Three years ago yesterday I flew to see Jim ... our third meeting and our first in his hometown. Three years ago today he picked me up at his parents' home and took me to the farm. After showing me the pigs, we went to the farm house and he introduced me to his sister-in-law.
And dropped me off to spend the day with her. :)
It had been one of the wettest, and thus latest, harvest seasons that anyone remembered. He hadn't been able to get into the fields for weeks, but on the weekend I visited, the fields were dry enough to work.
We both understood that ~ and his sister-in-law did, too.
She and I had a lovely day together, around her kitchen table, getting acquainted and hearing parts of each other's stories. I was touched during her lunchtime prayer when she asked God to use the weekend to help Jim and me get to know each other better. {He answered!}
We couldn't know if there would be a future for Jim and me. Thus we couldn't know if I would ever see her again.
We couldn't know that in the coming years I would spend countless mornings at her kitchen table (just a few miles from mine), catching up and visiting, sharing tears and laughter, encouraging one another and stirring one another up to love and good works.
Today I'm thankful for all my sisters-in-law, including the ones who live more than a few miles away!
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