Bathe It In Prayer Wednesday...

Precious Friends,

Or, should I call you Precious Crickets...you've been very quiet in the comments section these past few days. Are you sleeping? Have we broken up?

Anybody there?

:)

Oh well, I'm good at talking to myself...so I'll just rattle on...

I have a special person to tell you about today, and then I'm going to ask you to pray over my upcoming time with him.

My brother Blain is coming to visit me today and stay the night with us.

I am beside myself with excitement!

Let me tell you about Blain-o, Uncle Blain, The Blainster.

:o)

Blain was my hero when I was a little girl. He is 5.5 years older than me, and he was the best brother a little girl could have ever asked for.

He loved me.

He taught me how to skin a squirrel.

He taught me to love the woods, and the solitude that they offered.

He didn't beat me up when he was in High School and had just brought his new girlfriend over, and I came running out to show her his Jr. High picture where he had a huge fever blister on his lip yelling, "Look! Look! It's a booger! EEEW! A huge booger!"

And, he let me live.

Now, that's a good brother!

:O)

When the little boy down the block was constantly harrassing me on the bus, Blain took me aside one afternoon and spent hours with me, teaching me to fight.

The next day, when the kid pulled my dress up, I told him not to do it again or he was going to get it when I got off the bus!

He did it again.

Bad choice...my brother was a good coach.

That little boy went home with a bloody nose, crying for his Momma!

Whoo-ah!

Problem solved. :O)

When my brother went off to college, and worked to pay his way through, he never missed giving me a very nice gift for my birthday and Christmas.

You gotta consider...he was an 18 year old young man....yet he thought it important enough to spend what little money he had left over, after paying for his schooling, to buy me a special gift each time. And special they were...each one lovingly chosen just for me.

Hindsight really is 20/20, isn't it?

I was a teenager, I didn't get what a sacrifice he was making just to love on me.

I know now, those gifts mean more to me now than they did then.

As we grew older, I got more and more stupid.

Truly.

I spent the years from about 18-29 determined to destroy my life. I found free rent in the cesspool, and thought "Hey...it's free. I'll move there!"

The cesspool of life.

It's not free, by the way. It costs much in the end.

So, there was a strain on my relationship with my brother for many years. It was my fault, not his.

In the midst of all of my insanity, he married one of the most hospitable women I've ever met. Her name is Patty, and she's quite different than me, but I have come to love her dearly as I have watched her lovingly care for and serve my family.

She is the epitome of a gracious hostess. She leaves me speechless!

And, she's a straight-shooter. I love that about her, and I've learned so much from her about how to be the same. Truly, I appreciate knowing where I stand with someone, and Patty has taught how to express the same in my life.

What a huge gift that's been, to a girl who grew up in the South, where often we don't shoot so straight.

I love Patty.

Then, they had Sam, the wonder nephew. Oh, what a ball of energy he is!

What a funny, smart, adorable little guy! We love him so much!

So, here's my prayer request for today, "Bathe It In Prayer Wednesday"....

I want my sweet brother to feel so loved on while he's here. I want him to feel at home.

My heart wants to be able to serve his every need, to anticipate what he'll want before he wants it, to fill his tea glass and wait on him hand and foot.

I want to serve him.

But I'm just not at that point physically right now.

I'm weak, and my body is adjusting to meds...so I'm just a bit off at this moment.

He's not going to care. I know that. He doesn't want to be served. That's me..that's my desire.

He just wants to come and be with us.

That's what he'll get...just us, dustbunnies and all...because I don't have the energy to pick them up right now.

I just want him to feel loved on. I want him to leave here feeling bathed in the love of his family, and the love of Christ through us.

So, would you please pray for our time together...that it will be precious, sweet, and restorative?

I sure do 'preciate ya. :)

Today, I love you all the way to God's Right Hand,

Jes