Norwich church-goer Colin Grey has fulfilled his wife's dying wish to produce and deliver hand-stitched prayer cards for every MP and member of the House of Lords.
Thirty-seven-year-old Jo Grey died from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in January 2015, 15 months after undergoing a kidney transplant from her mother Janice at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.
Five years before she died, the developmental studies graduate was reading David Stern's Complete Jewish Bible and came across a verse in Proverbs 10:9 which reads: 'He who walks purely walks securely, but he who walks in crooked ways will be found out.' It was about the time of the MPs' expenses scandal and she felt God give her a vision to send prayer cards featuring the first part of the verse to every MP and member of the House of Lords.
She spent hundreds of hours stitching 731 cards, even stitching in hospital hours before she died.
It was her dying wish they were all completed and delivered, and Mr Grey, an ICT tutor in Norwich, was determined to make it happen.
He said: 'Jo's faith and belief helped her in her physical battles and motivated her to continue stitching the prayer cards right up until she died. 'She felt very strongly that this was a task that God has given her to do and was her way of expressing support for our nation and parliament and that prayer was vital in this.'
More than 100 people responded his appeal for help to complete the cards and now all 1,444 have been finished.
Mr Grey has delivered the cards to Clive Lewis, the Labour candidate for Norwich South in the election, and Nicky Morgan, the Conservative candidate for Loughborough where Mrs Grey's mother lives. The cards will be given to all MPs after the General Election on June 8.
Mr Lewis said: 'The highest standards in public life do not happen by accident, they rest on the decisions that we make every single day. We don't always get them right but being aware of this fact is half the battle. To know Jo chose to spend the precious time she had left prioritising this is a very valuable message and one we can all benefit from.'
Colin was accompanied on his visit to parliament by Hilda Gordon, who regularly attends the Prayer for Parliament sessions.
Article courtesy of Network Norfolk.
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