JOY

Last fall our Relief Society President encouraged us to do a work of art depicting the Savior and something about his life, how we felt about him, a story, whatever came to our minds. Specifically, she looked at me and suggested a quilt. I had seen a technique where you quilt first then paint. I thought I would try it. I started with the word JOY. Having the Savior in my life brings me joy. I asked my sister to draw a picture of Christ and a lamb. She had a photo of her grandson holding a baby goat with a native American friend of hers standing in the background.

In her drawing, she changed the goat to a lamb, and the man into the Savior. I transferred the drawing onto fabric under the word joy, quilted the outlines, and went crazy quilting random shapes and lines. For months, I painted the fabric with Inktense crayons and Aloe Vera Gel as I prepared for surgery and recovery. The painting of the Savior was part of my daily life. Late in March the painting/quilt was returned to me, but was left in the back seat of the car overnight. Monday. we went to breakfast. For some unexplained reason, as we were parking the car at the restaurant, foot on the brake, going very slowly, edging to the curb…. The car lurched forward into a newspaper kiosk and broke a plate glass window. What Happened? Thankfully no one was hurt. I glanced behind me and saw the quilt of the Savior, and thought, “I’m glad we had Christ in the back seat with us.”

     There are many times in our lives when things happen that we didn’t plan, or prepare for. It would be nice if we had Christ in our back seat ready to support, encourage, and bless us. How can we do that? How can we feel that Christ is there for us? Does He even know who we are?

How can we get to know Him?  There is prayer—talk to Him. There are scriptures—learn about Him. There is Service—follow His teachings.

Christ loves you. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to feel JOY!