Happy New Year!

Do you ever feel uncertain, scared, or disheartened about the future? Maybe right now there is a situation in your life that causes you to fear the future. We all have times of struggling in our lives; there is hope, something to hold onto. There's Jesus. The Lord gave me this verse, so that anytime I am tempted to fret about the future, or wonder if my life is going to count for anything, I think on this verse and hear the precious promise of my Savior; my All in All.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

The Lord not only gives us a future, but a hope for that future. Our hope is in living for Him day by day. If we are doing that than we will always have great purpose!

May your heart be filled with the peace and hope of our Lord this coming year!

Merry Christmas!!

This Christmas season I have been thinking a lot about Mary and the special qualities she must of had to be used so mightily by the Lord. As I read the Christmas story and rejoiced at our Saviour's birth my mind continued to pick out the beautiful character of Mary.

She was Pure in heart and lived a life of purity toward the Lord;

She was Humble, calling herself a lowly "handmaiden" of the Lord;

She was Believing, she had faith in what the angel told her, and her cousin Elisabeth blessed "she that believes";

She Feared the Lord, she said that the Lord's mercy is on them that "fear Him";

She was Quiet, she "pondered" the angel's proclamation to the shepherds in her heart;

She was Submissive, she submitted to the leadership of Joseph and to the will of the Lord;

Most of all the quality that I love in Mary is her Meek spirit. She said "so be it" to what the Lord had deemed. She was willing to suffer any humiliation or hardship that came with this special calling from the Lord.

This Christmas, I ask myself, am I as willing as Mary was to endure anything the Lord sends my way; whether pleasant or hard?
Am I willing to say that His will is mine?


('Kissing the Face of God' by Morgan Weistling)

May the blessing of our Precious Savior be upon you and your family this Christmas! May you find peace and joy always, this coming year, in the will of the Lord!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving, and that as you spend this time with family and friends that you will remember the real reason for our joy!

"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."

Psalm 30:11-12

The thing that I am most thankful for this year, is the relationship that the Lord is growing each day between me and Him. I never knew that I could have so sweet a fellowship with the Lord as I have now!

Many, many blessings to you!

(Picture from Allposters.com)

The Bride of Christ

A friend of mine wrote this wonderful, thought provoking poem. I hope that it truly blesses your heart as much as it did mine.

~Bride of Christ~

"What does it mean to be the bride of Jesus Christ? I ponder this question and yet not one of my thoughts seems to complete the real meaning.

It's sacrifice. His goals become your goals. You serve Him with your whole heart, and you are ever waiting to be alone with Him again. It's seeing yourself as belonging to someone. You are not your own. You are taken by the Almighty God. His hand holds you, His eyes delight in your beauty and strength. Valued. Your innocence should shine brighter than all the stars in the sky. It's laying your life down for the purpose of your King. Your soul desires to please Him, no matter what the cost.

You live on a cloud of contentment. You desire nothing but more of the love from your Saviour. Breathing in His sweet love, grabbing hold of His everlasting forgiveness and His forever enduring grace. You make Him your daily agenda.You walk and you talk with Him all through out your day. Your Spirit is ever so connected with His Spirit of truth. His arms are always open. He is your treasure. You are His treasure. Nothing could be better than this except ruling with Him at His throne, where the sun shines for eternity." ~Kari 1 Corinthians 7:34

"There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband."

For you young, unmarried ladies I pray that you to see the importance of this time in your life. This is the time when you can give your all to the Lord; all of your time, energy, thoughts, and devotion to Him. To make Him your sole object. Are you making a suitable use of this time in your life?

(Picture from Allposters.com)

~ Psalm 119:38

"Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear."


Are you "devoted" to serving the Lord and to being constantly aware of His presence in your life? Do your thoughts run to Him and His Word?

Proverbs 16:3

"Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."

Commit- Roll on the Lord

We should transfer our burdens to the One that is best able to carry them.

