Motives. Proverb of the Day.

Proverb of the Day. 

http://www.lizcurtishiggs.com/your-50-favorite-proverbs-29-hidden-motives/

Motives. 

For some reason, motives seem to be a theme in my Proverb of the Day, so I decided to take a look at it – and at my own heart.  I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged! 

I followed my usual habit and first sought a definition for “motive” from Merriam Webster.  The simple definition was: 

a reason for doing something.

The complete definition was: 

something (as a need or desire) that causes a person to act. 

So, basically, motive is the reason, need or desire behind our actions.  

As I recall my actions of the past days, at least the ones that really stand out, I realized my motives were pure. 

1)     An uncomfortable discussion with a family member

a.            Motive:  protecting and defending another family member

2)     Designing and creating the landscaping in my backyard - which I now call my Healing Garden. (One day Ill show you the end results….) 

a.            Motive:  Create a healing, tranquil Heaven on Earth for myself, family and friends.

3)     Crocheting, sewing

a.            Motive:  A nice creative outlet, a way to make inexpensive, yet treasured gifts, and the joy of creating something beautiful.

4)     Keeping a fairly clean house, laundry, ironing, cooking

a.            Motive:  I love enjoying my home and taking care of my husband.

http://quoteaddicts.com/topic/accuse-quotes-and-sayings/

But, in all honesty, if I “weigh” my heart with regards to my Healing Garden, my crocheting and sewing and my home, there is some pride in there as well.  

And I felt bad about that, until, again, I went to Merriam Webster. 

Let’s remember, words have more than one meaning, as is the case here: 

: a feeling that you respect yourself and deserve to be respected by other people

: a feeling that you are more important or better than other people

: a feeling of happiness that you get when you or someone you know does something good, difficult, etc.

I relate my sense of pride to the last definition – a feeling of happiness.  I love to share my gardens, crafts and home with friends and family!  I love having them over to relax over a meal or simply a cup of coffee.  I love the look of delight on their faces when they open a handmade gift.   It gives me great pleasure and joy. 

https://winterlyrics.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/dont-be-too-hard-on-yourself-love-yourself-and-be-proud-of-everything-you-do-even-mistakes-mean-youre-trying/

However, I’m sure not all my motives are pure, which is why this Psalm is so important to remember:

http://dailyverses.net/psalms/51/10

This month I have been looking at the motives behind my actions.  

https://learningthewayofwisdom.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/prayer-whats-your-motive/

At the same time, however, I am also modifying my actions as I look at my motives.

I’m learning to be quiet instead of continuing an argument.

I’m learning to be still and know He is God.Psalm 46:10

I’m learning to begin facing extremely hurtful and difficult situations gently leaning on His everlasting arms.

I’m learning.

Dear Friend, this is my truth.

Bloglandia. Proverbs. Dare to Believe.

Bloglandia
There is so much to learn about blogging; the set up, the layout, the comments.....it's so easy to get caught up in the details of the blog!  

The real message can get lost.
The real purpose can get lost.  

That happened to me last night. 

I'm so concerned about people not able to leave comments unless they have a Google account, that I was up until 2:00 a.m. looking for answers - in all the wrong places!  

I should have looked to my Lord FIRST.  He gently reminded a bleary eyed me this morning that He didn't ask me to worry about comments, set up or layouts.  All He asked me to do was to blog for 30 days straight!   Eeeesh!  Didn't I just post this picture yesterday?

http://www.jenniferjcamp.com/how-do-you-listen-for-god/

He qualifies those He calls.  

I'm not a technological expert, 

but then again He didn't call me to have a "perfect" blog.

He called me on March 15, 2016 to write for 30 days and see what He would do.

That's it.

                                   

                                       http://pjsprayerline.blogspot.com/2011/08/wheres-your-focus.html

Enough said, right?

Proverbs

Many years ago a friend of mine shared this awesome way to study the book of Proverbs.

Perhaps you've heard of it.  

1.  Proverbs is made up of 31 chapters, read a chapter a day.  

2.  As you read, pray and ask God to give you a verse to ponder for the day. I write this verse on a monthly calendar.

4.  At the end of the month, review your verses and prayerfully pick one that speaks to you.

5.  Display this verse in your home where you will see it often.

I've followed this plan over the years, but never with the consistency that I have this year. Cancer will do that to a person!  :)

I've been curious about which daily verses I chose, so I also write the reference in a five year journal and the way that particular verse ministered to me.  Because it's a five year journal, there's not a lot of room to write, therefore this doesn't take long.  

I also highlight this verse in this app and then post it on my Instagram account (@miaismine22).  The Bible app makes it easy peasy.  #proverbs  This month I've been focusing on the #promisesfromproverbs and it has been amazing!  

Dare to Believe

How are you, really?   Are you going through a rough time?  Have you just been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Please know, you are not alone - even if you are alone where ever you are.  There is an entire international community of women who will listen to you.  Their blogs are powerful, their hearts are big.  

God is there as well.  Yup, He is.

At times like these, it's so hard to believe in Him, to believe He cares, to believe at all.  But, as one who has been there, I can say, "Believe."  

If you're angry, let Him know.  He can take it.  

If you're hurt, let Him know.  He can take it.  

If your scared, let Him know.  He can take it.  

Dear Friend, this is my truth.

Heaven on Earth. Sewing Studio. Accepting Grace.

