I just wanted to take a moment to honor someone who is very special to our family–Rachel Hay.  We met Rachel about 3 years ago (right after she graduated from U of L) at Cedar Grove Baptist.  She is a student at Southern Seminary working on her MDiv and works full-time with children who have different sorts of brain injuries.  She also teaches Sunday School (1 & 2 year olds no less).  She is extremely busy, yet she does something very important in addition to all her other obligations.  She watches our children for us every other week so Bill and I can go out together.  As she says, “This is for your marriage.”

You see, though Rachel is single (she says I bring that up every time I see her–sorry, Rachel), she already has wisdom about this reflection of Christ and His bride.  She knows that no matter how much we love our children, we were a family before they came and our marriage still comes first (something that is so easy to forget).  Because of her generosity, Bill and I get to continue working on our relationship uninterrupted so we can reflect Christ’s love for His church and so we won’t be looking across the table at a stranger when the kids are grown and gone.  

Something else Rachel does for me–she reflects absolute beauty.  As one of our mutual friends recently said, “She radiates beauty.”  Why is that helpful to me?  Because though Rachel probably doesn’t know it, and though she is a little younger than me, she has become one of my heroes in the faith.  You see, I’m not sure if I’ve ever met anyone who is more passionate for Christ with a desire to serve Him and Him only with all her heart.  Rachel is the kind of woman every woman should want to model.  I always think, “If my heart looked more like Rachel’s, I would look more beautiful to the world, and even to my husband.”  So today, for no reason other than how much I love her, I want to honor our dear friend to whom we owe so much.