By faith

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” ~Hebrews 12:1-2

Sadly, it was time for my sewing machine to head to its yearly checkup, so I will be without my machine for about two weeks.

However, this gives me some time to work on other non-sewing projects and to hopefully feature some of your work! I was able to finish one project I was working on before my sewing machine left. The pillow you see above is part of the baby quilt I am making for my pastor and his wife. I had a butterfly block left over, so I wanted to make a pillow to go along with the quilt. Stay tuned to see the finished Metamorphosis quilt when I get my sewing machine back! The painting is my “sad I don’t have my sewing machine” past time. I love testing and strengthening other creative muscles, and painting is another way I find joy and peace (and sometimes stress when I drop a wet painting on the ground…)

Hebrews 11, the “by faith” chapter, lists many Old Testament men and woman who walked a faithful life. Men such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses and woman such as Sarah and Rahab lived in faith and were blessed and promised amazing things by God; however, they did not receive all that was promised to them during their life on Earth. They did not see the Messiah come and fulfill all that God had promised, yet they still lived by faith! By no means were any of these men and woman perfect. Moses questioned God in his ability to speak, Sarah laughed at the thought of having a child in old age, Rahab was a prostitute, and the list goes on. Yet, despite their imperfections, these men and woman are remembered for their faith. Hebrews 11:33-34 shows just how powerful faith is, “who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.”

What is faith? The author of Hebrews answers that for us as well. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” ~Hebrews 11:1-3. These men and woman believed and were faithful in their actions, and yet, we have even more to be faithful for! They were looking forward to the coming of Christ, but we enjoy the fruit of Christ. Praise God! So, you know what? The author of Hebrews gives us a beautiful description of faithful men and woman in chapter 11, and then gives us a call in the beginning of chapter 12 for action. We are to shed aside sin and to run with endurance the race that Christ has set before us. However, the author does not want us to look to these faithful men and woman on how to run our race (though they are good role models of imperfect people living in faith). Rather, we are to look towards Christ, the perfect example.

We are called to fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Christ endured the cross for us. The spotless and perfect lamb slain for you and me, imperfect, sinful people, so that we may come to God our father cleansed of our sin. What better example of faith and endurance can we get? We should be in awe of the one who endured the shame of torture and death worthy of the worst kind of criminals. We should be praising the one who rose from death and conquered the grave. We should be thanking the one who now sits at the right hand of the throne of God as our high priest in order to advocate on our behalf. Life is hard, and we are imperfect people. We will fall short and struggle to resist sin and the worldly way of life. Take hope! Christ has overcome the world. I encourage you, if you feel like your faith is failing or you do not understand who Jesus is, study the Word. See what Christ has done for you!

I love free motion quilting, so I just wanted to share some videos of how I work.

If you are interested in learning how to free motion quilt, please reach out to me! I doodle a lot of my designs and practice them on paper sometimes before I start. Most often, I doodle in random places when I am bored which has really helped me improve my quilting skills. Getting the stitch length correct and learning how fast or slow to move the fabric in combination with the needle will take some practice, but everything does! (This video is a time-lapse, so don’t worry, I don’t actually work that quickly:) I would love to answer any questions you may have or point you in the right direction to start your free motion journey. You do not need a fancy or expensive machine! All you need is a willingness to learn and be creative! Check out the pictures below to see the pillow being created. God bless all of you!