Family Matters

I don’t know if many people know this or not, but for the last six months I have been welcomed to live in the home of a wonderful family…the King family. It’s so cool, because last summer it was such a God-ordained thing. I had applied for two internships for last summer… “CMT” and “gmc.” I really never expected to get either of the two internships. The cool thing? CMT called to accept me into their internship program in Nashville, but they had made a mistake. Instead of accepting me for the summer of 2009, they accepted me for the spring. The cool part comes in later, because after I was accepted to intern with CMT for the Spring, gmc called and accepted me for the summer. So… had CMT not accepted me for the spring, I wouldn't have been able to do both internships. God is so cool like that!

Anyway, I am getting off track with my story. So back to my internship with gmc. I didn’t have a place to stay in Atlanta and I couldn’t afford an apartment by myself for 3 months on an internships salary (which is $0.00.) So I reached out to some friends of mine, and they reached out to their friends. One sweet and precious family prayed about it, and decided to welcome me… a total stranger…into their home. So I stayed here for six weeks last year. Then I just felt the Lord calling me back to gmc after graduation, so I came back for a continuation of my internship. I reached out to the family again and once more they welcomed me back into their home. I was only going to stay here for six more weeks, but then gmc invited me to take a part on their team! At the time, I also had another job opportunity, so I began to pray over the two and I knew in my heart that I was to stay here in Atlanta. Which is funny, because-at the time- there wasn’t anything in Atlanta that appealed to me. It’s so neat how the Lord changes our heart.

So, after praying about it and hearing from the Lord, clear as a bell, I accepted the job with gmc and was invited to stay with the King family as long as I needed to.

Now that you have the back-story… here is the absolutely wonderful part about this family. They have a 14-year-old daughter, Olivia. Olivia is sick. She has been for several years. She is in complete need of a liver transplant, and up until now Mr. King was searching for employment all while being a student working on his second college degree. Having said that, it just brings tears to my eyes and makes me completely misty too know that this self-less family decided to take this random college student into their home and put a shelter over her head. God is completely amazing, because I have fallen completely in love with this family and feel as if I really am apart of their family. I just can’t get over the love of Jesus that they have shown to me by just allowing me to live with them. I’m now preparing to move, and they have made it clear to me that they don’t want me to go. I can’t think of many people that would honestly feel that way after having a stranger live with them… you’d figure they’d be ready for me to leave. But no… wow. Makes me cry to feel so extremely loved.



Anyway, sweet Olivia turned 14 today, and I’m sitting here listening to the ice cream maker going, smelling the corn cobs roasting on the grill, and watching everyone run around the house with complete joy. Friendship. Love. Dinner is almost ready and we’ll all sit down together, as Family, to eat and celebrate another year of Olivia’s life. Liv is getting ready to transplant sometime this summer, and I know God has great things planned for her life after this. She truly is my mini me and I can tell that she looks up to me. I love that, because at 14, I can still name each person that had an affect on my life. I’m glad that I am able to be apart of hers and this great family. Just watching what this sweet girl has gone through in her life, and how she still has so much “life” in her spirit, it’s totally inspiring. It’s amazing how someone so young can teach someone who is ten-year-older than her so much. It’s so cool how God works too, Olivia has always wanted a sibling… and I’ve always wanted a younger sister. It’s a winning situation. But… you always win with God. Yeah. Thank you, Jesus.