How Big Nanny got her joy back

The days following Sumer's departure were quite sad.

Like, excuse me God, but I'm not going to get over my friend moving to Africa sad. I'm not going to forget that You did this. And I don't have to be happy about it. I can just sit in my sadness and just be a sassy miss sad pants.

You can obviously see that I have very deep theological talks with the Lord.

Anyhoo, it was time for Sunday. This would be the real test. Walking into church and not seeing my friend where I always see her. But the Lord was good to give me some distractions that day. Quite honestly, I have about 400 distractions every Sunday (all my normal distractions are under the age of 6 and I'm responsible for their safety) but these distractions were different. I was able to keep busy and go on with my day.

And then I got an email from Sumer that said that I could give her a call whenever I had a chance...

I called her on Sunday afternoon, and we talked for an hour. (I don't advise that you make a habit of talking to anyone on the phone for an hour when they live on another continent. That handy dandy international phone card is about to run out.)

And during that hour she told me all the things that they had been doing, how the boys were doing, what they had been eating, etc. And then she told me what she was going to be doing on Monday...

I'm going to see if I can find Habtamu and then we're going to find these two street kids to see if they want to come to the summer program.

And then she said this (not an exact quote but close)...

And I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing with my day than that.

And then I smiled a real smile for the first time in 5 days. The Lord quickly told me that He knew what He was doing, and it was time to stop being a Sassy Miss Sad Pants.

The Lord gave me a release from my sadness, and I've felt better ever since. I still miss my friend but there was joy in hearing her plan for Monday and knowing that she is experiencing the joy of doing exactly what God has called her to do.