My Third Priority: Friends/Community:
We’d been living in Louisiana about 3 months when we visited a church and we were invited back to a deacon’s house for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch with some precious people. The next week I received a thank you note from the deacon’s wife thanking US for having lunch with THEM! Inside the note she had this quote:
“Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver the other is gold.”
I loved it and still have the card today. It made me realize you’re never too old to make new, lifetime friends! The families we had lunch with that day became some very close friends. As a matter of fact, over the next five years they became our family! I couldn’t imagine the time I spent in Louisiana without them! I believe God puts different people in our lives at certain times to fulfill a purpose. Some of them, as they did, leave lasting footprints on our hearts forever!
We can’t have too many friends and I must say I’m blessed with some of the best! I have some that I’ve had since elementary school, church friends, family friends, and long distance friends.
I love having friends over to our home. I think I get that honest from my Mom. She’s pretty much always been the one to host family or church get-togethers. I can remember when I was younger people coming to our house to play Rook on Friday nights. I can even remember a couple mornings I woke up and some would still be there cooking breakfast! Although it doesn’t always happen, I usually try at least once a month to have some of our friends over. (HINT: Inviting people over will also give you motivation for a clean house!)
How I plan on living it out:
1. Visiting - As I mentioned earlier, Monday-Wednesday we will be doing Tot School and Friday will be our field trip day. That leaves us Thursdays to visit friends and those in our community. It may be a neighbor, a family member, or a friend we haven’t seen in awhile. Last Thursday we took a cobbler and some ice cream to a lady from church that had surgery. For some reason I feel like I need to take people something when I visit and most of the time it ends up being something sweet!
2. Our Father’s House – Our Father’s House is a house that has opened in our community. A neighbor, Mrs. Jones, felt led by God to rent this house and basically provide a place for the community to come together. As a way to pay for the house she serves breakfast and lunch and rents out space in the house for people to sell different things. My sister and I have just a small part of selling some children’s clothes. We were also able to attend the dedication service and what a blessing that was!
Mrs. Jones herself is quite an inspiration. When we first met with her she made the statement “You don’t have to be on foreign soil to be a missionary.” She felt like her gifts were cooking and hospitality so she opened up “Our Father’s House” as a place to serve God and use those gifts! What if everyone took their gifts and went out into their community, took a leap of faith and used them like she did! My how our communities would change!
Our Father’s House also supports community events. Since they opened in July they’ve helped with two fund raisers to build homes that were destroyed in the April tornadoes. They also have a memorial service scheduled for September 11th. I’m looking forward to attending and seeing what else God has in store for this house and our community!
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| Our Father's House Gallant, AL |
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