Is there anything that that the Lord cannot handle?

Do the will of the Lord, and leave the rest up to Him!

Following Christ

The Lord had recently laid on my heart a verse to meditate on:
Psalm 119:105
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"

I had heard this verse so many times, and in hearing it so much I had failed to see the full extent of its meaning. I realized that "a lamp unto my feet" referred to the foot lamps or lanterns of ancient times that shed just enough light to take one step at a time. The Lord desired to show me through this verse the importance of relying on Him for each step. You find by reading a previous post that I struggle with not taking God's will and running with it. I want to take it and do it for God, rather than with God.
Here were the thoughts that the Lord shared with me this morning:

In the Companion Bible I read-
"lamp: or lantern, for light on the path for the feet; not merely a light for our eyes"
An example of a light for our eyes would be in Acts 9:3 when God used a blinding light to open Saul's spiritual eyes.
I believe that the "light for our eyes" is a light that brings us to salvation, like a beacon, it calls us to come home from our wandering to our Father in Heaven.
I believe that the "light for our feet" is a light that enables us to follow after the Lord, it is the foot lamp or lantern that is given us after we receive God's salvation. This lamp is the Word of God, that shows us how we ought to walk.

The Lord began to show me some characteristics of the lamp that I did not see before.
1. The lamp gives us just enough light to find our way; not too much or too little.
God gives us just enough truth for the situation we need at hand.

2. The lamp is no good unless we us it.
We need to get into God's Word and glean the truth's that he has for us each day, otherwise, we'll be stumbling in the darkness.

3. Not having much light causes us to lend greater reliance on our light source.
When we have just enough light so we cannot see what's farther ahead but only that which is right in front of us; we become more reliant on our light source because we need to stay focused on it for each step.

4. Lastly, the oil in our lamps is the stored Word of God that we memorize and meditate on.
If we do not have God's word in us, God cannot bring it out as we need it. If a lamp does not have oil, it cannot be used to produce more light.

As the Lord showed me these truths I became aware of the need to not only follow the Lord day by day, but minute by minute, step by step, and allow Him to light the way for my path; instead of running ahead in the darkness thinking I know the way.

Tis So Sweet

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

And to take Him at His Word;

Just to rest upon His promise,

And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er Jesus,

Jesus, precious Jesus!

O for grace to trust Him more!

"Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus" was written in 1882 by Louisa M.R. Stead. As the story goes, Louisa had always felt a calling to be a missionary and go to China. But due to fragile health she was kept home in the US. She married Mr. Stead and had a daughter named Lily. When Lily was 4 yrs old the family went on vacation to a nearby beach. While there, relaxing and enjoying their vacation, they saw a young boy drowning in the ocean. Mr. Stead swam out and tried to rescue him, only he was pulled under by the boy and both Mr. Stead and the boy drowned as Louisa and her daughter watched from shore. Louisa was left without any means of support except for God's care. She and her daughter were in dire poverty - one day when there was no food in the house and no money to purchase any, Louisa opened the front door to find someone had left groceries and money sitting there for her. That same day she sat down and wrote "Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus...". She later became a missionary to Africa, remarried and once again was forced to stay in the US due to her health. But once recovered she went back into the missionary field in Rhodesia and later died in Zimbabwe. Her daughter Lily married and became a missionary as well.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. "

~Matthew 6:33 & 34

Fall Enrichment Classes

Starting October 6th, an eight week sewing class
at a Middle & High School co-op.

Contact me for more info.

Look Unto Jesus

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

~Helen H. Lemmel

Run With Patience

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hebrews 12:1&2

How often I have lost strength in the race that we are called to run; how often I have taken everything upon myself and left behind the One that is running through me.

I strive to live by this verse, yet, frankly, sometimes I don't make it to the end. I am willing and ready to lay aside all my weights, get my running shoes on, and get warmed up; but, I forget the patience that I am to run the race with. I get frustrated when there are obstacles on the course and in trying to avoid them I get off the trail and end up going my own way. Sometimes, in my zealous haste I get so burnt out that I slip into slumber on the side of the road.

