Sister

“Wait wait there, sis! Don’t go yet! I have something for you!”

I have been a sister my entire life. But never have I had an eight-year-old-brother, and never have I had a sister of my own. Elliott and Sophia have been one of the greatest outpourings of joy in my life, and this is only my second day living with them. A bold statement, sure. But I’m through living in any way other than boldly.

They thought I was their answer to prayer. I knew I couldn’t continue to live the way I’d been living. I was unhappy, in a sporadic and unsatisfying dance with spiritual soundness, and had idolized the most recent man to care deeply for my well-being. The woman I am was stifled under layers of exterior lies and interior conceit. A brutally fatal combination.

So I took a risk. I thought, the church will always be there, because Jesus isn’t going anywhere. I posted an ad on my church’s online marketplace: “21-year-old looking for room for her final year at SPU.” And within a DAY, there was a response. Mindy tells me now that she was almost convinced that I wouldn’t be interested, because her and her family were not SPU college students, and surely I would want to live with students. So when she explained what her and her husband were looking for – a young, single woman to share their family with for the responsibilities and benefits and glory of God – she wasn’t entirely expecting my response. And I just wish she could have seen the joy in my face reading through her proposal for the first time. I knew they would be the answer to my prayer.

So here I am. In this place, after so much restless traveling. Prince, my poor Paseo, is going to have to get a check-up pretty soon here once I settle all of the other financial pickles I’ve found myself in after the long Labor Day weekend at Bumbershoot. But I have both of my families behind me, and Jesus showing me in the faces of these beautiful children that he has me. That he knows what I need, and I mean more to him than many sparrows.