In a dream, I was the caretaker of a funeral parlor. My friend, Leesa Nesty, was there working too. The folks coming into the parlor were not coming to pay respect to any deceased individual; they were coming for an auction.
Strangely, I was wearing a black sheet. I kept one hand on the sheet at all times to keep it securely wrapped around me. I was getting frustrated that wearing the robe was hindering my work. I was embarrassed at wearing a sheet.
I remembered that in an upper room of the parlor, I had a change of clothes. I went there to change, but I couldn’t get in as the door was locked. I then remembered that Leesa held the key. I meandered down and back through the crowd, wearing my unlike toga sheet, to get the key from Leesa. By the time I had changed, all items were sold, and everyone was gone.
Dreams are a way in which God communicates to me to get me to ponder and glean insight on subject matters weighing on my mind. Pre-dream, I was thinking about the word God had given me to focus on for 2021—GRACE. I was also thinking about our nation.
And then, the dream.
A funeral parlor represents a place to go and say final farewells to the deceased.The items for the auction, I believe, were our nation’s liberty. My friends, America will die if she continues to have her freedoms sold to high bidders.
Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the armor of God so that we can stand against the devil’s schemes. It tells us to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
In the dream, I went to the upper room to change out of my sin-ugly drape. Spiritually speaking, an “upper room” represents a place where we sit with God and hear what He has to say. Yet, a key was needed to open the door. What was the key? A repentant heart.
At 2:30 a.m., I woke from this dream and repented. I opened my Bible to Isaiah 51 and read: “My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way…AWAKE…clothe yourself with strength!” This is grace.
I said a prayer, fell back asleep, and woke later humming, “America, America, God shed His grace on thee…”
Grace upon grace. His Amazing Grace.
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
Ask God what things He may be asking you to repent, and then, humbly enter the “upper room” and sit with God. He is alive and well, still speaking to ordinary people, doing extraordinary things!
A friend and I left the house with great anticipation for a great bicycle ride. Midway on our journey we encountered roadblocks and detours that took us off course and caused us to get lost. It was late afternoon when we stopped in a small town asking for directions that would get us back home. We asked several people who didn’t know the way, nor did the seem to care for us to find our way home. Finally, one young man came up to us and said, “I’ll show you the way. Just follow me.”
Now this young man had a pickup truck. He could have put our bicycles in the bed of his truck and taken us home, or He could have given us the directions, but no, He told us to follow him. So we did.
After a short wile, reaching a landmark we recognized, we gave the driver a thumbs up, letting him know we could get home from there on our own. The driver turned back, and we continued making our way towards home, but then, something happened. It got dark and we didn’t make it home.
This story did not happen in real life, it happened in my dream. Perhaps the dream was given for me to get and share this thought: There is a heavenly home awaiting every person, but to get there, we must follow Jesus. We must follow Him all the way.
“I will lead the blind by ways the have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”
Isaiah 42:16
7.14.20 Christian Women’s Group, Dyes Country Club, Greenwood, IN
As a rule, I don’t post talks I’ve given, usually, because I always share the same thing–His Story in a unique quilt. On this night though, I presented something new, something I was nervous to share, something that could be construed too controversial. The talk, The Color of Character: Recapturing Our True Beauty, was based upon a phrase God had given me weeks earlier.
In the end, several folks told me it is a timely message and one that I need to continue to share. So, with that said, below is a shortened version of what I shared.
Where we are going to spend eternity is a color issue. It is a matter of black, or white. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36
In a last-minute decision, I paid the fee for the Immanuel Quilt Ministry to be a vendor in the first-ever Virtual Quilt Show. The final numbers were delivered in my inbox.
VQS attendees—48,000. They were expecting 5,000
VQS page views—604,000
VQS attendees visiting the Immanuel Quilt Ministry booth—1,005
VQS sales for Immanuel Quilt Ministry—2
Was it a success?
You decide.
Near the beginning of the year I had two separate, but similar dreams. Both related to me conducting workshops and teaching women how to make blocks portrayed in the Immanuel Quilt. Since the inception of the Immanuel Quilt women have asked for the pattern. I’d always responded the same, “It’s a unique quilt.”
After receiving these dreams and reflecting back I saw that over the last year my response had changed to inquiries for the pattern. I started saying, “If God wants me to make the pattern available, He will let me know.”
I was scheduled to speak at a quilt show on April 3-4 in Decatur, IL. Wondering if the dreams were God’s way of telling me that He now wanted me to make the pattern available, I asked that if it was His will, He bring a person with the knowledge and know-how to me at the quilt show. Due to COVID-19, the quilt show was canceled.
Mid-April, I get the invite to be a vendor at the Virtual Quilt Show—the last week in April.
The decision to participate didn’t come easy. I didn’t know if paying the $250 fee for a virtual booth space would be a wise use of the ministry funds. My gut told me it was something that I needed to do.
I uploaded photos for the book, the notecards, and the children’s curriculum. The items were put in the VQS store along with the merchandise of all the other vendors. I also uploaded a video to my VQS booth with me telling tidbits of the story of the Immanuel Quilt. Each day I logged into my VQS booth for a few hours, waiting for someone to visit. No one came. I trusted though that God was behind the scenes doing something that I could not see.
