Some of God's Grace Towards Me

God's Grace...this lady represents just that to me. Mel has been my "life line" for about the last year. When I said "yes" to Kenya I didn't know what all I was saying yes to and what all I would be saying goodbye to. I had this idea that it would be great, my friends and family would come and see me and cheer me on behind the scenes. They would give me those pep talks like you see the coaches give the underdog teams in the movies...maybe even a kick in the pants every now and then? However, I quickly found myself feeling very alone, but I've pretty much always been a stay at home mom and socially I'm quite awkward so the aloneness was normal and okay, at least I tried to act like it was. Deep down I was feeling very isolated, lonely, and questioning why things were the way they were. "Why was I so far away without support?" was the real question I was asking myself. Quickly I found myself questioning, struggling and quite confused..."Since God called me to this, why am I walking this lonely road?".

It is hard to "wade" through all these questions when you don't have someone to bounce all of these questions off of. Of course I have Jeff and I can go to him with anything, but let's be real I can't go to him with every little thing. He's just one person and he has SO much on his plate as well. I try to be mindful of how full his plate is and sort through if my stuff is really that important and let's be honest, sometimes my stuff isn't really that big of a deal. Sometimes a woman just needs another woman who gets her. I was deeply missing that connection and relationship.

Then came Mel! Mel's husband William "met" Jeff through Facebook and he came to visit Mercy Ministries for a couple of weeks in November of 2018. While he was here I learned that our families were very similar in a lot of ways. After William returned home Mel reached out to me. She kind of "busted" in my life like..."Hey I've never met you, but I'm gonna check on you everyday and pray for you and ask how YOU are doing not just the mission." Mel loves Jesus and has done missions before so she gets that part. Mel is a thrifty Mama to many so she gets me on that part too! So I rolled with it because I needed that, but I fully expected her to get busy and forget (about me) because life does get really busy and who am I? But Mel...she's different (in a good way of course) and she's been hanging in there, showing up day after day, pep talking, praying, and kicking me in the behind when I need it, and I need that a little too often sometimes. God knew exactly what I needed and He has used Mel to help keep me going this last year.

As soon as Jeff and I were coming to the states I asked Mel if there was a possibility that I would get to meet her. She lives in Colorado so not super close to the areas we knew we would be in, but I needed to know if it was possible or not. I REALLY wanted to meet her face to face, but didn't want to put pressure on her, but also needed to know so I could prepare myself in case I wasn't going to get to meet her. She said they were looking at things and trying to see if it would work for them and God was so good to make a way! Not only did she drive to Texas from Colorado, but she brought her whole family and it was such a sweet time with them. We met at a thrift store and ate tacos while she was in town which was perfect...thrifting and tavos with my bestie, who could ask for more?

Mel, I hope you know that God has used you in more ways than you will likely ever know! Thanks for plugging in when I needed it most and thanks for telling me like it is and always, always pointing me towards Jesus. I'm crazy blessed to have a friend like you and will forever be thankful for you and your precious family. Thanks for loving me, especially when I'm difficult! 💜💜💜