Sweet Tater Pie - Judy Howard

"Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all..." Galatians 6:7, 9-10 NKJV

Last spring I planted a rotten sweet potato under my crepe myrtle tree to see if I could grow one of those pretty vines for ground cover. Sure enough, it grew so lavishly a lush vine quickly covered the bare soil and threatened to take over the whole back yard.

In October, I chopped down the vigorous vine and, to my shock, discovered nine fat sweet potatoes. I was so excited. “Thank you Lord for this bountiful harvest,” I shouted as I clapped my hands. I gathered my precious bounty, knocking the dirt off, and hurried inside to weigh my crop. Eight pounds. Wow!

Being a vegetarian, there’s nothing I love more than sweet potatoes, whether baked and served steaming, or cold in Thanksgiving pies. I can get very creative with this yummy tuber. I quickly scrubbed, peeled, sliced and boiled the potatoes. Then I pureed them in my food processor, adding cinnamon, Stevia sweetener, mangos and walnuts to make the best and freshest Sweet Tater Pie, fit for a king.

I discovered first hand that we really do reap what we sow—later than we sow and definitely greater than we sow. God taught me a valuable lesson. If I desire friends and love, I must invest my life in others and my efforts will be rewarded many times over, not only in the near future but for eternity. I must plant seeds now, dying to self, pouring out my life in service to others just as Jesus sacrificed His life for me, then wait for the harvest and time of rejoicing and celebration.
Plant your “taters,” then harvest the bounty.

Since 1976, Judy Howard has owned and operated Buckboard Antiques and Quilts in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her love of quilts developed while taking a class from nationally renowned fiber artist Terrie Mangat. Judy became a charter member of the Oklahoma Quilt Guild, and antique quilts became her specialty. Her stories of quilting through the depression have been Awarded First Place by the regional Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. Visit her at http://www.heavenlypatchwork.com//.
Read Judy's devo

Tobacco Sacks at Church? - Judy Howard

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old,
he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Clara Schoeck was married at age seventeen in a tiny church in Adair, Oklahoma in 1934. When Clara’s first baby was born, the church ladies wanted to surprise her with a Flower Basket Quilt for her daughter. Unfortunately, nobody had the money to buy fabric.

I’ve stashed away some old tobacco sacks,” volunteered one lady, a little embarrassed to admit it.

"We could use the calico dress I've outgrown," another said.

"I’ve got some C&H Sugar Sacks I've been saving for a special quilt."

Another volunteered, "My husband has a WW-I airplane cover stored in the barn we could use for backing.”

"We've picked enough cotton to card for the batting," the farmer's daughter exclaimed.

The next week they brought their scraps to church and the needles started to fly.

"Let's embroider our names on the blocks and in the middle stitch, 'To Baby with love, 1935'” brainstormed one of the quilters.

"How about writing our favorite Bible verses on the handle of each basket?"

Two months later the quilting group presented the Flower Basket Quilt to Clara. "Where did you find such beautiful fabrics in this day and age?" Clara inquired.

With a sly giggle the spokeswoman explained, "Where God guides, God also provides."

Nellie cherishes her Flower Basket Quilt and she loves to share the story of how faithful God was, and still is, to provide for their needs.

“The legacy of God's love is embodied in every stitch,” she said. "The verse on each Flower Basket handle is etched in the minds of my children. As I tucked them into bed at night, we repeated the verses together until they fell into a peaceful slumber.”

Regardless of the creativity used to teach our children God’s word, the important thing is that it’s taught. Whether stitched with love in a quilt or spoken together in prayer, rear them up in His ways and they will not depart from it.

Since 1976, Judy Howard has owned and operated Buckboard Antiques and Quilts in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her love of quilts developed while taking a class from nationally renowned fiber artist Terrie Mangat. Judy became a charter member of the Oklahoma Quilt Guild, and antique quilts became her specialty. Her stories of quilting through the depression have been Awarded First Place by the regional Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. Visit her at http://www.heavenlypatchwork.com//.
Read Judy's devotions.

