When my mom passed a couple years ago, we were cleaning out her craft room. She had started several painting pieces, a few aprons, and many quilts. There were different quilt square designs, and some long strips of sewn together scraps of fabric. We had no idea what she had envisioned. We collected them and put them in different piles, but it was like a jigsaw puzzle with no picture reference. No roadmaps. No clues. No patterns. Just scraps.
I mentioned our dilemma on the air and was given the greatest gift. Greater than I could’ve imagined. Two quilting friends offered to take the pieces and create as many masterpieces as they could with all the fabric my mom had cut, touched, sewn together and set aside.
Doesn’t this just resemble our lives? Pieces here, scraps there, no pattern...just the sum of many things that maybe fell apart, had a change of plan or took a turn we never saw coming. We ask God, “what are You doing with all of this?” How can the pieces of my life ever fit together again? But they do. God looks at those pieces and sees something beautiful. Just like my quilting friends Kim and Sheila.
The Bible reminds us in Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Notice that it doesn’t say all things are good. Heartbreak isn’t good. Loss isn’t good. Disappointment isn’t good. But God is so good that He can take even the things that hurt us and work them into something meaningful. And He doesn’t waste a single piece. I believe He’s creating a quilt out of our lives—one that tells a story of His faithfulness, His grace, and His ability to bring beauty from places we thought were broken.
When we looked in my mom’s office, the pieces and the process looked messy. Much like the pieces of my own life. Divorce, job-loss, strokes. But the quilter knows what He’s creating. That’s where faith comes in. He can take what feels like a life unraveling and begin the work of restoration. Not necessarily by making everything look the way it did before, but by creating something new, something meaningful, something that reflects His goodness.
So keep trusting Him with your scraps. Because in the hands of God, even the most random pieces can become part of a beautiful masterpiece. Maybe your quilt is still being sewn.
~Brooke
