Holding On

Devotion for the week...

When I was at our provincial women's retreat a couple of weeks ago, the Scripture for the weekend was Psalm 139, where verses 7 -10 say:

"I can never escape from your Spirit! 

    I can never get away from your presence!

If I go up to heaven, you are there;

    if I go down to the grave, you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning,

    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

even there your hand will guide me,

    and your strength will support me."

Our speaker, Faith Eury Cho, shared a powerful illustration in one of her messages that has really stuck with me. Faith had another woman join her on stage and told us to pretend that woman was God. She then said, "We think this is what our relationship with God is like." She reached out and took the woman's hand, "We go to church and we get with God, but then we go home and we get annoyed at our husband and we yell at the kids." Faith dropped the woman's hand and stalked across the stage. 

"Then we turn on some worship music so we can get back with God." She rushed back and took her hand again.

"Monday morning someone cuts us off in traffic and we get angry." She dropped her hand and stalked across the stage again. "So we go to prayer meeting to get back with God." She rushed back and took her hand. She gave several more examples of things we do that make us pull away from God, and ways we try to get back with Him again, rushing back and forth across the stage.

"It's exhausting!" she said. "But that's not what our relationship with God is like." She then turned to face the other woman and they clasped each other's forearms.

"I get angry at my husband," she said as she let go of the woman's arm and tried to pull away, but the other woman didn't let go. 

"I yell at my kids," Pastor Faith said, pulling harder, but still the other woman didn't let go. "God doesn't let me go. Through it all, He's there. We don't have to get back with God because He never let us go."

He never let us go. What a wonderful thing to remember!

As I've been thinking about that illustration, it made me think of Jesus' promise to His disciples and to us. "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). That promise isn't dependent on us. He didn't say, "As long as you hold onto me, I'll stay by your side." Nope. He simply said He's with us always. No matter what we're going through, no matter what our mood is like today, no matter what the kids are doing, what happened at work, or what diagnosis the doctor just laid out before us. He is with us, and He's always holding on.

My First Quilt with Erin Grogan

It's the last Friday of the month, which means it's time for a My First Quilt interview! This month Erin Grogan of Love Sew Modern is sharing the story of her first quilt.

Erin is a modern quilt pattern designer who enjoys creating colorful, nostalgic quilts under the name Love Sew Modern. Over the last 4 years she’s become an international quilting instructor and published over 30 quilt patterns, including her book Retro Curved Pieced Quilts.

You can connect with Erin at her website, on Instagram, and on Facebook.

And now, here's Erin's first quilt. Isn't it amazing??? 

What year did you make your first quilt? What prompted you to make it?

I have been making garments since I was in the 4th grade, but it’s always been hard to find garment fabric. Whenever I was out I would type fabric into my GPS and see where it would take me. One day in 2017 I found myself inside my first modern quilt shop. I fell immediately in love with the bright colors and bold prints of the fabric. I knew then I wanted to make a quilt. I purchased a quilt kit from the shop not knowing how challenging it would actually be. 

What techniques were used in that first quilt? Did you quilt it yourself?

The quilt pattern used flying geese and economy blocks surrounding a foundation pieced Mariner’s Compass block. I purchased a 1890’s treadle machine off of Craigslist to be able to quilt it, which turned out to be really difficult to quilt on. 

Who taught you to make the quilt?

I took an intro to quilting class at the modern quilt shop where I got the kit where I learned how to make the flying geese blocks. I spent a whole day at the shop trying to figure out how FPP worked to be able to piece the center. 

Are the colours you chose for your first quilt ones you would still choose today?

The quilt was made using a kit in blues, pinks, and purples. Today I’m more attracted to retro color palettes including yellows or oranges. 

Did you fall in love with quilting right away? Or was there a gap between making the first quilt and the next one?

I was hooked immediately after learning the basic steps of piecing a quilt. 

Where is the quilt now?

I used to have the quilt hanging in my cubical at work to remind me that I can do hard things. Now it’s folded into a cabinet in my living room. I like to take it out sometimes when I’m sharing my quilting journey at trunk shows. 

Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell yourself as you made that first quilt?

Quilts from the center out. I regret quilting from the outside in because it created some bunching spots. 

Anything else you want to share about your first quilt?

My first two quilts used FPP, but I’ve avoided that technique ever since. 

Thank you for sharing your gorgeous first quilt, Erin! I love that you had it hanging in your cubicle at work!

When They're Doing Well

Devotion for the week...

A friend of mine took her oldest child to university the same weekend we took Zach back. When I messaged to check on her that Sunday, when I knew they were heading home, she said it was so hard to leave him and that they were having a very quiet drive home. I remember driving home after leaving both Aiden and Zach for the first time, so I understand how she was feeling, and I assured her leaving them the first time is the hardest, and that it gets  easier after that.

The first time we leave our university students behind, there are so many unknowns. Will they get homesick? Will they be able to keep up with their classes? Will they like the program they've chosen? Will they make friends? Will they be happy? Once we know they're doing well, though, leaving them doesn't feel like a big deal anymore. In fact, dropping Zach off this time was easy because I knew how much he was looking forward to being back there. Knowing he's happy there makes me happy.

That made me think about John writing to his friend Gaius. John wrote, "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" (3 John 1:2-4).

You can feel the lightness in John's words as he writes to his friend because, thanks to a report from other believers, John knew Gaius was doing well. We love to know that the people we care about are doing well. My mother-in-law has said she doesn't need to have long phone calls from her children (all in their 40s and 50s), but she loves to just hear their voices (and now see their faces, thanks to video calls), so she can know they're okay.

In our own lives, we can go both directions with this. Is there someone who made an impact on our lives and who might love to hear how we're doing now? Maybe someone who isn't on the same social media networks we are, so they don't ever see the updates we share? How could we connect with them and let them know we are doing well? A phone call, text message, or even an in-person visit could bring great joy to them just as the believer's report of Gaius' wellbeing did for John. And on the flip side, is there someone we'd like to connect with, to find out how they're doing? How could we make that happen?