Filled up & Cried out

A few weeks ag

o

when I was at a low, my cousin wrote an e mail that deeply encouraged me; much of it was a prayer for me. At one point she said, "My prayer is for something personal and precious to Shilo". I've thought of that a couple times since, thinking I don't even know what that would look like right now.

Friday I landed at the doctor's office (finally) after

being miserably sick for 6 weeks. "No wonder you haven't been sleeping" the doctor assessed, "you have a sinus infection and a bad case of bronchitis. You have got to get more rest."

Armed with antibiotics and cough drops, exhausted but excited, I headed to Big Jokes for BIG OAK- our fundraiser. A lot of anticipation came with this event because not only did we get to raise money but we had an opportunity to share the vision of this ministry with a big crowd of people. It came after a tumultuous few weeks- moments of "what are we doing?! Are we crazy? People certainly think we are" and moments of "this is exactly where we should be. Look at the prayers answered and the people who are step

ping up to support and encourage us!"

As I walked in the doors I saw two familiar faces talkin

g with my sister. It took me a second to realize that it was my closest friends from high school who now live in Vancouver, WA and Spokane. Wide-eyed I could only say, "What are you doing here?!!?"

They grinned.

I cried. And cried.

Then I sputtered a string of questions as my mind tried to comprehend what they did so that they could surprise me (and wha

t their husbands did by taking care of the home front and their kids so they could come).

Thankfully the fundraiser was an improv comedy show so at some point I had to stop crying and start laughing! S. added two rows of chairs in the back

as the show started because there were over 300 people attending. We had a fantastic night, raised a few thousand dollars, got to share about our ministry, and connected with some very dear people. Our expectations were ex

ceeded.

I got to sit in the front row to soak it up with Kristi an

d Jill who have seen me through the building of my faith when we started high school, through many moves, falling in love, choosing colleges, marriage, and having children. They knew me when I was irresponsible, impulsive and embarrassingly dramatic (and still became my friends).

In fact, they even knew to call my mom and work out details for the weekend. They informed me that the next morning they would be stealing me away for a day. The success

of the fundraiser was exciting enough...but all this nearly made my head explode.

It has been a year since Jill, Kristi and I have had some time to ourselves. Needless to say, we needed our few hour coffee time to start. After lunch they told me we were going to Costco so they could load me up on groceries. If it's not enough to cry at a comedy show...here I was fighting tears in Costco...and then again in the mall where they took me to make sure I was taken care of.

The entire day I was too blessed and overwhelmed to have many cognitive thoughts. In high school 15 years ago when we were learning to drive, having slumber parties, and talking about boys, I never imagined that these two would be here holding up my arms, buying me eggs and new jeans, and still encouraging me.

As I drove home in quiet, my cousin's e mail suddenly popped into my mind.

"My prayer is for something personal and precious to Shilo".

This was it!

So...

I cried.

Again.