Judy

I wrote this blog last week, but now I am finally posting it.

Today, as sad as I am, I am also very thankful.  The Lord gives us good gifts and he never gives us more than we can handle.  For the last 6th months one of my d-group girls, Judy, has been living with me.  Today her mom came and got her to move her back to a relatives house in White Swan.  When she first came I thought it might be for just a couple days.  But days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and I started picturing her staying forever.

I was out of town when I got the news that her mom wanted her moved back home.  She stayed back with Veronica while I was gone for the week.  I laid awake at night worried I would not make it back in time to tell her all the things I wanted to say to her before her mom came and took her away.  But I made it back and had a few hours with her before her mom came to get her.  I was able to tell her how proud I was of her and how glad I was to have her with me for 6th months and how sad it would be for me without her with me every day.  We talked about how ready she was for school, something she has never experienced in her life.  Thanks to the generosity of supporters she had a new backpack, supplies, and all new clothes for the first day of school.  I told her she was ready for high school! She smiled big and then caught herself and tried to hide her excitement.  Then we looked at pictures of her from 6th months ago when she first started staying with me.  I told her how much she had grown up since then.  She smiled again.

I can not put in words yet, what the last 6th months did for me and for Judy.  I see a lot of growth for both of us.  I was in roles I never would have suspected and the Lord gave me grace even when I didn't know what role that was- mom, big sister? And Judy started to learn trust. I can only trust the promise from Philippians 1:6 which says, "And I am sure of this, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." The Lord began a good work in Judy and in me and I trust that he will bring it to completion in his timing.