Jesus has a mission for each one of us. But sometimes it takes awhile to understand what that mission is. Carol Cote, the creator of the My Sweet Jesus doll, spent a lifetime making arts and crafts for friends and family members, but never dreamed her artistic talents might one day be used for a very serious mission–to spread the love of Jesus far and wide.

Carol was quite content crocheting blankets and hats for her four children and three grandchildren, and tackling the occasional ambitious project–like hand making a stunning wedding dress for her daughter-in-law. But when her husband was laid off from his job as supervisor of a manufacturing plant, and was unable to find work in his field, Carol began to wonder if she might be able to put her talents to use to become the breadwinner–and to help spread the Good News at the same time. She was unable to work in the traditional sense due to chronic illness.

“My husband lost his job of twenty years. That was a tough time for us–we were forced to sell our home and cut our expenses in half. But this also gave us something very valuable–lots of time to pray,” says Carol. In fact, if it wasn’t for her husband losing his job, the My Sweet Jesus doll may have never been created. Afterall, Jesus has difficulty working through us if we are constantly too busy doing other things to listen to Him. Shortly after her husband, Frank, lost his job, her son, Bill, an advertising copywriter, was laid off from his job. So suddenly the family that was used to spending their days working for others had plenty of time to wonder what their next job might entail. Sure enough, when they needed help the most, Jesus came through with a project that put all of their skills to use.

“I was talking with Bill one afternoon about starting a home-based business selling religious items on the Internet,” says Carol. “Then I remembered an idea that my son-in-law had thought of years ago. He noticed that kids had dolls of all kinds–Barnie, Elmo, Big Bird–but he had never seen a doll of Jesus. But what better role model could there be for a child than Jesus?”

It struck Carol that now would be the perfect time to make the Jesus doll a reality.

After conducting a little research, Carol discovered that there were a few other enterprising individuals making dolls of their savior. But none of these dolls captured the simple sweetness she had in mind. She envisioned a simple handmade stuffed doll, much like the ones she had when she was a kid. So she took out her pencil, and sketched the doll full size on a brown paper grocery bag.

After Carol completed the design, she remembered a Raggedy Ann doll that she had as a child that had a heart on her chest that said “I love you.” So she added a heart to her design that said “Jesus Loves You”.

“I remember wishing that the heart was on the outside of Raggedy Ann’s dress so I could see it all the time. I must have been thinking of my old rag doll when I was inspired to put the bold embroidered heart on Jesus’ chest,” says Carol.

The prototype was completed by transferring the drawing to sketch paper, taping the drawing to a sliding glass door and tracing the image onto fabric using the light shining through the glass.

Having perfected her design, now the doll just needed a name that matched his sweet expression. “For the previous three years I had been referring to Jesus as ‘My Sweet Jesus’ when I was praying,” explains Carol. “At the time I didn’t know why I was calling Him that. But now I know why–because that’s what Jesus wanted to call the doll.”

“Hopefully My Sweet Jesus dolls will spread far and wide so people everywhere can be reminded in a soft and loving way that Jesus is always there to provide comfort and support. Especially in the days to come,” says Carol.