Today I'd like to share something that I've been learning and experiencing over the last year or so. Or possibly more accurately, over the course of my entire life so far. (Crafty notes and the pattern download are at the end of the post!) When I was younger, probably a teenager trying to sort out why life didn't always go how I wanted it to, I remember my mom quoting Psalm 37:4 to me.
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."
It was comforting, but I think it was because I understood it wrong. Let me paraphrase how I took this verse: "Make the Lord happy and He will give you what you want." While God may choose to operate in that way, I think that was a selfish perspective, one that was looking for what I could get out of "the deal". And while I have had many things that I've wanted, when I come up with an idea of what I want, it doesn't usually work out for me.
I've spent many years living a life that I hope makes the Lord happy, and I'll continue to do so because God is God, and He deserves more than I can ever present to Him. But it won't be so I get something. As I've nestled myself closer to Him, I've found myself living something closer to what I now believe Psalm 37:4 really is about.
It was as life happened that I discovered and experienced my new paraphrase: "Focus on the Lord and enjoy Him and He will place His desires in your heart and then He'll fulfill them."
When I look to God alone (or at least when I try...we're all human after all!), my own desires fade and I'm satisfied by Him. But then, just when I'm completely delighted by Him, He plants a desire in my heart, and says "Here. I want you to want this, and I'm going to give it to you and you'll be amazed by it all." It has happened in big things and little things, and can't help but love this God who cares so much about each of us.
I stitched this pattern to keep my focus always on finding my hope and delight in the Lord, and I hope you will too.
Download the Delight Yourself in the Lord pattern.
The entire design was stitched with pearl cotton on osnaburg, which has a nice weave for the thread. And though it's not really a Valentine's sort of pattern, filling the edges with hearts made sense to me, given the "desires of your heart" ending of the verse. I stitched them using the heart stitch I shared last year. Oh, and the pattern will fit perfectly in a 6-inch hoop.
Now, you're all set to stitch and delight yourself in the Lord!
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