Coffee Cozy

I cut these out on the last craft retreat I went to, and then decided to go home at a decent time on Sunday instead of sewing them up. Last night, Grace helped me match buttons to each one and I sewed them on. Made 100% from materials I already had, I like how they turned out. And of course they are all backed in repurposed jeans. Here are my coffee cozys:

Most people would make something because they had a plan for it. Not me. These are another item I made with no real plan, I just knew I had all the materials to make them, so I did. As I've completed them I've decided they will just be used to bless some people I love. I'll probably include a small coffee shop gift card. Maybe one will be left in a mailbox, another might get mailed. One will probably go for my friend who is doing my hair for the prom on Friday. Another for a friend who is having a challenging time in most areas of her life right now. Now I'm excited to give them away.

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One woman who will get one of these blessed me the other day when she heard God's heart for me.

I was sharing in a class that I help lead and told how I was on the South Beach Diet wagon, and how I'd fallen off the South Beach Diet wagon, and was now trying to get back on. I have lost some weight, but not as much as I hoped, but that I wasn't giving up, I know God is in it wanting to break off my 'need' for sugar. 

Later, she told me to stop being so hard on myself. That as a parent, I should know that God isn't looking at me with disgust. She compared it to having a baby who is learning to walk. When your child takes their first steps, you drop everything and cheer. You don't tell them, "Eh, that was okay, but it was really only a step and then you fell. Next time try harder and I'll be here when you get it right." You keep encouraging them to try over and over again. 

That's what God is doing with me. He loves that I'm stepping out, listening to Him and following Him. He's cheering me on and when I stumble, He stops to see if I need help or if I can get up myself, gaining strength from His presence. He cheers. For me. And I have strength to try again. Soon I'll be running, and He'll still be cheering.

Happiness

 I took a little unplanned hiatus there. I wanted to read, picked a book I'd already read, light reading that was handy because it was already in my iBooks app, and then read the next book in the series, and the next, and the next, five total. And I can see that I totally did it to avoid, bury my head in the sand, and not awfulize about the stuff that God was speaking to me last week.So I avoided. I should mention the Christmas gift sewing that sucked me in, too. So, I don't want to have a pity party here, just wanted to tell you I've been here... but not here.

God always pursues when we run. I should expect it by now. (Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. Psalm 139.7-8)

Every week I come to Freedom for Life, empty and unwilling, and God speaks through the wonderful women at my table and touches my heart. Every week. We turn to Him, He comes, we turn, He comes... (Are you getting this, Kathy??? I am stubborn and comfortable in the mire, always surprised that there is something better.) My friend, Wendy, has been doing such a great job leading our group of ladies, week in and week out. She hears God for us, guiding us, modeling life in Christ, obedient.  Last night she brought a gift for each of us. (She even brought a gift for someone who wasn't supposed to be at our table, knowing she would be anyway. See - she hears from God, and then acts on it!) The gifts were Willow Tree figurines and she picked a different one for each of us, to remind us of this time, set apart for God.  For me, who cries through most meetings, she chose 'Happiness.'

The description of it was from God's heart to mine,
My daughter, My heart is for you to be "FREE to sing, laugh, dance....create!"
Only God could have told her that, the thing my heart longs to hear, the words I am afraid to hope for. Thank you, Wendy, you hear God when I can't.