A Birthday Celebration All Stitched Up!







Starting with an idea & a box of yarn...
with hope of encouraging women to live out a few verses from Ephesians 4

" There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

With great expectations we chill the water while we work to "stitch" a celebration....

The new logo has been quilted together by a faithful man of God who lends his talents to the ladies of Faithfully Fit

The Fall Newsletter has been lovingly written and "sewn" together with the help of a computer and tired eyes staring at a screen to see if things are just right...

The linens are spread, the flowers are placed, and then we work on the final touches...spreading buttons, lighting candles. Because the ladies we serve, we serve with JOY & they are beautiful.

“All beautiful you are my darling; there is no flaw in you”

Song of Solomon 4:7

Now the time is near. There are circles of chairs that wait to be filled. The ladies, each with a heart, each with a smile, many with a quilt. The questions lay in wait...just little conversation starters and then we wait to great each lovely lady that God created.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13

And they come. Generations are represented in more ways than one. The stories flow, the smiles enlarge across faces. Each quilt is shared with love and adoration for grandmothers, great-aunts, special church members who pieced together each square and finished a gift to be given....

And given. This one for a graduation gift in 1976

These all represent different stories, different lives, different hopes, different dreams.

 

Story after Story reveals love. One grandmother starting a gift of love, another to complete the gift. Scraps from dresses, potato sacks, flour sacks and more, stitched, one stitch at a time. The time spent together sharing prepares the heart to hear....

The Word.

The JOY from the laundry room spills out and over from one heart to another in hopes that we can live out those verses from Ephesians. Those special ladies with eyes wide open watch and listen.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Rom 8:28

My Jesus is your Jesus. He calls us to be ONE. He takes all that we are, all that we have...and works it for the good. If you have Jesus you are ONE with any other who is a daughter of Christ. Let us come together as ONE, stitch by imperfect stitch....let us build the body.

Let us stitch

and stitch

Until everyone is stitched and held together by the one true knot called
JESUS!

And out of that box of yarn, with buttons of love and prayer we smile and we share, Our Third Birthday, with anyone who wants to be stitched into the family of Faithfully Fit!

 

 





 

 

One Heart by Heather Merritt

This has been quite a long but much needed summer break.  I have missed my faithfully fit morning girls and am excited to get started again with them in September.  As I was thinking and praying about our new fall session “All Stitched Up” I felt I was at a loss as to what to share with you all, but then remembering it’s all about unity I had words fall into my lap. (I guess they didn’t just fall, I’m sure God placed them there carefully). 

As many of you know I own and coach Valley Cheer All-star’s at The Rock.  There are seven different teams of all ages of girls ranging from 2 years old to 18 years old.  Each team has a different team name and different coach, and each of them have a completely different two and a half minute routine that shows off each girl’s individual level of talent.  Although my coaching staff and I feel it is important to let each individual girl shine we all know that they have to be one when performing to make the routines work. This is why my staff and I came up with our gym’s motto “One Heart”.  It is on our practice shirts, in our music, and is recited over and over in the cheer portion of our routine by each cheerleader. 

We chose “One Heart” as our motto to show the importance of us all following the same dream and working hard towards the same goal.  I asked my cheerleaders what “One Heart” meant to them, they told me “everybody needs one heart, without a heart the body is dysfunctional.  We all have to work together to keep the heart beating.  If one thing is wrong or off the heart won’t beat right and the body won’t function”.  They said even though we are all different and have different backgrounds we all come together as one here at The Rock, we are like one big family.  This is true, we are a group of diverse people combined together to be successful.  I love the Celine Dion song One Heart, some of her lyrics include “If you got one heart you are following one dream”.  I hope each of my girls know that yes we are there to be successful and work hard to reach our goals which is to compete and perform well at competitions but it is so much more than that. 

Recently at The Rock we have had one of our highest highs and one of our lowest lows all within 24 hours.  Jessica Neville a senior and longtime member of Valley Cheer was named the Distinguished Young Woman of Roanoke Valley.  We were all there cheering her own and so excited to share in her glory.  Little did we know just a few hours later we would all be at the hospital praying for the Jean family.  A family that has been a part of Valley Cheer since it began.  It was amazing to see the love, prayer and support for both families at two totally different times in their lives.  I am so honored to be a part of a family that comes together to support one another no matter the situation.  There were two cheer moms who captured our “One Heart” motto into perfect words.

“Cheerleading and Dance are just a sport? not for THE ROCK family. Our cheerleaders couldn't stand the thought of having practice knowing their sisters were in Raleigh worrying about their dad so we went on a field trip! We took 20 girls to Raleigh and surprised our Jean family.  We are all praying for Scotty and the entire Jean family and cannot wait to see them home soon. “One Heart.”  We are all one family and I am so grateful to be a part of it.”

                                                                                                            Angel Carter

 

“As it was said earlier today, it's more than just cheer and dance, and trophies and medals... it's about family, love, support and prayer. We are ALL blessed my friends.... far more than we deserve. This gym, as well as everyone in our community loves and supports each other, and as we have seen over the last 48 hours, prays for each other.  That’s worth more than any award.

Treva Neville

It is an overwhelming feeling to know that our little words of “One Heart” have become so important to every person at Valley Cheer.  As we make our quilt of life I hope “One Heart” is a piece of it that will never be forgotten.  “One Heart” started as a cheer motto but we want everyone to adopt this motto and be a family, support and pray for each other.  We want the Faithfully Fit girls to become a part of our “One Heart”.

“All the believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.”

Acts 4:32