In the film, "How to Make an American Quilt" by author Whitney Otto, Winona
Ryder plays the protagonist, a young woman taking a summer away from her
fiancé to plan her wedding and finish writing a graduate thesis.  But there are significant issues that need to be resolved first between she and her intended husband which may put a stop to the whole thing.  Holed up in her grandmother's home for the summer, she gets advice from her grandmother's
eclectic quilt-making group on how to proceed through life, advice based on
their own past personal suffering, for each character has some unresolved
situation that has held them back.  By the end of the film, everyone's issues have been resolved so that happiness is restored.  After all, it is an American film.

The gospels are filled with numerous, lush accounts of dramatic healings,
savings, and restoration from personal tragedies by Jesus.  They come, one
after another.  It seems there is no death-defying miracle beyond the pale of Jesus' touch.  Especially in Matthew: happy endings abound, making it an American Gospel.  But often, life outside the Bible doesn't seem to play out that way.  People tragically die unexpectedly before their time, leaving us with  questions-questions such as, "Does this ever make you question your faith?"  Yes, it would-if faith were about getting or not getting what we "deserve" or should expect based on very human (and perhaps reasonable) criteria.  But my concept of faith, anyway, isn't about that.  Ultimately, it is about who God is rather than what God does or doesn't do even though this may not do a thing to relieve our suffering.  But then, God isn't an American God.  She's a God who is a dying, suffering God, hanging there on the cross.

 

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’  And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples.  Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well.  When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him.  But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.  And the report of this spread throughout that district.

 

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.  If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.  For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’ in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.