“In our lives the darkest times, the days that are bleak and black, add depth to every other experience. Like the dark bits of color in a mosaic, they add the contrast and shadows that give beauty to the whole, but they are just a small part of the big picture.”

~ Amy Grant~
Mosaic: Pieces of My Life so Far

I have pondered this quote for a couple of days now and realize that I have very little to add. This quote sums up the purpose of my blog, Word Quilts. Every event in my life becomes part of the overall product. The ugly pieces of the past can’t be just ignored or left out. They are there, but they are not the focus of my life quilt. The dark patches are not the pattern but provide the definition, the outline, for the beautiful pieces that compose the pattern of my mosaic. But the dark pieces? They were necessary. Those represent times of great growth in my life.

See that one over there? That was when my husband had a serious health problem. Remember how God worked out that one? How grateful we were? And look! That one was when my 16-year-old daughter was being tested for cancer. What a black moment! Oh, but remember how God worked that one out? The second doctor found NOTHING!!!! Praise God! That big black one down there? Well, I am still working on that one, which is the most hopeless-seeming dark yet. But God is teaching me and blessing me while He stitches me into a tapestry that reflects Him.

Precious Lord, dark colors recede. Let me not forget what I learned during the black days. Thank You for Your bright light that guided my shoes out of the shadows. I still need You to do that for me.

Word Quilts – [dark] bits and [lovely] pieces of my life
as held together by the Master Designer.

For His Glory

Visit Extravant Grace to read her take on the quote and to leave your link along with the other participants.

The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.”

~ A.W. Towzer ~

When reading this quote and considering how to “attack” it, two words jumped out at me—”religiously obeyed.” I’ll get back to that in a minute, so bear with me.

The Holy Bible, the entire Holy Bible, was given to us by God and is fully pertinent to our Christian experience. What if our forefathers had only adopted part of the Constitution? Who would have made the decision which parts to cut out? How would our country be different with only part of the Constitution enabled? What if, when building your home, the architect kept only the “important” parts of the specs? How would he/she decide what to ignore?

Both these scenarios are silly, but they make my point. What mortal can determine that God’s purpose in giving us the Bible is no longer valid? Many people discount the Old Testament as unneeded because we no longer live under The Law after Christ’s sacrifice. How can it be unnecessary? The history, the prophecies, the examples of Godly lives, the consequences of sin—these are all pertinent and always will be.

Man cannot achieve spiritual perfection by understanding and religiously obeying the laws of God. Any set of rules or cultural moires can be religiously followed. The missing factor is relationship—the heart experience. Not only do Christians try to follow God’s Word, we have a personal relationship with our Creator; we hear His voice.

A few years ago I met a young woman from China who had been in the states about 2 weeks. When she was a very small child, she visited her aunt, who told her about God. She became a Christian and had to hide that fact, even from her parents, until her arrival in the U.S. She had never owned a Bible. She had never been to church. Her Christian experience and knowledge came solely from God. Wow! Think on that one for a minute!

We obey God’s laws because we love Him, an act of giving rather than of doing it to reward ourselves with “spiritual perfection.” God instructs us in II Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God….” It is God speaking to us Who brings the Scriptures to life–the living, breathing, ever-teaching Word. As we study and increase our faith and our relationship with Him, God grows us toward that ultimate goal of spiritual perfection in our eternal lives. In the meantime:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10

That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
Deuteronomy 6:2

Visit Chocolate and Coffee to read her take on the quote and to leave your link along with the other participants.

“We women must realize how visual men are, and because of that we should wear modest clothes. Not because we don’t have the right to wear what we want, but for the benefit of the spiritual life of our brothers in Christ.”

~ Heather Arnel Paulsen ~
Emotional Purity: An Affair of the Heart

There are so many directions I could take this quote, but I’ll try to keep my thoughts reined in. Modesty is an issue that should be front and center for all Christian women. In today’s culture we can’t even go to our places of worship without seeing more of women’s bodies than any of us need or even want to see.

The part of this quote that jumped out at me first was the name of the publication: Emotional Purity. I like that. Emotional purity begins in the mind—is a choice, a decision. A commitment. My mother taught me to be modest—to dress modestly, to handle my body modestly. My father taught me to be emotionally pure by changing the channel when, in a movie, a woman was talking to a man in her slip. As a child, I didn’t understand that. NOW I get it. Emotional purity. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Modesty was practiced in our home, which gave a dignity to our family and a respect for each other.

I stopped shopping at J.C. Penney after an incident when my husband and I were helped by a very immodest clerk. I could not understand how the management allowed this representative of their company to dress in such a manner. Obviously there was no dress code. As Christian women, we are representatives of our God. We need to remember Who we represent, dressing modestly to please Him, and not turning people away from our witness, whether male or female. I believe that we should follow God’s Word by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. I don’t see the words “if you want to” in there anywhere.

Today, many Christian woman look like the world. Christ has called us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. He has also challenged us by reminding us that we are not of this world but are set apart. I believe it is the Christian woman’s responsibility to put a stop to displays of immodesty and to teach our children to be “emotionally pure.” The teacher has to set the example or there is no lesson learned.

Visit Joy in the Morning to read her take on the quote
along with the other participants.
Our hostess, Loni, will be giving away a copy of the book that contained this week’s quote. Be sure to stop by Joy in the Morning and sign up for your chance to win. Thank you, Loni!