Crafts with a Christian Message

Introduction I have always enjoyed making things especially when it involved working with yarn, fabric and thread. I started knitting when I was six years old, after begging my mother for two years to teach me. My sisters and I made doll clothes and went on to make many of our own clothes. But, my crafting always involved following a pattern, not designing or creating. One day a woman in our church announced that she was going to have a “Moms Cottage”, to run parallel to our Vacation Bible School program. A quiet place for Moms to have a VBS of their own suited to their own needs, and get the same gospel message their children were receiving. My heart leaped with desire to help, but I was working full time, and saw no way to assist. Then a few days before it began, I got a call. The woman presenting the craft had an emergency, could I fill in for her? Of course I would, and that’s how it began. My first craft was too hard, and didn’t tie into the message, but that changed in subsequent years. Each year I would commit to helping with the crafts and then ask what the theme was, so I could tie the craft into the theme. Every year I would panic, wondering what craft could represent that theme. As my panic turned into prayers, God would show me the answer. It was always very special to see how He could plant the vision in my mind of the craft representing the scriptural theme, and also give me all the details on how to make it and what materials to use. When God gives you an idea, it is complete. What a wonderful God we have! I hope these crafts will be a blessing to you and those around you. They make great gifts and reminders of the Word that God has given to us. They are relatively simple so that you can teach them in about an hour. In addition to instructions on how to make the crafts are helpful ideas on how to teach them to a class. My one request is that you take the few minutes necessary at the beginning of the class to share the scriptural relevance before instructing your class on the assembly of the craft. That few minutes is what will make the difference between making a “fun craft”, and being inspired by God’s Word. Remember, this is your opportunity…. Hebrews 10:24 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,” (NASB) Heart Bag the Inspiration The year my husband and I retired we bought a motorhome and planned to travel this beautiful country. I was busy trying to downsize a house full of stuff into what would fit into a motorhome. I had also just committed to preparing crafts for “Mom’s Cottage” and the theme was 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on love. Well that should be easy, some kind of heart. Visions of hearts started to tumble through my mind. Oh dear, what should it look like, what do you do with it when it’s finished? I stopped to pray. Making things is fun for me, but designing is something I had never done. Now I could see why. There are too many decisions to make, and I was quickly overwhelmed. I wanted the craft to be something worth keeping; hopefully, nice enough for women to use and not throw away or hide in a closet. All I could think of was a magnet for the refrigerator and I didn’t like the idea. As I continued to empty this room full of “stuff”, I came across a stack of tote bags we had brought home from a computer conference. Aha, maybe we could make bags, and I could get rid of this little pile. We could glue a heart right over this logo. Now what should the heart look like? Patchwork would be nice, but how many pieces, what shapes, what about the raw edges! Hmm, I wonder how many characteristics of love are delineated in the verse. Excited now, I ran downstairs and read through the verse. Sixteen! That sounded like a lot of pieces. Calmly the Lord showed me a design that had seven pieces of fabric, when I covered the raw edges I had fourteen. If I added a flower tied with a bow it made sixteen. So that was it, fabric scraps made a patchwork heart, satin ribbons covered the raw edges, (does God cover my raw edges with satin?), a satin flower with a bow and lace to hold it all together. Wow! Thank You Lord, this will be beautiful. Perhaps we should buy new bags, a tote just big enough to carry a Bible. Amazed, I sat down to put the details together. As you can imagine the details just fell into place. The heart should be glued to a template before it is glued to the bag. Velvets and satins should be part of the mix of fabrics. The lace needs to be gathered so it has a bound edge and will navigate the corners easily. The verse should be printed out, so the crafters will always have a copy of it. And… I must tell them the story, relate each scrap of fabric, ribbon and lace to the verse, before I teach the craft. When God gives you the idea, He gives you the whole idea, every detail, there is nothing missing.