September 16, 2024

When Saul Met Jesus

Devotion for the week...

I spent the weekend at a church women's retreat with a friend and more than 500 other women. It was fantastic! On Saturday, during a prayer session, the speaker asked us to raise our hands if our husband wasn't a believer. Hands went up all over the room. Then asked those whose children weren't believers to raise their hands. More hands went up. Then she asked those whose parents weren't believers, then siblings, then extended family, then friends. By the time she was done, every woman in the room had raised her hand.

I had another devotion for today, but standing there in that room I remembered one devotion I wrote for this year's Moments with Jesus QAL and Devotional Journey, and I decided to share that one instead. The story of Saul's conversion is one of hope and encouragement for everyone who cares for someone who doesn't believe in Jesus (yet!), which, as was shown on Saturday, is all of us.

____________

Saul, who would later be known as Paul, enters the biblical story with the death of Stephen, who was stoned to death by the religious leaders. "Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria" (Acts 8:1). Saul was right there in the midst of the persecution: "Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison" (v. 3). Not only that, he "was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers" (Acts 9:1).

Not satisfied with only persecuting the believers who remained in Jerusalem, Saul went to the high priest for letters introducing him to the leaders of the synagogues in Damascus, and asking for their cooperation as he went about hunting down any believers in their city, too. "He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains" (v. 2). He sounds like a peach of a guy, doesn’t he? 

Letters of introduction in hand, Saul headed out for Damascus. "As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?'

'Who are you, lord?' Saul asked.

And the voice replied, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'" (vv. 3-6). 

This is another one of those times I really wish the Bible told us what people were thinking instead of just giving us the bare bones of the story. What must have been going through Saul’s mind as he heard Jesus Himself speaking to him? Considering where he was headed and why, and his history of persecuting people who believed in Jesus, I would think Saul’s primary reaction to Jesus speaking to him would be one of fear. Unfortunately, all we know is that "Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink" (vv. 8-9).

We don’t know what happened during those three days, but we can probably assume Saul spent the time in prayer, and that he was 'told what he must do', as Jesus had said to him on the road. After the three days, God sent a man named Ananais who "laid his hands on him and said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized" (vv. 17-18). Even more amazing, "immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, 'He is indeed the Son of God!'" (v. 20). 

Can you imagine how shocked everyone who knew him must have been by how quickly he changed his tune? He went from persecuting believers to being an outspoken believer himself in just a matter of days! He was the last person anyone would have expected to see believe in Jesus, until the very moment it happened.

Is there someone you love who feels like the last person you’d ever expect to see come to Jesus? Someone adamant they don’t need Him, or they don’t want anything to do with Him? Maybe they get angry if they hear the name of Jesus, like Saul would have, or maybe they just tune out whenever He comes up. Either way, it feels like there’s no way to reach them.
Saul did a sudden and complete turnaround after his encounter with Jesus | DevotedQuilter.com
Saul’s conversion gives us hope for anyone who seems far away from God. He did a sudden and complete turnaround after his encounter with Jesus. Maybe the people we love will someday shock us with their sudden acceptance of Him after an encounter of their own.

September 15, 2024

WIPS-B-GONE 2024!

It's time to turn some WIPs into finishes! The WIPS-B-GONE challenge is back for another year and I can't wait to see the finished projects start to pile up 😊 You can click here to join the challenge.
WIPS-B-GONE challenge | DevotedQuilter.com
In case you're not familiar with WIPS-B-GONE, this is my annual challenge to help us finish up lingering works-in-progress so we can free up space (physical and mental) for new things. Those newly finished projects can then be used, displayed, gifted, donated, or sold - any of which is better than sitting unfinished in a cupboard or closet.

There's no set rule for what counts as a WIP - you decide if you're only going to count things that have been started, or if you'll include the projects you've pulled fabric for or even the ones that are only a vague idea right now.

For October and November, work on your WIPs each day and you'll be amazed how much you can accomplish, just like I am every year! To help keep us on track, I have daily trackers you can download once you sign up for the challenge. It is so satisfying to colour in the icon for each day after working on my projects! This year there are 5 daily trackers to choose from, some the same as last year and some different. These daily tracking sheets are probably the most popular part of the challenge, aside from the actual finished projects, of course.
WIPS-B-GONE challenge | DevotedQuilter.com
Throughout the challenge, you'll also receive Monday Motivation emails to help, well, motivate you to stick to it and keep making progress. It's easy to lose steam in a challenge that lasts 61 days, so I aim to make the Monday Motivation emails a little boost to keep us in the game and having fun 😊

If you have projects stashed in a cupboard, closet, bag, or drawer and you'd love to see them finished, join us for WIPS-B-GONE 2024!

Join the WIPS-B-GONE challenge here

September 12, 2024

Joy BOM

July was very Christmassy in my sewing room, between the Merry Mini QAL (I still haven't put the bindings on my minis!) and the Stash Artists BOM sample I was making that I'm finally taking the time to blog. Meet Joy 😊
Joy BOM | DevotedQuilter.com
The letters and the holly are each made up of a different classic quilt block, pieced in one colour (mostly) so the piecing stayed subtle. Designing this one took a long time because at first I tried to use a phrase, but it would have made a really big and oddly proportioned quilt. I tried a bunch of different variations before giving up on that version and switching to using joy instead.
Joy BOM | DevotedQuilter.com
If you look closely at the background, you may notice some of those squares are pieced, too. I love how the pieced squares add a little extra interest to the background, but that part is totally optional. I did some of each of the blocks in my white and cream scraps, but there was no rhyme or reason to how many I did of each block. It was honestly just however many pieces I felt like cutting at the time. 
Joy BOM | DevotedQuilter.com
Stash Artists members received the fabric requirements and instructions for the J in August, then the O at the beginning of September. The Y will be October's block, then the holly in November, and then assembly of the whole quilt top in December. So it's possible Stash Artists could have completed Joy quilts in time to display for Christmas this year. Will I have my own quilted by then? Only time will tell 😆