Visiting Friends Is A Very Good Thing

This past Monday night I went to a meeting we have once a month. It consists of a few women and we call ourselves "sisters in Christ". We take turns hosting it in our different homes. We usually have pot luck for dinner with the hostess saying what her main dish will be and we just bring what we want to go along with it. No big discussion between us at all and it has always worked out well and yummy. When we meet we celebrate anyone who has had a birthday since the last month. We have a devotion, we pray, we eat, we laugh and we cry TOGETHER.

That is the basic scoop and not so unusual I suppose. Ahhh, but how I got into the group and how it formed? I would love to share that part with you. It is a long story but I'll try to shorten it unless of course you leave a question and then I will fill in any blanks:)

I moved here from West Virginia when my husband and I took early retirement. One daughter was still at home and beginning eighth grade. Both of my other daughters planned on living here but alas that didn't work out (now, that is a long story and another post. I was lonely, I missed friends, I felt invisible. I was at one of the antique malls one day and the owner was telling me that she had been divorced twice and had quit going to church. She explained that she felt like after two failed marriages she wasn't even worthy to teach Sunday School. Something happened though after she opened the mall. Women (strangers) started sharing their lives with her. They told her of their failings, their depression, their loneliness and she felt God move her to open her house each month and have these women over to visit with her and each other. By the time she was through telling me all about it I was boo hooing all over the place and I asked if I could come or was it a closed meeting. She said it would never be closed as long as God sent the women to her. I knew it was an answer to my prayers and I started going that month. The women have been wonderful. I have been attending for about 3 years. I can tell you that at least the first 12 months they saw me cry every month. They listened to me tell them month after month how grateful I was for their open hearts and arms. I can finally get through a time of sharing with them where I don't cry and they can understand what in the world I am saying.

I am still humbled that God answered my prayer in such a meaningful way. I couldn't have asked for a more understanding or loving group of women.

Miracles can happen in an antique mall or any place in the world. When they happen, all we have to do is walk through the door with an open heart.

I thought I would share a picture of the fireplace in this gal's home. The picture does not come close to doing it justice just as my story cannot really express what this experience means to me but I'll bet you caught a glimpse, didn't you?