Another Powerful Example of Hospitality

This past weekend was a mini-getaway for me and 6 of our children.  We were able to head up to my friend's cabin where she is now staying for the winter months as she continues to go through this tough time.   We are down to one vehicle right now, so the kids and I were picked up by my friend and headed up in her van.  My husband and other boys met us later on in the weekend.  It was a nice break in the routine of school and gave her kids a different change of pace, too, as we tend to be a "party in a package"!!!  It was soooo loud the whole time!!!!!  With 13 kids, most of whom were boys under the age of 10, what would you expect????

While we were there, we tried to connect her to a family that lived nearby that we knew so that she would have a form of back-up if she needed help.  It was also a Bible Quiz weekend and this family was also a quizzing family.  They invited us over for dinner along with her family.  What we hadn't realized at the time was this family was possibly not the best family to offer help as they, too, were desperately in need of help!  The wife suffers from terrible arthritis and just recently the husband went through surgery for cancer.  Yet, amazingly, we found ourselves, with 20 kids, at their house for dinner!

How did they pull it off?  This is the power of family and once again, the testimony of hospitality. They have 5 children, the oldest is 20 and the youngest is 10.  Their oldest child is a girl and I remembered her having plans for possibly a career in acting or something like that, but when I asked her about it on the weekend, she said, "No, it's on hold for now."  This girl is their live-in help.  Some people would probably feel sorry for her and rightfully so, but I looked at it quite the opposite.  She is such a blessing to her family and we were blessed as a result, too.  Though she was at the quiz meet all day, she prepared a simple, but delicious, meal beforehand for all of us after the quiz meet.  The mom, who is barely able to walk and spends most of her time in bed, could only look on helplessly. You could tell she would have perhaps made something different or had it set up in more of a "mom" kind of way. It was kind of sweet as her husband had done some of the grocery shopping and had picked up what he thought would be a good side dish - pretzels.  His wife said, "Uh, you didn't get any vegetables or salad?"  "Why?" he said, "I got pretzels!"  I laughed, only a Daddy would think pretzels were a good side dish!

But that, again, is the difference between hospitality and entertainment.  It wasn't meant to be a big show about who can put on the most beautiful spread.  It was a truly a night of Christian fellowship. My friend who is struggling so much didn't want to come.  She isn't social.  She doesn't like to meet new people.  Neither do her kids and one of them begged her not to bring her.  But we forced them to come out and because we did and they complied, they ended up making wonderful connections with this family - all through the power of hospitality.  If this other family hadn't been willing to open their home and had waited until they were 100% well or until they had all the perfect side dishes, this opportunity to connect the two families could have been missed.  My friend left their home that night so encouraged that she wasn't alone up there.  She left feeling like someone else cares for her.  Even though they are hurting themselves, this family reached out to her and were so kind.  Her words? "I'm so glad I came."  Doesn't that say it all?

It reminded me so much of the whole talk by Ann Voskamp again.  In their brokenness, this family is being Christ's hands and feet to others.  And, the irony is, my friend now wants to help them in her brokenness!  She saw how the wife could barely walk and she saw how the oldest girl probably needs a friend.  She left wanting to help them!  How is that possible when she is hurting so badly?  Because God is starting to use her broken heart to be sensitive to others.  Because of her pain, she now is seeing others who are in pain which she admits she wasn't so sensitive to before this.  It's kind of sad that it takes severe testing to make all of us learn these awful lessons, but she is grateful.  It's opening her eyes and the eyes of her heart to others around her.  Ann Voskamp would love this story.