I’ve had a heart for sewing ever since my grandmother gave me a sock, a needle, and a piece of thread with no knot on the end. From being a part of Child Evangelism Fellowship in my teens, to working in missions in college, to teaching school for 12 years, I’ve always had a love for children and missions.

In June of 2012, God gave my husband and me the opportunity to go to upstate NY for his job. We ended up going for 3 years, every other year. During that time, my journey to becoming a part of D4M began. We started attending a church where I signed up for a D4M Workshop. The flyer said it was an all-day event held on a Saturday when ladies bring their sewing machines and sew all day. That sounded like FUN to me!

I fell in love with making little girl dresses on that day. Just the thought of those dresses being sent all over the world along with the Gospel of Jesus made me want to make as many as I possibly could. I went up to the leader of the event, Mrs. Roselyn, and told her my circumstances. She said she would give me everything I needed to make a few dresses at home, and I could take them to her when I was finished. Forty dresses later, I asked her for more.

That year, we joined Liberty Baptist Church. A thought came to me that day, “I wonder if Liberty could ever start a D4M?” But God wasn’t ready for that... YET.

We got to go back to NY the next year, but this time the job site was further up North. Being farther away from Ms. Roselyn this time, she gave me lots of fabric so I could start making dresses again. We began attending a small country church called “Olde Liberty Baptist Church.” We knew at that point that God has a sense of humor. The ladies there liked to sew, so right away I thought, “Ms. Roselyn could do a D4M workshop there!” So, I took her a load of dresses, and I pitched her my idea. In her best NY voice, she abruptly said, “NO, but YOU CAN DO IT!” I held the workshop, and the ladies happily made 50 dresses.

After that second year was up, we came back home again, and shortly after, a tragedy hit our family. During that time of grieving, God brought me closer to Himself. D4M at Liberty was not in my thinking at all, so I know God was saying, “Not now!”

In January of 2017, we went back to NY for the third time. We had another D4M Workshop at Olde Liberty. The ladies made 60 dresses. One of the ladies came up with a boy’s shorts pattern, so we had a workshop and completed 25 pairs of boy’s shorts. The church was able to send the dresses, shorts, 25 flip-flops, and 10 packs of girl’s underwear to the Philippines.

We came back home, not knowing it would be for the last time when one of the biggest trials of our lives began. My son’s wife left and took his 4 children with her. He moved in with us. God was saying again, “Not now!” After 6 months, he finally got custody, and the children came to stay with us every other weekend. The youngest was still in diapers. God was definitely saying, “Not now!” I gave up my sewing room and stopped making dresses. God gave me a different focus, and that was the blessing of our grandchildren.

In 2019, after x-rays and multiple shots, my doctor said I needed surgery on both of my thumbs. I had reached my goal of 100 dresses per trip, and we made 10 trips to Ms. Roselyn’s over a 2-year span. I wore both my thumbs out making all those dresses! It took four years for my thumbs to completely heal. God was clearly telling me, “Not now!”

Six years had passed since I had made my last dress for D4M. My life had changed, and I knew I had to let the notion of having D4M at Liberty go. God had told me “No”, so I let it go.

On October 12, 2023, I went to a Diamond Art Class Liberty had. I set all my diamond painting stuff out on a table in the back of the room. A lady came in and sat at the end of the table. She said, “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m sick. It’s just a sinus thing, but I really wanted to come today, but I’m really miserable.”

Now, this had to be a God appointment, because who in their right mind would say, “It’s ok, I don’t mind”, especially after COVID!???

We introduced ourselves and talked while putting our diamond dots onto our sticky paper. She gave me a short history of her long time at Liberty, and I told her we had been members for 10 years, but we didn’t know many people. I shared with her my “heart” for D4M, about the possibility of having a workshop at Liberty. But I told her I didn’t know anybody and didn’t know the people I would need to talk to.

I’ll never forget what she said, with a big smile on her face:

“I KNOW PEOPLE!!!”

I didn’t know at the time that God was saying,

“YES, NOW IS THE TIME!”