Don't Forget Him

Devotion for the week...

I hope 2024 is off to a good start for you, and that the year continues to bring good things your way.

We always wish prosperity, health, and joy for our friends and family, and those wishes are especially prominent at the beginning of anything - a new year, a marriage, the birth of a child, a new job, or a move to a new home. Oddly enough, though, the Bible contains a pretty strong warning about the dangers of living with ease. 

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses spoke to the people of Israel before they entered the Promised Land, saying, "The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant" (Deuteronomy 6:10-11). The fields were already cleared for planting, the houses were move-in ready, fresh water was readily available. Life was about to get so much easier!

But then Moses continued, "When you have eaten your fill in this land, be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. You must fear the Lord your God and serve him" (vv. 11-13). Moses knew, and more importantly God knows, the tendency of people to cling to God when times are rough, and then let go when times are easy. Despite the thousands of years since Moses spoke his warning, people are no different today.

It's easy enough to understand why we cling to God when times are rough. During those times we are constantly aware that we are not capable on our own. We see how much we need Him to sustain us, to strengthen our spirits, and to provide for us.

When things get easy, though, we don't have that constant reminder of our dependence on Him. We start to forget that He's the one providing every good thing, "Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens" (James 1:17); that even the breath in our lungs comes from Him, "He himself gives life and breath to everything" (Acts 17:25); and that without Him we can't do a thing, "For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

Instead, we start to feel a sense of 'I got this!' We stop leaning on Him, because we mistakenly feel like we're standing just fine all on our own.

Because He knew what could happen, Moses reminded the Israelites not to forget God even before they entered the Promised Land. We need that reminder just as much today.

Through all the good that is hopefully coming our way in 2024, and beyond, may we always remember how completely we depend on God. May we lean on Him in the good times just as much as we do in the hard times, and may we serve Him through it all.

TGIFF - Quilted Cushions and Nathan's Ornament

Welcome to the first TGIFF party of 2024! I have a couple of small finishes to share today.

When the childcare littles first arrived in September after the summer break, the now 3 year old immediately started telling me all about the purple unicorn birthday party she was soon going to have. She talked daily about that purple unicorn party until the end of October, when she finally had her birthday. Long before the birthday happened, I had decided her Christmas present from me would be a purple unicorn cushion, or 'scushion' as she calls the ones I have.

I found a free clipart unicorn outline and printed that to use for my applique shape. I worried it would be too fiddly to stitch around, but most of it wasn't bad. It was really only the horn that was too narrow to stitch well, but I did the best I could.

The 1 year old little is only just starting to talk. She gets so excited whenever there's a duck in a book, and calls them all, "Quack quack! Quack quack!" so she got a rubber ducky cushion, also using a free clipart design.

For both cushions, I quilted around the applique shapes, then did a dense stipple for the rest of the cushion, all in matching colours of Aurifil thread. Then I added a label and an envelope style back. I got the label upside down for the unicorn cushion. Turning things right side out always messes with me, no matter how much I think I got it right when layering all the pieces to be stitched together. Oh well, I doubt the little unicorn lover will care.

I made my own cushion inserts, too. I used solid fabric from my stash, then stuffed them with the innards of a pillow I bought a year or so ago. When I bought it, I thought the pillow would be nice for sleeping, but just went super flat as soon as you lay on it, so it never got used. It had just enough stuffing for two 12" cushions, though.

Aside from the Merry Mini quilts I made, the cushions were the only Christmas gifts I made this year. 

I also made Nathan's annual ornament, of course. I started this project in 2002, for Aiden's first Christmas, and each year I made an ornament for him, then one each for him and Zach, then for all three boys, featuring something special from their year. Aiden and Zach have since 'aged out,' since my plan was always to continue until they graduated high school, so now I only have Nathan's ornament to do. Last Christmas, Nathan asked for money to put towards a telescope, which he got in March, with the addition of his birthday money. We've taken it out quite a few times since then, and it's amazing to look at the moon through it, and to see the rings around Saturn. I found this telescope cross stitch pattern by EmbroDIY, but realized after starting it that it was much too big for an ornament. The same pattern also included this planet with rings, which was a much better size.

I chose colours to imitate pictures of Saturn, but I should have gone with something darker than the pale yellows. When it's hanging on the tree, you can hardly see the planet from a distance. I can't believe there will only be three more ornaments to make for Nathan (Christmas 2024 and 2025, and his graduation).

In case you want to make some ornaments yourself, I wrote a tutorial in 2018 for how I finish small cross stitched or embroidered designs into ornaments. 

Those are my finishes 😊 What have you finished lately? Link it up below, and be sure to visit some of the other links to celebrate their finishes, too.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

A Prayer for 2024

Devotion for the week...

As has become my tradition, I'm letting the apostle Paul speak for me for the first devotion of the year. This is my prayer for all of you for 2024.

"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen" (Ephesians 3:16-21).