My friend, Melania

Every Thursday morning at 9:30, well almost every Thursday, I log on Skype and wait to see my friend Melania's name light up on the screen.  She lives in Targiu Jiu, a town about 5 hours from us. She and her husband planted a church that meets in their home a few years ago.  It's called Apa Vie, which means Living Water.  The ground they are plowing is hard and the region where they live is dark.  It makes life pretty lonely for them.  Melania has told me that she has no real peer female relationship there, no one with whom she can share her struggles and be transparent.  I've tried to be that for her when we've met face to face every few months and on our Skype visits in between.  We're both encouraged when we hang up and look forward to the next time.  It's funny how that works.  Darin reminded us all of the proverb that says, "He who waters will himself  be watered." (11:25)  While most of the time, I'm skeptical to believe it and want to keep my tank full, experience shows that it's true. (Not to mention that it's God's Word, so of course it's true!)

Melania is about my age, with two little girls, Amanda and Anita. She's a good mom and is working hard at raising them differently from how she was raised. Families who are raising kids to know and love Jesus and that are grace-centered are rare in Romania these days.  She told me on Thursday that much of what she and Daniel have learned has been from observation. Jim and Julie Richards and their family, from a PCA church in Nebraska, have known the Gavanescus since 1997. Daniel and Melania watch them interact as a couple and as parents when they come to Romania annually for a few weeks at a time.  It's amazing the ways God uses community.  I find it a privilege to be used by Him in Melania's life.