"How many kids do you have anyway?"

This is such a hard question for me for a couple of reasons.

 One reason is I have the memory of a goldfish and it's hard for me to remember their names

  most times sometimes let alone how many of them there are.

Here's the main reason it's hard to answer that question.  There are many kids that aren't legally mine that I have a mother's heart for.

  I saw an amazing example of this in another mom just this week.  I got the honor and privilege of meeting a lady named Beverly. 

 She is a "mom". 

 One of her children is from Uganda and she has never even met him in person.

 I had never met this mom in person before Sunday, but I know and love her son Patrick in Uganda. 

 Her son is a grown adult and she has been his mom for 5 years.  People may think it is just a nice thing to be a "parent" to someone from Africa that needs sponsored and yes, it is nice to sponsor a child and pray for them, but this relationship is far beyond a sponsor relationship. 

 This is a full blown MOTHER / SON relationship. 

 "Mom" is not just a cute little title given to a nice lady that sends in a check every month.  The name mom is given to Beverly by Patrick because she loves him and cares for him like a mom and he listens to her and loves her like a son.

  I sat in awe of our God when I met Patrick's mom, Beverly.  She had testimony after testimony of how God used her mama's heart and prayers to pour into Patrick, whom she had never even met in person.  

She has poured hours of prayer, love, counsel, communication, time, paperwork and money into her son.   

She has done things in support of her son Patrick,  that made her seem foolish or ignorant to people that didn't know what God was doing.

 When, the whole time, she was loving her son with a mother's love and she was going before her heavenly Father time and time again and being obedient to His call on her life as a mom to this talented young man.

I got to sit and listen and enjoy the great things God has done when He brought these 2 hearts together for His name sake and His glory and just because

 HE IS GOOD.

God has used Beverly over and over in Patrick's life and God has used Patrick in her life and the life of her community so profoundly.

This mother and son get to meet face to face tomorrow and I can only imagine that it will have the same excitement and emotions that happen in the delivery room when a mom gets to hold her baby for the very first time.

Happy Mother's Day to Beverly!!! 

 I know God has heard your prayers and guided and directed your heart towards your son.