What It Takes to Make a Worship Flag

Fabric, Fabric, and More Fabric

“So, how much fabric do you need?”  It was a question loaded with the additional sentiment, “Don’t you think you have enough?”  

The thing was, all I knew was certain fabrics were standing out, but I didn’t have conceptualization of flags to be made from the fabrics.  There was still a drive to purchase another color in another texture. Yet being around the colors and textures of the fabrics is one of my happy places.  

On one particular day, I was standing in a fabric store and heard God say, “This is the last piece of fabric you’ll be buying for a while.”  So I made my purchase and headed home.

I asked, “Now what, God?  I have all this fabric and no idea how they pair up together.”  I had no names, no shapes, no dimensions, no pairings…nothing but piles of cloth.

“Lay them all out in single layers so you can see ALL of them at once.”

So, I set up 3 tables and used the bed in that room to lay out all the fabrics.  Great, now I can see them.

“Pick up one bundle and walk around placing it by each of the other fabric bundles.  I’ll tell you when it’s the right one.”

Okay, right about now you may be questioning the directness and intimacy of the interaction with God in the creation of the flags I wave personally which have become the prototypes for those offered through LydiaDabar Inspired Designs.   That’s your prerogative. All I can tell you is that God used this process to bring me to a deeper place of relationship with Him and a better ability to hear His voice.

I walked around the room until all the fabrics were matched up.  Next, I set about cutting and sewing each set.

Then It Was Time to Give Them Names

Names?  What if the colors and names don’t really go together as generally accepted meanings?  This was all new to me, so I didn’t have a list of “this color generally means such and such” running in my head.

My flags were named through Words of Knowledge, Scriptures that He brought to mind as I cut and pinned them, occasionally a non-prominent lyric of a song would stand out to me while I was working on them.  Every time, I’d get an impression for a name, I’d go look up what those colors typically meant. To my delight, they matched! How cool is that?

I do have a disclaimer, or two, on colors and their meaning.  One, be careful with the sources you use to research color meanings as they are plentiful, but not all are holy.  Two, God created colors, and He can communicate whatever He chooses through them. So, if you have an impression that in this instance this color represents something atypical, it isn’t necessarily ‘wrong’.  You’ll notice that some of my flags have multiple names because of the vastness of what can be communicated through color.

He’s particular about the flags.  Some are made with complimentary stitching and others with contrasting stitching.  Some are made to share with others while some are private between us. Some have embellishments while others are composed of more streamline materials.   

Do Stay Humble

I recall attempting to rush a flag through so I could use it in a particular service.  Changing the thread on my serger while not difficult does slow down the process and I had a deadline!  So, I logically thought, I’ll just use white thread. It will blend in with the ribbon around the pole pocket and it won’t really be noticeable.  You know, try as I might, that white thread just made a mess. So, I stopped, threaded the machine with the light blue (did NOT change any settings whatsoever) and the hem was quick and easy to complete.  That was sure a humility check; remembering that it isn’t my logic and my decisions that make these flags what they are, and remembering that short cuts aren’t approved.

My husband found this quote recently and it speaks to me especially in how God is growing me through the use of flags in ministry, praise, prophecy, warfare, and worship.

The best part of rhema is that God does not wait until heaven to speak to me.  He whispers His words all the time.  God talks to you and to me.  It is almost too wonderful to believe.  His spoken word is the ground of our very being, filled with power beyond anything we can think of, and still He wants to whisper how much He loves us.  He wants us to speak to Him and He wants to answer us.  Go ahead.  Open your mouth.  You are speaking His language.  (http://skipmoen.com/2012/08/07/word-work/  March 2016)

So go ahead!  For the sake of His Kingdom, open your mouth, wave your flags, and dance, but always listen for His love and His words over you.