I know you’ve heard the stories But they all sound too good to be true You’ve heard about a place called home But there doesn’t seem to be one for you So one more night you cry yourself to sleep And drift off to a distant dream
Where love takes you in and everything changes A miracle starts with the beat of a heart When love takes you home and says you belong here The loneliness ends and a new life begins When love takes you in
And somewhere while you’re sleeping Someone else is dreaming too Counting down the days until They hold you close and say I love you And like the rain that falls into the sea In a moment what has been is lost in what will be
When love takes you in everything changes A miracle starts with the beat of a heart And this love will never let you go There is nothing that could evercause this love to lose its hold When love takes you in everything changes A miracle starts with the beat of a heart When love takes you home and says you belong here The loneliness ends and a new life begins When love takes you in it takes you in for good When love takes you in
This song has been such a blessing to me over the last almost 5 years. The first time I heard it was on a DVD that I watched from American World Adoption Association (the agency we used to adopt Nora). This week has been one of joy and of sorrow for the last couple of years.
On September 13, 2008 I flew to China to bring Nora home. On September 13, 2009 I lost my mom after a 3 year battle with cancer.Tomorrow will be 2 years since I saw my beautiful daughter for the first time. I am so very thankful for the year that God gave me with my mom and Nora.Last week I started helping my best friend Sherri with Operation Giggle (www.operationgiggle.blogspot.com) so my mind has been on orphans and widows this week. I enjoy helping with this ministry as I know this is close to God’s heart.
James 1:27 says “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
I believe we are ALL called to this ministry. What have you done lately to help someone that is in need? With ALL my Love…
My best friend of course is Sherri Denise Epperson Roe.
She was born on July 7, 1980 and just turned the big 30!!! Lol (sorry had to throw that in!).
Sherri is a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, teacher, preacher, counselor, therapist, chauffeur (not to me), cook, event organizer, decorator or whatever else hat she has to put on at any given time.
Sherri is my best friend for many reasons. We have been friends for 15 years and she has been there for me in the best of times and in the worst of times. She was with me on September 16, 2008 when Nora was placed in my arms for the first time at the Civil Affairs office in Kunming, Ch*na. And she was there on September 16, 2009 when I said goodbye to my mother for the last time at Fike Funeral Home.
Our friendship has had its ups and downs. And I have been so mad at her before that I wanted to choke her. And I am sure she has been that mad at me too. But I would always go back to those times when I needed her most and she was ALWAYS there. Even when know one else was. When everyone else had turned their back on me Sherri was there to wipe my years and send me a flowers and take me for a pedicure and threaten to kill some stupid guy that was not worth the breath we were wasting talking about him.
My friendship with Sherri is probably the most secure friendship I have outside of my immediate family. I never worry that she is going to walk away and not be my friend anymore because of something stupid that I did.
When I think of my friendship with Sherri it reminds me of the Love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. (NIV)
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
Verse 8 says “Love never fails”. The ESV (English Standard Version) says “Love never ends”. I take that as meaning that “true” Love never ends.
My friendship with Sherri is what true love is about. Friends that are friends through the good times and the bad times.
