Dress project #2.

Every time I put the scissors to a piece of fabric I get a little nervous. Sometimes I chicken out completely and go make some popcorn or something. Scissors feel so permanent.

Then I remember what the Dean of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College said on my first day of college: It’s not that a great musician doesn’t make mistakes; it’s that a great musician knows how to cover them up.

Hmm.

And then there’s Tim Gunn from Project Runway,

who I imagine towering over me in my sewing room, saying, “Make it work, People.” And I start to realize that it’s not about perfection, it’s about making it work–covering up my mistakes, being flexible and able to change course if needed.

So, for this next project, I set off to Goodwill to find something that I wouldn’t cry over if I messed up.

Enter this completely unattractive man’s shirt.

So ugly, and SO big.

Using this tutorial on Made By Lex, and this tutorial on Craftster.org, I started cutting and pinning, nearly breaking my back and breaking a sweat.

After two nights of doing and re-doing. I emerged from downstairs with this! Yay!

When the Father told me to read my Bible more often, I didn’t know where to start. So I turned to The Lord’s Prayer. I figured it was a good spot.

So I read it over and over and over. I was especially drawn to this part:

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.                 –Matthew 6:12

The more I thought of it, the more I started to think that this word,  “debt,” might extend to everything–including finances and relationships and stuff like that.  If it does, I realized, then the level of freedom I have in these other things is connected to whether or not I hold any unforgiveness in my heart. This is the part when I raise my hands in the air and sing, “ahhh-haaa!”

These kinds of realizations excite me because through them the Spirit shows me how I can have more and more freedom in Christ to be who I was created to be. And it ignites the same fervor in me that the word “repent” does because I feel like I’m on the brink of going into deeper and deeper connectivity with Christ. Ooh. Love it. Bring it on.

So the logical course from there? I asked the Father to reveal any unforgiveness in me. I repented (yesss!) of my unforgiveness and forgave those that came to mind.  I also asked if there was anyone I needed to ask forgiveness of. And then I called or had coffee or ate a meal with all the people that came to mind. The Spirit again led me to pray for the prospering of my spirit (as he did in the parking lot of Wal-Mart not too long before this), and I made my aim reconciliation, zealous for the freedom that I hoped hoped hoped would follow.

It’s not surprising, is it, that as I sit here writing this, watching my girls play in the wind together out on the deck, that I can think of several relationships that have sprung into new life since the Father’s been at work at this in my heart. I think of my own walk with the Lord that just a few months ago was distant and discouraged that now feels full of joy, refreshment, and rest. He does what he says he will, doesn’t he?

What stories do you have of forgiveness, refreshment, and joy? If you want, leave them in a comment and let us all be encouraged by your faith!