Tag: god

Inspired by “God’s Grace” at https://www.facebook.com/EmbraceGodsGraceNow

I began my relationship with “God’s Grace” in the winter. I was struggling with some S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and reactionary stress and depression. The clouds around me seemed especially dark and murky. I was using my light box and tuning forks to help ward off the blues.  

 Light became important to me, more than ever before. The lack of light caused distress, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Like a gentle kiss from a loving God, “God’s Grace” began to show up on my Facebook feed, unsolicited. I first noticed her peaceful, gentle face, always a quiet little half-smile no matter how deep the darkness around her. I enjoyed the daily devotional posts and looked forward to them each day. I realized that “God’s Grace” was A.I generated, even the illustrations; but it still spoke to my spirit and brought calmness. Gradually, I found myself wanting to be like “Grace” and increasingly I realized she was almost like an extension of “me.” Her prayers were like mine, her personality was like mine, her reactions were like mine.

I continued to be blessed by my daily excursions into her  world, and I could feel a gradual building up of peace. I noticed that in every illustration, no matter how dark the sky or how  copious her tears, she was always wearing a daisy in her hair, and looking up and beyond herself, seeing at least a tiny rift in the darkness through which a warm golden glory passed in rays from above. The glowing glory rays seemed to be shining directly upon her. Sometimes the whole sky was lit up with the glory; other times there was just a minuscule, hopeful rift in the gloom above. She stood in the warmth of that glow, basking in the presence of God. I wanted to be like “Grace”, with her gentle thoughts and prayers and surrenderings and quietly confident hopeful whisperings to God. The sweet little grandmotherly figure, with her conservative clothing, sensible shoes, and pretty silver hair, was indeed growing on me. She even used a similar gesture while worshipping God: her hand upon her heart. I often do that!

I began to realize that her sweet peacefulness—the peace of God—was slowly seeping into me from around the edges, and I was experiencing a shift. I was still going through a couple of hard things, but I felt differently. The beauty of life often comes in through the cracks, and God’s light always finds a way in. This is beginning to cause me to wear a sweet little half-smile on my own face!

What price will I pay for such a treasure? None, except the loving act of surrender and obedience. I will not be distracted or destroyed by the demonic attacks constantly being leveled against me in today’s world. My eyes are drawn to the sky and  the glimpse of glory that is within my grasp. I do not have to strive for it but neither is it passive in nature.  It is always within my reach. I will not be moved, though the sky may momentarily appear to close around my glimpse of glory, forI am standing upon the highest rock, the firm foundation of God’s infinite and unconditional love, and my spirit is on tiptoes, reaching as high as I can to receive all that the Lord has for me. Thank You Lord for such a creative way by which You chose to minister to my spirit. I am Grace.

Today I took the time to re-read my original blog “Upstairs and Down”, written in 2019, which at this point is six years ago. In it, I described how the Lord heard my cry for affirmation in the ministry of Crafters for Christ by my receiving the offer of a free stair lift for my basement steps which would make it possible for my dear friend and co-founder Mary to keep on attending our meetings. Just the offer of it revived her spirits at the time, and was a deep blessing to me.

As it turned out, the stair lift ended up not being a fit for our basement steps. At that point we decided we would move our meetings upstairs around my dining room table, and Mary resumed attending. We had many happy times of fellowship around the table with its view of my garden and the bird feeder in the window. One Friday morning we enjoyed our time together around the picnic table on our back deck. What a precious time we had! It wasn’t God’s plan for Mary’s time in Crafters for Christ to end at that time. However, in August of 2022, the Lord called Mary “upstairs” to be with Him in heaven. How we miss her!

After Mary graduated “upstairs”, we moved our meetings back downstairs. The ministry of Crafters for Christ continued to grow and expand. We welcomed new members, many of whom worked from home and donated items without attending meetings. The roster of faithful “downstairs people” who have attended over the years has changed, but the fellowship has always been strong and sweet. We have kept the mission of our group alive: to worship the Lord with the work of our hands. The volume of our giving continued to grow, and my Art by Rhea business also continued to thrive. We have survived a basement remodel and the construction of an entry ramp to the door from our garage for the convenience of our older members and customers.

This winter (2025), I found myself at that same point of needing the Lord’s affirmation as to the direction of my business and ministry. I knew for certain that Crafters for Christ was to continue. But after two years of a record breaking volume of orders in Art by Rhea, I found myself in late winter with nothing on my work table or schedule, and I was waiting to see what might be coming. Ironically, in March, I got an order for a memory bear which turned out to be a scam! (I have a cute bear named “Scamper” to remind me of that experience.) That was discouraging, as also was the experience of being stolen from by two previous customers who had never paid me for my work. (Two more bears named “Wane” and “Vanish” sit on the back of my couch to remind me of the customer who disappeared), and one who was sent home pre-payment out of compassion (her name is “Snatch”).

In October and November of 2024, I became quite ill with a virus, and I was grateful that I didn’t have orders to fill, even though Christmas season has always been busy. I had to struggle to fill the few orders I did have. In the new year of 2025, I had just a few new projects to work on, but not my usual volume. I was able to take it slowly and get myself back into the swing of things. I took time to work on the computer and redesign some of my pieces, such as the invoice and a couple of informational flyers. I updated some record keeping duties and did some general reorganization of my business and ministry, cleaned the sewing room, and kept on giving it all to the Lord. For the most part I have had peace, knowing that the Lord is in charge, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Meanwhile, while I wait for direction, I have the privilege and opportunity to sew items for the ministry of Crafters for Christ, which is a luxury I do not have when Art by Rhea is busy. I am enjoying creating whatever appeals to me from the stash of beautiful donated fabric and yarn on hand without having to hurry or meet a demand.

I love living my daily life intentionally seeking the presence and will of my Heavenly Father. There are times when my seeking brings me to an immediate answer, but more often it involves a period of testing and waiting which brings me to a deeper seeking and a more intense longing for His presence.

I am back to the question I had when I wrote part one of “Upstairs and Down”: “Does God see what I am doing, does He care, and how will I know that for certain?” Only, this time, I know the answer. “Yes”, “Yes”, and “I have had the experience of knowing His leading and seeing Him at work!”

The future of Art by Rhea is totally in God’s hands, and the ball is in His court. Even if I never receive another order or sew a memory keepsake again, I will be content. It is, and has been, a remarkable time in my life, and I am blessed by the number of people who have received ministry and healing prayer. I have received a few orders to work on and have enjoyed them very much. I have had time to put a lot of creativity into them.

Crafters for Christ will continue as long as the door remains open to give and to minister. I will keep on administrating our giving and keeping our records until the Lord tells me to stop–either “upstairs” or “downstairs”.

And I am here to take Art by Rhea orders as they come to me.