These are my people.

Recently, I was with Peppermint Patti ~ and the other six~ at an eye doctor appointment. Across from me sat a grandmother, and every now and then we would glance at each other and smile. 

After a bit, she crossed the divide, abruptly took my hand and said, I know you.

I was slightly taken aback and looked at her questioningly. 

But then she said, I adopted my grandson. Aren't these your foster children? I was a foster parent for 15 years. I know you. I know your heart because we're alike.

This woman looked nothing like me. She didn't know who I really was, my name or my history. It was slightly apparent that we were from different educational and economical backgrounds, but in the middle of the waiting room, I wrapped my arms around her neck and said, Thank you for knowing me. There's not many who do. ~ And I wept.

These are my people...

Granted, there's a bunch of you missing :)

The ones I can look in the eye and say, You're crazy, and I love it because I'm crazy too.

Krisha, you're not the crazy one here :)

The women who have the right to look at me and say, You're gonna live through this, and it's not about you.

The companions who know little of my life story but have memorized the caverns of grief mingled with hope that trace deep within my soul.

These are the friends who can sit with me on my battered couch and know that they can't fix a thing in my life, in their lives, in their children's lives...but together we're standing in the barricades of grace to be the incarnation of Christ to a watching world.

These are the missionaries who have chosen a lifestyle of grief, who've crafted their homes to hold unspeakable losses, who've walked the plank time and time and time again with families who are trapped in shame.

These are the eyes I look into and see the face of my Savior.

One of our foundational cornerstones at The Forgotten Initiative is to support and encourage foster parents. We do this formally through an online support group, a monthly meeting, a new annual retreat and a number of informal ways. If you are in Alabama and would like more information, please contact me.

Now for my gals...

All these people were still living my faith when they died. 

They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 

People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 

If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country ~  a heavenly one. 

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

~ Hebrews 11: 13-16

We were designed to do life together. Because together, we taste our Savior.

Who are your people?

Looking ever unto Jesus ~