October 4, 2012
It’s 6:42 am. My coffee is delicious and the
weather around me is perfect. It’s a cool morning and the wind blows the hair
out of my face so delicately. I can hear the sound of Jordan’s guitar coming
from the prayer hut in the distance and the view of the African mountain in
front of me is to die for.
On the outside, I am joyful. God loves me
abundantly and I have every reason to be thankful. But this morning is
different. On the inside, joyful is the opposite
of what I feel. Standing in the kitchen earlier, making my coffee, Angela told
Amy and I that she had something to tell us. Last night she got a text message
from our squad leaders to call them ASAP. When she did, she got the news about
Laine.
At training camp for the World Race, I met a
girl named Laine and loved her immediately. We connected instantly. Laine is
such a beautiful girl from California and so humble and grounded in God’s Word
it’s amazing. She told three different trainers that she wanted to be on my
team but for some reason they didn’t listen and we were placed on different
teams for the year. : (
One day, between training camp and launch,
Laine text’d me and told me about a conversation between her and her mom. They
were out in town together and saw some sunglasses. Laine’s mom said, “Those are
so Ashli,” and Laine proceeded to ask her mom how the heck she knew me? Her mom
responded, “I read her blogs, duh!” Laine laughed hysterically and couldn’t
wait to tell me about it!
When our squad gets together, Laine and me
sleep next to each other and pillow talk about our month of ministry. Her smile
lights up a room, literally. Her hair dries perfectly and she is very funny.
Emotional, like me, she cries about almost anything. We are kindred spirits for
sure.
That probably explains the undeniable hurt in
my heart this morning as I long to be there for Laine. We got news late last
night that Laine’s mom passed away suddenly yesterday. We don’t know any other
details at this point – just that it was sudden. I CANNOT IMAGINE her thoughts and
feelings right now but every time I think about it I want to throw up. My heart
physically hurts for her as she is probably on a plane right now about to walk
into quite possibly the hardest time of her life.
I’m telling you this to ask you to pray for
her. I don’t know how because I
don’t even have the words to pray and when I try, it’s just tears that come
out. But please pray for her in every way you can. For her, her family, her WR
team, our squad, etc. Thanks.
Love,
Ash
