He Instructs Me While I Sleep

I woke up with the words 'unripe fruit' on my mind. I wouldn't eat unripe fruit, so why in the world would I want any promise from God to be fulfilled in my life before the fullness of its time? I love the verse that says God gives me counsel and instructs me while I sleep / Psalm 16:7 (...and in the morning, the "AHA!" comes).

Oh, My Eyes!

Wisdom says: "Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes." (Prov. 7:2, NLT). When I think of the reflexive nature by which my eyelids and hands physically guard my eyes from any threat of harm...even a perceived threat of harm, I realize that I must be much deeper in the Word so that guarding wisdom's instruction in my life is not just a conscious act, but an instant reflex.

Coffee, Sunrise, and a Divine Appointment on My 50th Birthday

Coffee, sunrise and a divine appointment. August 21, 2011

My 50th birthday began with a divine appointment!

I went across the street this morning to sit on a floating dock on Lake Maitland with a cup of coffee. There was a man preparing to launch his boat, and when I looked up he said, "You look like the Folger's coffee commercial from years ago".

(Not sure if you remember it, but I do...similar setting...ahh coffee, the lake, early, peaceful morning).

I responded with, "Isn't it a beautiful day?" and then I just sensed the Holy Spirit telling me to tell this man it was my birthday.

"And today is my 50th birthday!"

He responded by telling me he just turned 60 this month, that 50 was depressing for him, and 60 was even more depressing. He asked me how did I feel, reaching this milestone. I told him it was the best day of my life, that my best days were ahead.

(And then, instantly, a point of access...)

What followed was him, in essence, asking me the reason for the hope that I have.

I told him that I had learned that God had a plan and purpose for my life, regardless of what it feels like when we hit these milestones.  I went on to tell him that in this last season of my life I lost both my mother and my husband, but that through life's trials and traumas I learned that "Life is hard, but God is good." I simply said to him that there are so many hard questions that we have in life, especially in light of our trials, but that Jesus was the answer to every question.

He stopped in his tracks and was scanning my face, saw the joy in my eyes and God's radiance on my face (I could feel it shining on me at that moment!). Who can dispute that testimony?

He was getting ready to leave and I looked him and said "Bruce, Jesus loves you and I'm praying for you."

He dropped his head and didn't make eye contact. And in a kind and gentle voice he just said, "Thank you."  His friend came up at just at that time, so it was the natural ending to our conversation.

Could there have been a better start to this day? Oh, the doors the Holy Spirit opens we we obey the whisper of His voice. All of my trials are worth it if because of them I can speak hope and life to someone who is hurting and searching. Who will God bring to you today to extend God's liberating love?

My 50th Birthday: This is truly the day the Lord has made! 

This Melody in My Heart

When I was a little girl, I learned the Prayer of Saint Francis, in the form of a sweet little melody taught and sung in elementary school. It has been a song in my heart all these years, though I have failed miserably in so many seasons and moments of my life to walk it out. 

These are the verses I remember:

Verse 1: Make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord,
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.

Verse 2: Make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there's despair in life, let me sow hope.
Where there is darkness, let me sow light,
And where there's sadness ever joy.

When I worked in downtown Manhattan in the early 90s, I used to walk by a historic little church every day on the way to the Path Train at the World Trade Center. The church bells would play this same melody I learned when I was a little girl. It always brought me back to the day when I had a purer heart. 

But in this stage of my life, while I knew God, I was too hardened in my fast track corporate life to do anything but pursue success and my self interests. Peace, love, forgiveness, faith, hope, light, joy? Oh sure, I wanted all those in my own life, but was too selfish and ignorant to understand the mandate to sow this into the lives of others. Thankfully, God in His kindness has done a deep work in me since those days.

But it is the refrain that has captured my attention recently.

Refrain:

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console.
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Oh, to be selfless enough to live this prayer, and not just when it's easy, and not with the motive to receive consolation, understanding and love in return. Perhaps that desire is the reason I have carried this melody in my heart all these years.

"Oh Master, grant that I may no longer..."

On the Other Side of the Wall

Several days before my recent trip to Rhode Island, I was about to fall asleep when suddenly, I saw a brief vision. It was like a movie projector was switched on in my mind’s eye, played for a few seconds, and then switched off.

