A Moment. A Memory.

Cleaning out not just closets, but computers…

I came across this photo from about 6 years ago and it all came flooding back. It’s like that sometimes, isn’t it? I don’t often use the word trigger, but sometimes it is just that. A springboard of sorts taking us down a trail of memories with a swirl of emotion and a dance with the past. An entire book could be written on all the things that transpired around this moment. We were early on in our itinerant ministry, and traveling as a family was a priority at this time. Though each trip looked different, we always enjoyed taking our kids with us and including them.

If you were there for this specific weekend, you may have had a glimpse… maybe you saw me standing in the foyer of the church with sippy cup in hand, corralling my toddler. Maybe you walked past me as I sat on the floor with my 7 year old and played with him in the aisles.

But what is not photographed; the miles traveled with 2 young kids, the hours of playing and praying to prepare for ministry that weekend, the laughs with a kind woman who always welcomed me into her home, the tears I cried in my minivan after the child-care worker refused to watch my kids, the new South African friends I made, the woman who told me I wasn’t called to travel the nations with my husband, the homemade pancakes… 

Oh the stories I have gathered, oh the tales that I could tell. I’m just glad I showed up, even if I was in “mom-mode” on many a ministry trip with “highly active” children… I would not trade it for anything else. So dear ones, dear ministry wives and preacher’s wives and ones that keep showing up even when they don’t feel qualified or prepared. Keep at it. One thing I have learned from all the travels and all the encounters and all the opinions and all the people; deep in the heart of your family lies treasure. Deep in the soul of your children lies legacy. So I may show up with no make-up and my Dr. Quinn mom bun, but I’m all in… and today, I am all in praying for you. I pray that God would reveal to you the hidden treasures in your every day moments of life. I pray that He would encourage and strengthen your soul and that you’d continue to shine bright.