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TRUST JESUS TODAY

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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Start (01/16/06)
Spring came with the budding of new ideas and projects. Top on the list was a sampler quilt for Jessica’s bedroom. It was so much fun taking my daughter to the quilt shop and watching her excitement at the array of choices. She picked pastel blues, greens, yellows, and pinks of floral prints and solids. Jessica carried the precious bundle home, washed and dried it with care and helped iron each piece.

Since this was a sample quilt even more choices needed to be made. For several days our home school schedule took on a special order of business. Jessica started the morning by picking a couple of squares and the colors she wanted me to piece for her that day, than moved on to her school work while I worked over the ironing board and sewing machine. After all the squares were finished we spent an afternoon spreading them out on my bed and labored over the final place each square would hold in the finished quilt.

The next morning was spent sewing the squares in place followed by an afternoon on the living room floor pin-basting the back, batting and quilt top together. The quilt was beautiful, but it was still only the start for a quilt that Jessica could actually spread out over her bed and enjoy using.

Jessica is being very patient with me as I go through the long process of adding hours upon hours of hand quilting. She even forgave me when the quilt got pushed aside for the couple of months I was working on Christmas gifts. She trusts me to finish her quilt, and I am doing my best to make sure it becomes more than just a beautiful start.

Our Christian life can be like Jessica’s quilt. We may make a beautiful start in our Christian walk, but the finish line takes more. God will not praise us for only starting well. His praise is reserved for those who faithfully finished the race.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Kate Wells
01/23/06
As a quilter, I really appreciated the analogy and could easily see you and your daughter choosing the fabrics together. This made me think of the verse, "He who began a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:6
I loved this story...Thanks!
Kate~
Jan Ackerson
01/25/06
A very lovely object lesson! You changed tenses in your fourth paragraph, but with that small fix, I can see this as a devotional for a teen's or women's group.
Sue Stone
01/28/06
Beautiful piece. Actually I think that tense shift in the fourth paragraph is necessary, since it's still an ongoing thing...just like us. We came to Christ, and we are still here. But a transition like: "Pieceing is not the end of the story, and the quilt is not yet finished. Jessica is being very patient..." might make the time shift from past to present smoother - to signal the reader that you are not yet finished before switching tenses. But I really really liked this piece.
Karen O'Leary
01/28/06
Interesting analogy! Thoughtful way to approach the subject. Thank you for sharing this story.
Julianne Jones
01/28/06
As another quilter, I enjoyed this devotional and the way you linked it to our Christian walk. Ah yes, the hand quilting can be difficult and tedious at times and sometimes we may even despair of ever finishing - just like life sometimes. Thanks for sharing.