Rarely do I see visions, but I am not surprised by them. We know that when the New Testament Church was birthed, the Book of Acts records the Apostle Peter citing the Book of Joel in his sermon:   "In the last days," God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people."  He then continued with a declaration that followers of Christ will see visions and dream dreams, both which have a supernatural source and purpose. 

God doesn't often speak to me this way, but I know it's biblical; and when He does, I pay attention, test it, write it down, draw it if I can, and wait for the interpretation.                                                          

THE VISION   In my vision was a small section of a wooded area on what appeared to be the edge of a property.  Sunlight was shining through a bit, but the trees were pretty close together in some areas and there was a lot of shade. There was a stone wall. In this scene I saw the back view of a middle school aged boy walking through this wooded area. No shirt on, just denim shorts, and shoulder length sandy blonde hair (could not see his face). There was a high stone wall on the right side of the perimeter of my view (I was viewing him from behind). The boy was walking slowly near the wall, his right arm was extended and his fingers were touching the stone wall as he was walking along. It was a very high wall. Then the projector in my mind’s eye switched off.

Always in the past I have had some idea of what these visions mean as I am seeing them. But this one didn’t make sense at all.  In fact, I didn’t wake up remembering the vision because nothing was familiar about it—I had no reference point. It wasn’t brought to my mind until several days later.

The Cliff Walk ~ Newport, Rhode Island

Fast forward to Barrington, Rhode Island, several days later. I went to stay with friends and was out on a 2-mile run, preparing for my 5K run I was going to run in 2 days on the Cliff Walk in Newport. I was running the 5K as an act of faith. I have been working through physical pain for well more than a year (first my foot, then knees, then hips and back, then all my joints). I hadn’t been able to run for over a year now. I read about Cliff Walk in a travel book, and something stirred in my spirit when I did.  I believed that God was calling me to meet Him there on that 5K course and that there would be a supernatural breakthrough for me regarding my chronic pain. Not just a physical breakthrough, but a mental one too. Trust me, as with most people with chronic pain, I was needing to see light at the end of the tunnel. You can't understand this journey if you have not walked this hard road.

On this day when I was preparing for my Cliff Walk run, my friend dropped me off at the dead-end of the highway that led back to Zion Bible College campus. She and her family are temporarily living there, waiting to move in to their new home. Even though I had been running/training in a pool and had gained some strength and flexibility, I didn’t know if I could make the run from the campus and back, so she dropped me off where the highway ended near the water.

Although I was still having some back and foot discomfort, it subsided temporarily while running because of blood flow. I was cautious and took my time, and it was a good run. A quarter mile out, my arch in my foot gave way, and I couldn’t run anymore; it was too painful. I knew I could make it back walking, I just could not run anymore.  I was not discouraged though. I had come here to run Cliff Walk as an act of faith. I was going to be obedient to what God asked me to do and let Him determine what success looked like. 

As I was heading back to the campus I was trying to get my bearings. I wasn’t sure how far I had to go. I hadn’t come this way before because I didn’t start my run from the campus. Having poor sense of direction, for some reason I was expecting to see the campus up ahead on the right side of the road.   I was trying to look ahead to spot it.

THE ENCOUNTER  On my left, I found myself at a wooded area of what I realized was the front of the Zion campus, at the southeast corner, not far from the entrance. It sneaked up on me because it was on the left, and I had my eyes fixed ahead on the right.

I walked a little bit along the sidewalk next to the walled perimeter of the campus. Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks. I knew those trees. I knew that wall. I knew that wooded area on the edge of a property.Out loud, with jaw dropped, I said (rather, gasped), “This is the place! This is the stone wall in my vision!" Only this time, I was viewing it On the Other Side of the Wall.



In my vision was a small section of a wooded area on what appeared to be the edge of a property.  Sunlight was shining through a bit, but the trees were pretty close together in some areas and there was a lot of shade. There was a stone wall.



Wait. I thought for a moment and realized, this couldn’t be the wall; this was a short wall, in fact, it came just above my waist.  Even so, it was a strange reflex, but spontaneously I reached my hand over the wall and ran my fingers on the inside of the wall, like the boy did in the vision. I just had to touch the inside of the wall. I wasn't sure why at the time, but I just had to.

