Hello Friends! It’s been a while! I hope you can stop to chat with me for a minute or two!
I’m sure I have mentioned on here before that I have a small homebased business. I create home décor items, which I sell directly to customers or have available at vendor events.
Anyway… I’ve been working on these cute little stuffy bunnies that I hand stitch. My hubby asked me the other day why I didn’t just use my sewing machine to sew them. I find hand stitching to be therapeutic, so that is why! Who doesn’t love a hand-stitched funny-bunny? They look so cute tucked in little spots in your home, or I am using them as a filler in my dough bowl!
I tell you all this to get to the story I want to share…
So… on the way to church as my hubby drove us on the twisting, turning snow-covered road… I had a thought pop out of my mouth, asking my hubby, “Do you ever wish your life was woven together with a straight stitch instead of a zigzag?”
I wasn’t even sure where that thought came from. It kind of surprised me when I blurted it out, BUT… I knew God had something for me to learn from this question He placed in my heart!
The last two years have been hard on everyone… I know that! When I look back over everything God has seen me through… my heart is filled with thankfulness and amazement in Father God’s faithfulness! BUT…it changed who I am… which is not a bad thing for the most part.
I guess I was thinking about how I am struggling with how the way I’ve adapted and changed has also made it much harder to relate to people I’ve considered good friends in the past. It seems to be an ongoing struggle with me and I keep asking God for direction and healing in this area.
Aloneness is necessary, BUT loneliness is not! What I mean by that is… being alone with your thoughts, in the stillness, praising and worshiping Father is oh so necessary! BUT… the loneliness you feel when you are in a room full of people is not!
So the second song we sang at church was “Nothing Else” (I’ll put the lyrics below along with a video of this song). As soon as we started singing… I could see a zigzag stitch being stitched on my sewing machine… strange… I know! BUT… at the same time a thought occurred to me… “Why do you sometimes have to use a zigzag stitch?” I know Lord, I know!
A zigzag stitch makes things more secure, a good finishing stitch. It takes longer to make headway because you need to be careful to go slow enough with the right tension not to let the fabric pucker. It also will stop fraying especially when sewing on fragile material such as satin.
As tears rolled down my face, I knew exactly what the point was of all this!
Surrender to God’s direction is not always easy… it is in these moments of surrender that the “zigzag” stitch is reinforcing your spiritual growth!
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” ~ John 16:33
I can be a slow learner at times… anyone else??? It is in these times the zigzag keeps going back and forth, back and forth, BUT… not really seemingly to make any headway! Remember… every single “stitch” is being worked out for your good and His glory!
There are times your heart can be so tattered and torn by faulty choices, uncontrollable circumstances or this miserable world just beating you down, BUT… God! He tenderly holds your heart together… one stitch at a time… catching all those frayed edges… making it beautiful and new once again!
I’m not sure if any of this sewing analogy is relatable to any of you, BUT… what my heart is seeing in all this is my perspective of surrender has got to change!
Surrender is an ongoing, evolving heart adjustment. It is knowing and believing that spiritual growth is not what God is doing to me, BUT… what He is doing for me!
The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. ~ Psalms 9:9-10
Peace comes through surrender! Surrender comes through trusting in how much He loves you!
You are His Beloved! So just be-loved!
In His Grace, Carin
Beautiful word...thank you for sharing!