My Friend Mandy

Sometimes, the cool thing about running your own ministry is you get a say in things. I’ve been doing a once a month feature on “saints” and what this actually means. There is a rich history in the Orthodox and Catholic faiths for celebrating incredible people of the faith. The reality is there are many saints and in we Protestant backgrounds people tend to use words like “missionaries”. I truly believe the world is full of saints - believers who are doing incredible things for Jesus.

So, today I just wanted to talk about one of my favorite people on the planet. Her name is Mandy and, from what I have observed in her life, she qualifies as someone who has and is doing incredible things for Jesus. We met way back in 2017. I can’t believe it’s been almost 10 years now! She was a person who decided I needed a friend.

Me? I was a person who decided her two year old daughter needed a friend. Mandy has definitely introduced me as someone who was her daughter’s friend that she convinced to be friends. I’ve always connected well with kids and loved doing kid’s ministry. Mandy learned the key to me. If you want to know me, you’ve got to either invite me into what you are doing in ministry or join me in mine. It’s hard to find an in between with me.

So, that’s what she did. Invited me into all the ministries she did. Over the years, I have watched her go from a stay at home mother to a school counselor to leading a church alongside her husband. Each season she has, somehow, remained the exact same person. The person who sees the invisible in the room.

I watched in girl’s ministries, worship ministries, serving in non - profits, and other places as she always found the ones others were frustrated by. People who others had given up on always knew Mandy was there to sit and talk to them for that moment. Missionaries from overseas came to church and knew they could find a place to just be with Mandy and her husband. Every time I’ve seen Mandy - whether it's been me, her daughter, or another woman - Mandy has always had someone alongside her learning what it means to do whatever she is working on that day as a woman of God.

One of my most recent memories was visiting her out in Oklahoma (where she now lives) and thinking how perfect that she and her husband had multiple living room. And, while I was on vacation, got to watch her go and help host a ton of youth in her home. She taught me about hospitality and the organized chaos of family.

Because maybe you’ve never seen that or don’t know what it looks like, but family was meant to be shared. Men were supposed to bring younger men into their lives to show them how to do life (which Mandy’s husband does very well) and women were supposed to bring younger women into their lives to show them how to do life. Families weren’t meant to isolate. They were meant to help foster community. Gather around the table, pull up an extra chair, host a weekly Bible study, foster a child, invite people over for play dates - and more.

I could keep sharing about Mandy all day as we’ve even had adventures in other countries together:) But, sometimes, being a saint is simply inviting someone into the life that you already have and letting them help.