Within a few seconds of walking away from that spot and toward my friends’ campus apartment, doubt creeped in again!  I had decided that it still didn’t make enough sense. This couldn't be the wall in my vision. A short wall? It didn’t fit. I have had enough mentorship and discipleship in the area of biblical visions to know that visions should always be brought before the Lord and “tested” to see if He is the source. And sometimes we can mistakenly project our own meaning and interpretation based on what we know in the natural. But I was reminded this week of the principle, "Don't doubt in the dark what God told you in the light."

So, I turned it over to the Lord. If this vision was from Him, He would have to explain it and confirm it. I left it in His hands and went on my way.

I had prayed for an interpretation, and it came that next morning. I have learned to dialogue when the Holy Spirit speaks like this. Questions are important, and seeking and receiving clarification is part of the beauty of the process...the interpretation unfolds, often over the course of several days.

THE INTERPRETATION The message in this vision was for me and told the story of deliverance from my place of chronic physical pain and the mental breakthrough needed to get on the other side of it.  The stone wall that the fingers of this young boy's right hand was touching as he walked along the perimeter of this property was very high, too high to scale. This represented me inside my world of chronic pain. While the pain is real, the season has been long and I had found myself inside of the wall, at property's edge, stuck in this place. I could touch the wall, but could not scale it to get to the outside. The outside represented breakthrough.

In light of that, it was interesting that I was on the OUTSIDE of the wall when I found the wall in my vision at the front corner of the Zion property. It was the reason why I was preparing for the Cliff Walk run and planned to do it in spite of my pain.

THE QUESTION: "But why a short wall, Lord? It was a high wall in the vision."                      

THE INTERPRETATION:  From the inside of the wall, the one who suffers from chronic pain has the perspective that the wall is high and insurmountable. But it is not ["With my God I can scale a wall! Psalm 18:29]. Often we don't have that perspective until we are On the Other Side of the Wall, on the other side of the physical pain, on the other side of the mental barrier. And that mental barrier can be as thick and high as the stone wall in the vision that had imprisoned this boy, had imprisoned me.

THE QUESTION: "Lord, why were the boy's fingers touching the inside of the wall as he was walking along?"  

THE INTERPRETATION:  He lived on the inside of that wall for a long season. He knew that wall, it was familiar to him. 

THE QUESTION: "Why my spontaneous reflex to touch the inside of the stone wall at Zion when I realized it was the stone wall in my vision?"

THE INTERPRETATION:   On the Other Side of the Wall, you could see the wall was short enough to crawl back over at anytime. We instinctively want to return to what is familiar, even if we don't want to be "there" again.

THE QUESTION: "If the message was for me and you were speaking a word to me through this vision, why didn't you portray a young girl like me at that age in the vision, with shoulder length, light brown hair? Why a young boy with long, light sandy brown hair?"

THE RESPONSE: "Because there is someone else I want you to share this vision with."

God sovereignly gives us instructed tongues, so that we will know how to speak a word in season to those who are weary..."

Isaiah 50:4, paraphrased

Praise God, two days later I completed the Cliff Walk 5K, running strong at the end with no foot injury.

It was a challenging and unpredicatable course, not unlike this journey I've been on. 

But that's another blog post!

Serving on the Frontline of Your Famine

One morning, I had asked the Lord to please let me die. Wait! I know that sounds dramatic, manic or flat out scary, but no worries! I was not at all suicidal. At that moment in time it seemed like I was in a wasteland where all natural streams had dried up. I don’t know quite when it happened, but a spiritual, emotional, relational, mental and physical Famine had struck.

Some speculated it was warfare. Some speculated it was post traumatic stress or depression. Some said a solid year of chronic pain had worn me down. Others speculated it was menopause. Regardless the source, for me, it was a Famine. A very long, very dry, a "no rain seems to be in sight" Famine. I would never pretend this would ever have compared to enduring a natural famine, but it was My Famine, and it was very real to me.

Flashback 30 years. I sang in a college concert choir that performed oratorios for the community. For one performance, professional soloists were hired to perform the solos, but I protested: “Why do we have to farm out all the solos when those of us in the choir can sing?” My director was kind to let me audition and the contralto who was hired graciously conceded one of the recitatives. The vocal line was unchallenging and the lyric obscure to me. But that didn’t matter! I was 18 and given the opportunity to solo in a major choral work.

