About fourteen years ago, our oldest daughter noticed that our dining room table seated six chairs, but our family only filled five chairs. She thought all the chairs should be filled evenly with three girls and three boys. So every night she prayed for a baby brother.

When we announced to our kids that we were pregnant, she knew it was a boy since she had been praying even though we told her we would be happy with whoever God gave us - girl or boy:).

Judson Timothy joined our family right before we moved overseas.

Moving overseas spotlighted our homesickness and loneliness. We missed our extended family and friends and realized how much we needed them.

We reached out to other global workers, church members, and neighbors and invited them to join the chairs around our family table. We started doing life together, celebrated holidays and milestones, and shared burdens and heartaches.

Some days we sipped tea in comfy chairs with a box of tissues, while other days we laughed outside in lawn chairs. They became our family.

We weren’t blood-related but faith-related. Our bond in Christ crossed cultural barriers and wove us together as sons and daughters of the King. And like in any biological family, there were ups and downs, but we learned to work together and became stronger.

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26, 28

When we moved back in country, we missed our “overseas family.” Once again, the chairs around our family table changed.

Loved ones had passed away leaving empty chairs, while a son-in-law filled a new one. We invited our church community, neighbors, and friends to join us around our family table.

How about you? Are the chairs around your family table changing or needing to be filled?

Let’s be intentional to ask the Lord to help us fill the chairs and connect with the family of God.