Today I am thankful for a Sunday night family group that I am blessed to be a part of. For a year now (excluding Summer holiday), a group of families from my church have gathered at the H family's house for dinner and fellowship on Sunday evenings. It's essentially a big potluck that we have every week. I think everyone wants to have a sense of belonging somewhere, a comfort zone if you will. For my mom, brother, and me that's what we have found in this family group.
A little over a year ago, Mr. and Mrs. H invited the three of us to come to their house on Sunday evenings that fall for dinner and to discuss the book "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns. As I understand, at the time the plan was to see how well the arrangement worked out and the group would go from there as to whether or not to continue meeting. There were a number of other families invited as well, most of whom I at least recognized but probably hadn't said much more than a hello to before at church. The Sunday night bible study quickly grew in importance to us. It became something we looked forward to each Sunday. We got to know the families in our group better and looked forward to seeing them at church. Where we are today, the amount of love and support each of us has for one another confirms to me that God truly placed the H family and their plans for this family group in our lives for a reason.
Mrs. H related to me how they came to asking the three of us in the first place last year. I hadn't given it much thought as to why they had, only that I was glad of it. Sometime last Summer, Mr. and Mrs. H's daughter K and I were chatting after church. K and I knew had known each other over the years from various church and school activities. My mom and brother were getting ready to go on a week long mission trip and K asked me what my plans were while they were away. I must have made a comment something to the effect that I would be home by myself, because she asked where my Dad was. At that point, my Dad hadn't been coming home for a number of months and my parents were in the process of getting a divorce. This wasn't exactly common knowledge at the time and K related to her mother about the situation. One thing led to another and as Mr. and Mrs. H were thinking and praying about the family group they hoped to start, they both thought to invite the three of us.
I truly believe that God knew we were going to have some rough waters ahead. He knew we would need support and He sent that support to us through the H family and the other families involved in our family group. I am so very thankful for their presence in our lives. I love them all dearly.
11 Days to Thanksgiving!
Signed,
RF
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