On this date last year, through Facebook Messenger, I received an interesting message from a woman in Florida about a post I had made to the Immanuel Quilt Ministry Facebook page. You might remember the post. It was a picture of me with the Grandma Puppet and a write-up that we had gone with my friend Annie to serve the homeless.
Every month Annie takes wagon loads of essentials to hand out to the homeless. I went hoping Grandma Puppet could bring a few smiles to the downtrodden, but mostly, I wanted to go and observe Annie at work. The experience left me feeling overwhelmed and humbled. So, I wrote about it and posted it on the Immanuel Quilt Ministry Facebook page on November 8, 2022, tagging Annie in the post. (Post is pictured below.)
Then, eight months later, July 2023, I get this message:
Hi Joni! My name is Pam Mc and I live in Florida. I saw your page on Facebook and read about your ministry. On one of your posts, you mentioned Annie’s ministry to the homeless and to contact you as to how one can reach out to donate. I’d like to find out what types of things she needs monthly so I could physically buy things and send them to her.
I’ve thought long and hard about this and have prayed about reaching out. Annette is not only a sister in Christ but is my first cousin. Once I saw your post about her ministry, I knew I needed to reach out to you.
Immediately, I called Annie to relay the message. She didn’t know the woman, nor did she having any knowledge of having any cousins!
As I would soon find out, Pam wasn’t looing for the Immanuel Quilt, she stumbled upon the ministry page looking for Annie!
I don’t think we will ever fully fathom how choices made today power the events of tomorrow.
It just so happened that two weeks before receiving the message from Pam, I had asked Annie about her father at Bible Study. In the ten years I have known Annie she has often spoken fondly of her momma. But her daddy—never a word about him.
I believe God allowed my bluntly asked question to be a precursor to prepare Annie for what was coming in her life, for that afternoon she went home and thought about her father for the first time in a very long time. Incredibly, two weeks later she wasn’t just connected to a long-lost cousin that she didn’t know existed, but—a sister, too!
Blessed Beyond Measure
Over the last year, Annie, Pam, and Julie have drawn very close. Julie and Pam have been able to fill in the missing gaps in Annie’s memories of her father. Other than one time visiting her father at the age of ten, she had had no contact with her father since she was five years old.
While Annie had been hiding memories in the depths of her hope chest, never to be looked at again, her father held her close to his heart.
Through Julie and Pam, Annie has learned that her father surrendered his life to the Lord, that he became a good, godly man. Not the same abusive man her momma knew. Julie was able to live her life witnessing her father at his bedside praying on bended knee. Mr. Lane became a respected police officer; a man with a heart for serving the homeless—just like Annie.
Undeniably, the most touching and freeing thing that Annie has learned is that she had a father who never forgot her. He kept her photo prominently displayed on the coffee table for all to see. Annie, age 76, a giver of blessings—was delivered a blessing straight from heaven above. Experiencing the overwhelming love of God upon her, Annie was able to release past hurts and forgive her father.
I don’t know why God chose to use the Immanuel Quilt Ministry as a conduit to reunite Annie with her family, but I am grateful He did, and once again, I am in awe at what He has done.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” -Luke 6:38
“Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.” -Proverbs 19:17
“You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, who name is the LORD Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve.” -Jeremiah 32:18-19
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” -James 1:17
Interestingly, the original post put on Facebook has mysteriously disappeared, however, it remained long enough to do what God intended it to do.
God is so good!
Original Facebook Post November 8, 2022:
On Friday, October 18th, Grandma Puppet and I went downtown Indy to serve the homeless with my friend Annette Steedman. Annie’s ministry ideas was sparked after having an encounter with jesus as a McDonald’s. Soon after that encounter, Annie began making solo trips downtown with a suitcase full of blessing bags to hand out to the homeless. That was nearly eight years ago. She hasn’t missed a month since.
Today, Annie has others who join her quest. Some provide finances, some provide blankets, boats, hats, gloves, food, and more that is needed. And some will just go to serve the homeless alongside Annie. I mostly wanted to go learn how Annie can so easily connect with the homeless. I wanted to observe, and hopefully, be a part in bringing some joy to the downtrodden.
