square 48 & 49

square 48:  i went back to taiwan for my aunt’s funeral.  she had been battling leukemia for a year and a half.  she was the oldest daughter and the first in her family to know the Lord.  and she was faithful to bring all her sisters and their husbands to know the Lord.  my mother was the second daughter and the second to be saved, along with my father.  this was how the Lord’s salvation reached me–through my aunt’s steadfast prayers for her family. it was nice to be with all my aunts and uncles, sharing many fond memories of their dear oldest sister, listening to many stories that i had never heard before.

the morning before i left taipei i was able to go to a knick-knack store near my third aunt’s house and wander through it’s three floors of every-things.  in the craft section i came across some wooden beads.  ah!  how i wish i had these back in june when i was taking the surface embroidery class.

square 49: continuing with the beads theme…joann was selling a packet of assorted beads for $1.  miss e used some to make a necklace.  i used some of the smaller ones for my square.

square 48

the week before thanksgiving my life felt like a whirling dervish, crazy twister spinning with enormous amounts of life situations that i could barely make decisions for.  and yet they had to be taken care of.  in these times i always thank the Lord that He arranged mdh to be mdh.  every night, one by one, we sorted through the dilemmas and considered how each needed to be handled and arranged.  we talked, prayed, and the grace was there to tackle each situation.

this square was machine sewn by free hand technique.  it felt like it fit the occasion…no time to hand sew the square.

42, 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47

42, 43, 44

45, 46, 47

these were the squares i worked on while my camera was on vacation.  and then life got really crazy during and after thanksgiving…so there’s some catch-up sewing to do.

a new beginning

so instead of fretting and agonizing over how i’m going to finish my 52 squares, and take pictures of them, and complete all the half-written entries about them, and still find time to relax before my math class starts again…i think this post from bibles for america is a better way to have a new beginning.  i’ll still finish up my 52 squares of yester-year, but taking care of my spiritual eating is a better priority than anything else.

finishing what i’ve begun.

it’s 2014 and i’m still trying to finish my 52 squares of 2013!  oy!  things got a little piled up near the end of 2013.  along with the squares i also have a few other projects hanging about that needs some finishing up.   the plan is to finish those up before i embark on any more new projects.

square 45

this past weekend we went on another retreat.  this time the retreat was for the young adult age group.  the speaking brother shared mainly about the tabernacle and all the responsibilities surrounding it from the book of numbers.  my view of the church life was uplifted, and my view of my responsibilities in the church was also renewed.

By studying the picture presented in the book of Numbers, we can see what the responsibility of the middle-aged brothers and sisters should be. In chapter three of Numbers we see how to keep the tent of meeting. Those related to the tent of meeting were in three sections according to their age: one section for those from one month to twenty years; a second section for those between twenty and thirty; and a third section for those over the age of thirty. We have seen that those between the ages of twenty and thirty were to fight the battle and that those over thirty were to maintain the testimony directly. But what about those between the ages of one month and twenty years? Those in this age group surrounded the tabernacle in order to keep it. The Bible does not tell us the meaning of keeping the tabernacle. Perhaps it meant to protect the tabernacle and to share in its maintenance. …But the more young ones there are, the more the church is protected.  All Ages for the Lord’s Testimony, Ch. 2

i appreciated seeing that, for the children of israel, any and all age groups had some responsibility related to the tabernacle.  the tabernacle was their life.  even a one month old can “help” with the tabernacle.  it’s quite a destiny and a heritage.  the speaker mentioned that even though those over fifty were retired from serving with the tabernacle they weren’t truly retired.  the retirees then became the mentors to the young apprentices, ages 25-30 (Numbers 8:24-26).  i was thoroughly encourage to see where i stand in my church service right now, and to see where i’ll be twenty years from now.

this square is supposed to represent the children of israel camped around the tabernacle…you need to look really hard.  squinting or closing your eyes may help!

square 44

last weekend we joined some college students for their fall retreat.  miss e kept saying that we were “camping.”  we stayed in cabins with bunk beds, electricity, flushing toilets and hot showers.  we didn’t call it camping, we’ve never been camping…i’m not even sure where she learned the word “camping”?   i wonder if she thinks that sleeping anywhere away from home (or grandparents’ homes) is camping.

from the conference, i was reminded again in the book of john how the Lord came to meet the need of man’s every case–to be real life (zoe) to us.

chap 2: the need of the moral–life’s regenerating.

chap 4: the need of the immoral–life’s satisfying; the need of the dying–life’s healing.

chap 5: the need of the impotent–life’s enlivening.

chap 6: the need of the hungry–life’s feeding.

chap 7: the need of the thirsty–life’s quenching.

chap 8: the need of those under the bondage of sin–life’s setting free.

chap 9-10: the need of the blind–life’s sight and life’s shepherding.

chap 11: the need of the dead–life’s resurrecting.

(Outline of John)

we all need His wonderful zoe life to spread in us.