It's been almost a week, and I still get teary-eyed thinking about how amazingly God blessed our "Sassy Southern Style" Tea to cap off Mother's Month with our Single Moms group. It's been gifts, gifts, gifts galore for these moms!!! It started off with a plea on the Cricut Message Boards for cards...the men and women on the board blew my mind with an outpouring of beautiful, hand-made cards...each individual with such love and care. The responses to the message board post were so incredibly encouraging and I truly believe new single moms ministries will be birthed out of this plea for cards in churches around the world! Not only did we receive cards...tons of them...we also received monetary gifts to the ministry and these beautiful calendars for each of the moms, that were given to them to kick off Mom's Month! We claimed the entire month rather than just one single day!
We also were blessed to surprise the moms and have a professional photographer come to the event. Will Slattery and Salina Garcia are in my Sunday School class and were asked at the last-minute if they'd come and shoot the moms...not only did they come, and come big with columns and backdrops and LOVE...they then donated all the pictures and even continued to bless us with putting them all in gorgeous frames!! Chelsea helped arrange our special table, which we called the Florence Avenue Single Moms Hall of Fame. It was simply amazing.
Gilbert the amazing servant cook that blesses our group each month had the idea to do a tea for the moms...as we began to pray, the Lord revealed more and more based on that theme Gilbert had...and it all culminated into the "Sassy Southern Style Tea" it became! As I continued to make it what I thought it should be, the Lord blocked every move I made when it was me...and blessed every move when it was Him and His ideas and plans!
The Lord reminded me of the Godly men He placed in my life when I was a single mom, and the difference they made in my life and my children's lives...so the call went out to my buddy Thomas for 9 Mighty Prayer Warriors that would be willing to come serve the moms as another surprise. They prayed for weeks before the event, and the preciousness of these men as they helped set up the tables, pray over each place setting, and lovingly serve these moms...UNBELIEVABLE! While I shared my testimony in the Fireside room with the moms, my buddy Sybil orchestrated the setup of the whole room...she too had the opportunity to pray over each place setting, as did the young girls helping to set things up. Sybil is singing the praises of Chelsea because Chelsea was fully responsible for the setup of the Hall of Fame...I'm so proud!
John called me over to take a sneak peek before the moms came into the room...when he took me into the room and I saw all the decorations the Lord had directed the creation of and these amazing men...standing guard and ready for the moms and their children that would sit at the table they would host, I LOST IT! It was more beautiful than anything I could ever have imagined, and the POWER in that room...simply unbelievable! I could not stop crying! Thankfully my buddy Regina was there to help me get myself together...her hug was what I needed at that moment!
The picture of these Mighty Men serving these moms and kids, the countless trips they took to the kitchen, the continuous refills, even cutting strawberries for these precious children...it will be engrained in my head forever, and I will ever be grateful that the Lord allowed me to be a part of this whole thing He desired for our moms!
God bless my Cricut Board friends and the blessing they were to the moms that received their loving cards. Blessings to Gilbert and Regina for the idea of the tea and the countless hours spent preparing for our event, as well as being my support system during the planning and preparation stages...also for orchestrating the service of the food like a fine-oiled machine! Blessings to Thomas and Sybil...you were my eyes and ears and hands...God moved through each of you in the selection of our Mighty Men, as well as the placement of the tables...the prayers...oh, those prayers were soooo evident in our room. Blessings to the Mighty Men...when they spoke and shared with the moms their heart and the blessing it was to them to get to serve, I could only look at Pastor Terry and simply say, "Those are your men!" Of course, blessings to my wonderful hubby who not only helped, but also had to assume the "Irma role" since she wasn't able to be there, and also to my children, Cameron & Chelsea...you both amazed me yet again as I see the love of the Lord in each of you as you served, took the pictures, and arranged the Hall of Fame...Lord, Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this day...I am so humbled and encouraged, and sooooo loved!
It went without a hitch...and Loretta is now Mrs. Bill Burgess. Seriously, this was such a sweet and special day. She absolutely loved everything we did for her for the wedding. And he was sooooo thrilled to get his "Baby." She originally didn't want any wedding at all, so I pushed and pushed...and so did her pastor and his wife. Loretta is so glad we did. She walked sooooooooo slow down that aisle on the arm of John, she was taking in every single person and every bit of the moment. It was really a special day. When Marilyn called the happy couple the next morning, she said to Bill, "Your wedding was beautiful." Bill replied, "Because I married a beautiful bride." Seriously...how stinkin' sweet is that?? 92 years young and he's the happiest young man out there!