The Impossible Dream - Judy Howard

"'And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJ

After twenty-seven years of selling antique quilts, I moved my shop home. Feeling disconnected, I prayed for God to give me new purpose.

While studying Beth Moore’s Believing God, God revealed his dream for me – to write a book of quilt stories. Using my own intellect and abilities, this dream was absurd. My teachers in the 1950s and 60s cataloged me as a half-wit.

I struggled through high school and college, graduating only because of my bulldogged tenacity. Now at age sixty, I enrolled in my first computer and writing classes. The computer classes contributed only major adrenal stress and migraines but I muddled my way through.

The great thing was, God provided a compassionate writing teacher who patiently instructed me by critiquing every word I submitted. Still the writing came hard for me and I began doubting God’s dream.

As my despair turned to near hopelessness, God graciously provided me with one more nudge, a circular quilt appliquéd with grapes titled, “A Winter’s Harvest” – a real mystery.

The next day I solved the puzzle while studying Believing God to Get to your Gilgal. Gilgal means circle and a new beginning and is the first place the children of Israel camped after crossing the River Jordan into their Promised Land flowing with milk, honey and grape clusters.

I’m far from perfect but I’m working and learning. During bleak, barren writing days when I’m seeing slim breakthroughs, my Winter’s Harvest quilt is my stone of remembrance that with God all things are possible. He has brought me success through my weakness – made me better so that I not only do His will, but attain my dream.

Do you struggle with your weaknesses? Take the step to overcome and remember, “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Since 1976, Judy Howard owns and operates Buckboard Antiques and Quilts in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her love of quilts developed while taking a class from nationally renowned fiber artist Terrie Mangat. Judy became a charter member of the Oklahoma Quilt Guild, and antique quilts became her specialty. Her stories of quilting through the depression have been Awarded First Place by the regional Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. Visit her at http://www.heavenlypatchwork.com/.


Publisher: Dorcas Publishing
ISBN-10: 0976237539
ISBN-13: 978-0976237532

Priceless - Judy Howard

"Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies." Proverbs 31:10

“Boss, there’s a rough-looking character here who wants to pay for the new tires on his truck in quarters. What do I do?” asked the flabbergasted shop foreman.

“Tell him, ‘sure thing.’ We’ll be happy to mount them for him." Then with a chuckle, he added, "That’s old Joe Coopersville.”

Every September, after the Oklahoma State Fair closes, shop owners share their bizarre fairgrounds stories—just like the tire shop story. One of my favorite annual customers runs the midway Ferris wheel ride. While she pours out her tales about life on the carnival circuit, I help her pick out tiny quilts to brighten her travel trailer.

In September of 1994, a flamboyant lady with heavy make-up pushed her way through the Buckboard Antique Quilt shop. She carried a heavy box of blankets that she wanted to sell. As we spread out each quilt, she spilled out the heartaches, hardships and exciting stories of adventure on the road as a “Carnie." She was the Magician’s Assistant—the woman in the box they stuck swords through.

Though the six handmade scrap-bag quilts she had created on the road between gigs were crude, she succeeded in expressing her inner beauty in this art form. Out of compassion, I bought the quilts. After all, an interesting provenance adds $100 worth of value to a quilt. Never had this proven truer. Though the quilts were not valuable, the person behind the quilts was priceless—especially in God’s eyes. Six times over, this fascinating lady's life story sold her quilts.

God pieces us together with unique life stories. He guides us through a maze of scraps that we can use to piece together a life of joy. He puts His best into creating us, making us more valuable than any precious stone. Each one of us—special in our own right.

How has God made you special? What is the story He’s given you? Show His handiwork in your life and what a tale you will tell.

Since 1976, Judy Howard owns and operates Buckboard Antiques and Quilts in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her love of quilts developed while taking a class from nationally renowned fiber artist Terrie Mangat. Judy became a charter member of the Oklahoma Quilt Guild, and antique quilts became her specialty. Her stories of quilting through the depression have been Awarded First Place by the regional Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. Visit her at http://www.heavenlypatchwork.com/.


