I Understand......

For any POM that has not found the NATIONAL NETWORK OF PARENTS OF MISSIONARIES
website I highly recommend looking it up.I have it linked on the side bar. They have a yahoo group that allows POM's to connect with one another online.
Today Carla wrote about her missionary family. She shared that her new baby grandchild had just left for the mission field with his parents.

I have to say that this letter really moved me. I had such empathy for her and her family.
I think that sending a new baby off to the mission field is one of the hardest parts of being a missionary grandma.
When my youngest grandson was born I also had the privilege of spending some time with him. I remember holding baby Joel as I walked around the block. Crying and praying thanking God that I had had this time to hold him, kiss his little head, rock him,pray for him. He would never remember, but it was a memory that I would treasure.

My missionary family left when Joel was only two months old. It was so hard knowing that I would probably not see him until he was at least 2 years old, and he would be walking and talking by then.

This was one of those times that I just called out to God and had to give him the sorrow and the pain. God met me there, and carried the burden that day, but I realized that the reality of that sorrow is tucked away in my heart because today as I read the letter from Carla and contemplated writing this entry I found myself feeling the sorrow again and crying off and on all day.

It is now 3 years later. Joel is thriving.I have seen him once and I will get to see him again this year. I'm excited and looking forward to getting to know him, and him to know me. As I write this I just have to thank God for His goodness.

Since Joel's birth, God has blessed us with another grandson. He lives here. I do not take for granted his smile,or each time he is excited to see me,or his hugs,or my being able to watch him grow. He doesn't take Joel's place, but he has helped to bind up the wound.

"He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds." Ps.147:3