Not even knowing the lyrics were scripture, or what the heck a cruse of oil was (or where, by the way, was Zeraphath?) this is what I sang:

Now Cherith’s brook is dried up

Elijah! Arise and depart, and get thee to Zarephath

Hither abide

For the Lord hath commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee

And the barrel of meal shall not waste

Neither shall the cruse of oil fail

Until the day when the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.

Flash forward to one night at Women of the Word study. My pastor’s wife was teaching on significant women of the Bible and the Widow of Zarephath from 1 Kings 17 was the focus of our study that night. I can never help but draw a parallel between myself and this woman. I knew this story much better now than when I sang the short passage from Mendelssohn’s Elijah 30 years ago, but usually I connected to the part where she gathered the jars before the provision came! That had been an anchoring faith principle in my walk over the years.

But that night, the word ‘Famine’ was what drew me into the teaching because of that recent conversation with the Lord.

Once I was drawn in however, I soon withdrew and listened half heartedly. When one is in a Famine season like I described and someone is talking about a Famine, well---it’s like drinking from a cup of sand in a desert. Even the part about the widow gathering the jars by faith and God providing miraculously didn’t stir me like it always had.

But then a question was asked. It was one of those questions that was casually posed, but caused something to rise up in me. The question was: “Do you think the Widow of Zarephath knew the big picture of what was happening?”

In my spirit, from a well I had thought was bone dry, I heard a resounding, “Yes!”

My response was confident, but not very well informed--I knew I needed to really take a look at the scripture and the context to speak more in detail about it. But even before having done that, there was something about this woman’s faith that connected to my faith in that ‘moment’ of the discussion. My response was that no one can take such a leap of faith like that without having a bigger picture in mind. Not a picture where you know all the details, but a picture where you ‘see’ the broad strokes, you know God is in it, you know God has a plan, you know God is appointing and using you to serve in the life of another, you know that, even if it doesn’t make sense, even if it seems insane, you know that you must obey, regardless the cost.

After sharing my opinion to the question presented, that surprising “Yes!” ‘moment’ lasted just that long…only a moment. I became disinterested again, weary of the topic, weary of everyone else’s testimonies. There is much lack in a season of Famine, but cynicism and disillusion is abundant. I left early and went home to bed.

The next morning I opened up my Bible to 1 Kings 17 to get a more informed response to the question presented that night. One commentary said the Widow of Zarephath was ‘an alien of Israel, a stranger to the covenant of promise.’ That does not sound like someone who was aware of the big picture.

In verse 12, she says to Elijah, when he asked her for water and bread, “I don’t have any bread--only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it--and die.” That definitely does not sound like someone who was aware of the big picture!

The Holy Spirit prompted me to search for the clue in the passage that would give evidence that the widow knew He was in it, had a plan, and that she was trusting him. I was reading from the NLT, verse 8: “Go and live in the village of Zarephath…I have instructed a widow there to feed you.” (Other translations read, “I have commanded a widow to sustain you.”)

The phrase I have instructed a widow/ I have commanded a widow struck me as odd. This is a time period when God spoke to the nation of Israel through the prophets. This woman was a foreigner, an outsider to the promise of the covenant, and God Himself instructed her/commanded her? What was that like when she heard His voice, and what did she say back to him? What questions did she ask? Did she agree to it?

God never said to Elijah, “I have instructed a widow there to sustain you, but she is very skeptical, lacks faith and is very negative about the whole thing.”

We can’t know how much of the big picture this woman knew, but I don’t know how there is any way she could have had an encounter like that from God without having some revelation that something big was about to take place and she was part of it! Did the reality of the effects of the Famine dull her vision, wear her down and cause her to feel hopeless and faithless? Yes. Did she say she was going to die? Yes.

And then the Lord reminded me of my words that one morning prior to opening my Bible: “Lord, please let me die.”

And suddenly I understood the Widow of Zarephath like I never had before. She was not speaking a death sentence over herself. She was not lacking faith, nor did she have plans to disobey God’s command to serve the Man of God. I believe she was just speaking transparently through the exhaustion of the long season of her Famine. A devestating famine in the land, on top of the fact that she was widowed, alone, felt hopeless, and couldn’t see the end in sight. That's a woman of God I could relate to. It was more than a natural famine for her. It was a spiritual, emotional, relational, mental and physical Famine. It had taken it’s toll.

