Hear My Cry-God Bless America

       "It's a hideous war." Tina's needle paused over the pink and gray tulip she was stitching to her muslin background. She sat with her mother close to the fireplace.

     Her mother picked up a pile of pink flower petals cut from worn-out curtains. "I agree. All war is hideous, so why are you using your bother's confederate army uniform in your quilt?" She shuddered. "It's a gruesome reminder of the nurses cutting it off of him when he was wounded."

     "I don't think of Robert; I think about Jim when I see the gray. I remember how handsome he looked in his uniform as he marched away to battle." Her vision blurred, and her stitching paused. "To think Jim and I would be married next month if he wasn't rotting away in a Yankee prison up north." She wiped her eyes. "When will this miserable war ever end? You'd think they could let a man go get married," she said, poking her needle through the material with an angry stab.

     "They don't want Him shooting at them again, Sis. Be glad he's not crippled." Tina turned at Robert's voice. With only a remnant of a limp, he had abandoned his cane, eager to rejoin the Southern forces.

     She was thankful for Robert's recovery, and she thanked God every day for keeping Him from permanent harm in the battle. But she hated the feeling that her life had halted in the middle of a sentence, as if every part of her life was holding it's breath waiting for Jim to return, waiting for the war to end before motion would return to her world. She stitched faster on the quilt top. Her lips moved in quiet prayer for Jim's safety. As she stitched and prayed, the peace of God stole into her heart.

     "I know what Bible verse I'm going to embroider on this quilt," Tina told her brother. "The one that tells us a thousand may fall on your left or right, but you will not fall. I think it's Psalm 91. Making this quilt is keeping me from going absolutely mad with worry about Jim."

     Many quilts are preserved in collections bearing silent witness to the timeless occupation of women, who, through their needles, expressed their fears and love for their sweethearts, husbands, and brothers caught up in the destructive forces of war. Quilts made during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the War of 1812, as well as World War I and II hang in museums to remind us of the human cost of our nation's freedom. Patterns of eagles, symbols of the United States, and names of soldiers were blended with Scripture verses as women implored God for the safety of their loved ones.

     Throughout the history of North America, women have drawn strength to endure separation, danger, and fears by studying the Bible and grasping the comfort of the God we learn about from it.