Knit My Life

by Peggy Brown

One of my new projects is knitting. Currently I am knitting a hat for my great-niece, Kailynn, for Christmas. She is the one whose picture was on my blog last Monday! She’s a sweetie! I have spent several hours on this hat (I’m still a beginnger so I go slowly) and it’s turning out sooo cute!

I’ll admit, though, that I have had several setbacks as I knitted, requiring that I take out 2 or 3 rows and re-knit them. Last night I was ready to scream with frustration, but then I finally figured out what I was doing wrong and was able to fix it. Then, today, after I’d knitted for a couple of hours, I discovered that I had misread the pattern and had knitted over 200 rows where I only needed 50! I just tore it out and started over. I was discouraged, to say the least.

When Kailynn gets her hat, she will never know the hours (yes, some unnecessary) of work have gone into it. She will just see the finished product, a cute little hat with a flower on it that she can wear to keep her head warm. She won’t see the sacrifice of my time that went into making it so that it only covers the top of her head and not come down to her shoulders! People who see it on her won’t know that I had so many “issues” getting to the finished product.

I confess that I don’t have that same determination in my Faith walk as I have in my knitting. When things don’t go as I think they should (doesn’t God have the pattern?) or when it seems like I just can’t get victory over some sin in my life, I want to give up. I don’t readily “tear out” the mistake and “start over” at the beginning.

What I forget often is God’s perspective. God has the finished project (me) in His heart. As He works in my life to create that project, I am beautiful in His eyes, and my life will be beautiful to those who see it. The process is designed to bring glory to Him! From the outside, no one will see all the stitches that have been torn out and reworked. Unlike the hat which people will see as a finished product, my life is only seen as a work in progress.

Sometimes we forget to be transparent with one another about the process. We forget that the process God is taking us through encourages other people. When other believers just see us from the outside, it can seem like we have it all together and that we have no “stitches” that are being reworked. I had a friend tell me once that she couldn’t share a problem with a certain person because “she doesn’t have any problems so she wouldn’t understand.” The trouble wasn’t that she had no problems, but that she never talked about what God was working out in her life.

All of this is done in the context of relationships. We women are relational creatures (just ask Sue Donaldson!). We need one another to share with and be encouraged by. Other women are waiting to hear that it is OK to struggle, that God is the master knitter! Sometimes they need to hear that there are some stitches that need to be worked on, too. The end result is that God will be glorified!

Phil. 1:6
“being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Lord, master knitter, I ask that You would make me a willing project. Open my heart to be willingly transparent before others. Let the flaws in my life be the things that bring glory to You. I praise You that you have promised to continue to work on me until I am a completed project on the day of Christ Jesus. Amen.

Am I Grown Yet?

Am I Grown Yet?

Peggy B.

Spurred on by Pastor Tim’s messages from Galatians, I have been doing a lot of thinking about God’s grace alone in my life. If you’ve not been following them, I highly encourage you to get the CDs and catch up.

What I’ve been thinking about, but haven’t even begun to get a hold of, is how EVERYTHING in my life is by God’s grace; my salvation, my growth, my day to day living. There is nothing I can do to make myself more “Christian” or more mature except walk in His grace.

These wandering thoughts led me to one of those “Ah Ha!” moments we all have in our lives. I tend to struggle with a form of legalism. You know, I have to have a quiet time 6 out of 7 days to be a mature Christian. In order for God to use me I have to….. (You fill in the blank) or “I’ll do _____ as soon as I am mature.”

That’s where the ah ha moment came about. One day God poked my brain to realize that I AM where I am. I don’t need to wait “until” for Him to use me. I don’t have to attain a certain level of Christ likeness to step out. His plan is for me now, exactly where I am. I will NEVER be where I “need” to be or even where I think I “should” be. And He’s never upset with me for where I am (or am not!) This is it! What God wants to use is me; now, in process, warts and all.

The deal is there is no end result this side of Heaven. I’m gonna be “in process” from here on out, and if I wait until, then I will have been useless my entire life. Wow! What a huge burden is lifted off of my shoulders! It is God’s responsibility to use me in the ways He has for me and all I have to do is be available. Woo hoo!!!!! I am free J.

Let’s all be about our Father’s business NOW, not in a year or two. It’s His plan!

Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.