Starting off the New Year

I was looking over my blog, trying to clear out unnecessary things and putting in new features. And I was realizing how often I begin my posts with an apology… I’ll work on that, because I know how irritating it can get! But the new features aren’t working anyway—I was going to make some tabs at the top, one with my email address on it, but I can’t seem to make it work. But I’ll get it working in a little bit! :)

This last year was a kind of odd year—sort of lackluster and limp. I hope to make this new year fuller with activity and life, and one of the things that I would love to do is this—blogging. I’m going to try to blog about the adventures in sewing that I’ll be doing a lot of in the coming year. I’ll blog about the art—painting, sketching and the like—that I need to be doing. And I’ll be blogging all the while, Lord willing, with what grace He will give me.

The first thing that I mentioned, blogging about sewing, was because right before the end of last year we had to clear out a whole bunch of our fabric out of our storage unit, and now it’s back in our house (or rather, our garage) taking up a lot of room. I don’t know when I started sewing. I probably did my first thing—a five inch by five inch pillow—when I was about seven or so, so I’ve been doing it for a little while, and probably 50% to 75% of my clothes are homemade. I really do enjoy making my own things—it’s a lot easier to control the size, modesty, and type of clothes that I wear. So that is going to be one thing that I want to blog about—sewing. :D

And the other thing—well, I think I need to go into this year with a lot of prayer in connection with painting. I want it to be a big thing in my life, but right now, I’m really afraid to go into it—probably because I am, essentially, a perfectionist—I am afraid of making a mistake, of ruining it. But I’ve recently been reminded that I need to stop abusing my gifts, even—or perhaps especially—by leaving them alone. There’s so much that God has planned for us—so much more than our own, stilted view of what we “should” do with our lives. If we’re supposed to have surrendered our lives over to the Great Redeemer, then doesn't that mean all of our lives, including His precious gifts?

So I hope to give more and more of this gift and any other gifts that He’s given me this year, and I hope to learn more about how He wants to use me. I know it’ll be a struggle, because anything in the pursuit of God will be opposed by His Enemy. But nonetheless, I know God has great things in store for this year, and I look forward to seeing His hand at work.

 

In Christ,

Hannah