Putting the Pieces Together: How One Quilter is Sharing God's Love with Rescued Women
Jennifer Mahnke
Part of a quilt Jennifer donated.
A quilter sits down with dozens or even hundreds of little pieces of fabric. Scrap by scrap, the individual fragments are sewn together with great care and intention until a beautiful design emerges across a whole quilt.
According to Jennifer Mahnke, wife, mom, leader at Trinity North Shore (church), and professional quilter, this artistic process is a perfect metaphor for God’s restoring work in our lives: “He takes all these broken pieces of our lives and he puts them back together. It doesn’t look like what the fabric used to look like, but he puts the pieces together so our lives can become these beautiful works of art that reflect his beauty and his goodness.”
While Jennifer has been quilting for 20 years, in the last five years she found a way to unite her artistic background and joy of quilting with a mission she is passionate about: she has personally made or funded 30 quilts donated to women and girls rescued from trafficking.
“My heart’s desire for the women who receive these quilts [is that] that they would see God sewing the pieces of their lives back together and they would recognize their value, their beauty, their worth and would experience wholeness.” Jennifer rarely uses any patterns: most of her quilts are her own creation so that a woman receives something unique and valuable, just like her.
The lovely thing about a quilt is that there is a weight to it – you can feel it resting on you – and Jennifer realized that a woman receiving this is experiencing healthy and comforting touch when they may have previously received so much harmful touch. Each quilt is donated with a tag with Psalm 147:3 written on it: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” She explains that the binding of a quilt is the outer piece that holds all three layers together, and it is her prayer that rescued women would come to feel surrounded, protected, and held together by God’s love.
Jennifer is able to donate these quilts because it is intentionally built into her business: she sets aside half of what she makes from selling a quilt in her online store and uses that money to fund quilts for donation. The sale of a larger quilt might allow her to make 3 more quilts to give away. This allows other people to participate in the ministry work.
She distributes her quilts to different organizations depending on the need. Recently she was praying over several quilts and kept hearing “Atlanta.” A woman saw her quilts on Instagram and contacted her asking if some could be sent to a safehouse for rescued girls aged 12-17… in Atlanta.
For years, her rector The Rev. Cn. Tim Clayton and ADNE bishops have blessed her quilts before they are donated, but recently their worship space in Gordon-Conwell’s Kaiser Chapel provided the perfect way to display the quilts during the service. As Bishop Andrew and Canon Tim prayed over the quilts around the room, other church members raised their hands in blessing. Jennifer invited everyone to take a photo of one or two quilts they resonated with, using it to continue in prayer for the rescued girl who was to receive it.
Jennifer has a lot of people reach out to her online, asking, how can I do this or how can I help in my community? She says, “I always say, ‘find whatever group of people you are passionate about. Maybe it’s trafficked people, or homeless people, or kids in the foster care system, or maybe people battling cancer. Whatever it is, look for the groups and other people in your community trying to help these people and then come alongside them and start a conversation and just ask [how to help.]’ People are so happy to receive, so it’s just a matter of starting that conversation!”
To support Jennifer’s ministry though purchasing a quilt, table runner, napkin set, or other sewn item, visit her online store at: https://mybugandbee.square.site/
Photos of Trinity North Shore by Ian Drummond, other photos by Jennifer Mahnke, @jennifermahnke