Eve­ry fall we have a Mot­her’s Camp here in Ari­zo­na. It is a re­fu­ge from the world for one wee­kend, a chan­ce to be up­lif­ted in faith and to share our bur­dens. The dis­cus­si­ons al­wa­ys flow free­ly and eve­ry ye­ar I mar­vel that I’m not alo­ne. The same thoughts and doubts the de­vil brings are al­so sha­red by so many ot­hers and it’s ok to share these bur­dens. In Heb­rews it says “Whe­re­fo­re see­ing we al­so are com­pas­sed about with so great a cloud of wit­nes­ses, let us lay asi­de eve­ry weight, and the sin which doth so ea­si­ly be­set us, and let us run with pa­tien­ce the race that is set be­fo­re us.”

But luc­ki­ly, we need not wait for op­por­tu­ni­ties like Mot­her’s Camp. We’ve been bles­sed with many ot­her ways to gat­her throug­hout the ye­ar. I have re­al­ly en­jo­yed my mor­ning vi­sits with va­ri­ous friends. A be­ne­fit of being a stay at home mom has been the many chan­ces I get to sit with a friend and sip cof­fee while the kids play at our feet. These vi­sits can break up the mo­no­to­ny that ca­ring for the home and fa­mi­ly can be. Alt­hough the kids bring much joy and laugh­ter, the dai­ly tasks can be­co­me re­pe­ti­ti­ve and this yo­ung mom be­co­mes rest­less.

Vo­lun­tee­ring at camps, in the kitc­hen at church or with fund­rai­sers al­lows vi­si­ting with new pe­op­le at ti­mes. Es­pe­ci­al­ly at camps where we are away from home and wor­king many hours to­get­her, I have made new friends who I wouldn’t ty­pi­cal­ly vi­sit with on a re­gu­lar ba­sis. These vi­sits have re­min­ded me that we are of one flock. We have our first craft mar­ket co­ming up in a coup­le months and it has been fun to at­tend the craft nights where we can vi­sit and laugh while doing so­met­hing we love. When sha­red with friends the work is ea­sy and the night goes quick­ly. With our de­si­re to build a church we have been fund­rai­sing as much as we can. One fund­rai­ser that hap­pens of­ten is wed­ding ca­te­ring at the ne­ar­by cong­re­ga­ti­on of Pho­e­nix. This duty brings both men and wo­men of our cong­re­ga­ti­on in­to the kitc­hen to feed the mas­ses. I have re­al­ly en­jo­yed these events and have gone home ti­red but hap­py.

We may find our­sel­ves vi­si­ting most of the time with fa­mi­ly where it is com­for­tab­le and fa­mi­li­ar. But we may al­so ex­pe­rien­ce a bles­sing when we ap­p­ro­ach some less fa­mi­li­ar pe­op­le in ser­vi­ces. Even the kids have made new friends in this way. It is so good for us to vi­sit with dif­fe­rent God’s child­ren of all ages both and to keep our mind and he­art open to those around us.

Dif­fe­rent tri­als have al­so brought dif­fe­rent friends in­to our life. With the loss of a baby, we con­nec­ted with ot­hers who lost lo­ved ones. This has been one huge bles­sing that came with our trial. We were yo­ung and had not had too many chan­ces to ser­ve our brot­hers and sis­ters, yet so many re­ac­hed out and ser­ved us through the days of mour­ning. We quick­ly le­ar­ned of the lo­ving arms of the cong­re­ga­ti­on mot­her.

Our yo­uth (haps) group in our small cong­re­ga­ti­on has been very small but slow­ly gro­wing over the past few ye­ars. We have re­al­ly en­jo­yed hos­ting them in our home. Our yo­ung child­ren re­al­ly be­ne­fit from it as they look up to these tee­na­gers so much and fol­low their examp­les.

A dear mot­her at the past Mot­her’s Camp sha­red her thoughts and ex­pe­rien­ces of how im­por­tant it is to bring yo­ur child­ren to the gat­he­rings of God’s child­ren. I found it a nice re­min­der for us yo­un­ger moms who can feel so busy and the task of get­ting the lit­t­le kids out the door in time for church is ne­ver too ea­sy. Even though the tod­d­lers can make church feel like a cir­cus, I have ne­ver reg­ret­ted brin­ging them to ser­vi­ces. It is good to re­mem­ber that these days will pass and by going to ser­vi­ces our kids will de­ve­lop las­ting re­la­ti­ons­hips with those be­lie­ving friends they see week af­ter week. When yo­ur ul­ti­ma­te goal is he­a­ven, it is ref­res­hing and com­for­ting to vi­sit with ot­hers who share this same goal.