Publisher: Dorcas Publishing
ISBN-10: 0976237539
ISBN-13: 978-0976237532

Soaring on Eagle's Wings - Judy Howard

“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles...” Psalms 40:31

Jack Hayes was setting up a cannon to defend an airstrip when North Vietnam Regulars burst from the rubber trees twenty feet away, guns blazing. He spun around and returned fire before a bullet from an AK47 pierced his stomach and exited through his back. Medevac airlifted him to the Saigon Field Hospital where officials quickly honored him by pinning on his uniform a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and V for valor. Then a sheet was pulled over his head. They thought Jack was dead.

Only by God’s grace did Jack survive the injury which fractured his back, and the Agent Orange that poisoned his organs. During the ensuing years he underwent thirty-five major abdominal operations to remove his stomach, appendix and gall bladder, and endured countless complications. Nonetheless, Jack still radiates the joy of the Lord and praises Him each morning for the blessing of life.

For his birthday October 17, 2008, Jack received a replica of a Civil War quilt with an American eagle holding an olive branch in its beak. The quilt follows him in and out of the hospital as he valiantly fights for his life. When the pain becomes too intense to bear, he strokes the three-dimensional wings and in his mind the eagle gives him energy to soar to a higher level of faith.

To Jack, the mighty eagle is the personification of American freedom, strength and bravery. When asked how he has survived the last forty-one years, he answers, “When storms and tragedy strike our lives, we can decide to be like a rooster who hides wet and shivering in the corner of the henhouse, and eventually dies. Or, we can rise above the storm on wings of an eagle to soar to new heights. I’ve chosen to live each day through God’s promised strength like the eagle."

Let Christ live in your mind and your body. Let Him lift you above the raging storms.

Since 1976, Judy Howard has owned and operated Buckboard Antiques and Quilts in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her love of quilts developed while taking a class from nationally renowned fiber artist Terrie Mangat. Judy became a charter member of the Oklahoma Quilt Guild, and antique quilts became her specialty. Her stories of quilting through the depression have been Awarded First Place by the regional Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. Visit her at http://www.heavenlypatchwork.com/.


Publisher: Dorcas Publishing
ISBN-10: 0976237539
ISBN-13: 978-0976237532

Soaring on Eagle's Wings - Judy Howard

“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles,” Psalms 40:31

Jack Hayes was setting up a cannon to defend an airstrip when North Vietnam Regulars burst from the rubber trees twenty feet away, guns blazing. Jack spun around and returned fire before a bullet from an AK-47 pierced his stomach and exited through his back. Medevac airlifted Jack to the Saigon Field Hospital where officials quickly honored Jack by pinning on his uniform a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and V for valor. Then a sheet was pulled over his head. They thought Jack was dead.


Only by God’s grace did Jack survive that injury which fractured his back, and the Agent Orange that poisoned his organs. During the ensuing years he underwent thirty-five major abdominal operations to remove his stomach, appendix and gall bladder, and endured countless complications. Nonetheless, Jack still radiates the joy of the Lord and praises Him each morning for the blessing of life.


For his birthday October 17, 2008, Jack received a replica of a Civil War quilt with an American eagle holding an olive branch in its beak. The quilt follows him in and out of the hospital as he valiantly fights for his life. When the pain becomes too intense to bear, he strokes the three-dimensional wings and in his mind the eagle gives him energy to soar to a higher level of faith.


To Jack, the mighty eagle is the personification of American freedom, strength and bravery. When asked how he has survived the last forty-one years, Jack answers, “When storms and tragedy strike our lives, we can decide to be like a rooster who hides wet and shivering in the corner of the henhouse, and eventually dies. Or, we can rise above the storm on wings of an eagle to soar to new heights. I’ve chosen to live each day through God’s promised strength like the eagle.”


Let Christ live in your mind and your body. Let Him lift you above the raging storms.



Owner for 33 years of http://www.buckboardquilts.com/ and award-winning author of “Heavenly Patchwork I & II & Centennial Stitches,” Judy Howard presently is working on her “God Bless America Quilt Exhibit” book and scheduling the exhibits that are touring for three years to inspire patriotism and provide quilts for wounded troops. Visit her at http://www.buckboardquilts.com/