Philippians 2;1b. Day 7, Gift 7

Philippians 2:1a (Part 4)

SCRIPTURE

OBSERVATION

Tonight I’m focusing on

“if any comfort

from His love,

if any common sharing

in the Spirit,

if any tenderness and compassion”.

Philippians 2:1b

I just noticed the order of these words:

encouragement

comfort

common sharing

tenderness

compassion.

It’s almost the steps we go through when we first give our lives to Christ.

Many will encourage us in our new walk.

Then, as we become hurt or possibly confused by trials, we receive comfort.

Then, we learn unity.

Finally, as we mature, tenderness and compassion become definite parts of our very being. 

But first

we are in situations that require

encouragement and comfort.

That spells trials to me.

Then, as we receive encouragement and comfort, we begin to learn the value of unity because other’s united to encourage and comfort us!

Finally, we learn to show tenderness and compassion.

It’s a journey, a walk with Christ. 

APPLICATION

I can only say that I cannot imagine not having

ANY

encouragement

comfort from Jesus’ love,

or unity

in the Spirit,

or tenderness

and compassion.

Readers, today yet another dear friend –

who has survived breast cancer multiple times - told me that during a completed unrelated medical emergency, CT scans revealed a lesion on her kidney. 

As I type these words, I’m thinking, 

“Really, LORD?  Really?  How many friends diagnosed with cancer does this make in the last two months?  Six? Seven?  And two of them are terminal.”

But, then this Scripture popped into my head:

And I realized:

I’m focusing on

how very big the problem is,

and

it is huge.

No doubt about it.

BUT

I need to be focusing

on how very big my God is.

And He’s big.

Really big.

Really Really Big.

So, my dear friends, 

Hold on.

Hold tight.

And just be held.

Just. Be. Held.  

PRAYER

Father God,

You are huge.  

You are powerful.

You are wise.

Please take these big, painful, scary problems and squash them like a bug.

And, Father?  

Please encourage and comfort my friends.

Please bring unity to their families, friends, and doctors that they make work as a team to have the victory!

Please let Your love, tenderness and compassion be the rule in each of their situations.

In Your precious Son’s name I pray.

Amen.

Day 7, Gift 7

So, I’ve been doing a lot of cutting out felt and slow stitching on my grandbabies felt lunch.  It would make for boring pictures, so, I’m going to show you something I made a while ago. 

My husband and I were “shopping” in my gift tote.  Most of us have one.  It’s a tote filled with projects we’ve made throughout the year as gifts. 

My husband chose who would receive this tote. 

And I agreed. 

It’s a perfect choice.

He’s pretty smart, my man is. 

Here’s the post where I wrote about it.  It was a practice block for the $7.50 BOM held in Las Cruces, NM by Bernina Sewing and Design.  I had never made a Drunkard’s Path block before, so I made a practice block 

and then turned it into a tote.

So here you go:  Day 7, Gift 7. 

I’m linking up to

Midweek Makers atQuilt Fabrication Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts!

Oh, I have some exciting news to share in my next post!  

Philippians 1:27b – 28 Part 1. Sewing News: Setting Up A Quilty 365 Center

Philippians 1:27b – 28

SCRIPTURE

OBSERVATION

As we discussed previously here and here Paul is asking for a united front in verse 1:27.  To be sure there are disputes over details in the Philippine church, but overall, they can agree on the Gospel of Christ.  As previously discussed, this point is so vital, that Paul mentions it three times in verse 27b!

After discussing “striving together as one for the Gospel”, he tells them they can achieve this without being frightened in any way by those who oppose them.

APPLICATION

This reminds me of the saying, “There is power in numbers.”  Amen!

I also recall how my love for my sister-in-law grew tremendously as I nursed her through breast cancer – twice. 

Yup, she's my hero!

And then how she flew from the east coast to New Mexico during her own chemotherapy treatment to go with me to my own first chemotherapy treatment.

