The Heart of the Matter ~My "Dwell" Project

So, did you make a craft or do a project to help your heart remember to dwell on things of the Lord? I did, and as usual, the Lord was teaching me something along the way.

I decided to a make a mug rug. They were very popular with quilt bloggers last year and I loved looking at all of them! (Mug Rugs are basically mini placemats used to put your morning coffee or tea on.) So, I decided I would jump on the bandwagon and make a Mug Rug that says “dwell.” I picked some of my favorite colors, cut out the word dwell and sewed it to my cute patch of fabric. Then, I sewed all the little squares together, sandwiched them with some heat-resistant batting, and sewed on the binding….my project was going along so good! Then it was time to trim the threads. I snipped, snipped, snipped, then OH NO! I snipped too far and cut part of the mug rug. I couldn’t believe it! I created something and worked hard at it. I had good intentions, but then I carelessly messed it up. How could this happen? Then, I felt the Lord gently tap me on the shoulder. How was I going to handle this small teensy problem that came up? I looked at my options. I could: 1.Cry 2. Complain to Patrick and cry on his shoulder 3.Do my best to fix it. I decided I would fix it, and it would still be usable. I sewed up my mistake. You can still see it, but it is still a mug rug, and I had a great time making it. When I use it in the morning I have learned not to focus on the mistake anymore.

Isn’t that just like us and our “heart problems”? We have good intentions. We’re going along good in our day, so excited about how things are going, then “OH NO”! Before we know it, our heart starts to dwell on something it shouldn’t. Our dwelling heart then affects how we treat our family, and before we know it, we’re a grump! How did this happen? We were going to do so good today! We have some options when this happens. We can: 1.Cry 2.Complain to someone else. 3.We could do our best to make it right. Choose option 3! We can go to the Lord and ask Him to forgive us for not keeping our heart under control. We can then go to the people that our grumpy heart affected. Don’t be afraid to ask your children to forgive you! (In fact, they will learn the “heart” of forgiveness by your example.) Then, commit to try again. Our flesh surely is weak and if we aren’t careful our mess-ups will make us feel like we can never be the woman God wants us to be. I encourage you to just keep trying. Take one day at a time. Purpose in your heart to not dwell on all of the mistakes you’ve made, but to dwell on working to be that “Virtuous Woman”.

I'm looking forward to next month as we focus on another word God uses concerning our heart!