Creativity and Worship

When I was in TX in June, Sarah Martin-Werntz, Sarah Rice (one of Sarah's bridesmaids) and I spent a few hours out at Homestead Heritage. Sarah R and I had conspired to get Sarah away from everything for a little while, to reduce stress and to enjoy each other's company. It was a great time, and if you are in Waco, you should check it out! (see the link for more info)

After eating a delicious lunch, we headed into the store to look around. I had been wanting to start Andi Fergason on a new craft and so was looking for something she and I might enjoy. I found these cute, small cross-stitch projects - and I got her one of a little butterfly. I also saw this great "Names of God" sampler for me to work on.

I have loved doing cross-stitch over the years, but have not done much of it in the last few. What I found in this case was that as I was stitching the different names of God, as I looked at the pattern and changed the colors or little bits of the fonts, etc., I found myself worshipping.

As I stitched "Name Above All Names," I could hear the song "Jesus, Name above all names" running through my head. As I stitched "The Way," I thought about the verses in scripture where Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life. It was almost as though each stitch was a prayer.

I was pleased with how it turned out, and I'll look forward to framing it and putting it up somewhere. And I'm excited that I have a TON of embroidery floss left over and can just buy some more aida cloth and make it as a gift.

Ultimately, the project reminded me that the Lord wants to use the works of our hands to bring glory to Him, and that I can worship through art and creativity. I feel a little bit like Eric Liddel who said, "When I run, I feel God's pleasure" - when I do crafts and artwork, I feel God's pleasure.

I'm glad for the reminder. In the next post, you'll see what I did, most recently, with that reminder!

*** Where do you feel God's pleasure in your life? What are your creative pursuits? ****