Our role always changes...

This blog is really talking about how one person can be so many things. I will use my dad, Mark Blum,as an example. He is my Father, but before he was my father, he was (And still is) a husband. This is a role he has had for 25 years now! He loves being a husband but before that, he was and still is a son. He also is a brother. To some he has been a youth pastor, and to some he has been a close friend. To some he has been an employee, and to my cousins, he has been an uncle. These are all the general roles of Mark Blum.

On this trip to Jamaica, I found myself in many roles for the purpose of serving God and his kingdom. I helped with media and took photos. But yet I also am a wife and support to Alex. I am a new daughter to Mark and Laurie but yet I am a friend to those I have met on the trip. So how do we know what to do? Who to be? Well I figure we need to be listening to the Holy spirit and see what role he has for us that day- because he has SO MUCH MORE for us to do than we can comprehend. For example, During one particular morning I was in my "photographer role". I was taking photos, and trying to capture the VBS going on in Norwood. There were kids left and right coming up to me. Hugging me, talking to me, but mostly, I stayed focused on my task. To which one girl (with a backwards hat) kept hitting and blocking my camera so I could not get the shots I wanted or needed. This was Annoying.

I tried to pay her no attention as to not feed into her antagonistic personality- but something inside me said just to sit with her. She obviously needs something. So I sat. We sat without talking for a very long time. Until she finally blurted out, "Do you have a mom?" "Yes." I replied. "Where is she?" "At home." "oh......" she answered. I watched her brain going and going as she slowly just laid her head onto my arm where we stayed the rest of the service. As we got up to go she looked at me with tears and said "I do not have a mom." Then she walked away. This hit me hard. Because for that hour, we just sat there. To me, I felt as though I wasn't fulfilling my role as a photographer- and was pretty distracted as to why I was sitting with her- but to her (Daysha), I was the only female shoulder she had rested on in a long time. That hour to her comforted her in some way- and Had I ignored her- and not realized the role of a mother I needed to play that day- I might have missed out on loving a child who needed it most. I had the privelidge of being with her the next 2 days. We had a wonderful time. (Pictured is Daysha, Me and Anisha)

The very same day, we went to a place called "Hope Hospice." This place is a very special home for Sick, elderly and Aids Patients". This home will remind you how much you have to be truly thankful for after spending only a few minutes inside. It was there that I met Miss Beverly. Miss Beverly has not been in "Hope Hospice" too long. She is fairly new, so there is not too much that I know about her.

On this particular day however, I entered Miss Beverly's room talking, sharing some "sweeties" with her and then she cried. She spoke on horrible her day was because her daughters had called. But they called and they were crying because they are too young to find their way up the hill to this facility that their mom is "checked into".
"How far away do they live? " I asked. Only to find out they live only a short 15 minutes away. Will they ever be able to see their mom? Probably not until they get older. This is because they live with their father who will not allow them to see their "sick" mother anymore. She held my hand- and I told her when I miss my mom (Who was far away) I just pray for her. "Then can we pray together- and today I will be your mother, and you can be my daughter. Just for today?" She asked. This startled me- not because it was hard to understand, but because it was SO SIMPLE. God's love is so simple. It is US who complicate things.

So for that afternoon- I sat with Beverly as we prayed. We talked- and I was her daughter for that day- and that was just fine with me :) A daughter to one person, and a mother to another. A wife to my husband- and a daughter to my parents. These are very simple roles- ones we need to be ready to be when God needs us to give love to lost and hurting.

SO I challenge you... what roles do you play? What has God created you to be not only naturally? But Spiritually? I am not a mother yet- but on several occasions this trip I have been called to be someone's "mother" for a day. Be the person God created you to be- but be ready to shape into different roles. Be flexible. Be ready- and be willing to be all he needs and more!