Man behind me at the Panda Express

To the young man behind me at Panda Express. I want to share with you a little bit about me and my family. During the day I serve families that need assistance in meeting their basic needs. I work across the country in hopes of causing awareness about people living in poverty and sharing ways to better connect with people living in poverty. I do my best every day to live my purpose in life. Isaiah 61 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. When I’m not at work I am a wife, mother to four beautiful children and I am Nama to a beautiful little boy named Tristan. My husband Jacob serves with in the school district. My daughter Keila serves in a different corner of the city. She serves cancer patients 8-5 Monday through Friday. My younger daughter Christian is 12 hours away at the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota and every day she serves 22 young ladies that live on her floor. My youngest son Josh recently injured his ankle and is now recovering from surgery and he too serves at whatever capacity he is able to. Now my oldest son JD, well he is a Marine and he too recently had surgery. He was injured during training and it has taken almost two years to finally get him the surgery he has needed since his accident. It was difficult at home when my son was away at boot camp but we honored the way he chose to serve. So as his family we supported him 100%. It was hard to see our grandson struggle because his uncle was away. This little guy didn’t understand why someone he loves so much wouldn’t come home. As a family we found it difficult to sleep, at night, not knowing what our son was going through. We spent many nights on our knees in prayer.

Young man behind me at Panda Express our family has had a trying few months with injury, surgeries, loss and goodbyes.  To be completely honest it has been overwhelming. You caught me at a vulnerable moment. I was sitting in line asking God for my son.

Young man behind me at Panda Express I want you to know I am not a political person and I have recently began working on guarding my heart. Which for me simply means I am careful of what I read in the paper, social media and careful what I watch. I find it hurtful to read things like men and women choosing to kneel or sit when they should be standing in honor of the flag. A while back my son made the decision to enlist and by doing so he understood that he would serve those that honored him and his family as well as those that didn’t.  He was willing to sacrifice himself in order that others may have the freedoms we have today as well as the freedoms we are working towards.  We have come a long way in our country but we still have a long way to go.

So to those that choose to sit or kneel your lack of respect will not deter our military. Every day they will wake way before any one of us and every day they will stand watch and make sure our freedoms are intact.  So let me take this opportunity to encourage you to make your point in a different manner. Instead of sitting please stand, together we can work towards more freedoms. If you want to kneel, kneel in prayer and pray for our military and their families. Kneel to help someone out of an unwanted situation. Kneel as you lay flowers on a grave for some that has given their life for our freedom.  

 So young man behind me at the Panda Express, today I extend a heart filled thank you. Tears run down my face as I pray and ask God on your behalf. Thank you for honoring the momma of a Marine. Thank you for honoring my family. Thank you for honoring all military and their families. When you honor one of us you honor all of us but most of all thank you for honoring my Marine.