We recently connected with Jennifer Mahnke and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

As I consider my life and what I do, many little risks jump out at me that I think are really all connected. It started when I took the risk to begin talking about being abused. Telling some people was easier than telling others, but the more I did it the easier it became. And the less of a hold the abuse had on me. I experienced how letting something out into the light can help remove it’s hold over me. The power of it. It allowed me to begin to work through what had happened, to recognize the shame I felt was not my fault, to move through the process of forgiveness, and to eventually find real and lasting freedom!

So many people also live with the deep, painful secret of abuse. I decided at some point that I would just talk about it whenever I had the opportunity because I didn’t know who needed to know. Who needed to know they weren’t alone, that healing is possible. And so that’s what I do. But there’s inherently risk whenever we open up about such a vulnerable subject. I never know how people will respond. I’ve never had a truly negative experience, but sometimes people will respond by telling me all the awful things people have done to them. That has been something very difficult for me to know how to manage. I feel their pain sometimes a little too much. But that’s part of the risk.

And I guess I take a risk whenever I give a quilt to a rescued woman or girl. I’ve never done it in person, but when I send off a box of quilts I always wonder how they will be received. Will they be loved and cherished? Will the person receiving it understand the love and the hope that is contained within the making and giving of the quilt? Will the quilt get lost along the way in the life of someone who is so hurt and broken? I honestly will never know, but I will keep taking that risk. It’s worth the risk.

Jennifer , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Jennifer Mahnke. I grew up north of Boston, have been a lifelong bookworm, love eating ice cream, studied art in college, am a wife and mother, and currently spend a good chunk of my time making quilts. I have always enjoyed playing with pattern and color and quilting is a wonderful way to do that.

I am also someone who was abused as a child by someone in my extended family. I didn’t start talking about and facing my abuse until my late 20’s, but once I did I was able to go through profound healing and growth. Looking back on that process I see how it compares to making a quilt. Quilts begin as hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pieces of fabric. They are sewn together to become something whole, beautiful, and with purpose. I experienced all the broken pieces of my life coming together in that way as I allowed myself to go through the healing process.

About eight years ago I started feeling led to begin making quilts for women and girls who have been rescued from being trafficked. And that is what I do. I take a portion of all my quilt sales and use that to make quilts for these women and girls who are on their own healing journey, hoping that they too will experience all the broken pieces of their lives become something whole, beautiful, and with purpose. So far I have been able to give away 35 quilts.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think the act of making and giving a quilt away as a symbol of hope and healing is an act of resilience. On my end it comes out of my own experience of healing from abuse and the fullness of life I am now able to live in. I feel more fully free to be myself and to live into my gifts and talents because of going through the healing I have. When I give a quilt away that is my hope and message to the woman or girl who receives it. They too have the potential to see their lives healed and turned around so that they too can more fully and freely live the life they were created to live. It’s like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The hard work of change and growth leads to a beautiful transformation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mybugandbee.square.site
• Instagram: “Jennifer-Mahnke”