Crafts....

The following was taken from my journal and was written in 1988:

I am as most of you know--a project oriented person. I go pretty well from one project to another, as soon as I get one finished--I start another. I don't like the lull that is between projects, I don't like silence and I don't like inactivity. And that's the way God made me. (today, I realize that part may not be true.)

When Jim and I were married for a few years-my daughter Rachel was small--I heard a Larry Burkett teaching on women working at home to earn extra money and I thought," Man, that sounds great." I knew my husband didn't like me to work outside the home, and while I'm at home I could be doing something to make money and pass time too. But you know, at the same time I heard that program, I also heard that "still, small voice" telling me not to do it.

So when I stopped to think about God saying not to do it, I really couldn't see anything wrong with it. I was going to be at home, Jim would be happy-so I couldn't figure out why God would say no, so I kind of ignored that little voice.

Another thing about me is that I don't do anything small. When I get into stuff I think big. I figure if a little is good then a lot will be great! So I went to Wal-Mart and got some patterns and material and thread. At that time hoops and wreaths were real popular and you seen them at craft fairs everywhere. So I spent $300.00 all together. I also found patterns for granny ducks. They were those cute little grandma and grandpa ducks that had granny glasses and bandanna's and wore aprons and you used them for doorstops. So I thought, that along with hoops and wreaths, I would make about 20 of these ducks. And yet, all the time I kept hearing that still small voice telling me "not to do it." Just a small voice and I kept ignoring it.

Now, one of my big problems is that I don't like to stop in the middle of a project once I'm started. And, keep in mind, my project was taking up my whole kitchen. I had my sewing machine set up on the kitchen table and my kitchen is very, very small. So I was finding it hard to cook. I didn't want to put my machine away each night and so the first night we just ordered pizza. The second night we ate out and so on and so on. This went on for about two weeks. I didn't cook much, or vacuum or make beds--the only thing I did was sew.

Finally, everything was done. I loaded up all my wreaths and hoops and ducks and took them to our shop in town where we had a large window open to the public on our local small town square. People would come in and ooh and aah and tell me how cute they were, but nobody was buying anything!

I got to thinking about what was happening. I remembered that over the last two weeks that we hadn't eaten a decent meal since I started crafting. My house was a mess with thread and material everywhere, and I kept thinking about that little nagging thought in the back of my mind, the one I knew had been God telling me not to do it and I had done it anyway. Sometimes, when you do something wrong, you know it is wrong and it doesn't surprise you when God tells you it is wrong. Then, it's kind of easy to stop. But I couldn't see why God wouldn't want me to do crafts. But you see, God was more concerned about me taking care of my first job--my home and family and I had set them on a shelf for the last two weeks. And maybe, He was just wanting me to trust Him enough to just leave things alone when He says "don't do it."

Anyway, to make a long story short, I never did sell any of those ducks. Not one! I finally took them down to our local nursing home and donated them to be used in the patient's rooms. But the one thing I did learn through all this is that God does speak to us in a still,small voice and does tell us the way that we are to walk and sometimes the way that we are not to walk. Even on the simple projects that we take on every day. He cares about even the little things we do in life. And God is the God that created me and He knew what I would be like when I started the project and that is why He kept telling me "not to do it."

Isaiah 30:21 says "whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you , saying "This is the way, walk in it."

So if I cringe when you suggest to me about making crafts or you have thought of a fast and easy way to make money, now you know the reason why!