Move On

Devotion for the Week...

Nathan has developed the habit of saying sorry A LOT. Now, normally I would not consider this to be a problem since apologizing when you've done wrong is a good character trait. But Nathan is saying he's sorry at times when he hasn't done anything wrong, like when he asks me to get him something he can't reach and says, "I'm sorry for making you get up," or when he wants me to read to him and he apologizes for that. The thing that really get me, though, is when he does do some little thing wrong and he apologizes for it over and over and over. Even when he knows we're not upset with him, and he knows we've heard and accepted the first apology, sometimes he just can't seem to move on and be okay with what happened. He keeps feeling bad about it. Sometimes it's even weeks or months later when he apologizes again.

Do you do that with God? Do you keep feeling guilty and apologizing over and over for the things in your past? I know I've done it with things before. And yet, God isn't upset with us over those things anymore because He heard the first apology. Not only that, but once He forgives us for our sins, He doesn't remember them anymore!

Don't get me wrong, God isn't some forgetful old man whose memory has holes in it. No. He's still omniscient and knows everything, but He chooses not to remember our sins once we have repented of them.

Psalm 103:12 says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." They're gone. Not to be dragged back into view again and again to remind us of how we've failed in the past. Gone. As far away as we can possibly imagine, that's how far away our sins are once we've been forgiven.

Romans 8:1,2  says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." Read that again. No condemnation.

Do you truly believe that? Or do you feel like God has a list somewhere of all the times you've sinned, a list that He checks frequently to keep his memory fresh? God tells us in these verses that there is no list because we are in Christ Jesus. Once we have repented and accepted Jesus' sacrifice for our sins, there is no record kept of them. God no longer condemns us because those sins are forgiven and He chooses not to remember them.

But what about you? Have you chosen not to remember your past sins? Or are you like Nathan, bringing them up again months later, or even years later, and feeling the need to apologize for them all over again? If that's you, then let this thought settle into your heart and mind...God doesn't want you to apologize for that sin again. It's already been forgiven and now He chooses not to think of it anymore. Now it's time for you to forgive yourself and give yourself the freedom to move on with no condemnation, from God or from yourself.

Flow Quilting

I have been playing around with flow quilting these past few days.

I have previously called this type of quilting 'graffiti quilting', but have since switched to using the term 'flow quilting' because 'graffiti quilting' was coined by Karlee Porter, who has a very distinctive style completely unlike my own. Cristina Cameli calls it 'wild quilting' and I think Angela Walters calls it 'improv quilting', so there's really no set name for it. I like flow quilting, though, because it feels like the designs just flow together.

Whatever you call it, quilting like this is fun!

I'm quilting the mini quilt I made with the denim epp flowers I made for one of my Denim Days posts and my machine doesn't really like quilting close to the denim. I'm guessing it's because the denim is raised off the background fabric so much and the presser foot is half-on the denim and half-off it when I'm close to it. I started out by outlining the middle flower and then flow quilted my way over to the one on the left. I quilted around that one and then tried doing pebbles around it, but that's when my machine started making funny noises and breaking the thread. So, after debating what to do for a while, I ripped out everything close to the flowers so that I can echo quilt around them. You can see where I ripped out stitches between the two flowers in this picture.

Echoing around the flowers gives me a little space so that my presser foot isn't on top of the denim as I'm flow quilting and that seems to be working much better. As a bonus, I really like that edge of white between the flower and the flow quilting!

Last night I added some back-and-forth lines in one section and I really like how that makes the motifs seem to float above the background. I'll be using more of those.

I also really like these long swirls. They're quite a bit bigger than everything else I've quilted so far, so I want to scatter them around to make the quilting look balanced.

We're on our Easter break this week, so there's no school and no babysitting for me. I'm hoping to have a lot of time for quilting before regular routine starts up again on Monday.

I'll be linking up with Let's Bee Social and NTT this week.

Not Innocent

Devotion for the Week...

We had a lovely communion service at our church Friday morning to mark Good Friday. During the service our pastor read from Matthew 27, starting at verse 11. As he read, one part really caught my attention.

Jesus stands before Pilate, who sees no reason to keep him prisoner, but the crowd is demanding that Pilate release a notorious criminal rather than Jesus. What caught my attention was this one verse:

"When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” "(Matthew 27:24).

"I am innocent of this man's blood," Pilate claimed. Well, that's not true, is it? If we look only at the events that were happening, Pilate claimed he was innocent because the crowd demanded Jesus' death. Really, though, Pilate chose to give in to those demands. He chose to allow an innocent man to be crucified merely to satisfy the demands of a mob and prevent "an uproar". A ceremonial washing of his hands could not wash away his guilt.

But beyond the events of the story, Pilate cannot claim to be innocent of Jesus' blood. None of us can. The simple truth is that every person ever born, except Jesus Himself, is guilty of sin.  "The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one" (Psalm 14:2,3). All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

None of us can claim to have never done wrong. No matter how much we try to be good people, there are still times when we think or do things that are wrong. Pilate didn't understand what was really happening in Jerusalem that day. He thought he could claim innocence because the crowd was demanding Jesus' death. Really, though, he was just as guilty as the religious leaders who were inciting the crowd to hate Jesus. And we are just as guilty as all of them. Jesus died for all the sins of everyone, everywhere, which means we are all guilty.

The good news is that the story doesn't leave us stuck at guilty. Jesus died because of our sins, yes, but that's not the end. Adam's sin brought sin to all of mankind and made all of us sinners. There was no escaping that death sentence...until Jesus. We are all guilty of causing His death, and yet His death is what gives us forgiveness. "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). When we believe that Jesus died for us, our sins are forgiven and our relationship with God is restored.

Only when we acknowledge our guilt can we accept Jesus as Savior. And only when we accept Jesus as Savior can our guilt be removed.