Week two is accomplished – oh what a blissful week it was!
I will hit some of the highlights and share some of what God has been doing in my heart and through me this week. For starters, I started serving in my service project this week. I was helping with the missions department at my church with a couple of many initiatives they currently have going. For example, I helped put together a clothing drive for the “Single Moms” ministry. This was near and dear to my heart because this same ministry supported my mom and I when I was young/before she remarried. Some of her/my best lifelong friends were made through this ministry beginning over 20 years ago! I also did some research and found a lawyer to provide pro bono services for a mom in an abusive situation. It was really amazing knowing that I was able to directly help someone in the community I grew up in.
While this WAS my official service project, I found being led strongly to pour more of my time into serving my family in Bryan. Without going into too much detail, my family has been going up against relentless struggles for about 2 years now. A few highlights (so you can grasp the difficulties they’ve been through):
grandfather/”the glue” of the family passes away; family disperses/struggles to keep family bond; siblings move schools; step-dad studies/passes civil engineering exam (huge time commitment); step-dad’s father’s Parkinsons disease becomes dramatically worse, several close calls with having seizures, countless trips to the hospital; family decides to purchase/renovate house next door, mom fractures femur so all plans are halted for several months; etc.
Needless to say, my family has been through an exhausting and unrelenting couple of years. As God was calling me to focus more of my attention on them, I spent less time at the church and decide to just help around my mom and grandma’s house for the next week. So far, I have been sanding and prepping the wood floors at the “Next Door House,” as we call it, so that we can reseal them next week. The only more-backbreaking work I can remember doing is laying sod and digging post-holes! Yikes! My grandma lives on about 5 acres of grass that is in constant need of attention, so I also spent a day at her house mowing her yard and trimming trees.
What some of this meant for me, as a delightful by-product, was that I was able to be arounf my siblings a lot more than if I would have been at the church full-time. I have siblings Nena, 15, Evan, 8, and Isaac, 5, who I do not get to spend NEARLY as much time with as I would like. Between and after working on the house, I probably got in a solid 50 games of “HORSE”, sprinkled with trampoline and time at parks around our house. This was the most I have been able to see them since I was in high school, and I am incredibly grateful for the time I was able to spend just being with and getting to know my younger siblings.
If it is seeming like I may be going a little too fast and furious, I bid you not worry. Where I have been working quite a bit and enjoying it, my rest and peace has also reached a place I don’t remember being at any point in my life. I have found time for about a half-hour nap each day which rejuvenates more than any amount of caffeine. My times in front of the Lord have been sweet and filled with compassion. I am understanding more everyday what it looks like to rely fully and truly on God in every aspect. Who knows where life will take us but God, and in putting my faith and life fully in His hands I am confident He will guide and direct my life to meet His Will.