Quilt in Progress

Here is a quilt flimsy I just finished. Next I’ll add an encouraging Scripture, and sandwich it together, and quilt it.  It’s an African print themed quilt. I visited the Berkeley Flea Market on Ashby Ave. and there were a few vendors selling African cloth at great prices. So I bought a little to finish the top, which had been on the back burner for a while. I also HAPPENED to find a perfect African remnant at a local thrift shop in town called ARF... Animal Rescue Foundation for just 25 cents!

I’m making this quilt for a dear friend who has been sick for a long while, but doctors are still trying to find out what spccifically it is....

So as I’m sewing, I pray for her. I hope to give it to her in a couple of weeks, and encourage her. I’ll post the finished quilt with you all, I hope!

I got the idea for this quilt on the JoAnn Fabrics website. I took the trouble to go to a local plastic shop and they made a plexiglass template for me with my requested dimensions, and plan to make additional future quilts with it.

Courtside Ministries

Last month, I was notified to serve on jury duty in Richmond.

I really wasn’t too thrilled, because it meant reporting to the local courthouse at 8 AM and sitting in a sort of holding room or “bullpen”along with about 150 other people, and and waiting and waiting to find out if we were needed to serve on one of the juries for the court cases scheduled that week. This takes all morning, and meanwhile you have to sit in a stiff chair, along with others seated in row after row of chairs. There is one TV program set up for us to watch, magazines, or you can read your own material or read the magazines provided.

You have to stay in the room unless you need the restroom. And since everyone is seated in this one vast room, it is pretty awkward to talk with someone, since EVERYONE can hear you, so people on the whole keep to themselves. And it’s very QUIET.

(Internet photo)

Knowing that is is our civic duty, and knowing that someday, if any of us had to go plead our case, we would surely appreciate 13 impartial people listening and deciding, versus instead of just one judge..it does motivate one to serve. And to many, it’s a way to get out of work.

So in light of Acts 17:24-28...that, I paraphrase, God “sets our appointed times” and that “in Him we live and move and have our being”, I thought that I was here for an intentional reason. With all these people, I thought I was here to strike a conversation with someone God had in mind.

I’d assumed.  Because I prayed several times for God to lead me to someone, and I couldn’t make it happen. Was I too chicken? Did I shrink back because it was so quiet and that everyone (I kid you not) could hear our conversation? I started to beat myself of up about being a coward. But I couldn’t make it happen. Who knows?

Then the lady in charge, the one clerk behind the counter called out a selected 30 peoples’ names and they were escorted out to the courtrooms. I prayed again.

I went to the outer hallway just outside the bullpen room, where the restrooms were. There were a dozen or so chairs with more people scattered about and sitting in a row, their backs facing a large picture window. I gazed out and saw an information table set up. A small group was there. The banner on the table said “Courtside Ministries”.  I saw that those people were volunteering to pray for/with anyone who wanted prayer before entering or after leaving court.

I thought that that was very touching. Most people are really stressed or sad at the courts. So I said to a kind-looking lady right by me, “That’s a nice thing....it’s nice that people can help pray for people if they want it.”

Boy, did that lady react! Her attitude changed and she got rather angry, saying, “They shouldn’t have people out there “in your face” and bothering people, etc., etc.”.

I sure rubbed her the wrong way. Surprised, yet not surprised, I was a little caught off guard. I didn’t say “Sorry”, so that was good. I did reply, “Well, they really don’t seem to be bothering people. You have a choice whether want to stop and have prayer.”

The next thing I knew, immediately, everyone as dismissed by the clerk. No further jurors were needed. Everyone hustled out of there, relieved to get out.

I stopped to find out about the Courtside Ministries table. They were people from local churches, and this was an organization to simply be there for people. Not to be judgmental, or find out about all their business but just to call upon God to support them. Very impartial and very kind and loving.

...I thought it was a wonderful idea and Ministry. It really touched my heart. Then I found out there was a group right in my hometown too.  I stepped out in faith and gave someone there my contact info. And went home to pray about it....

Where I Sew My Quilts

This is my “Girl Cave Retreat”. We live in a two bedroom townhouse, and Jerry so graciously allowed me to use this second bedroom for quilting (and with roll-up futons, it is a guest room too.) One wall is dedicated for storing mostly his things, books, and photos—behind the white curtains on the right. It is a mess right now, and anything but calm and restful! An elderly couple in the nearby valley just moved into a senior living facility and their daughter and son were holding an “estate sale” of everything in the house, liquidating years of belongings....their mom was a locally known quilter and crafter. She had a HUGE room full of fabric, quilting supplies, sewing machines, etc., etc., up for sale at “everything must go” prices. I came home with yards and quarter cuts of quality fabric (like Moda and Japanese fabrics).  She had tons of plastic storage drawers, so I also bought two sets (seen on the far left in photo.)

I decided to incorporate my existing stash of fabrics with my new haul. Well, NOW I’m in the midst of taking everything out and resorting. What a domino effect!!!. But I’m so grateful to be unexpectedly provided with fabric and storage which is such a surprise gift from God, and within the budget of our fixed income. So hopefully I will get to show you my “after” photo, and record the progress of some of my current quilt projects.

My sewing table.

Rivers of Living Water

Healing Hands Ministry Quilt made in 2011 for recipient in  2011

As I mentioned in my May 28th post, Isaiah 58 really impacted me about what real worship is to God, and also how Jesus demonstrated love throughout his life. Also recently, James 1 and 2 also showed how God’s word, the Bible, is like a mirror into my heart. So when I read the Bible, I shouldn’t just read it just to read it and walk away. I look into the Bible just as I would look into a mirror and see what I look like (daily, I hope!) and make adjustments to my heart. In other words, examine how I can change and apply it to how I am living.

Isaiah 58 shows how getting in the habit of pursuing the whims of my own pleasure, and being aimlessly idle does not bring about the life God desires. This is the false allure of what retirement is about, which is tempting and misleading. It also means is that a worshipper of God is not all about fasting, being a good church-goer and going through the motions, but someone who is aware of others around him who are oppressed, hungry, suffering who are in need of justice and mercy and is responsive to those needs. And the call is to spend oneself in sharing what blessings we have to others who need it, being merciful and impartial. And in this country, right in my own immediate community, there are people who are suffering, whether rich or poor, Christian or not, who are going through hard times. By hard times, it could be financially, mental health stress, family divisions, homelessness, unemployment, health issues, loneliness, abuse...just to name a few. People also may be living the consequences of lawlessness, drugs and alcohol abuse, or just living irresponsibly.

My problem that I’ve been wrestling with is “How?”  Where and how does God want to use me? I want to be used by God, but I don’t know where to begin. This side of me gets very overwhelmed. I get shocked and numbed by all the bad news (like the shootings at schools), and I want to withdraw, shelter myself, and shrink back.  “They deserve it! Their problems are not my problems, their business is not my business.” And I get so low and tired, it’s all the more tempting to do what I want to do to ease the burden and pain.

This is the mirror I am talking about. Most of us want to live “a good moral life”, but a “good moral life” is not what Jesus was teaching us. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, and John 7:38-39:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

“Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”[a] 39 (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him.”

Jesus wants each of us to come to Him. God knows that being a committed follower of Christ is hard. He is understanding and merciful and compassionate to us. It is clear that EVERYONE needs to spend time with God regularly, receive encouragement and guidance through prayer with Him, from good friendships that God provides, and receiving daily forgiveness from God for our shortcomings. Only through Jesus, and nothing and no one else can I get true refreshment, rest, strength, guidance, and courage. God is my refuge.

And God, WILL show me where and how He wants to use me.