Today was another one of those France days. The kind where I wanted to crawl in a hole and hide. Julia had a painting exhibition. We were all excited to see her painting. She’d been careful to choose just the right one. She handed it to her teacher who said she’d “take care of it.” However she never told me it was my responsibility to frame it.

So we got to the exhibition and couldn’t find her painting. I felt like an utter failure as a mom. I didn’t frame her picture! (I truly didn’t know.) But I couldn’t help but think it was my French skills that landed me in this predicament. Silently I wondered what my kids thought of me. I wondered how shameful it was to have an unintelligent mother. Sheesh.

But, God chose to start my day with two good emails. He must’ve known I needed them today. One was from Jules who was kind enough to send me this photo from her tree. She knew I liked lilacs.

Another was from someone I’ve never met. A fellow expatriate living away from home. Somehow God used the words on my website to bless her. She wrote this beautiful sentence: “Thank you Mary for allowing the Lord to shine through your words, you may never know how released my heart feels to just keep on, keeping on.”

Thank You God for knowing the day I would have and for sending me encouragement in the form of lilacs and expats.