The Patchwork Quilt, by Paula Rose

While preparing to speak at a Women’s Ministry event in 1999 that was focusing on time, and what we do with it, I wrote the ‘Patchwork Quilt.’ Little did I know then all that would befall our country, those I know, or Ron and I. Back then our days passed as peacefully as water flows downstream. And as it was it seemed it would always be. Though changes would occur, I believed they would be welcomed blessings like daughters falling in love and getting married. Yes, we even believed our country, that bastion which stood for God and individual rights, would continue to do so.

However, those days seem like a bygone era. Within this season, I see issues being manipulated to create so much stress that one might walk away from what they believe. Therefore, I felt it time to share this writing. I hope as you read it, you realize that the times that try or trouble our souls are the times when Messiah can shine forth as that eternal beacon on a hill. That is what he asked us to do: to speak words of eternity to a lost and dying world. Remember it all began in Bethlehem (the house of bread, of which His is the one and only provision)! While it is still Today, let us share the only provision for eternity! May God bless each and every one of you who does as He asked!

Lord, I am just a patchwork quilt made up of scraps and bits.

Colors that many or may not harmonize,

Fragments of most any size,

Sewn together with starts and fits.

Some may look at me and see the treasure of the years,

And realize that the seamstress chose fabric that was near and dear.

Others may see a shabby relic of the past,

And wonder why anyone would put forth the effort to make my fabric last.

But, You ‘Oh Creator of us all’

Know that in my life You have a heart call.

For You are the thread that holds together all,

The bright, the faded, the large, and the small.

I know that even though I am frayed and worn and some of my stuffing is torn,

In my present condition, I am a gift of your love.

May I be used to minister to those who need to hear of You enthroned above.

For without the threat of redemption that forms each perfect stitch,

Life would have no meaning, and pain would have no glitch.

I know that each trial woven into my faded tapestry,

Is another reminder of how great your love is for me,

Greater than the care of the weaver who fashioned each piece of cloth

From whose fragments, I am made.

For, when I received Your son by faith, my life itself you saved.

So let me step out in faith

To assume the mantle of change,

Let me put all my trust in You

As the fabric of my life, You rearrange.

Strengthen me for Your service. Keep me dedicated to Your cause.

Remind me that I was created to follow Your Godly laws.

Allow me to continually glorify You as You change me into something new,

Replete with an anointing that will last my whole life through.

Now when others see me, a new creation I will be.

But, underneath the memory of the patchwork quilt they will see.

And when they ask me of the ministry they have profited from,

I will tell them of Your calling, and of Your Only Son.

For in duplicating my life’s call,

Eventually each Patchwork Quilt will become,

Heavenly tapestries,

Your glory to share with all as we Your Son, recall!