Great Commission Churches

November 2009

Dear Sisters,

Life is a little like knitting a sweater, according to our writer this month. I looked up "knit" in my Bible concordance and found this:

"...that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself..." (Colossians 2:1-3)

We all need our faith and hearts encouraged to continue to trust, and to be united in love with each other. I like that Cheryl points us to Jesus and His return as our hope. Let's fix our hope completely on Him, sisters, and know we will then never be disappointed with life!

Love in Christ,
Sandy Hopler

Knitting and Life

by Cheryl Sanchez (Rio Rancho, New Mexico)

I had not picked up my knitting for a long time. Life just seemed to be too busy. I had started the sweater for my grandson while he was still in the womb and we didn't yet know he was going to be a boy...so...a yellow sweater. Nathan is now five years old.

I began to knit again this week and have almost finished the tiny creation. It will now belong to my granddaughter who will be born next February. Good thing I used yellow yarn.

Knitting is a lot like life. I began with a tenuous chain of stitches, connected to nothing but each other, like a chain of DNA. That row is the most tedious and most frail. Frequently, it needs to be restarted and it seems it will never amount to anything. But the pattern, written by an experienced knitter, says otherwise. As one stitch is added to another, row upon row, a pattern begins to appear, giving hope. Psalm 27:14 encourages me, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

I didn't understand how it would all fit together though. After a small section finally began to look like something, I was told to place it on a holder, to come back to later. And then another small section was put on another holder...and another...and another. I had to trust the pattern that it would all come together because it didn't make sense to me. Psalm 130:5 says, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope."

Some rows are knitted very quickly, almost without looking at the stitches. Others, when an adjustment is being made, must be knitted slowly and carefully with tedious counting of stitches. And I always make some mistakes. Even the most experienced knitters do. Then stitches need to be ripped out...sometimes rows of stitches! Those are discouraging times when I really feel like quitting.

Somewhere in there, I laid the knitting down for nearly six years. I was amazed at how much satisfaction I found picking it up again. One of those projects you start, drop, and think you will never finish, and then...one day the time is right...and you gain the courage to finish it. It does take courage to finish things I think. Life can be hard and tedious. In Romans 8:23-25, we are encouraged to keep going. "We ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Finally, the pattern told me to take all the stitches off the holders and put them back on the needle. There was barely room to hold them all! What an exciting row of stitching. It was difficult though and had to be done very carefully. I didn't want to make a mistake at this point...not when I'm finally putting things together. Psalm 40:1 says, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry."

Now I could tell that it was going to be a sweater, but it was still a long way to completion with hours of stitch upon stitch, row upon row ahead of me. Day upon day, year upon year, "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him." (Isaiah 30:8) Life is made up of days, hours and minutes of obeying the God who created us and wants to create something wondrous of our lives. I love the following passage in Titus 2:11-14, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

I am down to the last six rows and then I will bind off the stitches and add the buttons...the end result is clear. As I can now see a great deal of my life behind me, I have a better view of what lies ahead. I yearn to see my Lord face to face! (Not until my time is completed, of course, because I think I have a lot of stitches left.) Yet I look forward to it with anticipation. I Thess 1:10 says, "...wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath." I am willing to wait, to finish the stitches I have before me, to "Wait for the gift my Father promised." (Acts 1:4)

I look forward to giving the gift to my daughter for her precious baby girl. I know Jesus yearns for the day he will present us, perfect and without flaw, to our father, the Lord of all.

If you want to respond to Cheryl, contact our office at info@gccweb.org to get her email address.