Day 3,044

The Comfort of Home

...So...

Rewind back your calendar. 

Keep going.

Keep going. 

Keep going. 

Almost there. 

Stop!

It’s 2009 and Kendall Mays neither knows the Lord or Adam Conley. 

(Gasp!)

I was a junior in college, confused as ever, lacking Truth, and without hope. I didn’t know what I needed but deep down, I knew my life was lacking greatly. It was then that I was asked into the home of a family of four children. What began as a means for me to help a local family while bringing in some extra cash, ended in the transformation of my heart and my entire world view. I’ve shared it before and I will briefly here again, that stepping into the home of my dear friend Molly all those years ago truly changed the course of my life forever. The Lord used her, her faith, her family, and her home to open my eyes to the reality of my desperate need and longing for a Savior. The Gospel was alive. The Truth given in the Bible was completely tangible and totally available. Even to me, an unworthy sinner. 

I was afraid at the time, not completely understanding all that was happening to and around me. I knew I desired to be reconciled to God but I knew I wasn’t worthy. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own and that only through Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross, could I be reunited with my Creator. Day by day, scripture was revealed to me, as truth poured out of both the pages of the Bible and from Molly’s own life and words. She was so beautiful to me. 

Her home was warm. Inviting. So peaceful. So fun. Her children were filled with imagination, tender, respectful, and still somehow so crazy and loud. The memories even now are still vivid and I’m reminded quite frequently of the way I felt in their home. I can’t say my own home will ever feel to another the way hers did to me, but certainly, that is something I pray and long for. 

When I first started babysitting for her family, the oldest of her four children was an eight year old girl named Hannah. Hannah Jo. She was my sidekick and greatest helper. If I didn’t know what to do or where something went or what time we needed to be doing what, she proved to be my greatest resource. And she didn’t even try to trick me! She loved learning and reading and swimming and playing. And haha...I don’t know if it was her necessarily, but I just now recalled a memory of me pulling up to their house while it was snowing and seeing tiny faces peering out of their front room window, waiting for me and cheering when I pulled up in my pink Chevy Cavalier. Hahaha. Ah. Those kids!

Anyways...all that to say...

That 8 year old is a freshman in college now. 

And she loves the Lord. 

And after all the time that’s gone by, she and her family have supported and loved us well from afar. 

But now, she’s sleeping in my guest bedroom just a few feet away. Hannah is here. She’s here in Florida with us! And my goodness, I am so grateful. To see her alongside my own four children is a reality I couldn’t even try to picture all those years ago. We love you Hannah! I love you Molly. And we’re so glad she’s here. 

God. I am in awe. Thank You.