Relearning a Faith Lesson About Crafts

Do you ever feel as though life is one l-o-n-g lesson in learning? If so, welcome to the club.

Just when we think we’ve mastered the art of trusting God for finances, bam! A situation lands in our lap that reveals how much we still need to learn.

Just when we feel like we’re the poster child for patience, we grow tired of waiting for God to act in answer to our prayers and succumb to the temptation of lending Him a hand.

Just when we feel as though we’ve surrendered our family’s well-being into God’s care once for all, circumstances arise that strike fear into our hearts yet again.

We learn, then we relearn

And so it goes. We learn faith lessons. Then we learn them again. And then we relearn.

Learning is a good thing when we grow from the lessons. Acknowledging that we don’t know it all is also good. When we’re honest with others about our current learning curve, we can then offer mutual encouragement and pray for one another.

Be honest with God

Let’s be honest with God, too, humbly admitting that we don’t know it all. Let’s be open and teachable. Let’s place ourselves at the Master’s feet and invite Him to teach us whatever we need to learn.

Let’s maintain a heart like David’s when he wrote,

“Show me the path where I should walk O LORD; point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you” (Psalm 25:4-5).

A good prayer for learning

That’s a good prayer for me today as I (re)learn the need to trust God for the details of an upcoming mission trip to Poland. Specifically—planning women’s crafts. I just learned that the Polish gal who’d planned to lead this activity cannot come to our camp after all.

That puts the responsibility on our team, and we leave in less than three weeks. We’ll have to do last-minute research, buy, and pack supplies. And we won’t know the actual number of women for whom to plan until a couple of days prior to departure.

I’ve done more than fifteen mission trips. Planning crafts is not my forte, and I always find this stressful, especially when other women on the team admit the same thing. And yet, despite our weakness, craft activities have always gone well. Why, then, do I worry?

I’m relearning to trust God even in the little things.

And I’m praying,

“Lead me by your truth [the truth is—He is faithful]. Teach me to trust and to rest in You, for You are the God who saves me [and who knows how many women will attend the camp and what crafts they’ll enjoy most]. All day long I put my hope in you.”