Friday, April 8, 2011

Prayer Shawl

While I wait for my sister's results, I decided to make my sister and my mom a Prayer Shawl.  A church friend of ours had been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia AML this past fall and and heard the story of another church in town providing her with a prayer shawl.  This morning on my break, I googled prayer shawls and found a nice pattern book to download on Annie's Attic.

According to the pattern, a prayer shawl is an excellent way for people to work out their worries as they pray for the recipient. Some of the suggested prayers include "God Bless you with his healing heart."  Or  "May God comfort you in your time of sorrow."  Or "Peace be with you."  I liked the concept of crocheting because it reminds me of my grandma teaching me to crochet - and that will make my mom and sister smile.

I found a pattern that fit the yarn they carried at Oklee Quilting   - a nice soft cotton bulky - intended for a baby blanket - so soft for comfort.  I picked out a sage green that looked like a lot of the shirts Missi wears, brought it home, and started crocheting my little heart out.

I found that as I prayed the simple words "God Bless You" my crocheting looked better.  The pattern book explained that crochet or knitting is a lot like meditation or praying in itself -- over and over repeating a pattern to calm ourselves.

It turns out I didn't have to pay for any prayer shawl pattern - there are many excellent recources with free patterns and prayers online.   There are plenty of people wanting to share their ideas.

http://www.shawlministry.com/prayers.htm

I know my mom and sister will be all right.  I know that colon cancer has an excellent prognosis since it was caught at an early enough stage for my mom.  I'm in awe of the science involved with leukemia and the added hope science brings to my faith.

I think your prayers are working. I'm laughing at corny jokes again.  Faith is blooming in my heart.

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