I have been filled with the busyness of momma days in the last two weeks.\u00a0 So magical were these days that I almost needed to pinch myself to prove that they could be real.\u00a0 Two weeks ago I embarked on a trip to meet someone whom God had placed into my life in the most remarkable of ways.\u00a0 The mission took me a little over 900 miles from home to share my family\u2019s story, but also\u00a0led me to a new band of sisters that only could have been orchestrated by our mutual Father above.\u00a0 \u00a0Among those sisters was a friend that I never knew that I needed.<\/p>\n
The \u201cpinch me\u201d part of this story involves a person who has no idea that she had any role to play in the rest of the story.\u00a0 Somehow I have to believe that Ann Curry\u2019s desire and heart for a good story would want to know how she introduced me to a friend \u2013 well, sister of my heart.<\/p>\n
For the most part, I live a sheltered life, yet I am finding since I began to share my story that God is calling me farther and farther from my comfortable home on the Minnesota prairie.\u00a0 Included in that stretching is the use of social media sites to\u00a0share the story of my family\u2019s loss and God\u2019s steadfast faithfulness throughout.\u00a0 I am not blind to the ways that people use these sites in evil ways, but in my story, God can (and does) use them in ways beyond our imagination.<\/p>\n
This story is the gospel truth.<\/p>\n
Even my own imagination couldn\u2019t have embellished this one.\u00a0 Here is where Miss Curry comes in. She is a journalist whom I trust and find very engaging.\u00a0 \u00a0I decided to follow her on Twitter about the time of the Newtown school shootings. After watching parents awaiting the news of their children, I was transported back to my own moment in the school\u2019s media center awaiting the news of my sons. The resurfacing of my deep hurts caused me to languish for days reliving the pain of losing a child. A few days later I learned of Ann Curry\u2019s prompting to ask folks to\u00a0complete 26 acts of kindness in memory of the lives lost. Blindsided by the deep tentacles grief can use to suffocate your heart, I needed something to refocus my energy, releasing grief\u2019s stronghold. Using #26acts, an online army compelled by the force of love began, led by our \u201cGeneral\u201d Curry.\u00a0 I was one among the ranks.<\/p>\n
So too was a new friend I didn\u2019t know God needed me to meet.<\/p>\n
One of those doing acts of kindness was a Coach, whom I later learned lives in Kentucky.\u00a0 She posted something that she had done as one of her acts, and I decided to follow her on Twitter. In turn, she began to follow me.\u00a0 Much later, I posted about comforting a woman in the Wal-mart bathroom as one of my #26acts.\u00a0 Ann Curry re-tweeted my tweet, and the response I got from others melted my heart.\u00a0 One of those responses \u201cThanks for reminding us that compassion doesn\u2019t have to equal dollar signs\u201d came from this coach. It simply blew me away.<\/p>\n
From that moment on, our \u201cfriendship\u201d morphed from one of liking each other\u2019s tweets to a mutual sharing from our morning devotions. Months went on like this where we discovered we were a lot alike -both sports nuts, both teachers, and both women of faith.<\/p>\n
Without\u00a0sharing all the\u00a0minute details, she was brave enough to follow God\u2019s prompting and reached out to work with her church to bring me to Kentucky.\u00a0 I had the opportunities to speak twice, which was wonderful.\u00a0 However, it was by \u201cdoing life\u201d with them, that I learned what God was truly calling me to do \u2013 love others, opening my heart to a whole additional set of sisters.<\/p>\n
The mystical thing about this whole story is I went there to meet a friend and to bless others, but I realized that a part of my heart was transformed\u00a0as I was equally blessed in return.<\/p>\n
Not long ago, my heart was so broken, fractured and splintered, I wasn\u2019t sure that I could ever feel joy and love again.<\/p>\n
I am so thankful that it didn\u2019t take long for God to show me through the kindness of my friends and neighbors that His love was and is\u00a0always present<\/em><\/strong>. The reminders came in a flood of acts of kindness.\u00a0 That continual filling of my spirit allowed my broken heart to be stitched back together with a profound awareness that love leads you in fantastical ways to do amazing things.<\/p>\n In some ways, I think their kindness allowed God to re-wire me with a greater capacity to love.\u00a0 My newly stitched heart led me to a wonderful place far from home \u2013 where my newfound sisters in Christ\u00a0live.\u00a0 Among those is one whom God led to reach out and show me a new path for His love.<\/p>\n
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