speaking of faithfulness

Most of you know this already, but my mom is a pretty big deal. Officially, she's known as Organized Audrey and runs a professional speaking and organizing business, specializing in corporate training. Yep, a pretty big deal.

Last night I had the privilege of speaking side-by-side with my mom.

We were asked to speak at a women-only service at our church. As we began crafting our informal presentation, the theme started leaking out everywhere: God's faithfulness & answered prayer.

As Mom and I think about the last 18 months of our lives, God's faithfulness to us and His faithfulness in answering prayer is the only way we can summarize that time.

So last night we shared. Together. In a tag-team kind of way. We laughed, shared pictures, made jokes. We told stories of faithfulness upon faithfulness, of answered prayer after answered prayer.

Some of the women present were people who had prayed, advised, cried, laughed, and lived alongside us both during the past school year. Some of the women there had never met us before. There were a lot of tears. (Not me. Mom, though.) One of my childhood friends came from an hour away and brought her mom and grandmother! The nurse from my high school was there, too! (Not only did I remember her by name, but I admitted to faking illness on numerous occasions. Once a drama queen...)

What an incredible time to celebrate all the ways God has come through for us, to thank our friends and support systems, to remind myself of how the past year wasn't about me--it was about God proving Himself faithful in every situation.

I've been dwelling on a particular piece of feedback Mom received. A woman said to her afterward, "I had no idea that was going on last year." Her comment really gave me pause. As women especially, how can we support one another--as a functioning body of Christ--if we don't know what's going on with one another? And how can we know if we don't ask or tell?

If you are going through trials of various kinds, take heart. There is power in the telling. There is support to receive. There is faithfulness to be seen later on. Mom & I know; we've lived it.

never ceases

Oh, friends, God never ceases to amaze me.

On August 4th 2009, I was preparing to leave for Nigeria and had racked up an enormous credit card bill. My parents were going to loan me the money until my paychecks kicked in. Then I received a check from Disney in the mail for $30 over the amount of the bill.

On August 4th 2010, I was unemployed and seeking a job and was enjoying my savings too thoroughly. Then I received a check from Disney in the mail for an amount which would take me 20 hours of babysitting to earn.

365 days apart. 6,400 miles (and back again). 12 years since the movie's release. Same mighty provision.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: My God is a God who provides.