Tomorrow is Jerri’s birthday, and I cannot let it pass without honoring what she and Jim have meant to my life.

After Pat died, I was not crushed in mourning the way people might expect.
I was lifted — truly lifted — by the Holy Spirit.

And in that tender, holy season, Jim and Jerri opened their home and gave me a place where my new life could begin to take shape.

Their home - their every day - was filled with Bible, prayer, worship, conversation, kindness, and people who genuinely loved God.

That time in Indiana did not just comfort me.
It formed me. It helped anchor me.

It gave me space to grow into the next early, indellible chapter the Lord was writing in my life.

That time in their home became one of the most Spirit-filled seasons of my life.
Literally, it set the bar for my expectatons for life.
Only powerful lovers of Christ could be that next part of my life. 
I see it so clearly now - it had to be them.

It was friendship, yes.
It was hospitality, yes.
But it was also ministry.

Jerri became more than a friend to me.
She became a Christ-sister — the kind of woman who does not need to fix everything, but knows how to sit near you, pray for you, make room for you, and gently, patiently, point you back to the Lord.

There are friendships built on history, humor, circumstance, or convenience.

But then there are friendships bound by something deeper:
a shared love for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
That is the tie that does not loosen when life changes.
That is the sisterhood that holds when grief comes.
That is a friendship that can part without parting.
That is the family God gives us by His Spirit.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
— Galatians 6:2

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
— Proverbs 17:17

Jerri, you have loved me with the kind of love that reflects Him.
You and Jim gave me shelter in more ways than one.
You gave me a grace-filled place to heal, become "into something new" - and I will never forget it.

Happy birthday, my dear friend, my sister in Christ, my Indiana blessing.
I thank God for you.

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
— John 13:35