Prayer shawls and lap robes have been made for centuries, offering comfort, warmth, and a tangible reminder of God’s love. Created with prayers and blessings, they console the grieving, comfort the ill, and celebrate life’s milestones. The prayer shawl ministry, started in Hartford, Connecticut by Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo in 1998, combines compassion with knitting, spreading care and solace through these hand-made gifts. The act of giving or receiving a shawl brings an embrace of God’s sheltering presence, with blessings that ripple from person to person.