Thank you, times a million.

I don't have a lot of time at the moment, I have homework to finish by 11 pm tonight, but I wanted to do a quick update.

Can I just say how FLOORED I am by the overwhelming personal responses I got to my Prayer Request blog post from last week? Not only did I get just messages, phone calls, texts and emails, but I got the ultimate answer to what it was all about.

As I said in the post, I attend The Chapel in Libertyville. Its my home church, and no matter how far the Navy takes us, they will always be my first real church family. I fully credit everyone there (Lynn, Krystie, Heidi, Kim, Matt, Jeff, Thomas, Steven, Danina, Hope, Tony and so many more) for me being where I am today. No matter how short some of our interactions have been, they matter. I was broken, stubborn, cold, shut off and almost dead inside until you all became my light. I met Thomas first, and I just cant say enough of how instrumental he was in lighting my path not only to God, but to fixing my failing marriage, that has grown and flourished since then into something I never thought it could be. I could not have taken these steps towards an amazing and passionate relationship with God with out every single one of you.

I wrote my last blog with no motive other than the obvious, extra prayer! Not long after it was posted, my TGA leader called me to tell me it had her in tears. I admit, I thought she lost her marbles for a minute (haha, love ya!) but I understand that it came on a very personal level of acknowledgment that SHE is in fact making a difference. After she read it, passed it on the the TGA director, who was in a meeting and shared it with the folks there. It continued on this little path until it landed in the hands of our campus pastor, Matt who read it and decided he was going to use it in that weekends message.

Wow.

I didn't know what to say. Never in my life did I think my little ramblings on here actually affected other people in such a way.

So there I was, sitting in service and Matt pulls my blog up on his blackberry and reads a good portion of it to help inspire others to want to volunteer with TGA. I'm still pretty much at a loss for words on how that felt to me. All three of the services at my home church heard that.

Sometimes we feel pretty insignificant, and then we are shown just how wrong we are.

As you can guess, I accepted the leadership role and today was my first real day in action, though I wasn't fully expecting it yet, lol. I am surrounded by some amazing and beautiful people who are just so accepting and if I screwed anything up, they never let on!

As I sit here in the quiet, I think about all the changes in my life in the last year. I have no doubt in my mind that the me today is better, more loving, accepting, understanding, compassionate, and forgiving than the me less than a year ago.

I also know, I never could have gotten here today on my own.

So thank you. You ALL know who you are.

Mrs. J