Why I am here

I find it helpful to remind myself about this fact this week - why I am here. I found the following copy of my "Vision Project" I created last year - sort of my "NieuCommunities Final". I think I got an "A" - but I'd have to confirm that with Brian. That was an inside joke for all those NC folks from last year...I was teased about being the girl who had to have the "A"...if they only knew.

Anyhoot - I thought I'd post it here - seemed like a good idea at the time, still does, I guess.
The photographs are of the actual project.

Enjoy.


Vision Project Sarah Lloyd NieuCommunities Glasgow 2004-2005

“Hope & Home Blanket” Acrylic, Knit stitch, 10mm (US) circular needles

My calling is to minister to women of all ages, regardless of age or station in life (although God seems to lead me to teens and younger women). God has birthed in me a heart for women who are hurting and need to know or better understand their worth and identity in Christ. I pray that part of that calling will be to one day be a wife, and then mother, Lord willing.

While my calling is not related to a specific geographical location, God has me returning to Glasgow next year to continue ministry I have begun this year with youth. Specifically to be in relationship with four girls I met in a park.

My vision project is an unfinished knitted blanket, made out of a variegated yarn which I purchased at John Lewis (a department store here in Glasgow) early this year. My hope for this yarn was to turn it into a scarf for a homeless person – but that project, like some things in life – turned out differently than what I first envisioned.

The title of the piece is the “Hope and Home Blanket”. Hope and home are two things I can offer to others, through the grace of God. I can offer the hope I have in Christ as my Savior to women who do not know Him; or to those who do know Him, but are struggling. I can offer the gift of home to others in the form of hospitality. This is a gift that God has given me, which He has honed this year, and will continue to refine in me for the rest of my life.

The blanket is symbolic of home, warmth, comfort and nurture. The blanket is what I can offer to those in need – love, warmth, shelter and home. It is also Christ, and what He can offer, salvation, hope, peace and Home. It is in its early stages, as I am in my early stages of ministry in regard to this calling. The blanket remains unfinished, as my ministry remains unfinished, only to end when I come to my end.
It is knitted to represent family and home. My grandmother and aunt taught me to knit a few years ago on Christmas in my grandparent’s home.

The yarn is variegated, made up of four different colors. Black represents life without Christ. It is bleak, dark and hopeless. Red is representative of the pain found in life without Christ. It also represents the blood that was shed and washes us clean. Revelation 7: 14 says, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (One of my favorite verses from Revelation because of the imagery). Pink is the color associated with females – I like that this pink is very close in color to the red. It reminds me that many women live in or with pain. This pain comes from sin – theirs or others. Perhaps this pain is not knowing Christ, or the hurt of not fitting in, self-image, etc. The yellow/light color represents the hope that Christ is the light in the darkness. It also speaks to my call to be a light in the darkness to those who are hurting.

The yarn looks different in the skein than it does when it is knitted. Different things stand out in the knitted part, than do when the yarn is still rolled up, waiting to be used.

Earlier this year, two women spoke into my life about what God was contending for in my heart. Both women spoke to what my calling is, confirming what I knew God was already at work doing. One of them, in her description, likened me to “A “mother hen” so to speak, of girls, women who are hurting. Gathering them to you, sheltering them in/under your wings. Caring for them, nurturing them. Speaking into women’s lives – truth, grace, love – no matter what type of person they are.”
As I thought of this project, I thought about a mother hen, and what she does. She knows her job and place. It is to sit patiently on her eggs, never leaving them until the time is up. In the same way, I know that my calling is to young women. My calling is not to Glasgow, or any other location. This is where God has me using my gifts and calling, and it isn’t time to leave the nest yet – so I have committed to stay until it is time to leave.


March 16, 2005…

“I see God contending in you…love, passion for those hurting. A “mother hen” so to speak, of girls, women who are hurting. Gathering them to you, sheltering them in/under your wings. Caring for them, nurturing them. Speaking into women’s lives – truth, grace, love – no matter what type of person they are.
“I see you as one who reaches out to the “fringe” women and display the love of God has for them- through you.”

“Sarah,
I wonder if the Lord is contending for you to become a woman who is both strong and patient and tender and confident and safe with others, a woman who is both fully empowered herself and also one who imparts empowerment, safety and confidence to every person, especially every woman you meet…so that every woman your life touches comes away both empowered – knowing herself better and knowing the Lord better – as well as having a “voice” (like Deborah and Esther’s voices).
“May it be so, Lord Jesus!”