Gone stitching. See you at noon.

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Well, my DSL crashed so I haven't been able to get back on until now, which is 5 PM Eastern time. I don't have anything significant to show, but I promise I'll post my progress after a week.

I've been working on Deepest Love for a couple of hours this morning, and I've been thinking about the past couple of years. I've also been thinking about some convictions I've had and, in some degree, still have in regards to my stitching.

I used to be very convicted against stitching anything fantasy, and that means *anything* fantasy. God had brought me to a place where I had to give all that up to get focused on Him, as well as not causing some of my brothers and sisters to stumble. I came out of some very heavy paganism, as well as a sort of 'worship' of fantasy; it was pretty much my life. When I came to God, He asked me to give all that up and so I did.

See, sometimes He will ask things of us to help us for our own cleansing, and to free us from any bondage we happen to be under. For me, it was the cleansing of all things fantasy. It was a time for me to grow in my faith and to be, quite simply, obedient to my Lord. He had asked something simple of me, and frankly He was worth the sacrifice. This was a personal conviction of mine, and one I held very strongly.

Fast forward several years: I find God allowing me a little more freedom in regards to the subject. I guess it's because I can live without it, and it is no longer a hinderance in my life. I have also learned that not all fantasy is equal. There is gentle, light fantasy and then there is dark fantasy, a genre which I still to this day will have nothing to do with. If a subject in any way violates the Word of God, I won't entertain it. I feel a release to enjoy some of these light things now with no conviction, but that does not mean it will always be that way. Perhaps I'm in a phase of my life where I can handle them with maturity and be over them instead of them being over me, if that makes any sense. The point I'm at in my life is that I am totally open to whatever God chooses to allow for me or ask from me. If light fantasy starts to become too big of an issue for me, I will freely give it up with no hesitation whatsoever. It's the same with my artwork; right now my faeries are pretty much just pretty ladies with wings, and no more (although lately I've been feeling really lead to crack down and get serious on the Women of the Bible series I'm dreaming about). I have many, many absolutes in my life, and my main one is that if the Bible says it, I believe it. It is the gray areas where we are to allow God to draw us to our own personal convictions. The biggest problem with that is that people don't want to take God's convctions as their own so they make all areas gray and do what they want. I certainly don't want to do that, so I am trying to remain open to Him. There are still some elements I will never stitch, because they violate stronger convictions than just my personal ones. However, if you see a Mirabilia fairy or mermaid (albiet converted to preserve her modesty, thank you very much) just understand where I am coming from.

And to be honest, right now it's a way to help me feel close to Laura. I'm human and doing the best I can.

Moving on...I think one of the reasons I'm so drawn to Deepest Love is because it's one of the pieces that I most associate with Laura. It is bringing me great comfort to work on it as I think about her.
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