Now, like all sisters,

we love each other deeply

and

we can definitely drive each other nuts!  J

I remember telling my kiddos, “I can complain about her, but not you!”

So contradictory,

but it made so much sense to me! 

Oh, and my husband?

He would just smile.

Together, my sister-in-law and I  encouraged each other

via telephone

to beat cancer. 

And we did.

That’s the power of unity.

That’s the ability

to be fearless

in the face

of our enemy.

That’s unity.

PRAYER

You know how I hate hypocrisy and “fronts”!  Therefore, this set of verses really had me struggling to make peace with and write about because that is exactly what I felt Paul was asking the Philippians to do!

http://www.lovethispic.com/image/145583/thank-you-god

Holy Father, thank you for helping me as I grappled with these verses over the last week!  Now I understand why You’ve been calling me all morning to study and read, and 

I now understand “united front” on a deeper level – and I appreciate it. 

Thank you, Abba Father! 


Sewing News

How I Set Up My Quilty 365 Center

First, I must mention that I use this tutorial to make this quilt.  In short, I cut out circles of fabric and light interfacing, sew them right sides together, cut the interfacing, turn them inside out and iron them to my background fabric.  But seriously, check out her link.  :)

1)    My granddaughter helped me run my light interfacing through the Accuquilt to make a mountain of 5” circles – which quickly turned into a little mountain!  J

2)    Then I spent an afternoon cutting out a 5” strip from each “bolt” of my fabric.  Using my I Accuquilt made short work of creating the 5” circles. 

3)    Next, I sew the circles onto the interfacing to the circles and pin them to the squares. 

4)    Finally, I will press them and blanket stitch them on.  I’m using a mix of hand sewing and machine sewing.  I had started out using embroidery floss, but then I read that was not the best idea.  That saddens me as it looks so very pretty!

appreciated!

5)    I store them all in this pretty handmade basket. 

6)    At times, I follow the mood blanket mode and pick a color that reflects my mood using this chart.  At times I pick a fabric that reminds me of that day.  It’s all very loosey goosey!  J

Oh my dear readers, 

thank you for visiting!  

See you again soon!

I'm linking up to:

Kathleen's Sharing Sundays

Monday Making at Love,Laugh, Quilt

Main Crush Mondays 

at Cooking Up Quilts

Moving It Forward Monday 

at Em’s Scrapbag.

Please stop and pay them a visit!

Update of Mind Map. To Do Tuesday. Giving Time, Time.

Hello There!

Thank you for visiting!  I'm so glad you're here! Whether this is your first visit or you're a regular reader, "Welcome!"

Update of Mind Map.

With the completion of Baby M2's hat,my percentages went up to 33%!  I'm a third way through my list!  Yea!

To Do Tuesday.
Here's my list from last week.  A lot got accomplished!

11/15/16

DONE!  Hand Sewing

Wool jubilee leave mat

-   Continue stitching

I used beads instead of buttons,

plus.....

there's a surprise twist to this one!

Oh Oh!  Quilting

Continue to hand quilt the Advent tree

DONE!  Christmas Sewing:

Add borders

Purchase batting and backing

Make backing

Hopefully, find a long arm quilter who can finish it by Christmas

Oh Oh!  Regular Sewing

Grey Hand warmers (make 5 more ) 

alter blouses

DONE! Crochet 

Baby M2’s afghan crochet 21 more green dots

DONE! BOM’s & QAL’s 

Dot Quilt – appliqué dots to foundation fabric

Quilty 365 – appliqué circles to foundation fabric

This week's list will be much shorter because I really want to meet my OMG goal of finishing the Advent tree for my son! 😍

To Do List for 11/22/16

Hand Sewing

Wool jubilee leave mat

-   Join back to front

Quilting - Advent Tree

Continue to hand quilt the Advent tree

Bind

Wash

Attach ribbons for the 25 decorations for Advent tree

Present to my son

I'm linking up to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River and To Do Tuesday at Stitch All Things.  

