Wisdom of Heart Quilt

Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.
Exodus 35:35

This is the story of a very special quilt. This beautiful handmade quilt was made by Jogma, a bright a funny 16 year old who lives just outside of Monrovia at Frances Gaskins Rescue Home. She is in the 9th grade and is a very good student. Jogma loves to sew. Sometimes I will find her sitting on the front porch with her sewing machine, mending other children's clothes or making a new outfit for herself. She uses a Chinese-made, manual sewing machine that she usually props up on an old chair or bench. She presses her fabric with a coal iron. Sewing in Liberia is quite the task! Because of her love for sewing, Jogma also enjoys teaching the younger children in the orphanage how to sew. I love to sit on the porch with Jogma while she sews; talking about sewing, school and life. Jogma spent her Liberian Independence Day (July 26) manually sewing together the quilt top. I brought the quilt top home and asked a friend (thank you, Sharon!) to complete Jogma's quilt. The quilt backing was donated by the Southern Crescent Quilters Guild and they also provided assistance with the final quilt design.[Jogma working on the quilt top]

Jogma's Wisdom of Heart quilt was the final live auction item at my fundraiser a few weeks ago. I shared the story on the quilt, and then the bids started--at $1,000!! My dad made the first bid, knowing that I loved the quilt. But, I told him to let someone else have it to enjoy, so he stopped bidding. The auctioneer was looking for $1,300...and someone raised their hand. The quilt sold for $1,300. I forgot to get a picture of the winner with the quilt to take back to Jogma.

Two days later, the doorbell rang. It was the winner of the quilt (friend of the family), standing there with the quilt in her hands. I thought my mom had asked her at church that morning to come by so I could take her picture. The winner of the quilt proceeded to tell me that when she bid on the quilt, she thought the quilt was too special and needed to stay with my family (its a Southern quilt and God thing), and she thought my dad couldn't afford it and that's why he had stopped bidding. She also told me that the money she used to pay for the quilt was an inheritance left by her great-grandfather...he helped buy Alaska, and had left all of his great-grandchildren money (what?!). She then handed me the quilt and told me it was mine. Can you believe that?! I was literally speechless! I didn't know what to say, other than 'are you sure??' and 'thank you!' When she left, I put the quilt on the bed in the guest bedroom...it's too small for my bed (schucks!), but I didn't want to just fold it up and put it away...I want to see if everyday and enjoy it!

[The quilt out for everyone to enjoy!]

What a beautiful picture of what God did for us. He gave us His Son for free...with no strings attached. He paid the price, and we are the beneficiaries. We are not grateful and left speechless often enough of His gift. We take the gift for granted. We fold up the gift and stuff it in the linen closet--it can't get messed up and needs to stay nice and pretty. When we do the laundry and put away the clean sheets, we notice the gift and say, "aw, that was nice." We (I'm mainly talking to myself here) need to dig that quilt (the gift of His Son) out of the linen closet and proudly display it! [Does any of this make sense?]

A few weeks ago in church, a guy was leading worship and he said something to the effect of, "Until Jesus is good news to us, He will never be good news to the rest of the world." WHOA! I need to realize how good the gift is so that the rest of the world will take notice. And this all started because of Jogma's beautiful quilt. I can't wait to get back to Liberia and get Jogma started on her second quilt! I wonder what lessons will be taught and learned because of it?