Grandma puppet did more than I to bring smiles, but she was no match for the smiles Annie received. Because Annie knows the names of her downtown friends, knows their stories, and selflessly shows up month after month to deliver basic needs, they see the light of Christ in her. The experience left me feeling overwhelmed and humbled.
At the end of the day, we six women headed back to the parking garage with six empty wagons.
Isaiah 58:10 (ESV) says, “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.”
Speaking at Fillmore Christian Church, the theme was named Wonderfully Made. It tied nicely with the story of the Immanuel Quilt.
On the morning of the event, I received a vision. I warn you, it sounds a bit weird and funny. However, I saw meaning in it for my day at hand.
In the vision, I was walking in a hall at Clay County St. Vincent Hospital to go and see the administrator. While I was walking, I was brushing my teeth. I can hear you laughing. Anyways, on with the vision. Before I got to the administrator’s office, she came up behind me and placed her hand on my shoulder. End of vision.
What does an administrator do? Administer. The word minister is right there. I was going on behalf of Immanuel Quilt Ministry to administer God’s Word. Synonyms for Administrator are controller, head, chief, leader, and governor. Most of these are also Names of Jesus.
Leaning in to what the vision might mean, I heard God (my administrator) say:
I’ve got your back! The words from your mouth today will be fresh with cleansing power (the toothpaste being symbolic of cleansing) to bring healing (referenced with the hospital) to those who will receive the Word.
The Lord speaks in mysterious ways. For me, it is often a one-word riddle in which he speaks. One such riddle came, interrupting my thoughts on afternoon. The word, emerald. Scouring my Bible as if searching for hidden treasure, I found a gem speaking directly to me.
The Book of Revelation tells about John being taken into heaven and, in the Spirit, is allowed to see a glimpse of the throne of God. John wrote: And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. -Revelation 4:3
Two days before the word emerald was given to me, I had a dream about rainbows. In my dream, I saw what appeared to be a canopy of rainbows, arched in like a tunnel. I also saw mature trees, leafed in green, in the dream.
Ezekiel was shown heaven’s throne, and he described it as like the appearance of a rainbow and that it was the appearance of the glory of the LORD (Ezekiel 1:28-29).
The following morning, during my prayer time, I asked the Lord for another clue. This time the Spirit said, “Emerald Sea”.
Revelation 4:6, the word sea is mentioned. In front of the throne, there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In this verse, the sea of glass represents the presence of God!
Elliott’s Bible Commentary began by saying this of the verse: There is a sea before the throne of God. The woman apparelled in purple.
I related. I am known as the woman who wears purple. It was a sign that I was on the right track for finding the next clue.
Unpacking the dream and searching for clues as to the purpose and message in the words, Emerald Sea, led to finding a treasury full of hope and promise.
A rainbow is always a reminder of God’s covenant promise. (Genesis 9:13-17)
An emerald denotes the glory of the LORD.
CORRECTING OUR TUNNEL VISION
Light at the end of the tunnel is a phrase that means hardship or struggle is nearing its end. In my dream, the tunnel was an open canopy of rainbows. I sense God is saying, Look Up! The tunnel of darkness does not surround you—it’s My glory that does!
Are you in a tunnel of darkness? Have you been waiting to see the light at the end of the tunnel? An emerald denotes resurrection and rebirth in the Christian faith.
I think God is going to resurrect faith for many who have been stuck in the tunnel of darkness. They will see the Light, move towards it, and discover the glory of the Lord.
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” -John 11:40
Ten years ago, I would have never dreamed this traveling ministry would have me speaking to an audience of 400 people, little lone 400 students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade. But it has happened!
For a long while now I have been sensing God wanting me to share His Story in a unique quilt with youth, and that He had intentions to send me to larger stages. Both came to fruition in one single day.
Novemeber 30, 2023 I was the guest chapel speaker for a Christian elementary school speaking to 400 students, plus faculty members and a few dozen parents.
Though His Story in a unique quilt never changes, tweaking presentations is never ending. For the school it was necessary to adapt the message for a younger audience, and I needed to trim it to twenty minutes.
