A Drink

We went to the youth retreat this weekend that Philip was leading.  Me and the kids.  
I knew that Philip was going to be busy but we wanted to be with him and the teens.
Philip and I used to go to this retreat center when we were teens, before we started dating.
We were in the same youth group. :)
I have so many fun memories there with my friends and life changing, tear-filled weekends.


I went as a youth and then as a youth leader and now as the youth pastor's wife.
And my first retreat with my kids.
I stayed in the director's cabin instead of with the youth.  
We had our own room and our own bathroom. :)


We went to the evening session.  Both the kids were exhausted but were troopers.
We watched the cabin skits and laughed hard.
Anna thought Daddy was so funny acting up there with the guys.  He was.


Worship time started.  Anna stood beside teenage girls and was singing her heart out.  
I held Oliver and was worshiping, too.
Philip started leading one of my favorite songs.  
There is something about singing love songs to my God.  It's one of my favorite things.
The song had barely started and Anna turned and told me she needed a drink.  Now.  She was dying of thirst.  
My attempts to have her wait made her eyes well up with quiet tears.  


Couldn't she see I was singing to the Lord?
Should I demand patience of her? To wait until my favorite song is at least over?
Isn't this what the Lord wants me to be doing? Singing to Him?


And then I looked down at her again.  Her eyes were full of tears.  She was thirsty.
And I heard Him whispering to my heart.


Give her a drink.
Tell her you love her.
Teach them about Me.
You are serving Me when you serve your kids.

We walked out of the room and they drank their hearts out. 
And it hit me.  Again.  I am where He wants me to be.  I am worshiping Him in the small moments of being a mommy to my kids.  


We went back into the session until the message.  It was time for bed.
The three of us left all of the youth, said goodnight to Daddy and walked back to our cabin in the dark, in the snow.
We talked about how funny Daddy was.
We got pajamas on, prayed together and, exhausted, they were asleep within minutes.

'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'   

Matthew 25: 35-40