Finally, on the fourth day, my one and only visitor came. Corrine Hewitt, a Canadian quilt store owner and author who had help getting her book published by the same person who had helped me get the Immanuel Quilt published. As a quilter, she had also created and published 18 quilt patterns. By the end of our conversation, she had offered to turn the Immanuel Quilt into a pattern for me.
God answered my prayer and sent a person to me with the knowledge and know-how to publish a quilt pattern. And He had even sent her to me while participating in a quilt show during April. Still, I was reluctant to believe the Immanuel Quilt was to be made into a pattern available for anyone to make. It’s a unique quilt.
Maybe, I have gotten a bit too attached to the quilt, or perhaps my resistance has to do with a message I received shortly after The Immanuel Quilt was published. An email came in from a woman asking if there was a pattern for the quilt. I responded, “No, it’s a unique quilt.”
“Good,” she wrote back, “You can’t call the Immanuel Quilt a unique quilt if there is a pattern for it.”
The woman was questioning the claim that the Immanuel Quilt is unique.
The day after speaking with Hewitt, another Canadian quilt store owner, visiting the VQS, bought my book. Since shipping the book was going to cost $34, I called her to see if she still wanted the book. She chose to cancel the order but not before admitting she was purchasing the book to host a workshop to teach others how to make the Immanuel Quilt.
God certainly had my attention!
The following morning, I woke with a word stationed in my thoughts. Imitate.
Twice, in the making of the Immanuel Quilt God delivered one-word riddles to me. Was this another one-word riddle from God? The Bible tells us to imitate Jesus. To pattern our lives after Him and to fix our eyes on Him.
With each of the previous one-word riddles, another sign from God followed. With the name, Immanuel, He put the handwriting on the wall. With the word, invisible, He took me to Scripture to show me why He wanted the quilt stitched in invisible thread. “So, Lord,” I prayed, “Please, just one more sign to confirm this is Your will.”’
That very afternoon–I received an email asking what workshops I offer.
The story does not end here.
The message came from a woman who had visited the Virtual Quilt Show. She had watched the video I had added and, as the program director of a quilt guild, she wanted to see about me doing a workshop for her guild. She realized after she hit send, that I am merely a storyteller. But she had already pressed send. The message was on its way.
I called to tell her I offer no workshops, but that her email was timely sent. I shared with her all that I have just shared with you. Interestingly, as soon as she clicked send, she realized the video said I was a storyteller. She knew I offered no workshops, but the message had done been sent. In my opinion, one divine message—one final sign to confirm God’s plan.
She said, “Honey, I am the wife of an Army Chaplain. I know how God speaks and I don’t think He can speak any clearer. He is opening this door for you so that you may share the message of the quilt, the gospel, to an all-new audience.”.
God’s plan for me to participate in the Virtual Quilt Show was to show me the next step to take with the ministry. He wants to do something new with the Immanuel Quilt to reach more people.
The Immanuel Quilt is only another beautiful quilt without the story. Right? With that in mind, no pattern will be sold without the book. In addition to the book, the instructions for each block is going to include a devotional on the Name of Jesus the blocks portray.
I hope this news excites you and inspires you to think about what new ideas, opportunities, and perspectives God might be trying to give you. May you be blessed as you seek, and learn, and carry out His plans for you.
2.16.20 St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, Terre Haute, IN
The book signing show and tell was widely publicized. For two weeks the publicity included television ads with a photo of me, and that of the Immanuel Quilt. The ads were seen on televisions all across the Wabash Valley.
A good turnout was expected, but no one came. Except one.
The woman who had extended the invitation for me to come and speak, she came. I wasn’t sure if she came out of pity or genuine interest, but for whatever reason, she came. And so, to an audience of one, I shared His Story in a unique quilt–the whole story. Then, we sat for a chat–me, Tom, and the woman. We had a good long chat.
Tom and I opted to take a walk before leaving the grounds of St. Mary. The path we chose commemorates the Stations of the Cross. Memories flooded my thoughts as it was less than a year ago Tom and I were in Jerusalem walking the path in which Jesus carried the burden of our cross. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and sensed God saying, “And I would have done it for one.”
God’s plan was for me to humble myself and do it for one.
A few days later I received this message from the woman.
“I’ve been trying since our parting on Sunday to find the words to thank you. So many people under the circumstances would have been disappointed or even angry, but instead, you and your husband were gracious and welcoming. Several people have now asked me about your response to Sunday with the expectation that you left unhappy with your time at the Woods. Projecting my own feelings, I would think there was a bit of discontentment with the turnout, but I hope you know that for me, your visit was life-giving.”
The Bible says, “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4)
Oh, how I wish I could tell you that my response to unpleasant circumstances is always soothing and gracious, but it is not. Just days after presenting this “life-giving” talk to one,my actions spoke a very different message. I demonstrated some sin-ugly behavior on a grand scale. I felt ashamed for the way in which I had responded to a circumstance and knew that I had not portrayed a Christ-like image.
I confessed the sin to God, then I went to bed, and was given a very comforting dream. In my dream was a plane flying in the air with one of those banner messages waving along behind it. The message: You are forgiven.
Jesus carried the cross to Calvary and conquered death, so that we may be forgiven. No matter what sin-ugly behaviors we have done—there is One who endured the Stations of the Cross to forgive us–and He would have done it for One. His Name is Jesus.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. Ephesians 1:7