I feel like I've been recovering on my own little piece of heaven on earth.  One piece of my heaven is my awesome sewing studio that I was blessed with way before my diagnosis. 

 

You know, there are times when God simply wants to bless our socks off.  He did that to me with my sewing studio.  I just have to share this with you. 

 

It was a project of love from my husband and a lovely couple.  She is a detail person and advocated for me throughout the entire design process.  Even though she doesn't sew, I believe she researched every aspect of sewing/quilting and had some great ideas!  To say that he is a master carpenter is putting it mildly.  This man is gifted beyond words.  Together they make a fabulous team!  Many of their lunch dates were spent drawing on napkins and discussing "best case scenarios".  Hmmm...I wonder what they talked about afterwards - after all the world revolves around me - right?  NOT!  :)Then the four of us came together to design my sewing studio together.  At one point we used Leggos to come up with the configuration of the room!  Hilarious!

 



It all started when I showed my hubby my dream fabric cutting table and this loving man said, "No." 

 

WHAT? 

NO?!!!!  

 

No way was my loving, supportive hubby saying "no".  That just doesn't happen in my world.  Now, I'm not spoiled at all, just......as my daughter once said, "well taken care of."  Seriously though, he and I support each other's dreams, mine is crafting and his is cars. 

 

Anyway, I digress.  So, we talked about it and then I showed him various other fabric cutting tables, sewing tables, design boards and such from my Pinterest page "Craft Room Dreamin' "  (https://www.pinterest.com/miaismine22/craft-room-dreamin/) .  Disclaimer:  Should you chose to visit this page, I caution you to consider this thought: 

http://www.dumpaday.com/funny-pictures/funny-pictures-31-pics/

 His answer was softened to, "Let's see, let me think about it."   Okay.  Progress made. 

 

We met with our friends and the result is this.  Now, I am not a great photographer and I missed a bunch of details.  My friend's hubby is also a prize winning photographer and one day he will take fabulous pictures of this dream studio.  

This is the door to my studio.  I love, absolutely love fabric yo-yos!  My quilting bee got together and made this beautiful yo-yo garden.  Then a couple of the ladies parked their cars down the block from my house and, under the watchful eyes of my suspicious neighbors, snuck up to my house and "planted my yo-yo garden by my front door" with a birthday card that said, "You've been yo-yoed!"  Each lady from the bee signed the card!  There's even extra fabric yo-yos in the bucket!   

 

 

Here is the view as you walk into my room. You can see a part of my inspiration board (more on that later), my rolling scrapbooking cart, part of my cutting table, my design board, and the portable design boards.  The fabric cutting table is huge, stores many yards of fabric and no!  I am not telling how many yards! 

My inspiration board was inspired by one of the lovely ladies at Bernina.  (Pun totally intended!)Seriously, get to know these ladies, they have tons of great ideas they love to share - as well as a sincere love for those of us who visit their shop.  It's my home away from home.  My bookshelves holds quilting, crocheting and scrapbooking books and magazines and notebooks as well as more scrapbooking supplies.  The rolls of flannel you see are actually pretty cool.  They are semi-portable design boards that have pockets on the top through which painstakingly carved dowels (thank you, Baby) fit through.  They hang from the top of my design board from carved "pins".  The bottom of each design board also has a pocket through which another dowel fits to weigh down the fabric.  I have four of these wonderful contraptions.  Come on now, which quilter has only one UFO (unfinished object) going on?  Oh, and the teddy bear in the corner?  He's roughly 30 years old - a gift from my hubby. 

 



Perhaps in this picture you can see the knobs from which my semi-portable design boards hang.  This Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt is all hand pieced by my daughter and myself.  We are now working on the white and yellow flowers.  This project hangs on the permanent design board.  My daughter found some cool white fabric with tiny hexagons on it, so we are now using that for the white flowers.  The squares on the bottom are designed by my grandchildren for their little brother's quilt.  The ribbon hanger storage to the right of the design board is an ingenious design by my husband.  The rocking chair was donated by a friend and I love it!  Originally, my husband's grandmother's chair was there, but we've moved it into my living room.  Don't you love the lamp?  It was a birthday gift purchased at the shop of La mujer obrera in El Paso, TX (http://www.mujerobrera.org/). 

 

 Here you have a full view of the west wall of my sewing room.  The diamond shaped mini-quilts were hand pieced and quilted by a dear friend.  I believe one is my daughters, but I'm taking care of it for her.  :)  The view outside my window looks out in my "side garden" which I'm preparing a post on for later.  I have two rolling portable storage units on either side of my sewing table.  Both of them open fully from the top and provide tons of storage.  I can remove my sewing table and it's plastic insert, pop in the wood that was cut out to make the hole and wala!  I have a solid table top on which to scrapbook! 












Here is my framed pegboard storage case that hangs above my cutting board.  It holds rulers, scissors, you name it. 

This is only a part of my Heaven on Earth place where I recover.  Believe me, I struggled to accept this very generous gift from my husband and friends.  A lot, I mean a lot of time and money went into this project and I was quite humbled by their generosity.  I prayed and asked God to help me understand, accept and enjoy this wonderful gift. 

And now I do. 

You know why?  

Because this is grace.  This is grace.  This is grace. 

And you know what? 

God shows us His grace every day.  It takes strength and humbleness to accept grace. 

 

Thank you J., D., and my loving husband for being God's tools in teaching me this lesson. 

 

And thank you for giving me a piece of Heaven on Earth to recover. 

For today, this is my truth.