But the widow simply needed from Elijah a reminder of God’s promise and a little direction: “Don’t be afraid! Do the following things, and God will give just enough provision until He sends the rain and the crops grow again, just as He promised!” Some days in that Famine season I felt like I was just gathering sticks and wished that God would just take me. Trauma, heartbreak, loss--I can handle; feeling indifferent and apathetic like I did in that season--that's a different story.

Even so, I knew then that God’s promises were true, and RAIN was on its way! That was the big picture! The Widow of Zarephath knew it, and I knew it. Until it would come, I could only speak over myself the verse I had been speaking over myself during that time: "God is in the midst of her; she will not be moved. He will help her in the morning.”

How great is My God that 30 years ago when He heard me perform 1 Kings 17, verses 8 and 14, He already knew that Word would bear fruit in me that one morning, the very moment I needed it.

In God's concept of time, that's a timely word.

Proverbs 18:16 Revisited

The first time I read Proverbs 18:16, I believed it. We've all been given gifts to operate in, so why wouldn't this verse apply to all of us...to me?  This verse, this promise ...it so resonated with my spirit the first time my eyes laid hold of it! And I began to operate in that promise available to each of us by way of a prayer uttered years ago:

"Lord, may my gifts make room for me,
and bring me into the presence of kings!"

One of the first times I became aware of this verse/promise being fulfilled in my life was in 1998. President Bill Clinton was visiting the school just across the street from my house. I have graciously been given the spiritual gift of faith, so it was not a stretch for me to pray and believe for favor with and access to the President of the United States!

Since he was in our neighborhood, we wanted the chance to be a witness to him.  And my gift of faith made room for me!  The Secret Service came over to our house and said, "The President would like to meet you." The testimony is too long for this post, but we were able to share the love of Christ to President Bill Clinton on the day the Starr Report (Monica Lewinsky scandal) hit Congress. The details of our visit hit the Associated Press with this statement published in some U.S. newspapers: "Jesus loves you, Mr. President."   What radical news is this, that Jesus loves the World's Most Famous Adulterer on this day in history? As President of the United States, he was one of this world's kings, but God simply used his position of power to platform His message of love!

I always thought that this testimony was the most significant example of Proverbs 18:16 operating in my life. Until now.

Beginning the day after Thanksgiving last year, my life was sovereignly and supernaturally intersected with Heidi and Tommy Gaillard and their family. As with most connections that God orchestrates, there was common ground. My brother had a bone marrow transplant just like their daughter Jamie had.  My parents knew what it was like to travel to a different city to be at their child's bedside for months.

Our Family Thanksgiving

Back up one night. Thanksgiving night, I was with my Dad, and we were discussing our family Thanksgiving gathering scheduled for Saturday. There are 32 of us, and we always have a huge feast.  My Dad made a comment that I have never heard him make regarding our holiday meal:  "I wish we had a family to share all our extra food with."

The next day (Friday) the Lord prompted me to go visit Jamie. I had not visited her yet because I was waiting to go with my friend Cheryl, but that opportunity hadn't presented itself yet. I reluctantly went. I had only met her and her parents on several ocassions. I am not at all comfortable with hospital visits, especially by myself.  But I was compelled to go, and I shutter to think of what I would have missed had I not gone!

Jamie.

Jamie was sleeping, but I got to spend some time with her mom, Heidi, who is about my age. During that visit, the Lord said that The Gaillards were the family He wanted our family to share our meal with. Two days later, I was carrying my first delivery of food to the Gaillard Family. Jamie facebook messaged me the sweetest thank you note, which I will always treasure.

All that transpired because of my Dad's gift and desire to help people (what the Bible calls the gift of helps). I've seen it modeled by him and my Mom my whole life. On this day I was simply operating in his gifts for him :).  As for me, my gifts are different: encouragement, intercession, prophecy, faith, and some administrative gifts. I have traditionally been honored to serve "kings" in this way. But organizing meals, cooking, providing practical needs for strangers...that's just not my gift! Ask my five sisters. I have brought the same "no oven or stove needed" dishes to all our family gatherings since I was 19 years old.I am usually the one to say, "Tell me what to bring!" Then I sit nearby the whirlwind while they put everything together for our huge family gatherings. 

