I read this story about 5 months ago and was touched very deeply. Immediately I sent an e-mail to Sherry Osland requesting permission to write the story here on my blog. She said yes.

Her story reinforces the fact that one simple act can have a profound impact on someone’s life.

Her story...

Quilts That Redeem
by Sherry Osland

“There are some redemptive stories about quilt ministries that need to be writen instead of told. Going through the middle to get to the end is just too hard. So I’ll share this story with the written word. Bear with me.

An early chance to minister came “out-of-the blue”. (I’ve long since come to recognize these as “God-times) My ideas for a quilt ministry back then were just that – ideas! I had brainstormed with my husband and that’s about it.s

Involved in law enforcement, my husband came home one day still immersed in an accident he had worked during his shift. A car with a mother and daughter had been involved in a head-on crash. The daughter died at the scene and the mother had been taken to the hospital in critical condition. She was in and out of the hospital-mostly in-for the next year and a half. She had been unable to attend her daughter’s funeral service held within a few days of the accident.

One of the unnoticed details of the accident was a quilt in the back seat. It’s possible it held little significance to anyone working the scene except my husband. When he told me about it later, my thoughts were to retrieve it, clean it and give it back to the mother. Maybe she could find some comfort in it. My husband read my thoughts and before I could voice them he simply shook his head and firmly said “no”. When the meaning of that sunk in, I got on the phone to a friend, explained the situation and the two of us started working on a quilt.

The woman, unable to live on her own for a while, moved in with her mother. Much later, my husband contacted them and asked if we could pay a visit. Plans were made to take the quilt to the house two different times, about three weeks apart. Both times conflicts arose. I was beginning to feel a bit intrusive. The ladies knew my husband but neither knew what we were up to. Finally, the timing for the third try looked like it would work. However, as we pulled up to the driveway, we hesitated. It was full of cars. They obviously had a lot of company. Had we misunderstood? I felt it was bad timing and was uneasy. It felt awkward carrying out our plan to give the quilt.

With two previously unsuccessful efforts, we decided to go ahead. We were warmly ushered in to the house. The injured mother of the daughter was lying on the sofa. She had survived so much, but it was still very apparent she had a longer road toward complete healing. She spoke positively of the progress she had made to date. She shared that she was finally well enough to visit her daughter’s grave for the first time, so her family was to take her. I would have lost it. With the number of people in the house, there was an active conversation about arrangements for loading up and going to the cemetery. Under the buzz, I gulped and slipped quietly over to the sofa, giving her the quilt. She clasped it tightly and the tears in her eyes met the tears in mine. She thanked me so very tenderly and whispered, “Today would have been my daughter’s 16th birthday.”

God knew the exact day. His intent for the quilt, in ways only He could know was to redeem her pain and suffering;i.e.; to fulfill a promise…to restore…to atone. Amen”

Sherry Osland is the owner of “Quilts N’ Such,” Studio of PraiseWorks Machine Quilting in Abilene, KS