Quilters and Quilts #4 – Susan French

A very sick baby boy. A mother’s desperate prayer. A church quilting circle.

Reader-Friend, Susan French, is my guest in Week 4 of my Quilters and Quilts Series. I chose Christmas week to share Susan’s compelling story about the gift of a quilt stitched with love and drenched in prayer.

MONA: Do you quilt?

SUSAN: Yes, I have quilted on a small scale. But life came to a complete stop during our son’s battle with Leukemia. Timothy was 20 months old when he was diagnosed with Leukemia. For three years and two months, our focus was on our son surviving the Leukemia and caring for our other six children. I gave up my hobbies and have only recently been able to return to them. Everything I make is given away as a gift. 

This is a picture of my husband holding our son, Timothy, at a Relay for Life event in Sedalia, Missouri. Timothy was two years into treatment when this picture was taken. He was their poster child for a couple of years. 

 

MONA: Adorable! No doubt your decision to gift the things you make was inspired by the amazing gift you received during Timothy’s battle with Leukemia. Please tell us about that experience.

SUSAN: The women of the sewing and quilting circle in our church in Sedalia made a quilt for Timothy, praying for him as they stitched. The word “blessings” is stitched in one corner of the quilt. To receive the quilt my son was gifted with  was totally unexpected. The ladies gave of their time to make such a prefect gift for us. Each time we wrapped Timothy in the quilt, we were reminded of the prayers said over the quilt.

MONA: What a wonderful gift–the quilt, the prayers, and the friendship the quilting circle offered. I patterned the Saint Charles Quilting Circle in The Quilted Heart novellas after women like those in your church’s quilting circle.

SUSAN: Quilters will always have a special place in my heart for the ministry of giving they seem to have.

MONA: What life lesson or lessons did that gift from the heart teach you?

SUSAN: The lesson learned was that prayer is a gift that you can give to anyone. I don’t have to personally know you, but yet I can go to the throne of God upon your behalf and ask God to meet your needs. That quilt was the beginning of a journey of faith that God permitted us to go on. We had thousands of people praying for us, and we didn’t know all of them. But their gift of prayers became something that I, in turn, could give to others.

MONA: An amazing truth. There is such comfort and peace in knowing you are being covered in prayer. And Timothy, how is he now?

SUSAN: Timothy will turn 12 in February and is now cancer free. Last May, Timothy was the guest speaker at the kick off for Relay for Life in Sedalia. This picture is of Timothy with his quilt…they survived three years and two months of chemotherapy together.

MONA: My heart is rejoicing and blessing those dear women in Sedalia. Have you learned any life lessons from quilting?

SUSAN: Quilting reminds me of God, of how He takes the bits and pieces of our lives and makes something beautiful out of it. And as a quilt takes time to fit all the pieces together, so does our lives.

MONA: Beautifully said, Susan. And thanks so much for sharing your quilt story, Timothy’s story, God’s story of provision with us.

Your turn: Sometimes we are the one giving the gift of prayer and support. At other times, we are the recipient? Is there a time you recall when God used others in a special way to meet your needs?