The members of a certain church were busy preparing for a sale of work, and as they arranged the various stalls, a parcel arrived as a gift for the sale. Inside was a patchwork quilt made by a very old lady. It was made of many brightly-coloured pieces of material. The ladies, arranging the sale, wondered where to place it. The patchwork quilt looked so old-fashioned and out of place alongside the other up-to-date things on display.

At last someone offered to display it, but when the sale was opened, many people smiled when they saw the old-fashioned quilt, and passed it by.

At last the day came to an end, and the minister was sorry to see the quilt still on the stall, for he knew the old lady well and how much she loved the church, and the amount of love she had put into the making of the patchwork quilt.

Just as the sale was closing, in walked a missionary who was to speak the following day at missionary services. Noticing the quilt he said, “That’s just what I could do with”. But the price was too high. When the old lady heard that the missionary was interested in her work, she said that he could have the quilt as a gift.

So the old lady’s quilt found its way into the missionary’s luggage, and eventually into the missionary’s home in Africa.
 

One day the missionary’s bedroom was being cleaned, and the quilt, along with other things, was hung out to air on the veranda. Just then the chief of a neighbouring village was passing by, and noticed the brightly-coloured quilt. Africans like bright colours, and so this chief asked the missionary if he could buy it. The missionary said that it was not for sale.

For a long time the missionary had wanted to buy a piece of land in this chief’s village, so that a church could be built there, and Christian work commenced, but the chief had always refused his request.

This was the missionary’s opportunity. He said to the chief, “For a long time now I have wanted a piece of land in your village to build a church. If you will give me the land, you can have the quilt in payment.” The chief readily agreed. The land was given, the church was eventually built, and a fine piece of Christian work was commenced in that village.

Some time later the missionary sent a letter to the minister of the church that had supplied the patchwork quilt, asking him to pass on the good news to the old lady.

He did so, but was astonished to find that the old lady was not in the least surprised. She said, “I am glad to know the quilt has been used by God in this way, but I am not really surprised, for, you see, every patch on that quilt was put on with a prayer. God heard me, and attended to the voice of my prayer. I knew He would use it somehow, so why should I be surprised?”