Spirit of Generosity

I said in the previous post, I would tell more of the quilt story.  God’s involvement didn’t end when the quilt was finished.

There were some special ladies I wanted to see the quilt.  I called one of them and invited myself over and asked if I could invite another lady over too.  SHE WAS ALREADY THERE.  I kept them in suspense until I arrived.

We were standing/sitting around the living room looking at the quilt.  I was explaining to them about each square and the design and the symmetry of the whole thing.  I told how God put me and the seamstress together and His hand was on it the whole time.  It was good to talk about.  Then we realized……………each woman in the room had lost a son.  There were four of us together admiring this handiwork, not just the quilt, but the orchestration of that moment.  God is generous with His love.

I want to share some comments that were made on Facebook.

This was written to me.

Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others' joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others' grief]. Romans 12:15

How awesome to rejoice with you yesterday, friend. How amazing it was that you showed the quilt to us yesterday and all four women present have sons who have died. AND...we all experienced God's grace to rejoice to...gether.

Thank you for sharing the joy and the journey with us!

P.S. Jenny, I've never met you, but I wanted you to know your creative gift from God ministered to all of us as we marveled at Peyton's quilt.

This was Jenny’s (the seamstress) comment to the one above.

Wow, that's all I can say. I never dreamed that God would use this quilt in such a way. Our God is an Awesome God alright!

I had named the photo album on Facebook – PDJ Memory Quilt – stitched with love by Jenny. This is Jenny’s comment on the album.

Becky, It was MOST DEFINITELY made with love, every single stitch! I can't explain what an honor it was that you asked me to do this. (tears are flowing :) Whether you realize it or not, God was using you the whole time I was working on this, inspiring me by your walk, your strength, and your love for Him. I just thought you should know that. God Bless you and Tom and thank you again!

She is thanking me?!?!?  That is a generous spirit.

Every time we have shown the quilt, people have thanked us for showing it to them.  That is generosity.  It humbles me.  I am grateful they want to see it and am happy to share it with them.

I love how God uses us all to be a blessing to one another.  That is what the Body of Christ should be about, supporting, loving and using our gifts to build up one another.

I hope sharing this experience has encouraged you today.  Use your God given gifts generously. 

Thanks for reading :)

p.s. for those who’ve asked – I plan on keeping the quilt on the quilt rack in the living room so I can grab it and cover up whenever I need to ;)

The Quilt

I’m sure I’ve mentioned I was having something special made.  It turned out better than I could have imagined.  I knew this would be the case because God was ALL OVER IT!!!!  When I had the idea for the quilt, I asked God to send me the right person for the job.  After all, I didn’t want to hand over Peyton’s things to just anyone. 

The right person was Jenny.  She is a sweetheart and very talented and very tenacious and very dedicated and very…  You get the picture, she is special.  I knew she was the woman for the task at hand.  I had no doubts when I handed over Peyton’s clothes to her that they were in capable hands, anointed hands, divinely appointed hands.

She spent 18 months of her life putting this memory quilt together.  If you check out her blog, you will see she squeezes every moment out of every day.  She would tell me from time to time she was sorry it was taking so long.  I had no fear, no anxiety.  I had perfect peace that it would be finished when it was supposed to be finished.  So here it is. 

Sorry Facebook friends, this is a rerun for you, but I had to share on my blog too :)

This is the completed quilt.  It is approximately 5 x 5.

The center square is from a t-shirt of Tom’s dad’s.  He was notorious for keeping every fish he caught, no matter its size.:) Peyton wore it to sleep in after his PaPa went to Heaven. (15 yrs ago) 

 

Some of Peyton’s favorite shirts.  I love the way she did the collars on each one.

 

His jeans with boxers hidden underneath.  What a personal touch.

 

The quilt backing was a sheet from his bedding.  She incorporated the Browning symbol on the front too.

This piece may be the closest to my heart.  Peyton wore these Wranglers during the day of his accident to help a friend paint his house.  I believe those are Peyton’s fingerprints wiping paint onto his pants.  I remember telling him. “I can’t believe you wore those BRAND NEW Wranglers to paint in!”

You can imagine how special this quilt is to our family.  God is concerned with the details of our lives.  He wanted me to be blessed with this quilt. 

There are more stories of blessing connected to this divine gift.  I will share “the rest of the story” in another post.  I hope you have enjoyed looking at the pictures as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you.

Thanks for reading :)