, how about a little fun?

You’ve probably noticed that I design a title picture for each Bible study I write. Here are a few past title pics:

You can see the rest of them at the Bible Studies tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page, if you like, to get a feel for my style and the general appearance I like my title pics to portray.

Y’all have sent in some beautiful and creative entries in our past title pic contests – indeed, the title pics for The Sermon on the Mount, The Women of Genesis, Living Stones, and Imperishable Beauty were all designed by readers – so, once again, I wanted to get some of you involved in the design process for our new study.

Do you enjoy and have a knack for photo editing? Know someone who does? If so, I’m accepting submissions for title pictures for the Psalm 119 study. If your submission is chosen it will be used each week of the study, and you’ll be credited (name or website) by watermark. I’d love to be able to offer a huge cash prize, but, hey, we’re small potatoes here. This is just for fun and maybe a little publicity for your site, if you have one.

Contest Guidelines

☙ You must use images that don’t require attribution. Pictures you’ve taken yourself are fine, as are images from sources such as Pixabay, Pexels, Freely, Unsplash, StockSnap, or other free stock photo web sites. Please include the image source web sites you use along with your submission. (You cannot just grab and use any old picture off the internet. Photographers own their images and usually require permission, attribution, and often a fee, for their use.)

☙ Title pics should be landscape (a horizontal rectangle) with a width of 1000-2000 pixels and proportionate height. I prefer JPG images, but PNG is fine, too, if necessary.

☙ Your title pic must contain the full title of the study: Psalm 119: The Glory of God’s Word (Be sure to double check your spelling and punctuation. You can leave the colon after 119 out if “Psalm 119” and “The Glory of God’s Word” are not on the same line. See my image above.).

☙ Deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m., Monday, January 31, 2022.

☙ E-mail your title pic submission along with your full name, web site address (if any), and the source(s) you used for your image(s) to MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com. You are welcome to submit as many images as you like.

☙ Please don’t be offended if your submission isn’t selected. If I peruse all the submissions and I’m just not “feeling it,” I may still elect to design one of my own.

☙☙☙☙☙

Think about – maybe even read – Psalm 119 and try to capture in your image the theme of the chapter or a key truth expressed by a certain verse.

Happy designing!

Sermon on the Mount Bible Study

New Bible Study Kickoff and Title Pic Contest

January 13, 2021January 11, 2021 Michelle Lesley

Happy Wednesday, Ladies!

Thank you so much for all of your helpful input regarding which Bible study you’d like to do next. We will be doing Forgiven to Forgive¹ at a later date, but today, we’re kicking off our next study…

…..with a fun title pic contest!

What does God’s Word teach us about thinking biblically and developing Christian character? Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew starts off with a list of character traits God blesses (the Beatitudes), then fleshes out how to submit to Scripture in real life scenarios in order for the Holy Spirit to grow us in those godly character traits.

The Sermon on the Mount will be an “expositorially topical” (an expository deep dive into a short segment of Scripture) study of Matthew 5-7, similar in format to The Ten. We will examine the character traits God blesses in Christians and how God develops those traits in us as we walk with Him through the practical circumstances of life and as we develop a biblical worldview.

But before we get started studying, how about a little fun?

You’ve probably noticed that I design a title picture for each Bible study I write. Here are a few past title pics:

You can see the rest of them at the Bible Studies tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page, if you like, to get a feel for my style and the general appearance I like my title pics to portray.

Y’all have sent in some beautiful and creative entries in our past title pic contests – indeed, the title pics for The Women of Genesis, Living Stones, and Imperishable Beauty were all designed by readers – so, once again, I wanted to get some of you involved in the design process for our new study.

Do you enjoy and have a knack for photo editing? Know someone who does? If so, I’m accepting submissions for title pictures for The Sermon on the Mount study. If your submission is chosen it will be used each week of the study, and you’ll be credited (name or website) by watermark. I’d love to be able to offer a huge cash prize, but, hey, we’re small potatoes here. This is just for fun and maybe a little publicity for your site, if you have one.

