Spur one another on ...

Our kids were off running around in wide open spaces while we chatted at the beginning of our church's annual fall party on Saturday. So I gathered these friends and asked my husband to take our picture. "Moms need to be in pictures too," I said.

And it's true. Moms spend so much time corralling, organizing, training, feeding, transporting, hearing, packing and dressing people. We care for those around us with instinct and purpose. But sometimes we only remain behind the scenes. We go on the vacations. We are at the parties we host. We see our kids succeed and grow and create. We support our husbands. But sometimes we're missing from the scrapbooks.

These friends of mine are among the people with whom I choose to do life. All those things we do, we often do with each other. Our kids are friends because there's really no other way. We text and call and show up. We deliver meals and say prayers. We brainstorm and execute.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

{Hebrews 10:24-25}

They spur me on, alright. 

All of us have been through heartbreak in the past year or two. Corrie is the one in the picture holding the baby. Y'all, that's Lucy, the baby doctors said may not live past struggling to take her first few breaths. Clearly, that didn't happen. 

It's been a year since Corrie learned something wasn't right with the baby she was carrying inside. She shared some reflections from the past year in church on Sunday. She reminded our church body that sometimes life is heartbreaking, but that we choose to serve a God who is always good. He redeems and creates these stories we're living out. She knew she wasn't the only who faced heart ache this year.

Yes, there has been loss and disappointment among us. But we've gathered our families and joined with these people who understand. We've thanked God, sometimes through tears and aching hearts, because we do believe in goodness. And we haven't given up meeting together. 

Sometimes our meetings come at restaurants as we talk over noise our kids create. Sometimes our meetings come in texts back and forth. Other times the meetings come on Saturday evenings near a bonfire and on Sunday mornings in a sanctuary. 

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I'm linking up with Crystal Stine's Behind the Scenes, where writers share stories that go beyond what a photo can capture, and with Jen Ferguson's Soli Deo Gloria, where God's goodness is proclaimed. And then on Wednesday I also linked up with Jennifer Dukes Lee's #TellHisStory because this is an important chapter in The Story. 

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