The Goodness of being a part of MOPs!

Moving to Maine 3 and a half years ago came with its joys and challenges. But most of all, it brought a lot of loneliness in my life. Because I am a girl in need of girlfriends, I went looking and most importantly,  prayed for God to help bring girlfriends in my life.

This past year, I started attending a MOPS(Mothers of Preschoolers) group at Bella’s Christian school she attended.  This was such a wonderful time for me and I looked forward to coming every month. One particular morning on the day we were scheduled for a meeting, I had a vision of one of the Mom’s and saw that one of my friend’s told me she was pregnant! Not thinking about what I saw wasn’t reality per say, I tell her that morning and say, “Congratulations, Lisa!” She looked at me all shocked because she wondered how I knew something like that when she didn’t really disclose the news to anyone in our group! I felt like I put her on the spot without knowing her very well but she didn’t mind at all at least, I hope she didn’t!

On June 2^nd, something tragic happened. At 30 weeks, she lost her baby. This would be her second loss in the past year and a half. One of my good friends visited her at the hospital and told me that all Lisa wanted to do was talk about what had happened and wanted to show pictures of Lucy, her baby.

It would be a couple of weeks till I saw Lisa again and when I did, she looked totally different from what I expected. All of us Mommies decided to meet at the beach and her family came and she was all smiles when I greeted her and talked to her. Even in a note, she welcomed any questions or comments of concern. BUT what I can’t get over is that she is always smiling!

When I begin to wallow in my days of being miserable, being overwhelmed, being over-tired and being over-everything, I always think of Lisa! She is always a ray of sunshine no matter what! I know that she has lost 2 precious babies, but she is still rejoicing on the outside, even though there IS hurt on the inside. She is deeply concerned for others, more than herself.

I can only attribute this positive attitude to God giving her some kind of hope and peace that none of us will ever begin to understand, unless we ourselves have suffered the same kind of loss. I see tons of God’s promises when I see Lisa and her whole family. There is a lot of joy in the midst of pain. I can’t even begin to imagine or understand how hard all this has been and how hard it continues to be! Lisa is a pure reminder of the promises of God in my life, especially the one where God promises to ALWAYS take care of us, to HEAL our broken heart, to give us COMFORT when no one else can or even understand. To give us PEACE that passes all understanding! To know that EVERYTHING WILL BE OK! God is STILL IN control of everything!

I am not a scholar and don’t know the answers to everything and why bad things happen to good people. But this lady, Lisa, my friend whom I pray, God will give me more chances to know her family even more, definitely has a lot of faith and trust in the Lord!  She might not think so, but because of all this, she has made so many around her, especially me, think about how I look at things. She is a rare jewel, God has some great big plans for this lovely lady and her family and I pray that God will continue to do the work that He has begun in their lives!