The sort of weekly yarn...

Sorry about the delay in making contact this week.  Technical difficulties with my operating system as well as my email have kept me behind.  I sometimes wonder if this technology thing is all it is cracked up to be!  What happened to the good old days of talking face to face, or at least by phone?  I wish I could make it a weekly habit to call all of you and one week I am going to do just that, but for now, please accept this update. 

Sunday will be communion at all 3 services and we will again be displaying our prayer shawls for all to bless and to take as needed.  I hope you will encourage someone to come forward and accept God’s blessing if the need arises.  If you do know of situations which would benefit from personal delivery, please let me know and I will have Beverly or Helon make contact with those folks.  We are here to serve beyond our friends, and beyond our congregation to the mission field of God’s people.  Never be shy about doing work for the Lord!

I have been sorting through several patterns to send out to you.  I am only sending one of each type, both with a similar theme.  It seems that often we are left with small bits of colors.  We make them into prayer cloths, but it occurred to me this week that those seemingly useless amounts can add up to something bigger than itself.  God finds a way to take lots of people who have a common thread and knit us together for His purposes.  He takes some that are white, black, red, yellow, (fuschia, orange, teal, turquoise, and purple too) and weaves them together in an intricate yet simple way to create a bond that is strong for Him, one that reflects His image.  These patchwork patterns are all about that theme.  If you have a collection of short skeins, start making some uniform sized squares to put together.  As in the Amish barn raising tradition, we work together and before you know it… a new creation has risen!  Be part of that creation.  This will also take the pressure off those folks who do not want to make a whole shawl at a time, but want to collect and contribute pieces slowly.  Speed is not the goal here, but love for others is.

We love our home bound  and correspondence course members and thank you for bringing in or sending in your completed works.  What a pleasure to see them roll in.  They inspire us greatly.  Keep up the great work!

I would like for you to focus prayers this week on a specific thing.  If you can all pray that God softens the way for the Prayer Shawl Ministry to receive donations of yarn from stores which discard them, I would appreciate that.  I recently contacted Joann’s corporate office and the Wal-Mart on Collins Hill to ask for some donations of soft yarns being phased out due to shelf space or color.  Joann’s in Duluth has about 20 skeins of Homespun in yellow shades that I am asking to have donated.  I don’t know if this will happen, but your prayers are my best support in this.  I had to purchase crochet hooks as we have run short on these for new members.  If any of you have extra hooks or knitting needles that you no longer need and want to bring them in, please feel free to do so.

We look forward to sharing and caring again this week.  I hope young Jeremy will be back with his enthusiastic smile and his willing hands.  Thank God for youngsters who are not intimidated by us veterans! 

One last thing…On World Communion Sunday, I will probably need 4 volunteers per service to help with the distribution of the prayer cloths.  The early service is different than the other 2 but we will still need the volunteers.  Can you be in prayer and let me know if you can spare an hour that day?  More details will come in the next correspondence. 

Until then, be blessed and not stressed.  Let God handle the details and watch Him work His beautiful plan.  I dearly love all of you and look forward to another week of laughter, fellowship, and sharing.

In Christ,

Dana

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Eleanor Roosevelt