Thankful Thursday…

I have one hour until Thursday is officially here, but I have to write…

See, I missed last week because I was so wrapped up in my work and out of town on business…

It’s not that I wasn’t thankful for things last week, because I was… I just didn’t get time to post…

but this week? I’m overflowing with thanks…

Every week this summer, I’ve headed to the altar to pray. Three months ago, I would’ve never done that… but desperate times call for desperate measures… I knew that my travels would be difficult for me… the last time I was at any of these places I had no relationship with Jesus….yet, I called myself a Christian. I was scared to go back… my safety net was here and I was there…wherever there was…. whether it be Missouri, Mississippi, Michigan, or any of the numerous states I’ve been in…

I had two prayers… the first being that I would keep my eyes on Him the entire time I was gone and that Satan wouldn’t be my travel companion and the other prayer was that people could see the changes in me and that they would be able to see Christ in me.

My trips weren’t perfect and I slipped a few times… never completely off the mark, but enough that I noticed.

But….

people still saw Christ in me…

This week I’ve had 3 people (non-Church goers) tell me that I light up when I talk about my church or that they’ve seen dramatic changes in my life.

This summer, I’ve shared my testimony with 3 different people…

I’ve got people of different faiths (Catholic, Jewish, etc) say that if they ever get the chance to visit me, they want to come to church with me.

I’ve invited my neighbor to church with me and she’s been coming for a few Sundays…

But that’s not the best part….

I’ve been very involved with VBS this week… and because my kids were gone, I invited two neighborhood boys to go with me…

me…I spoke up and invited people to my church…

And now?

Those two kids want me to take them to church on Sunday…

And I will… gladly…

But not only that, they’ve invited their older siblings to come too… so between my neighbor and I, we’ll be carting 10 people to church Sunday morning… and not just to church, but to Sunday school too…

I said to Pastor Man that I couldn’t fathom it, but that I think people see in me what I saw in my church peeps 5 months ago…

me….

So, I praise Him today and give Him thanks for answered prayer… even if I didn’t see it right away…

But what I’m even more thankful for?

(I know really, what else could I be more thankful for?)

My kids come home tomorrow… they’ve been gone for six whole weeks and I’ve managed, but I’ve missed them. I’ve missed them terribly.

And this is weird for me. Sure, they’ve spent every single summer with my parents…this is nothing new… but I always looked at their time away as a much needed break and I enjoyed a single summer… a chance to be alone and do the stuff that I don’t typically get to do when they are here… or things that I thought that I couldn’t do if they were with me…

I’ve grown in many ways over the past 5 months and one of those ways was as a mother. I truly missed them… and I didn’t spend this week cramming in the last bit of my single summer… I spent this week helping out at my church… ministering to children… some of those children don’t have parents let alone grandparents that take them to really cool places…

I’m giving back…

But I’m ready for my kids to come home… I’m ready for the chaos… I’m ready for the hugs and the kisses and the late nights watching movies in my bed…

I’m ready for the rushed Sunday mornings getting to church and the trips to the grocery store with kids in tow… (I’ve been to the grocery store twice in the last 6 weeks…no, I take that back… three times because I had to get food for the missions team…but it just wasn’t as fun without them….)

I’m ready to cook again… or at least try to…

I’m ready to be a mom again…

(And, yes, please remind me of this in two days when they are getting on my last nerve….)

But I’m ready for them to be home…

And tomorrow afternoon they will be… in time for VBS (sssh…. don’t tell Pastor Man as we’ve decided to surprise him….)

I’m ready to be whole again…

And I’m thankful for my parents for taking them and giving them things that I can’t….

But I’m thankful for the things that I can give them and that I’ll get to do it tomorrow….

Until next time…

Heather