"It'll All Come Out in the Wash"

"It'll All Come Out in the Wash"  We've all heard the saying but have you ever really seen something fall apart after washing?  Imagine how you would feel after working for days and days on a sewing project just to have it "come apart at the seams" after a test washing!  At first I found myself literally coming apart at the seams.  But I've been through a lot over the past three years, so what's a little spilled milk!  I took a deep breathe after I pulled the little pirate quilt out of the washing machine and found many of the seams on the sailboat blocks open and coming apart.  It was distressing but I could fix it.  I looked for some advice here and there.  I prayed a little.  I got busy.  


I could have thrown it in a corner and given up.  I could have ripped it all apart and started over, but sadly the some of the fabrics had shrunk from the washing experience and there just would have not been anything left.  So I had a choice to make - piece it back together with some fine hand stitching, hole by hole.  

It took some patience and some time, but it was worth it.

Last night I finished all the hand work and this morning I threw the thing in the washing machine again.  One little puckery place showed up that I can fix with two little stitches.  Other than that it seems intact.  

Why did I throw it into the washing machine and not hand wash it or dry clean it?  This quilt is going to a little fellow that is going to love it and rub his little banana fingers all over it.  His mama is going to need to wash it sometimes at the laundr-o-mat.  It's got to be sturdy to take the spin cycle.

What analogies to live are in the making and breaking of this poor little quilt project?  

I had to travel far to find good fabric.

All I had was an old machine.

I didn't have any fancy quilting equipment.

I was way out of practice.

It came apart after its first washing.

It's going to be hard to deliver to its recipient.

When I started this project it was to be a work of love to the child of a son who was living far from us and far from God.  Every day as I worked, I prayed.  I told myself that each stitch was going in with a prayer.  Somewhere in the middle of my work is when our boy called to say that he seen God for who He is, asked for forgiveness for past mistakes, and had gotten saved. 

It's been a long journey since the big night that things exploded in our home 

more than three years ago...

We had to travel a long ways to find the right help.

We were just old people and felt quite worn out.

We didn't have any special training in how to deal with it all.

We were way out of our league.

Our family literally came apart at the seams.

We had no idea of what the future would hold.

But God knew.  With much patience and love, He was carefully stitching things back together in our lives.  He was smoothing out the broken seams, pulling out the loose threads and looking for the little holes to repair.  He did this with the prayers of dear friends and loved ones.  God worked it out with the tender loving care of special mentors who never gave up hope and just kept showing their love to us and to our boy.  

Yes, the little patches are visible close up, 

but they are make a part of the grand finished project of a Holy, Good God.

  

Here's the little fellow that will receive this work of love.

It took patience and some time, but the joy is worth it all.

Thank you, God.

Are you in a bad spot?  Don't give up!  Keep praying.  Keep hoping.  Look for help.  
Send me a message if I can help you.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3