Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Phil 4: 4 – 8 NAV)
Another quilter is preparing guest posts. As A Quilter’s Heart develops in an effort to be open to where the Spirit is leading, having a quilter or two to offer a reflection on faith and quilt making seems a good idea. This quilter has a clear way of meditating that I like and is in fact how I spent my mornings for many years: reading, reflecting and writing.
Reflection:Sometimes God writes straight with crooked lines.
Gifts are sometimes in distressing disguises.
Begging me to trust.
Simply trust.
The problem is it’s not my (God-given) nature to trust or I trust inappropriately.
When I try to plan, whether it be in life or quilting, something gets derailed and the think I think I’m going to do gets set aside for the thing I need to do. When I get that done the rest falls into place. The one think I knew when stitching @play was that each one of those swooping sections next to the geese would be stitched in white silk. That worked well. . . until I got to the last section. For some reason the thread, several spools actually, kept breaking. After trying every think I could, I gave up and stitched that orange into the middle. Not my plan, however a much stronger quilt in the end.
There has been some stuff going on behind the scenes of my quilt world that would normally rock my world, particularly my quilting world. Right it’s a little too personal to share and there are other people involved who have not chosen to be public. I’ll just state for the record that my sweetie and I are just fine. The thing is, in spite of all of the goings-on I could not be more at peace than I am right now. The anxiety I normally experience about life and quilting projects has been lifted. The gift of this is priceless. I had to learn what the last 8 months have taught me. It’s an essential priceless gift. I’ve been able to piece one quilt top, work on another that’s 8 years in the making and long over due. I purchased the backing for the quilt and am excited to get going.
The creativity is returning in some beautiful ways. I am grateful
What is the priceless gift in your life?
How do you see God working in unexpected ways?
What is your favorite, most reassuring, scripture or paragraph from a book?
How do you see your faith influencing your quilt making in direct and indirect ways?
Coming up this week: Guest blogger
Coming up soon: Gratitude and Nurturing our creative side
A Quilter's Heart 
Teri, the verse you quoted is one I just read last night, in a book I finished. it’s “Coming Undone” by Staci Stalllings.
I’ve never given much thought to my faith until recently. Probably as a result of getting older, but I find myself thanking God for so much more now. I look at my grandson and enjoy his wonder at the world.
Looking forward to your guest blogger; have a great day!
I find that creativity is a gift…I get such delight in creating, which makes me think of the delight He must have had in creating the world, and then in creating each one of us. And when I’m most creative, I know that I’m Father’s daughter.
Agreed Susan, creativity is a gift from God, a beautiful, generous gift.
It was with great delight that I felt the Lord tell me to retire (a year early) to take up my life as a full time fabric artist. It has been a great blessing and yes, a beautiful generous gift from Him. As yet I am not making much money from this, but the quilt making has been sheer joy. I’m so glad you have started this wonderful blog.