Three weeks later, the verdict came from Jamie's own Facebook status: she was being given only days to live and needed a miracle.  My thoughts: How can I serve the family, Lord? Pray with them? Organize prayer for Jamie? Encourage them? Believe in a miracle with them?

Jamie and her brothers.

Jamie and her parents.

The Lord then made it clear to me: My gift would be containers of food for a family of 12. Not for one day, but for as long as needed. ("But this is not my gift, Lord!") When you are stretched beyond your gifting, you have no choice but to do it by faith.  It was just days before Christmas and so many people were out of town or tending to their own families. Where would the food come from? The Lord said He would put manna on the ground daily and I just needed to go out and find it. What transpired after that was amazing. Food and funds for meals were provided by friends of Jamie, by church members who only knew her by her testimony, and by complete strangers. The assistant manager at Publix personally loaded up a cart of food for the family and paid for it. An envelope of $100, $50...just handed to me. Food prepared and brought to the church for me to deliver.

Every day I drove to the hospitial, dropped off the food at the curb, hugged the family, and then set out to discover where the manna would be found the next day.  While Jamie was only given days to live, the Lord reversed the shadow on the staircase (2 Kings 20) and her remaining time had been stretched into over a week now, giving her Christmas with her family. 

My friend, Christine.

Then God helped me to pass the baton to my friend Christine who has amazing community connections, and we set out two by two to gather that manna, and followed the family into a Hospice facility.

Christine and I don't quite know when and how it all happened, but over the next several days we became family, spending hours with the Gaillards, talking, laughing, crying, praying, running errands. We came with gifts in our hands--the practicial provision of food for the family--but we were the beneficiaries. These were not ordinary people. Our gifts of food made room for us and brought us into their presence in a very intimate way.



Allison, Christine and Breanna.
Allison shaved her head in Jamie's honor.



Until this time, I had not seen Jamie. In fact, I had not seen her since November. I wanted to be respectful of the family's privacy, as they had been told to say their goodbyes one by one. While they were trusting God for a miracle, they rested in the knowledge of His sovereignty and took the practical steps advised by Hospice. So, Christine and I remained in the wings.

On Sunday Heidi asked me to go into Jamie's room to speak something to her daughter. I felt like an intruder walking into that room, but my pastor had counseled me to do what the family had asked me to do and to take my cue from them. Tommy got up and said, "Let me give you some privacy" and closed the door. Jamie was not conscious, but Hospice made it clear that the hearing is still acute, even in this state. I walked out of that room changed.

My Facebook status for Sunday, January 2, at 4:27 p.m reads as follows:

"I was just unexpectedly invited into the presence of a queen.

It was humbling and unforgettable. What Beauty, what Dignity."

Jamie's Mom, Heidi.

That night, we were invited into Jamie's room for prayer and communion. We were believing for a miracle. We had no way of knowing that this was her last day on earth. I watched a father stand on the right side of his 26-year old daughter's death bed singing, "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me." I witnessed a fiancé standing on the left side of his future bride's deathbed, with pain and peace so intricately mingled across His face. I stood next to a mother at the foot of her dying daughter's bed, her eyes and gentle smile radiating such peace, giving evidence that this woman had been with Jesus.

I reflect back to that night. I was not just in the presence of a queen. I was in the presence of a royal family. Courage, faith and trust in a Sovereign God is the crown they wear. Jamie's parents, brothers and sister and fiancé displayed a grace that can only come from a personal knowledge of Christ and a surrender to His perfect ways.



Christine and I
with Tommy and Heidi Gaillard.

Tommy and Heidi and their family have thanked us over and over for serving them. But we are the grateful ones. As for me, I first came reluctantly and out of my comfort zone, bearing containers of food. And always true to His promises and His Word, my gift made room for me, and brought me into the presence of greatness. Never had we met such a humble, gentle, kind, courageous and beautiful family who shared some of the most intimate moments of their family with us.

I'm so glad to have shared this experience with my friend, Christine. We will both never be the same.