My Valentine Blessing

Last night, myself, the women's pastor and several other ladies from my church hosted a valentines dinner for the Women & Children First Home. This home takes in women and children that are fleeing from domestic abuse. Some of them come from half way across the country b/c their situation is so bad that they never want him to find them.
We prepared a dinner for ladies while thier children played upstairs with other volunteers. Because these women have not been shown love in a long time, it was our honor to cook them a nice meal and focus our love on them, if only for a couple of hours.

I was blessed beyond measure. God surprised me more than I could imagine.

I sat next to a lady who was very soft spoken and probably didn't what to think about all the attention. I had noticed upstairs that she had brought her son with her (I can't disclose names for the protection of the women). He was such an outgoing little boy and full of energy. As I sat next to the lady, I knew one way I could get her to talk was to ask her a/b her children. She has been in toe program for a while and is now starting to live on her own for the first time. We talked about her apartment, where she works, what she does for fun.
I felt very odd asking the question, but I followed my gut - I asked her (as far as a career) what she would eventually like to do.

Are you ready????...


She looks at me and says "Well, I have a degree in art with an emphasis in graphic design & illustration and love to get back in to that one day."


HELLO!!!!??????? OKAY GOD, WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE THIS?!

Some of you might be wondering what I am suprised about.? Well, being a graphic designer, I knew instantly that I was supposed to talk to her about that. When I told her what I did for a living, her eyes to lit up! "Really!?" she asked.
So, for the rest of the night, I tried to coach her on what avenues she should take to try to get back in the business. It has been a few years since she has worked and things change rapidly in this business. She was very curious and asked me a ton of questions. I pray that I left her with tremendous encouragement and that I empowered her to take her next step in life.

I have never walked out of a situation/event with that much belief that I was RIGHT were God wanted me to be that evening - ever!
I will never forget it.