Recently, Kim, the boys and I visited Nonnie in the hospital...
We plowed through the normal interrogation immediately...
“How are you feeling?”
“Are you hungry?”
“Are you in pain?”
“Do you need anything?”
“Are the nurses treating you well?”
“Are you treating the nurses well?”
After these questions were satisfactorily answered and solutions presented, she began to interrogate us about the things that meant so much to her.
“How are the grand kids?”
“How is the church?”
As conversation progressed, we began to talk about her life, her childhood, her faith, her battles with sickness, etc...
Nonnie, in her soft little voice, began to tell us of a most intriguing story...
Names such as ‘Aunt Mert’, ‘Bobby’, ‘Memaw Carrico’, and ‘Buster’ entered the conversation, adding a pleasant potpourri of intrigue to the already peaceful room...
Realizing the significance of the moment, I grabbed my phone and began recording her account of Aunt Mert and the quilt box...
As a child, between the ages of five and ten, Nelda would make her way down the lane to the log cabin where Aunt Mert lived.
She said, “At the time, Aunt Mert seemed really old, but she was only in her 50’s, so she wasn’t that old at all!”
During these visits to Aunt Mert’s log cabin, Nonnie learned to make quilts...
But most importantly, Aunt Mert, and the other ladies present, taught Nonnie how to pray...
Around the quilt box they would pray...
And pray...
And pray...
Daily...
Without ceasing...
Quilting became unimportant...
Quilting became the excuse to gather around the quilt box...
Quilting became the call to prayer...
Nonnie described it this way, “Sometimes we would quilt, but most of the time we would just pray, and I always loved to pray, because God would touch me in such a way...”
As the evening progressed, we enjoyed sharing the narrative of her heritage...
Tales of cousins and uncles, serving their country in foxholes overseas, writing letters back home informing those huddled around the quilt box, “I have received the Holy Spirit in my foxhole.”
This should come as no surprise, because moments spent in prayer around the quilt box, have the power to direct the arm of God to operate in the midst of chaos on the other side of the world...
Nonnie fought sickness for many years...
Severe kidney and bladder disease
Epileptic Seizures....
Diabetes...
MS...
I can remember, when I started attending family functions, Kimberly told me that Nonnie had once had all of these sicknesses...
It was hard for me to comprehend at first, because she was in such good health at that time...
In November of 1972, Nonnie, alone, flew to Masonic Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis, MN, for further treatment for the MS, where a local pastor picked her up at airport to transport her to the hospital.
The local Minneapolis church had been unable to secure financing to build a new church building...
However, Nonnie's room mate at the hospital was the wife of a prominent Minneapolis banker. When the banker came to visit his wife, Nonnie, in her inimitable way, started working on the banker.
When the banker went home, I'm sure Nonnie kept working on the banker's wife.
And I’m sure...
That when the lights went out in that hospital room, Mrs. Banker’s wife could hear Nonnie praying...
It probably sounded like this, in a soft voice just loud enough for Mrs. Banker to hear, “God, you see this precious lady, Mrs. Banker. You know how her husband in in a position to help your church. If it is your will, let her husband help this church secure financing. In Jesus name, amen.... .... .... Did you hear that, Mrs. Banker?”
Wherever Nonnie went, she took her quilt box...
Soon, as a result of Nonnie and her quilt box faith, the banker funded a loan for the Minneapolis church, and the Gospel moved ahead...
Testimonies like this do not require high degrees of education, political connection, or economic stability.
They simply require quilt box faith...
So...
Before sickness began to battle her body...
Before MS came...
Before the first Epileptic Seizure...
Before the kidney & bladder disease...
Before the diabetes...
Before the sickness could arrive...
Before she learned how to visit doctors offices and hospitals...
Nonnie learned to visit the quilt box...
In fact, while admitted to St Luke's Hospital a group of doctors got together to confer on diagnosis...
One doctor was overheard saying, "This woman is going to die..."
He was correct...
He was just 40 years early in his prediction...
Nonnie beat it all...
Beat the severe kidney and bladder disease...
Beat Epilepsy...
Beat Diabetes...
Beat MS...
Came home from beating MS and started beating Brenda and Cecilia...
In 2010...
She was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy...
Sat down in her recliner...
Started talking to Jesus in these words, “Jesus, it is not your will for me to have this Bell’s Palsy. Please heal me.”
After a moment, she asked Papaw...
(Because, the things she could not convince Jesus to do, she would make Papaw do.)
“Sing some songs about the power in the Blood of Jesus.”
As Harvey began to sing, the muscles in her face began to relax and cease their contractions...
No old log cabin...
No dusty quilt box...
But she still had her quilt box faith...
Can't figure it out??? Neither can I...
It is not my duty to figure it out...
It is my privilege to believe...
Thursday night, Ryan and I had the privilege of spending the night with Papaw at his house...
(Until that night, I thought I could make eggs and toast, but Papaw quickly informed me otherwise!)
As I sat down on the couch to prepare for a night of fitful sleep, i noticed a magazine on the coffee table...
On the cover of the magazine was a title of an article...
‘How to beat Parkinson's’
I smiled and chuckled to myself as I thought...
“Parkinson’s you are late to this quilting party!”
Nonnie beat you too!
If Nonnie could speak to each of us today, she would simply say, “If you haven’t already, find yourself a quilt box.”
Why?
The moments at the quilt box established her love for God and her faith in Jesus Christ...
That same faith is available to you...
Available to all of us...
I leave you with the words of Paul as he wrote to Timothy...
2 Timothy 1
3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Quilt box faith does not have to be exclusive to Nelda Jean Vickery...
But...
She was so good at it...
I’ll let her tell you herself...
Goodbye, Nelda Jean...
Your candle burned out long before your legend ever did...
1 comment:
Thank u this brought me to tears
Post a Comment