A few years ago, ok - four years ago, a dear friend signed me up for a single mom event out of the blue. She heard an advertisement for it on the radio and signed me up right away and told me afterwards. The deal was I would go and she would babysit my son. I hadn't heard of anything like it but thought hey, why not go and spend a few hours kid free with some other ladies walking the same walk. So, I went. The event was held at a church. It was a morning of much needed relaxation! From breakfast, to massages, hair cuts, pedicures, car wash and car care, and a free "garage sale" area. To top it off we got to take box lunches home for ourselves AND our kids. How amazing was that! I left that day thinking how amazing it felt to be taken care of for a change and how doing something like this at my own church would be such a blessing to single moms in the community. God started tugging at my heart then about this mission but my life was consumed already with a full time job, full time mommy, and part time school. I didn't have room for a social life, let along planning an event!
Last spring I went to the same event again. This time, I sought it out myself. I remembered how great it was and thought I should do it again and this time, I even registered my son to go as they provided free childcare for the moms during the event. I had a great morning of getting pampered and he had a great morning of fun. He got to play, make crafts, play in bounce houses. Needless to say, he didn't want to go home at the end as he was having way to much fun. We picked up our box lunches as we were leaving and drove to a near by park and had a picnic lunch. It was a perfect day. We both were loved on individually, but we were both loved on together as well with our picnic lunch. And once again after this event, God started tugging at my heart. Maybe again isn't the right word because he had been tugging at my heart ever since that first time I went but now, since He knew I was going to be finishing up with school at the end of the year, the tugging got much stronger. He was telling me it was time.
I began planning an event back in late summer/early fall last year. Talking with various people, getting things into place, and spinning all kinds of ideas around in my head as to how I wanted my single mom event to go. I am so excited that this event is on the calendar at church and the staff and Elders are very supportive of this vision and mission. The concept is nearly the same as the one I attended: breakfast, massages, haircuts, facials and hand care, car wash, free "garage sale", free childcare, and lunch, but lunch is going to look a little different. I'm really excited that we'll be offering a buffet style lunch to the moms, giving them a chance to eat a kid-free meal with other adults.........other single moms. How cool is that? They'll be able to make connections with other women who know what they are going through. I'm excited to see God move in that particular area that day!
Are you ready for this? God has blessed this event in so many ways already. Writing about it now I'm getting teary eyed and I feel goosebumps on my arms thinking about what's happened and what I'm about to share. In one day.............ok, not even a day. In a 10-hour period God provided, and provided BIG! In that 10-hour period I managed to secure all the massage therapists needed for the event, I managed to secure a Mary Kay director who was very enthusiastic about providing facials and hand care to the moms and who committed to bringing some other Mary Kay consultants with her to help bless the moms, and finally......the BIGGEST blessing of all........within that 10-hour period (it actually happened in 6.5 hours) God provided the finances needed for the event. The entire amount I had asked for. God made that happen, in 6.5 hours. Are you amazed yet? I know I am.
This particular picture showed up in my First 5 app (from Proverbs 31) the very next morning. The devotional that day was exactly what I needed and exactly when I needed it. God knew what he was doing long before I did!
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