Coming Home

This weekend was a journey "home." It was not the home of my childhood where family and friends of my past still live. And it was not the home where I live now and serve God with my husband and children. It was the home where my heart was born. It was the home of where I discovered myself and my God in a very life transforming way. It was the home of the most defining moments in my life. It is the home of my "heart friends" and "heart moms and dads." It is my mountaintop - where my heart is reminded of and stirred in the deepest way toward God. Being there gives me focus and warm fuzzies and peace and energy to go back to my true home and be better, live life, take risks and serve God - Northwood Church, Texas. God comforts my heart there. O how I needed your comfort, Father! Thank you!

Sherry and James, Hank and Deb, Bob and Nikki, Ashley and Ben, Mark and Missy, Amy and Matt, Amy and Jeff, Alethea and Jon, Christina, Bill and Kay, David, Randy, and. . . Thank you God for the comfort of familiar faces - for hugs and laughs and care that comes from those who knew me and loved me before I was a pastor's wife or a mom - people who knew me just as adult Amy. They loved me then and they love me today and they bring me joy and a sense of belonging that is genuine and heart felt and good. May your hands be upon them, Lord. May you protect and direct their days.

God, how I wish I would have understood the implications upon my life of those three years that I spent in Texas and at Northwood when I was living them. I would have drank in every moment and savored every opportunity. But Lord, your gracious hand was upon me when I didn't even know it. You were planting pieces of my heart in Texas soil that will forever remain. You provided me with a photo album of snapshot memories in my mind of people and experiences that I will forever hold dear. You prepared me there. You nurtured and matured and blessed me there. You touched my heart there. You sent me away from there to serve you. Thank you for the journey. Thank you for the opportunity to revisit those pieces of my heart.