Being on the road is amazing. Though you don't always get enough sleep or food when you want it, you're always meeting new people and hearing new stories from the kids and adults you meet while traveling. I love spending time with the band, as we're all a little crazy and make ridiculous jokes. It's been a journey of learning how to be both friends and family with one another, but it's become natural to us for the most part. Those we may not have felt close to at the beginning are now become good friends and a strong support system.
The thing for me is, I don't have any other girls on the team. I love spending time with the guys, and it's almost easier for me as I grew up with two older brothers and didn't have a sister until I was in high school. But it does get lonely on occasion being the only female. I meet young women on the road in middle and high school, and it's definitely fun spending time with them! But I miss spending time with other women who are my age and in my stage of life. #ineedfriends
God blessed me with some of those women in Oregon. I have a couple good friends who are young married women that I get to see every once in a while, and they are such an encouragement to me. Their names are Belle and Claudia, and they are good friends of mine from college. It's cool because we're the same age, but they have been married a few more years than I and can pour into me in that way. #missthem
But while I'm on the road, I can't take them with me. I'm the only woman and the only wife. Garrett is a huge support and encouragement to me, and I couldn't be doing what we are without him. He is my God-given gift and I grow more thankful for him everyday. I know that our love is from God, and that's why our marriage is so strong and happy. #godsgift
Though I'm not lonely, I miss that sense of kinship and friendship that comes with being around people of a similar stage of life. And this past week, God put someone in my path that I wasn't expecting.
Final Greetings was going to be visiting Folsom, CA to do a two-band concert and overnighter with the Harbor City Church youth group. The youth pastor Jamison had traveled with Cadence Please, one of Final Greeting's mother-bands. We were really excited to be there, but as usual I had no idea what he or his wife looked like.
We walk in at the end of youth group, and I see a young woman in the back waving at us. It takes me a second to look at her, because I had no idea who she was. She was a tall and skinny, had curly dirty-blond hair that turned blue-green at the ends and had spiral earrings in. Not at all what I expected from the wife of a youth pastor. She told me her name was Shannon. #surprise
But after short conversation with her, she grew on me. She was so friendly and kind, and I soon learned that she and her husband Jamison were almost the same age as Garrett and I and had been married for two years. During dinner we got hear their story of how they came together, and share ours as well.
I decided that I wanted to get to know her better, and that I would spend time with her. I'm so glad I did, because we all of the sudden became friends. We could share our stories, both good and bad, and know that we were in a safe place. We both really enjoyed having another young married woman around, as it was rare for us to find. #unexpected
All the next day we spent talking as we prepared for the overnighter. We went shopping, assembled s'mores kits, and bared our hearts and struggles to each other. It was so encouraging and uplifting to know that we shared the same beliefs in God, desire to honor our husbands, and to follow whatever God is calling us to.
Though the friendship came quick, it was strong. And though we only were able to spend a couple days together, it felt like a week. To share time with a woman who so passionately loves God and her husband was a great encouragement to me. Their marriage was strong, filled with love and service to each other and to God. And their story was quite similar in timeline and feelings to Garrett and mine. To see another couple who had walked a similar path that was just a few years ahead of us and were still happy was a great encouragement.
While we've been on the road we have met many people who said they had a very difficult time at the beginning of their marriage. It makes us sad for those people that they aren't experiencing the same thing we are, and it makes me a little worried that we might have the same struggles. But knowing our marriage, our priorities, and meeting Jamison and Shannon have helped to dissuade that fear. A marriage that starts strong only grows stronger. #strong
It's only been a day since I've seen Shannon, I already miss her and hope I can see her again soon. God created a sisterly-bond in us so quickly that I know it will last. I look forward to getting to know her more and more, and to being a prayer partner for her in the coming years as I know she will be to me. And it brings back to mind this verse that God showed me at the beginning of my touring time:
Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
—Mark 10:29-30