I began with a five-minute puppet skit. Out of the gate the red-headed puppet, Cam-Man, was a hit capturing the attention of all who were present. Interestingly, my puppeteer was red headed, too, a teacher which just made the kids love the puppet even more.
After the brief exchange with the Cam-Man puppet telling tidbits of the story, I told more bits and pieces of the story that focuses solely on Jesus, including the special features about the Immanuel Quilt being a puzzle and having hidden images.
After chapel, I stuck around school the rest of the day giving eight more talks so that students could hear more of the story, look for the invisible images, and ask questions.
“Why is the High Priest block designed like that?”
“Why is there black in the quilt when you said God told you not to use black?”
“Horn of Salvation is a funny Name.”
I loved their questions, comments, and active interaction. When I would ask a question, most of the class would raise their hand to answer.
Students who had trouble locating the invisible images, I would tell them to look closer. Once they would spot a hidden image I’d hear, “Awe…now I see it!”
Pointing out the Name, Dwelling Place, a boy raised his hand for me to call on him. He confidently told me that God dwells inside everyone. With gentleness I replied, “Not in everyone. He dwells in hearts of believers.”
One boy saw the face of Jesus inside the Gate block. I have had others tell me this, but I hadn’t shared this with the students. By faith the boy saw what is commonly unseen.
Some classes, totally unprompted, applauded what God has done. I pointed out the hidden Lamb of God, they clapped.
When asking the students if the story of the Immanuel Quilt had taught them anything new about Jesus, nearly every student raised their hand in agreement it had.
It was such a rewarding day. I felt in the zone, doing exactly what God had designed me to do.
That evening I was a vendor and storyteller at the school’s holiday mart. My heart melted hearing parents say that picking their children up from school that day all they could talk about was the Immanuel Quilt. Students I had seen earlier in the day had brought their parents to see the Immanuel Quilt. What a blessing it was hearing them tell the story to their parents! It was a bonus to that learn a few students had asked for the book for Christmas.
The Immanuel Quilt is not necessarily a children’s book, yet there is evidence they want it. I think what they are really wanting is proof that God is real, He speaks, and that He is with them, and God is using the Immanuel Quilt to deliver these truths.
Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. -Psalm 105:1
The purple thumb drive that stores almost all of the Immanuel Quilt Ministry files—died. The book manuscript, the photos of the quilt, the curriculum, the pattern, the Bingo game, the presentation notes, and the PowerPoint files were gone. And they were saved in no other place.
At the first inkling the thumb drive was about to die, Tom copied the files from the drive onto his work computer and also onto not one, but two, external hard drives. When copying the files, and seeing the folders had been copied we thought all was good. However, after the thumb drive died, and I went to retrieve my files from any of the three locations they had been copied, all that was there were EMPTY folders. It was one of those moments when you cry out to God and remind Him is in the restoration and redeeming business. He was the only hope for bringing the lost back.
I put the dead thumb drive into the computer and took the liberty to remind God that by His breath life is given. I asked that He allow the breath of His Spirit to well up in me, so that I could blow life back into the drive, at least long enough, to get the files secured on a brand new drive.
God heard my prayer and He answered. The thumb drive opened long enough for me to copy every file. Once the task was finished, the purple drive–died again. At that point, it didn’t matter. I was already shouting praises to the Lord for restoring the files back to me. But, the story doesn’t end here.
The following morning, when inserting the new thumb drive into the computer a message popped up on my screen telling me the drive was corrupted. I couldn’t even open the drive! Five-plus years of work gone in a flash—gone in a flash of a flash drive.
I called on my prayer warrior friends and asked them to join me in praying for a resurrection.
I blew into the dead thumb drive, as I had done the day before hoping that God would again bring it back to life. God again answered me with favor. We got it to open only on Tom’s work computer, where we saved every file, opening each to make sure it was saved. We not only copied the files to his work computer, but to his Cloud, two external hard drives, and to two thumb drives!
God retrieved that which was lost.
We prefer these types of incidents not to happen. However, I am grateful we have a God who hears and answers our prayers. That He is the One who rescues, restores, salvages, and revives the dead…with the breath of His Spirit.
The rescue, revival, and resurrection are to bring us back into the intimate presence of God. Hallelujah and Amen.
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” –Luke 19:10
