When I was about 9 years old I had a PsaltyÂ’s Bible.  In the back there was a picture and I canÂ’t remember it exactly, but I think it just had a bunch of names placed here and there and it was supposed to be “GodÂ’s Children”.  Of course, Coie was not there.  I always wished it was.  I would close my Bible, pray real hard, then open it in a dramatic display and see if my name had magically showed up on that page.  I was, obviously, disappointed every time.

About this time I took an interest in sewing.  My auntÂ’s family lived with us then, and I told Paulie that he should get up in the middle of the night with me and he could whittle a stick while I “quilted”.  I got an old dress and started cutting it into squares with a steak knife and sewing them together with my 98 cent store sewing kit.  I tried to make many creations using this primitive method, but nothing came out right.

When I was 11 I took my first sewing and quilting class from a woman named Janet Kannady.  I learned a lot from her, and completed my first quilt that year.  The year after she was having an Advanced Quilting class and I really wanted to go.  We didnÂ’t have the money, machine, or a way of transportation though, and we declined the offer to sign up.  A few days later I got a letter in the mail saying I earned a “scholarship” to JanetÂ’s Stitching Place for an Advanced Quilting Class.  Mrs. Kannady also supplied material from her own stash and let me use her machine.  I missed a class once because I had injured my foot very badly, but she picked me up a few days later so I could catch up at her house.

When the girls in the class finished their quilts Mrs. Kannady had us make a patch for the back that had our name, the date, location, and anything else we wanted to include.  I decided I wanted a verse from Proverbs on there and asked Mrs. Kannady if I could borrow her Bible to look up a verse.  As I skimmed through Proverbs, I noticed that she had written many names next to verses.  Names of the people that the verses had made her think of.  I recognized many, but was suddenly shocked when I saw my name in there.  It was next to Proverbs 3:27.

Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.

I brought it to her questioningly and she told me that she was reading through Proverbs 3 shortly after hearing I couldnÂ’t take her class.  That was what made her give me a “scholarship” and everything else.  I was blessed beyond belief, and put that verse on my quilt patch. 

IÂ’m sure she lost close to $100+ doing that, and it left a great impression on me.  But the point of my post is this:  Everybody has a gift of some sort.  Are you using yours to bless others?

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