\nTechnically, this is not the first quilt of the new year. But in keeping
\n with the out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new mentality, I suppose it\u2019s a
\nfitting metaphor for my past year’s struggles and the hope that a new
\nyear always brings.<\/p>\n
![\"[BillsQuilt.JPG]\"](\"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/BillsQuilt.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I make these utilitarian quilts from old jeans, chinos and khakis. I
\ntake something old and make it new and useful again. This quilt went to a
\n neighbor who travels a lot. I told him he could use the quilt to keep
\nwarm if he gets stranded, for traction if he gets stuck, and to give
\naway on the road if he comes across someone who needs it more than he
\ndoes. The gift is meant to exceed its usefulness and comes with no
\nstrings attached.<\/p>\n
And you, when you were dead in your offenses, and sins, Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
\naccording to the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now
\n worketh on the children of unbelief: In which also we all conversed in
\ntime past, in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh
\n and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the
\nrest: But God, (who is rich in mercy,) for his exceeding charity
\nwherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
\n together in Christ, (by whose grace you are saved,) ~ Ephesians 2:1-5<\/i><\/p>\n
God does the same thing with us, His children. He takes our old, tired,
\nworn out spirits and He allows us to be born again as a new, useful
\nmember of His Kingdom. We can use the gift of our redemption to help
\nourselves to grow in faith if we get stuck, or we can pass it on by
\nexample and testimony to someone who needs it. It is a gift that we
\nsimply ask for and we will receive, no strings attached, and a gift that
\n is everlasting.<\/p>\n
Please share your faith testimony in the comments. I’m looking forward to growing with you in His grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This year, I made a plan to explore more of my relationship with God, comment with occasional posts, make quilts, and continue to edit so many of our wonderful authors. I thought I might ask some of those authors\u2212and you\u2212to add something of their journey here, too. If we spend time communing with our Creator […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[509],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-spirituality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}