LIKE HAND MADE QUILTS
by: Carrie Walker-Todd

Like hand made quilts the Master
Takes the tangles of our lives
And cuts, and shapes and washes
Each piece He now revives.

Our lives awash in evil
Our hearts once black with sin,
Now safe, in Hands of mercy,
Transformation will begin.

The ragged hard beginning
Of lives once fraught with sin
Must now become a witness to,
The LORD who reigns within.

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HARD BEGINNINGS
by: M.E. Townsend

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She shall do him good and not evil, all the days of her life.” Proverbs 31:10-12

Clutching her purse tightly, Jewell looked over the town one last time, thankful she would not be returning.

Paint from last years Halloween pranks covered the side and back of city hall. Kids looking for excitement had broken a window in the mayor’s office; a yellowed newspaper covered the gaping hole, a clumsy attempt to repair the damage. A fading sign in the drug store window read, “Going out of Business Sale.”

Tears filled Jewels’ eyes as she took the precious photograph of her mother from her purse. A beautiful woman whose eyes had shown brightly the love of the LORD in spite of hard work, an unfaithful husband, pious preachers and poverty. Too late mama learned to ‘be not unequally yoked with an unbeliever’. Wanting to believe she could change the lost soul into a godly husband and father she had married for better or worse, and it had been on so many occasions far worse than she could ever have imagined.

Now, mama rested, safely in the arms of the only man who had ever truly loved her, her Saviour and her LORD - Jesus the Christ.

Mama had stepped quietly into His presence and there was peace - The scripture in Isaiah coming alive:

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3

Jewel boarded the bus, found a seat and bowed her head. She ask that same Saviour who loved her mother and whom her mother loved to come into her life, to forgive her sins and to be for her - LORD OF ALL.

Each one must meet their Maker ~ we know not date nor time. But this we know, we can be sure, there will be given neither explanation nor excuse, there will be no discussion and there will be no second chance.

We will all stand face to face before Almighty God and hear Him say:

“Welcome good and faithful servant”- or “Depart from Me I never knew you”.