Below is a picture of my precious grandsons. They are sitting on a quilt that I made from my husband's favorite shirts. When our son was in college, heavy flannel shirts called "big-shirts" were the style, and our son had several...he would come home for the weekend and a flannel shirt would sometimes disappear from his closet, and my husband would come out wearing it with a twinkle in his eye. We always joked about it and then for Christmas for a few years I bought them identical flannel shirts.
As I was going through my husband's things a few weeks after his death, I drew those shirts close around me and crumpled into the floor crying. Oh what precious memories! I knew I couldn't part with the shirts. Something special had to be done with them. Then the idea for the quilt came and with Christmas approaching, what better gift could I give our son? Dismantling the shirts was very painful because it so closely resembled what had happened to our lives but the joy of the new "gift" brought healing.
For each of us who feel our lives have been dismantled, I believe God wants to take the pieces and do a creative work. We have to be willing to give Him those pieces no matter how painful it is, and then trust His heart with them even when we can't trace His hand. He truly does still has a good plan for our lives. Father, help us to give You the pieces and help us to trust Your heart to weave a beautiful tapestry from the pain. For I know the plans I have for you, that are for good and not for evil to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
About Me
- Pam
- I grew up in Southern Mississippi, and at eleven years of age I invited Jesus Christ into my life. Several years later, I married a young man from Oklahoma and we eventually moved to his home state. There we welcomed our first child, a beautiful baby boy. Four and a half years later, our daughter was born and unfortunately tragedy struck. Our daughter suffered brain damage during open heart surgery. In the years that followed, I was her care-giver. I've been stretched and remolded as I've journeyed through many trials. I was widowed in 2003 and as my husband was dying, he said for him one of the most difficult things was knowing that I would probably bury our daughter without him. I told him should that occur, when she died I would picture in my heart him seeing her walk and talk for the first time and that would bring me strength and joy. I can truly say that it did. His death started me on this journey as "a single wife." The first eight years of blogging are as a grieving, healing widow. Now the posts are as a newly remarried who has found life after widowhood.
Workshop in Georgia
Sue, Pam, and Emily
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