Dear Reader,

Aren’t the products available to today’s quilters intriguing? Some time ago, I bought a bottle of Tack-It off a quilt-shop shelf—that’s glue for a temporary bond. The bond remains tacky, enabling me to move about embellishments on varied textiles or even unfold a visual story that will stick to a quilt the way specially backed cutouts stick to flannel graph. That’s tacky! That’s good. That’s very good.

But when applied to marriage, temporary, the relational equivalent of Tack-It, is a tragedy. Temporary loses its salt in an unsavory world. Temporary crumbles beneath the onslaught of personality clashes, prevailing whims, strong wills and difficult circumstances. The resulting broken hearts and vows, broken homes and broken children, are the scrap stash from which Paula and Colton’s story is pieced. I relished taking their “trashed” marriage and turning it into a family treasure, for they epitomize all of us who are studying, hands on, the profound mystery of marriage and the unity spoken of in Ephesians 5:32. So be of good courage, dear reader, and pray with me a prayer that our world may be strengthened by durable, satisfying marriages and strong, healthy homes. God’s faithfulness is an eternal adhesive and a tie that binds us to the Master Quilter. Praise and honor to His holy name.