Have you heard God’s voice today?

His kindness and His love never fail, run out or dry up.
He does not grow tired of me, no matter how negative, lost, fearful, or cranky I become. No matter how tired of me everyone else gets when I don’t bounce back from a major upset, He is always FOR me. He takes delight in me, and in His thoughts of me. His love for me makes Him smile!

Recently, I have been learning that the Lord will speak to me through the most unlikely methods I can imagine. Just to get my attention! Lately, everything I touch is being used to speak to me.

I love art.

I have been coloring lately, and totally enjoying it. It’s good therapy. I am able to sort my inner thoughts a bit easier when my hands are busy. I like the coloring books that are journals. I will be all involved in designing the look of the page, choosing colors, precisely coloring the tiniest of places with my .002 markers, and the Lord will begin to speak. So I journal what He says, or what I am struggling with. Here’s an example:

Lord, show me the way past this sorrowful place of being “stuck”.
I don’t want the sad parts of the last segment of my life to bleed through into  the pages of the new chapter of my life.
…
Some scars are indelible, just like the marks on this journal page from the ink bleeding through on the previous page without my knowing that it would. These marks cannot be removed.
The enemy voices pointing out all my weakness and flaws and failures are overpowering at times.
Only God can stop the voices and bind the lies of the enemy.
It is very difficult to be excited about decorating a new picture over the ruins left over from the last one. But You, Lord, have a design in mind.

Holy Spirit, come close to me. I need you.

Kiss my eyes that I may see things the way You see them.
Re-design my life—right over my scars and wounds—using Your brightest, most opaque colors so that the marks will not show through. Or, find a way to arrange it so that the scars blend in with the design.

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I also love sewing. Most of my sewing involves self-designed items from recycled materials.I enjoy holding something in my hands and asking it what it wants to become; then diving into something new.

The Lord spoke to me one day while I was making a piece of patchwork from T Shirt scraps left over from the creation of a rag quilt.

The Lord said,

Don’t listen to worship music today while you sew. I have things to say to you through the process of sewing.

See if you can find a spiritual application for these thoughts in your own life. This is what He pointed out to me as I worked.

The squares are cut exactly the same, but if they aren’t sewed precisely and carefully together, they will not match at the corner meeting places. Follow the plan that has been determined for you.
There is a right and wrong, forwards and backwards way to set the squares in place. Pay careful attention in positioning them in relation to each other. Sometimes it is very difficult to tell the right side from the wrong side.
Design carefully the manner in which the rows and columns will interact to present a pattern of colors. Lay it out on the table. Look at the whole picture.  Make changes as needed. Then number the rows and columns, to keep from getting confused when putting it all together. Proper identification and order are essential to keeping the integrity of the pattern whole. It will not be easily obvious to you when you are not looking at the wider picture, putting together the individual blocks.
Do not stretch the fabric while sewing. It will lose shape, and pull the surrounding blocks out of shape.
If an error is made, refrain from discarding the project in frustration; and patiently rip out the stitches and redo the section until it is done correctly.
Mend any tears or holes caused by ripping out stitches, even if they are very tiny. They will cause raveling and damage to the project later if left untreated.

The Lord showed me that there is a purpose for every little part of the process that I am going through, and it is not wise to rush through or disregard any part of it. There are things to gain right now, through the exact things I am experiencing; and there is no other way to gain them. As He spoke to me while sewing that day, I realized that I am a work of His hands and He is following all of the procedures just right to guarantee that I will turn out to be His perfect work of art. Sewing with people’s treasured “memory” fabrics has taught me that no matter how severely I might botch a project, I cannot throw it out. The fabric is a treasure that cannot be replaced. Therefore I have to patiently remove every errant stitch, reposition it and do it over, again and again if necessary, until I get it right. It may need to be re-designed around the “scars” of my errors, but the identity of the material must always be retained. This little bear at left is a case in point. I had totally ruined the face pieces and became so frustrated that the rest of it was actually in the trash. The Lord wouldn’t let me leave it there. There was no more fabric to replace the ruined pieces, and I went through my box of scraps until I found a piece that made a good contrast and re-invented the face. I found that the unplanned change actually gave him more character!

What are some of the things you love to do? Find a way to do them with your heart and spirit wide open–God may choose to speak to you through the things that mean the most to you!

Let us pray together. God is with us. God is for us.
Nothing can come against us when we are abiding in Him.
I choose not to forget the glorious cleansing and growth experiences I have had in Him.

Lord, silence the voices and circumstances that are lying to me, and lift me up above them. Renew me by transforming my mind and its thought processes (Romans 12:1).

Where there was death, You bring Life.
Where there was fear, You bring Courage.
When I am afraid, You are with me.
Thank You for the Cross. Nothing can come against Your work. No one can stand against You. You are “God-With-Us”, the “God-Who-Sees-Us.”I choose to stand firmly in You, and I choose to believe on all of Your promises and spoken Words.
You are the Solid Rock, my Sure Foundation. You are faithful and You will never fail.
I won’t turn back, no matter the circumstances. I lay down all my doubts and fears and take hold of YOU, going forward in the name of Jesus. Amen.