Families for the Lonely

"God sets the lonely in families..." Psalm 68:6

I've always been very close to my family. We make holidays and reunions HUGE events and make it a priority to have everyone home. I'm very close to my Mom and Dad, and I've been very close to my brother Kevin and sister Alice for some time now; and now I'm very close to my brother-in-law Sean and sister-in-law Natalie as well. And I have the best Meemaw in the world! The Daughtry family and the Collier family are such a huge part of my life and will always be, though I see them rarely these days. Mom and Dad are in Mississippi, Kevin and Natalie are in Dallas, and Alice and Sean are in Tokyo, Japan. And here I am in Denver for now, and bound for France one day.

One of the hardest things about moving to a new place is having to start from scratch as far as relationships are concerned, and not having a family around as a support system--which we all need direly. Having moved around a good bit in my life, I know this feeling. And I've learned the absolute truth of the promise of Psalm 68:6. God truly does set the lonely in families.

I moved to France in 2000 and knew no one. I wasn't even following the Lord at this point in my life, but God was still more intimately concerned with what was going on my life than anyone I'd ever known. And seeing that I was lonely, He gave me a family there. Mme Amm, my landlady, adopted me as her third son and from that moment on I was part of her family. She took me to birthday parties and to choir practice with her, gave me a bike to use, and got on my case when I wasn't eating enough vegetables and made me fresh vegetable soup a few times a week. The Amm family is still very dear to my heart--even more so now that the Lord is teaching me how to really love them as He does.

I moved to Austin in 2001 and knew no one. God gave me a huge family there, of both international students and then of many brothers and sisters in Christ at my church and at the Baptist Student Ministry on the campus of UT. He gave me a huge support system at the Pearl Street Cooperative where I spent two years...to the point that I often couldn't be alone even if I wanted to!

And finally, I moved to Denver in 2003 and knew no one. In less than a year, God had proved His faithfulness again in plugging me not only into the body of believers at Grace Church, but also into a real family here. I moved in with Ernie and Melissa, a young married couple from my church, this past February, and since then have found myself adopted by not only the Spell family (Ernie, Melissa and Ernie's sister Charlotte) but also the Corbet family (Melissa's mom and dad, Melissa's sister and brother-in-law), and with all of this comes lots of kids (Charlotte's daughter Andrea, Jay and Shanda's kids Kaylie and Kean). It has been a HUGE blessing! On Mothers' Day, on Easter Sunday, on Memorial Day, and other holidays that I've always spent with my family when back in Mississippi, God blessed me to be part of a family here in Denver.

Thank You, Lord, for Your provision of a family in a place where I knew no one at first. You are so true to Your promises. Always. I love You. Should I be surprised at Your faithfulness and Your provision, Lord? You promise it in Your Word! A verse comes to mind...

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." --Mark 10:29-30