Prayer Quilt

Years ago I heard a story that has stuck with me for what seems like all of my life. I heard of a young girl in a foreign land praying that she would have a doll. Then, the missionaries in that area get boxes sent to them and in a box that had been mailed a year or more prior to arrival contains the very doll the young girl wished and prayed for. In all of my life I believed that could happen, however, I never imagined how real it could be in my own life. 

If you know me well, or even if you know me not so well, you know I love the color purple. I have loved it for a very long time. I have always said it was my favorite color even when pink was more prevalent. I think it was supply and demand that put me in a pink category for a period of time. But, really, my loyalty has been to purple. (have you seen my hair?)

When Jim died, my sister Kathy was here by my side almost immediately. Kathy and I have a friend who lived in Austin during the time I lived there. She has since moved to Colorado. Through Facebook, we have been able to remain in contact with each other. Kathy called Sue shortly after the news of Jim's death. Later during that time between Jim's death and his memorial service, Kathy spoke with Sue again and was told that the Prayer Quilt ministry at Sue's church had tied a quilt in honor of me. Neither Kathy nor I really knew what that meant. We assumed the group tied quits, prayed for people and then sent the quilt to someone in need in honor of the person. 

Well, Wednesday night, on the eve of the memorial service, I went out to check the mail and pull the car into the garage. I noticed a package on the porch. My first thought went to the dreaded package of something Jim had bought that now I would have to deal with. As I picked up the package I saw that it was addressed to me. I then noted the return address as Sue's name. I knew this had to be something very special to arrive at this time.

I brought the package in the house and announced that we may be having another tear session, be prepared. As I opened the package, I saw just a fraction of the contents and then began to cry. These were the days of my ugly cries, ones that I shared with my sisters and Dan, but hadn't broken down like that in front of anyone else. I am not too proud to cry and maybe even ugly cry in front of anyone, but I had been protected and only had those cries when my family was there to clean up the puddles. 

Here it was, this lovely quilt. Sue knew my passion for purple and this color was of no surprise to me, but the story of how it came to be was just proof that long before Jim left this earth and I needed prayer, this quilt was orchestrated by God's hand into the hands of this group who prays for people. 

Sue has a long arm machine in her house that her husband runs and does quilting for hire. A lady dropped off a quilt to be quilted and Sue was working on a quilt for her prayer group. The woman inquired as to what she was doing and she explained that she pieced the quilts and then the group would tie them as they prayed for the person who would receive the quilt. The woman came back to get her quilt and gave the purple quilt to Sue as a donation for her ministry. 

When Sue got the call about Jim, she immediately remembered this quilt they had received and the group tied the quilt and prayed for me as they did. Sue then mailed the quilt to me and once again, I was shown the sovereignty of God. He knew the day, the hour, the minute of Jim's death and he knew the joy a purple quilt would bring me in my time of sorrow. 

I cannot begin to tell of the many blessings that God has given me during this time. This is one that can only be explained by saying, "God loves me, and He has never let me forget that."