Coffee with God

This Monday I headed out to one of my favorite local coffee shops with a slightly heavy heart. I had done some last minute checking around for a friend to meet me but no luck so blake and I appeared to be on our own. I had already tickled my mother/sister's ears over the phone that morning and they would be otherwise occupied for the remainder of it so not even my backup chatters were available. My nuclear family had come to the for sure decision that we needed to find a new church body and I had been ruminating on how long that might take us and how my already small circle of friends would become even smaller before broadening out again. I mean when you have lived somewhere for almost 5 years and you can only think of about three people you want to call when you go out that is not a lot of friends. Oh there are many lovely women who I would have enjoyed spending the time with and I could have tracked down their number from the church bulletin (and I know you ladies would have come =) but a truly bosom buddy of similar age, parenting timeline (how old their kids are), and interests is hard to find when you are a stay at home mom. Part of me wonders if I should have been more proactive about making friends since I had the baby this summer and moved to a new area but I have had to take it a day at a time so far and I think that will continue until my lovely little one is sleeping better. All of this to say, I guess I was lonely. I am usually cheerful and my days are often full of errands/gymnastics/bible study/library storytime so activities are not the problem. It's those quiet moments in between the activities when the lack of many meaningful friendships makes itself known. I'm not writing this to be a pity party, though I know many stay at home mothers probably feel the same and can sympathize but I am writing this to tell my little example of God's encouraging love in my life. Let me tell you about it. I sat down with my coffee on the other end of a couch set-up where two ladies were visiting. About five minutes later another woman came with her baby and sat down between me and them. I was trying to decide if she was with them but she didn't immediately acknowledge them and her baby looked about Isaac's age so I told her I adored the child's' hand-knit cap and how cute her little girl was. She thanked me and we struck up a conversation about our children (this was her first). She then asked me if I used Pinterest as somehow we got onto preschool activities. I said "Yes!" and we discussed boards, etc. I also mentioned that I was looking for a bible study to provide Blake with a pre-school type environment to prepare him for kindergarten. She then suggested a church I might try and revealed that she and her husband were currently seeking funds to become full time church planting missionaries to Spain through a Baptist missionary org. Blake quickly got bored of listening to us visit so I said I would love to follow her blog, pins, etc. and took down her information. Yesterday I looked it up and she seems quite the kindred spirit to my tastes/passions. I took a moment sitting in the van after my coffee to thank the Lord for reminding me that I am never alone. He reached out to me in sending someone to share those few quiet moments with me in motherly/sister in Christ camaraderie. No hurt is too small for His attention and it is exactly that that encourages me to "count it all joy". Lonesomeness makes fellowship (even spontaneous, howdy-do nice to meet you) that much sweeter and I am learning to cast these cares upon Him and wait for His timing for new friends. Also, it is growing me in coming first to Christ. If you want to check out my new friend Rosalie's blog it is theduryees.com I wish them well in their ongoing labor for Christ and blessings as they reach out in ministry!