Prayers and Squares

A number of churches have something called a "prayer quilt" ministry.

Ladies in the church make quilts with a bunch of loose threads attached and then when someone in the church is in need of prayer a quilt is placed down front and those who wish to can pray and then tie a knot in one of the loose strings symbolizing their prayer.

Much like the taking meals to people going through a difficult time, I always thought this was sort of odd. "The guy was in a car wreck - he needs disability insurance - not a blanket", was again my approximate response.

Once again, boy was I wrong.

A friend asked me if Holly and I would like a prayer quilt for Annabelle and of course I said, "Yes". My first inkling that there was more to this than I knew was when I received the following e-mail from our friend:

"I also have a question about the quilt. I picked one out for Holly yesterday. My friend from bible study showed them to me and encouraged me to pray before selecting one. She was confident that God had already chosen a quilt for Holly and Annabelle, and if I asked him…he would lead me to the right one. Cheryl and I both prayed in the little storage hallway for you, Holly and Annabelle. There must have been close to 100 quilts folded on shelves in two large cabinets. She told me to pick our four and she would unfold them for me to get a better look. I picked four and the first one she unfolded was THE ONE. No doubt about it!!! I can’t wait for you guys to see it.

"The women in the prayer quilt ministry prayed for your family’s needs on Wednesday. Your prayer request will also be shared with the entire congregation at Pt Loma Pres on Sunday. Then the congregation will have an opportunity to pray for you guys and tie knots on the quilt in between services. You are invited to attend Sunday services and be present for the prayer and knot tying. . . ."

We got to church yesterday morning just after the first service had let out and the wife and I walked into a mostly empty sanctuary.

Down in front were about six different quilts and each one had a plexi-glass frame telling the story of each family in need. Here is our "announcement":

The wife and I sat down three pews from the front and watched in amazement as people of all ages would come by. read our story and then tie a knot while praying. There were Jr. Highers on up through ancient saints of the church who had to momentarily let go of their walkers to fumble with the knots.

Keep in mind that these are total strangers - we do not attend this church and they have no idea who we are - they just know a little bit about our story and they know that we need prayer.

Miracles.

One of the highlights was when a lady who appeared to be in her sixties bent over our quilt and read our story through her bifocals. Standing there at the front of the church, shaking her head, she swore under her breath "Dammit" and then proceeded to pray and tie a knot in our quilt.

Yes, "Damn It" indeed.

It was a wonderful service and afterwards the wife and I stayed and watched more people tie more knots. It was truly amazing.

Finding newcomers in an all but empty sanctuary after the service, the pastor introduced himself and chatted with us about our situation. When the people around us discovered that the quilt was ours, they all gathered around and prayed for us.

Strangers to us in any other setting - here we were brothers and sisters in Christ, the family of God, fellow travellers in need of aid.

Our friend has requested that we "loan" our quilt to her so that her bible study can pray and tie more knots as well.

The quilt now sits in Annabelle's room awaiting her arrival. Just like meals provided by a friend, the prayer quilt is a tangible reminder that people are praying and it feels so good to wrap the prayer quilt around you and know that you are being covered in prayer.

Since I seem to be praying dozens of times a day right know, I suppose I could knot up every last loose end all on my own but I want to leave some for others. I am going to limit myself to one good knot every morning.

A good, solid square knot that will never come loose.

I can't wait to wrap Annie in it and then one day, when she is able to understand, tell her the story of the hundreds of knots in the strings . . .

Meals Matter. Prayers Matter. Prayer Quilts Matter.

Thank you for continuing to pray.

UPDATE:

Annabelle's nursery still has the guest bed in it and the quilt is draped over that. I find myself kneeling by the bed in the mornings and laying my whole upper body on the quilt as I pray - in a weird sort of way, it makes me feel sort of close to Bella.

Maybe I will allow myself two knots a day - one in the morning and one in the evening . . .