Missing You

When you live far from those you call family - parents, siblings, and extended family - you have to create your own family. Your friends become like family. Those you work with, minister with, and share life with are the family God has provided. I am grateful for each one I have come to know and love.

However, if you are a sister, you also know that there is no bond like a sister bond. We are linked forever by our blood and our heritage, our memories and our faces, our laughs and our shared experiences.

I have two sisters. They live 8 hours from me. One is pregnant, due near the end of October. I feel far removed from this incredible event in her life. I haven't seen her since the end of March, and I don't know when I will be able to meet her beautiful baby because of the distance between us. I talk to my sisters on the phone, but we don't get to "share life" as fully as when we lived in the same town. They still live in the same town, and sometimes I get jealous of the times they share. I am the oldest and not used to being the one left out of things.

Ministry is a different calling; if I had a choice, I would live much closer to them. But unless God allows it, I will make the best of what we have, the times we do share, and the friendship that was birthed decades ago in our cozy, childhood home.

(With Mom and Grandma)