Contest Guidelines

☙ You must use images that don’t require attribution. Pictures you’ve taken yourself are fine, as are images from sources such as Pixabay, Pexels, Freely, Unsplash, StockSnap, or other free stock photo web sites. Please include the image source web sites you use along with your submission. (You cannot just grab and use any old picture off the internet. Photographers own their images and usually require permission, attribution, and often a fee, for their use.)

☙ Title pics should be landscape (a horizontal rectangle) with a width of 1000-2000 pixels and proportionate height. I prefer JPG images, but PNG is fine, too, if necessary.

☙ Your title pic must contain the full title of the study: The Sermon on the Mount. (Be sure to double check your spelling).

☙ Deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. Monday, January 18, 2021.

☙ Please don’t be offended if your submission isn’t selected. If I peruse all the submissions and I’m just not “feeling it,” I may still elect to design one of my own.

☙☙☙☙☙

Think about – maybe even read – the Sermon on the Mount and try to capture in your image the theme of what Jesus was teaching or what it might have looked or felt like to be in the audience Jesus preached it to.

Happy designing!

¹For those who were hoping for the study on forgiveness, you’ll notice that the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 does touch on that topic, so we will cover it, albeit briefly, as part of this study.

1&2 Peter Bible Study

New Bible Study Kickoff and Title Pic Contest

January 15, 2020January 14, 2020 Michelle Lesley

Happy Wednesday, Ladies!

Today, we’re kicking off our new study..…with a fun title pic contest!

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5

This passage captures the heart of 1 & 2 Peter. Jesus is the living stone. The solid rock. The strong and mighty foundation of our faith. As His children, we are to be built up into a spiritual house – little living stones upon the Chief Cornerstone. In these two epistles, Peter (a living “stone” himself in more ways than one) shows us how to be holy as I am holy – “chips off the old Rock,” you might say – individually, in our families, in our churches, and in the world.

But before we get started studying, how about a little fun?

You’ve probably noticed that I design a title picture for each Bible study I write. Here are a few past title pics:

(You can see the rest of them at the Bible Studies tab, if you like.)

Y’all have sent in some beautiful and creative entries in our past title pic contests, so, once again, I wanted to get some of you involved in the design process for our new study.

Do you enjoy and have a knack for photo editing? Know someone who does? If so, I’m accepting submissions for title pictures for the Living Stones study. If your submission is chosen it will be used each week of the study, and you’ll be credited (name or website) by watermark. I’d love to be able to offer a huge cash prize, but, hey, we’re small potatoes here. This is just for fun and maybe a little publicity for your site, if you have one.

Contest Guidelines

☙ You must use images that don’t require attribution. Pictures you’ve taken yourself are fine, as are images from sources such as Pixabay, Pexels, Freely, Unsplash, StockSnap, or other free stock photo web sites. Please include the image source web sites you use along with your submission. (You cannot just grab and use any old picture off the internet. Photographers own their images and usually require permission, attribution, and often a fee, for their use.)

☙ Title pics should be landscape (a horizontal rectangle) with a width of 1000-2000 pixels and proportionate height. I prefer JPG images, but PNG is fine, too, if necessary.

☙ Your title pic must contain the full title of the study: Living Stones: A Study of 1 & 2 Peter. (Be sure to double check your spelling).

☙ If your submission is selected, I’ll be glad to watermark it with your website address (please submit your picture without any watermarks) as long as your web site doesn’t conflict with my statement of faith or my beliefs outlined in the Welcome tab.

☙ Deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. Monday, January 20, 2020.

☙ Please don’t be offended if your submission isn’t selected. If I peruse all the submissions and I’m just not “feeling it,” I may still elect to design one of my own.

☙☙☙☙☙

Feel free to share this around with friends who have an interest in photo editing. If you want to take a whack at it for fun but don’t know where to start, play around with Be Funky, PicMonkey, or Canva and see which one works best for you. Think about God’s heart for holiness for the Believer and try to capture the theme of 1 & 2 Peter in your image.

Happy designing!