Last July, my husband suffered a heart attack and cardiac arrest. After thirty minutes of CPR, shocks with defibrillator paddles, an emergency stent (four telescoped stents, to be exact), induced hypothermia to minimize damage to his brain, and a week in the hospital, he came home. He was readmitted a few weeks later with chest pains—another heart attack. We spent two more weeks at the hospital for a “wash” of blood thinners and subsequent bypass surgery.

It was a long, bleak period. Time seemed to stop. We did not know what each day would bring, or how altered life would be.

Throughout this time, cards and calls kept pouring in. Not just from our church, where my husband is pastor, but from churches all across the area. We are praying, everyone said. We will keep praying.

One night, when my husband was home at last, recovering, a friend came by with a special gift: “The Women on Mission at my church made this for you. We prayed for you out loud the whole time we worked on it.”

A blanket of many colors. Big, warm, laced with love, with faith.

My husband healed, wrapped in this prayer blanket.

Life slowly returned to normal.

I share it now with you, Friends, in this bleak period when time seems to stop, when life is unexpectedly altered.

You, too, are wrapped in a blanket of prayer.