Why would a customer walk into a sewing store and give away her
personal possession? More specifically,
why would a lady bring her sewing machine from home and ask the store employee
to give it away to a beginner sewing student?
The whole scene is unusual. As
quilting started for me on such unlikely terms, and as it’s grown to yield some
surprisingly pleasing fabric designs, and as it’s brought some sweet new
friendships that I treasure, it seems also to be leading toward a trip to Israel. And to personally deliver quilts as
hand-crafted heirlooms for Holocaust survivors there, what a huge blessing and
honor. The idea for the trip entered my
brain and recurred enough times that my husband and I filled out applications
to work with my friend’s ministry,
only to have her tell me over the phone that they’d been praying for musicians
to come. Interestingly the music question on the application was only a small portion of page
2 of a total 5 pages, and it provided only a single blank for answering. We listed guitar, oboe, voice, and some other
possibilities, having no inkling of how the ministry office had been praying. And actually my husband wasn’t relishing the
notion of traipsing through airports with a big, bulky guitar, so I asked my
friend if he should bring his guitar. She
replied that someone recently donated a guitar to their ministry, and my
husband could be first in line to play. How
sweet of the Lord to keep making the trip more attractive! Now it’s not just a story of quilting but also
music. That part about their prayer
keeps replaying in my head, and the jaw of my heart figuratively drops each
time I recount it. Numbers 22 tells of God speaking through the unlikely mouth of a donkey. First Kings 17 explains how God sent ravens to
deliver bread and meat to Elijah. Today the Lord prepares a girl who knows little about sewing to become a quilter for the sake of Holocaust survivors in Israel,
taking with her a husband whom the Lord inspired as well and some music He's been growing in both of them for years, also connecting her with some sweet sewing friends to lend aid, and supplying her with a sewing machine from someone she never met.
We’re thrilled already, and we haven’t yet set foot on the plane! May He prepare us all with insight to
recognize His sometimes unusual, unique circumstances. May we not miss any ounce of the joy He
offers. What a magnificent God we serve. What a magnificent God serves us.
No comments:
Post a Comment