I am reminded of the story of the tortoise and the hare. The hare knew he had the race in hand, he did not take stop to get instruction on how to win the race. Where did he end up? Sleeping!

The tortoise on the other hand knew what he needed to do and he patiently trudged along, looking toward his mark. This won him the race!

You may wonder why when you feel so "ready to go" in your Christian walk (err, run) that you find yourself a little later on, let down, disappointed because things didn't go your way, and you are further away from the Lord.

It's because, we weren't made to run this race alone or in our own power. We are to "...run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith..."

Patience in the greek means:
"cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: - enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting)."

Waiting does not mean to sit there and do nothing; it means to actively pursue what the Lord has for us, yet doing it through Him, by Him, and for Him.

"We are to look unto Jesus!"

Looking unto Jesus, which is our mark, will win us the race just like the tortoise did, if we patiently wait on the Lord!!

Now Offering...

Group sewing classes at a Homeschool Co-op!
Four & Eight Week classes available.

Located at:

Mercy Fellowship
711 St. Johns Bluff Road, Jacksonville, FL

Contact me for more information.

I will bless the Lord at all times:

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:1a - 4

I had such a wonderful time at the H.E.R.I. Curriculum Convention. I got to meet a lot of wonderful people and had many positive responses to the sewing lessons offered by Sewing Seeds & Seams. I was so happy to have my niece, Sarah, there, and am grateful for the help that she was to me!

One day...

14 hours, 9 minutes, and 40 seconds until the H.E.R.I. Convention!!!

Try, Try Again

"How do we react to failure? Do we immediately start making allowances or blaming others or refusing to try again? Or do we try to understand what the Lord could have been teaching us through our failure. Could the lesson be humility? Could it be perseverance? Could it be both?"

"...the way we react to those trials is important, not only because we ought to be striving to glorify God, even in the "little things," but because we're also developing character that's going to help us tackle those "bigger things."

A wonderful young lady, Jasmine, has posted this helpful article on her blog, here.

I would have to say that my greatest fear in life is the fear of failure. I am gripped by this fear so badly at times, that, instead of using my failure as a step to success, I never try again. There have been many things in my life that I have never even attempted, just because I didn't want to fail. The more things I have put off or not pursued because of my fear have caused me to realize that:

The greatest failure in life is not even trying!

When we are doing things for the Lord, our concern is whether or not we are rightly serving Him; not whether or not we fail. If something does not go the way we anticipate, it is not because we have failed or God failed us, but that the lessons we learn through so called "failure" are greater than the lessons we would learn through succuss.

Sample Apron

"She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

~Proverbs 31:16

"Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come."
~Proverbs 31:25

Stuck in the Prayer Closet

So often I struggled with keeping the Lord in the central position of my life. I would wake up in the morning and just spend time with the Lord and really draw close to Him. I would read my Bible, pray, and then get up to start my day. I always asked the Lord in my prayers to help me do His will. I would go along my merry way,

until...

well, something would always happen. One of the kids would wake up grumpy, or I remembered all the stuff I had to do, or something terrible would happen to disrupt my plans, my agenda.

I always prayed, "Lord, help me get the things done that I need to get done today." Not realizing that statement alone said it all. I really thought that I was doing God's will, (remember I said that's what I desired to do in my morning prayer?); but I soon began to realize that God was still in the prayer closet. See, when I got up in the morning I really wanted God's will for my life. I would listen and hear His will. Yet, I didn't realize that instead of taking God with me throughout the day, I in essence said "Okay God, you want me to do this today? All right, I can handle that, you just sit tight and I'll see you tonight-hopefully." I would take His will and run with it. I did things from Him and for Him, but not with Him.

