Day 27

Number 7

I have added one item to my gratitude list every day so far.

We are now at day 7.

This gift from God is one I have had for a long time.

I learned as a young girl from my grandmother. I don’t even remember the details of how, or when.  Since then I have used this gift as a gift to others, rarely using it for myself. For young and old, friend and family I have used this gift to bless others and have been blessed in the process.

I’ve used it for

Weddings

Christmas

Birthdays

Babies

I have taught others how and watched as they have carried on the tradition of the gift.

I have used it to spread the gospel to other parts of the world.

What is it?

It is the work of my hands………or more specifically crocheting.

Something I learned long ago and have used in my mind as an inexpensive way to give when money was tight. But it turns out that it has been something more. I have been using a gift that God gave me, my ability to work with my hands, as a way to be Jesus with skin to others. Because a hand made gift carries more weight with someone than anything that is store bought.

I lasts.

It leaves a part of you.

It speaks to the heart.

And tonight as I sat in a room full of women and prayed over a pile of crocheted teddy bears that will head out to Honduras and Panama, and a basket full of preemie mittens headed to a neonatal unit, I realized what a gift this work of my hands has been.

And I was thankful.

Thankful for a God given ability.

The work of my hands.

 1 Peter 4:10 (NASB) As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Psalm 90:17 (NASB) Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

Josey