Giving Time, Time
This week is a fabulous opportunity to be filled with gratitude and thanksgiving to our LORD and Savior!  

To be sure, since 2014, it's a difficult week as well.  Because of this, I am a bit more emotional - to be honest - a lot more emotional.  

On Monday 

of Thanksgiving week 2014, 

I had a mammogram.  

On Tuesday 

of Thanksgiving week 2014, 

my doctor called in the early afternoon

to let me know that I had an 

abnormal mammogram.

I told my husband, 

sister-in-law 

and my sister.

On Wednesday

of Thanksgiving week 2014, 

we noted that it was 7 years since my mother-in-law's passing.

She passed the day before Thanksgiving.

Also

On Wednesday

of Thanksgiving week 2014, 

I had a diagnostic mammogram.

The radiologist told me

there was no doubt that I had a tumor

located right next to the chest wall,

deep inside my left breast.

Because of the location,

he highly recommended that we go to 

MD Anderson ASAP.

His kind technician 

prepared the CD's that I would need.

Late in the evening, 

on Wednesday 

of Thanksgiving week 2014,

my husband and I left his office broken. 

But, we had a Thanksgiving dinner 
to prepare as we welcomed 

our family into our home.
And then

for our journey ahead.

So, my dear reader, you may understand that this week I will taking a break from our Bible study of Philippians.  

I'll still blog about sewing and such, 

but our study will continue later.  

I need time 

to reflect,

to heal,

to praise God,

to give thanks.

And I know you understand.

And I love you for that.

Dear Friend, this is my truth.

Be Blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!

No Reply Blogger? Philipians 1:8. Baby Quilt Quilted!! Progress on Other WIPs!

Are You A No Reply Blogger?
You know, I had no idea I was a no-reply blogger.  Actually I don't even know what it is until a commenter (Is that even a word?) let me know.  

Thanks to Diana at Anyone Can Decorate, I found the definition and the fix for my unknowingly, rude behavior in the blogging world.  Here's a cute image she used:

http://anyonecandecorate.blogspot.com/2012/09/are-you-no-reply-blogger-how-to-fix.html

So, if you're wondering why nobody responds to your comments I HIGHLY reccomend your check out her solutions here!  She's quite a knowledgeable and entertaining writer!



Philippians 1:8

Philippians 1

1Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons :

2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

This is the section of Philippians we have been looking at.  I’ve really enjoyed slowing down and studying each verse, each phrase and applying it to my life.  I hope you have been blessed by my humble offering of insights into this beloved book!  

Scripture:  Let’s look at verse 8 focusing on the first three words:

⁸God can testify

how I long for all of you

with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Observation:  I’ve said in the past that Paul writes with such confidence!  Paul must have had such a close relationship to God to say this with such assurance! It reminds me of the hymn, Blessed Assurance.

Application:  Can you imagine being able to say, “God can testify…” to something in your life?  At first I thought, “No, I could never say ‘God can testify’ about anything in my life.”  But that’s not true. 

God can testify to

my hope in Him,

my worshiper's heart,

my faith,

my desire to encourage others –

and that includes you!

God can testify to many things in my life! 

And of that I am deeply humbled and grateful.

Prayer:  I offer my prayer in the form of this beloved hymn.  

 

Baby Quilt Quilted
Can you believe my daughter already quilted, trimmed AND zig-zagged the edges of the baby quilt - and with three kiddos under the age of 6 at home?!  She really impressed me!  

http://www.funscrape.com/Comments/Good_Job.html

I don't have a picture of it quilted, but here is one all pinned up!  I must make a disclaimer here.  I did not choose this beautiful combination of fabrics.  My daughter made a baby quilt several years ago and she gave me her scraps.  Isn't that cool?

I made significant progress on my Wild Olive Around the House Stitching Club!

Yea!

Now, 

if I could only figure out 

how to get those diamond points 

to join up and play nicely!  

Any suggestions?

I'm linking up to Monday Makings and Moving It Forward Mondays!