Remembering Dorothy

A few years ago, I was beginning to understand what a great blessing it is to study God's word with other women. I believe it was in our "A Woman After God's Own Heart" study that I had the privilege of being in a group with Dorothy Fett. She was sweet and she was fun and she had beautiful white hair, and actually reminded me a little bit of my Great Aunt Flo. And she was so in love with Jesus that you couldn't help but want to know Him more.

I am thankful for her love of the Lord. Thankful that she loved Him so much that she desired to share Him with others. If she had learned anything that brought her closer to Him, she wanted to pass it on to other women.

A year or two after that first Bible study with Dorothy, I felt the need to tell her how blessed I had been by her words. She had told me (well, she was probably talking to the whole group, but it was really for me...haha) that "these Bible studies are not our quiet time, they need to be in addition to our daily time in God's word."

I was hungry and God used Dorothy to draw me closer to Him. To call me to a deeper relationship with my Savior. To drink deep instead of skimming the surface. And I love Him more. And I loved her.

When I was pregnant with Emily, very early, Dorothy said she thought I was having a girl. I told her she was probably right because I thought it was a boy and I'm always wrong! And when we brought Emily to church that first Sunday after she was born, Dorothy handed me a gift bag. I had to open it right then and there, as I knew it was going to be something quite beautiful. And it was! She had made Emily a quilt. I could go on and on about it, but I'm crying now and that's making it hard to type.

The quilt has been special to me since the moment Dorothy gave it to Emily. Our first three kids all have baby blankets knit by Gary's Mom. When Rachel came along, Grandma Karen was not up to the task but her very best friend knit Rachel's baby blanket. And Emily. Well, Grandma Karen always wanted an "Emily," but never met her. So for Emily to still have such a special blanket made for her by such a special woman was a wonderful gift.

This March, that special quilt became something else. It became my reminder to pray. Dorothy was diagnosed with cancer and shortly after, sent home with her husband and hospice care. Every time I saw that quilt in Emily's room, I prayed for Dorothy.

And on May 12, 2010, God called Dorothy Home! Now every time I see that quilt, I feel Homesick. I know that she is with the Lord. I know that she believed in Jesus and confessed that she was a sinner, and asked Him to forgive her sins. And I know that He did. I know that Jesus' blood had washed her clean and that because of that she is Home with her Father! And I know that she would want people to know that they can have that relationship as well.

(And here's a picture of Emily and her quilt...we captured her first smile on it when she was exactly 1 month old!)





"Sugar Plum
sewn & quilted by
Dorothy Fett
to welcome
Emily Joy
into the Heckman family
born May 30, 2009"