Lucy

Meet my friend Lucy ~



I don't think I have shared this story with many people...but I think there is a reason I met this jewel of a lil girl. So here it goes....

It was August, 17th roughly 7:30am. I was standing in the first of a few lines in the airport in Santiago, teary eyed and numb. This was the day I left my 3 month journey in the DR. I have shared this next nugget of truth with everyone that has asked: I WAS NOT PREPARED TO LEAVE NOR DID I WANT TO GO. (I still feel this way) As I went from checking my luggage, to waiting to enter the automatic doors feeling Jen & John's eyes on me and hearing them jokingly say "don't look back" (I didn't) there were about a million thoughts running through my mind. Ranging from "who can I call to come and get me and how long until the G.O. staff realize that I didn't get on the plane" to "I can't wait to see my friends again" to "I can't believe my 3 months is really over" and on and on the internal dialogue between me and the Lord went. It's still going on by the way and it's been 5 weeks. *sigh*

OK, back to Lucy....As I exited the first line and got rerouted to my second line I spotted her. She was with an older woman, who appeared to be her grandma, and she was carrying a super cute pink backpack, and she just kept making eye contact with me and grinning from ear to ear. She had my heart right then and there. I said "hola" and she proudly responded "hi! you look just like my mom!" That was the first of MANY sentences out of her lil precious mouth. We quickly became best friends!!! She told me all about her visit in the DR, that she was super excited to go back to Ohio, I look exactly like her mom but whiter, allllllll about school, her little sister, and on and on and on. What a doll!!!!

We chatted in the Santiago airport...and wouldn't ya know it, she was on my flight to Miami just a few seats away so she kept checking to see if I was still in my seat all throughout the flight...she waited for me when we got to miami....chatted all the way to baggage claim...even ended up in the same lines for customs....THEN dun dun dun....I told her that I had to go to my gate. She begged me to stay, clung onto my leg, and cried HUGE crocodile tears.

It was if the Lord knew what I needed for my breaking heart and He provided this ray of sunshine named Lucy. I have thought about her many times since August 17th...I have thanked the Lord for her and the joy she brought me when I needed it! I'm sure the Lord had other reasons that I can't even begin to understand, but I do know that He has a purpose in EVERY single thing, that He uses EVERY single thing for our good and His glory, that things don't "just happen" but there is a purpose even if we don't see it or understand it.

I guess you can say that I see this as a trend in my life the past year and a half...things that seemingly don't make sense or things that seem mundane and ordinary but they are indeed being woven into my life for His purposes and His plans and some day whether it's here on earth or in Heaven, I will understand just what He has been up to...how He has used the very things I spent most of my time questioning for His purposes. I LOVE that He is in the business of orchestrating my life for His glory and that I am called to love and serve and enjoy the ride.

Lord, thank you for Lucy. Thank you for using ALL that you allow for our benefit and Your glory! Thank you that EVERYTHING happens for a reason and nothing happens by chance! Thank you that You give us what we need when we need it and that You protect us from things we may think we want but that aren't best for us. Thank you that You have given me a heart for kids, that I am able to receive so much joy even from a few hours with a girl named Lucy from Ohio! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!