So many times we can get with the Lord, hear His will, and then go out and get caught up in the day. We ask God to help us do His will, then we go out and do our own, in our timing, our way.
At night after I was worn out with all that I had to do, I would find God at my bedside still waiting for me since the morning.

I would like to challenge you, as well as myself, to focus on the Lord throughout the day. Don't leave God stuck in the prayer closet. Put down your agenda and focus on His agenda, in His timing. Often, we are doing God's will, but not in the timing or way that He intended, sometimes He wants us to drop everything and be flexible enough to do something else for that day. We cannot be effective in doing God's will if we are not doing His will, through Him. Keep the Lord at the center of your thoughts. When you find yourself veering away, stop and refocus on the Lord. Let us become virtuous maidens whose hearts are continually on the Lord!

Do You Belong?

The question looming in most people's minds is not who they are, but who's they are.

We long to know that we belong to someone or to something.
Whenever we meet someone we're always asked what we are associated with:
"What school do you go to"," what job do you have", "where are you from", "what do you do", and the list goes on.

Everyone is searching for something to "belong" to.
I searched for most my life to find that place of belonging. I tried belonging to different people groups, to hobbies, to stations in life; all trying to just belong.

I found my freedom when I realized that- I belong to Christ! He wants me, He loves me. It's like He has taken me and stamped me with this "seal of ownership"; I'm His.

I belong

I don't need to search any further; I know who's I am and that's all that matters. I carry that "seal of ownership" as a daughter of the King of Kings and it sets me apart. It causes me to be vastly contented; knowing that I belong to someone. I can have the quiet strength of the virtuous woman; knowing who and who's I am and finding joy in that.

What is a “Maiden of Virtue”?

The Hebrew form of virtue means “of strength”, and maiden is an unmarried woman.

So, a “Maiden of Virtue” is an unmarried young lady that possesses power and strength.

What does a “Maiden of Virtue” look like?

She is not a perfect model of:
· Beauty,
· Poise and elegance, or
· Charm

Rather, she is a young lady that relies on the Lord in everything. The strength that she possesses is not a physical aptitude; but a quiet, inner strength that comes from the Lord, to do what is right. Her beauty is not an outward beauty; but an inward beauty of holiness before the Lord.

She is not a perfect housekeeper, chef, or seamstress. She is a servant. She does all that she can to glory of the Lord and she does everything to the best of her ability. She seeks to serve her Master by, serving others, helping others, and doing all things with joy.

In Proverbs 31:13 – the virtuous woman “worketh willingly with her hands”
“willingly” in the Hebrew, denotes pleasure and is a cheerful service.

When I would read Proverbs 31, I would get discouraged because I felt that I was not “perfect” enough. But, the Lord has shown me that He does not want me to be perfect, He wants me to be willing; willing to just serve Him.

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." ~ Proverbs 31:10

Heading to the Curriculum Convention!

Today I found out that I was accepted to have a booth at the H.E.R.I. Curriculum Convention in Jacksonville, Florida. I am so excited to have this opportunity to meet with other homeschooling families and talk about my sewing classes. The Lord truly has blessed me with this amazing opportunity. In my wildest dreams I never imagined that He would have me going to the Convention, and having my own booth as well. All of the plans that I had for advertising had failed, but God opened up another door of opportunity!

Praise the Lord!

Welcome to Sewing Seeds & Seams!

Sewing Seeds & Seams is a sewing business that I have started to teach young ladies sewing lessons. My main priority in teaching is not only to expose my students to the art of sewing, but to plant Godly seeds in each young lady's life. I strive to bring my students closer to the Lord and to doing His will. I teach according to Proverbs 31, instructing girls on how to be "Maidens of Virtue". Encouraging each maiden to love family, domesticity, others, and mostly the Lord.
My hope is to write encouraging entries so that each young lady can find nuggets of light on her path. I also plan to post additional sewing tips to further help each maiden along her sewing adventure!