Oh Dear...

One of my new-found passions is knitting.  I love the feel of wool, the beautiful symmetry of stitches, the endless possibilities that can be created with yarn and needles.  It all truly started the Christmas of 2011, when I spent many days hiding out in my room, knitting my mom a headband.  My fingers were exhausted by the time I was finished, so I gave it up for a while.  Last summer, I decided to knit something again... and this time it was a shawl, and ornaments, and a scarf, and legwarmers.  Here are some pics of the things I made --

This was a Christmas present for Lizzie

These were for Belle

And something for me!

 So, once January came, I was BORED.  I had Christmas vacation, and nothing left to knit.  That didn't last long, of course.  While waiting for some yarn to come in the mail, I made this neckwarmer with left-over yarn

When my yarn finally came, I knit this cowl, too.

I am afraid I am in trouble.  I discovered Ravelry.com, and now I have 19 things in my queue.  I'm going to pace myself, though.  Fortunately, I don't have an endless resource of money, so that should curb me from constantly starting new projects! (do you know how expensive merino wool is?)  Although -- I would like to knit some socks and another pair of legwarmers, along with Christmas gifts...

Dear Father, please spare my friends from the knitting bug.  Amen

You could have died!

Let me give you a scenario:

There's a great post or article that you're reading.  It's by a Christian guy, and he's doing a great job acknowledging God's work in his life.  He's giving God all the glory and praise.  It's an inspiring story.

And then you read some stupid comment at the bottom of the post.  It says, "Geez man, give yourself some credit!  God didn't give you your success -- that was all because of your hard work."

That makes me mad.  Why?  Because it is so obvious that it's by God that we have any success at all.  I mean, think about it -- you could have been born blind.  Or deaf.  Or with a disease or illness that would have impaired you the rest of your life.  Or there could have been a car accident when you were young.  You could have been abandoned by your parents. You could have been rejected from the college you went to, or died from H1N1.  There are a million different things that could have happened to you, and even just one of them could have changed the entire course of your existence.

It's impossible to know exactly what God stops from happening to us.  There is no way of completely comprehending how God has led us to where it we are in life.  Who are we to say we are responsible for any success?  Sure, we may have listened to God's voice and followed His path for us.  But, even if we turned away from Him and tried to go our own way, it would still be of His will if anything good happens to us.  

So that's why those comments make me mad.  The author of the comment wouldn't even be alive if God didn't supply his every breath!  Whenever anyone questions God's sovereignty over the earth and the affairs of men, I think of Job -- especially this chapter:

 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

² “Who is this that obscures my plans
    with words without knowledge?
³ Brace yourself like a man;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
⁶ On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone—
⁷ while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels^[a] shouted for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,
⁹ when I made the clouds its garment
    and wrapped it in thick darkness,
¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it
    and set its doors and bars in place,
¹¹ when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
    here is where your proud waves halt’?

¹² “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
    or shown the dawn its place,
¹³ that it might take the earth by the edges
    and shake the wicked out of it?
¹⁴ The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
    its features stand out like those of a garment.
¹⁵ The wicked are denied their light,
    and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁶ “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been shown to you?
    Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
¹⁸ Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
    Tell me, if you know all this.

¹⁹ “What is the way to the abode of light?
    And where does darkness reside?
²⁰ Can you take them to their places?
    Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
²¹ Surely you know, for you were already born!
    You have lived so many years!

²² “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
    or seen the storehouses of the hail,
²³ which I reserve for times of trouble,
    for days of war and battle?
²⁴ What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
    or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
²⁵ Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
    and a path for the thunderstorm,
²⁶ to water a land where no one lives,
    an uninhabited desert,
²⁷ to satisfy a desolate wasteland
    and make it sprout with grass?
²⁸ Does the rain have a father?
    Who fathers the drops of dew?
²⁹ From whose womb comes the ice?
    Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
³⁰ when the waters become hard as stone,
    when the surface of the deep is frozen?

³¹ “Can you bind the chains^[b] of the Pleiades?
    Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
³² Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons^[c]
    or lead out the Bear^[d] with its cubs?
³³ Do you know the laws of the heavens?
    Can you set up God’s^[e] dominion over the earth?

³⁴ “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
    and cover yourself with a flood of water?
³⁵ Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
    Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who gives the ibis wisdom^[f]
    or gives the rooster understanding?^[g]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
    Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
³⁸ when the dust becomes hard
    and the clods of earth stick together?

³⁹ “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
    and satisfy the hunger of the lions
⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in a thicket?
⁴¹ Who provides food for the raven
    when its young cry out to God
    and wander about for lack of food?

Home

Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile.  It's been a looooong couple of weeks :)

This song really touched me today --

This is not our home.  No matter what happens to us here, we can know with full assurance that we have a true home in heaven waiting for us.  It's a place without pain, heartache, depravity, and sin.  It's the place that we long for.  We long to be where Jesus is.  We long to be HOME.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. -- Hebrews 11:13

Real Mail Is Awesome

I just finished reading these blog posts -- You've Got Mail and Two Words (which I highly recommend you go read) and they have inspired me to join them by spreading a little bit of fun and happiness around.  Here's how it works:

The first three people who comment on this post will receive a special little something sometime this year.  Maybe I'll send you a card, or a handmade gift, or -- I don't know yet :)  We shall see!

Just comment on this post and send me an email at aylin4jesus@gmail.com (if you send me spam I will come to your house and chop down all the trees in your front yard) telling me your full name, address, and five fun facts about yourself.

Then, if you like, you can spread some of the giving spirit yourself by copying the button.  Have a very merry Saturday, everybody!

Our Hope Does Not Disappoint Us

Happy New Year, Everyone!

The new year is always a time of reflection and resolutions for people.  Although I'm not making a formal "resolution" this year because they never work out anyway, I decided to pick a word as a sort of "theme" or "guide" for 2013.  My word is Hope.

I could have chosen Faith, but I feel like Faith is overstated compared to Hope.  I realize they both have their place, their own definition and meaning.  But, sometimes I feel like the word Hope is restricted to things we wish will happen.  Things that may come to pass, and we wouldn't mind if they do.

But Hope is so much bigger than that.  One of my favorite verses says, "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5

Our Hope is not disappointed.  It is set and sure.  Our Hope is in things that WILL come to pass.  God has given it to us, so that we can wait in full assurance of what is to come.  We hope for the glory of heaven, the peace of earth, the fullness of Christ's likeness in us.  But, I also have Hope in the smaller things -- that God has a course set for my life, that He will make my worries vanish and fulfill all His plans for me in His timing.

So my word this year is Hope.  What is yours?