I Can Appliqué, or Can I?
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3 NIV
When my daughter decided to decorate her new baby’s room in Hyland cows, my sister-in-law sent me a pattern to do an appliqué of one on the sewing machine. She thought using the leftover scraps from the baby quilt I had done made a great idea. She even supplied me with a YouTube video about how to do it.
The pattern included one piece per letters of the English alphabet. That seemed like a lot, but I finally tackled it. If it did not turn out, who would know?
Using the video and my sewing machine instructions for appliqué, I got busy. At first, I put my sewing machine on the slowest speed as I carefully maneuvered around curves and corners. As my confidence grew, I turned up the speed feeling pretty good about myself. Then, I hit the scallops. Oh, my goodness, my pride quickly turned into defeat and that sewing machine speed went back down.
Life can resemble this process. We read God’s Word, pray, listen to his Holy Spirit, and strike out to do what we feel like he wants us to do. When things start going well, we may put a misplaced value on ourselves and try to speed up not heeding God’s instructions. Then when things feel out of control, we realize what went wrong. We started trying to rush ahead with our own plan instead of sticking carefully to his. We tried to do things in our own strength instead of his.
Guess what? He does not chastise us or shoot us down. He encourages us to dust ourselves off and get back on track. We will find him there ready to continue.
Our faithful God promises us peace when we fix our minds on him and put our trust in him. What could be better than that?
Father, your offer of peace is too good to pass up. Help us keep our minds on your wisdom – not our own, not the world’s. We are so grateful for your promises.
Susan Partida
