At first, it was bugging me...that these three daughters o'mine were missing in action on Mother's Day. They were hours away, spending the entire day, MOTHER'S DAY, with their father. And I don't blame them, if you catch my drift.
Gulp. Father, forgive me, for I am about to hurt somebody.
Yes, there were reasons. Somewhat valid reasons for this holiday, shall we say, faux pas?
But for a moment, the reasons didn't matter. It bugged me. Something seemed wrong about it.
Perhaps the simple fact that it was MOTHER'S DAY and I'm the MOTHER?
I don't know, call me crazy.
But the point is, I came to terms with it. And this is what helped me:
Meeting Bill Leonhard and his two daughters, Anna and Kessia. Bill and his wife, Penny are missionaries with Wycliff Bible Translators. They served in Ghana, Africa for 26 years. Penny, Bill's wife passed away this February 2, from cancer. And of course, Bill and his daughters (there's 2 more not pictured, and 3 sons, not pictured, that's a total of 7 kids, just in case you're not good with math) are dealing with their grief and coping with their first Mother's Day without Penny. She was only 59, had served the Lord with all her heart in Africa for most of her adult life, had adopted four little girls adding to their family of five, and was loved and adored by all.
Doesn't seem fair, does it?
But we who know and love God, trust Him. We trust that He knows exactly what He is doing. That He has a plan for our lives, and that He is, according to His word, working all things for the good of those who love him. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And so, I ended up having a marvelous Mother's day! Surrounded by new family and new friends, I can see that God is faithful and is always in the business of blessing our lives.
I'm happy my children were able to spend the weekend with their dad. After all, they need their father in their lives and they miss him when he's not there. And yes, I'm pretty sure I might be a saint.
With love,
Reasonably Chubby
That's Saint Reasonably Chubby to you, Mister.
