(Honestly, I just couldn't come up with a great title so I borrowed one. You are welcome for getting this song stuck in your head.)
All right, you MOMS Club moms - you knew this one was coming! A post about MOMS Club, but also about so much more...
Yesterday was quite a day! The morning started out with a group of ladies from the Ripon-Salida MOMS Club and their adorable munchkins enjoying coffee and snacks in my house (funny, that made it sound like the munchkins enjoyed the coffee - they didn't, just the mommies). There were about 12 of us moms and about the same amount of kiddos. For over 2 hours the noise inside the house was louder than the noise outside (and there was a noisy Bobcat digging a hole in my backyard!)
I can't tell you how many women have mentioned how MOMS Club has changed their life. It is an international organization of Moms Offering Moms Support. And support each other, we do! There are meals for new moms with newborns or for those who are in the midst of a tragedy. There are activities nearly every weekday for the kids and moms to participate in together, including Recipe Club, Crafting, Walking Club, picnics, Tune Time, and even a Moms Night Out once a month for the Mommies to have a night out from the kids!
The best part for me was not all the fun activities that my children have had the opportunity to participate in. It wasn't doing Community Projects together. It hasn't even been the evenings out with just the moms (although those are SUPER fun!). It has been the conversations with moms who can relate to what I am going through or what I have been through. It is being able to tell another Mom that I know exactly what they are feeling because I felt it too when my daughter or son was that age. It is the encouragement I still receive from other moms (and I've been a part of this group for 5+ years!)
Today's gift of survival: Friendship. I have heard many stories of women (often new moms) who feel lonely or depressed because of life's circumstances, whatever they might be. Do you know just how valuable friendship is for that person? It can literally save that person's life! Sometimes life is hard and to face difficult times alone is even harder! But having a shoulder or an ear from a friend, even if there is nothing that friend can do but listen, is invaluable.
I've been through a few rough patches in my young life with an anxiety disorder, the loss of my Dad, and raising a strong-willed child. Without understanding and loving people in my life at those crucial moments, I'm not sure I would have come out on top! (I'm still not sure how things are going to end up with the strong-willed one, but at least I know of others going through practically the same thing.)
MOMS Club has been my salvation at times, but that was because God put those people in my life at just the right time. He orchestrated the friendships I have now. And now, I feel that because of my experiences, perhaps I can be that encouragement, that hope to someone in need. Maybe all the difficulties God walked me through was so that I could be a help to someone walking through the same experiences.
*And just to make sure no one thinks I'm promoting: I do love my MOMS Club friends, but the focus of this post was the value of friendship, no matter where you find it (well, now that I think about it, there might be some places you don't want to go looking for friendships...) And perhaps maybe you are being prodded to be a friend to someone in need. All that stuff you've been through that has "grown" you might actually help to "grow" someone else.
KC
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