friendship

Thank God for the restorative power of friendship... Without it, the sometimes excruciating journey would be too much to bear...

that was my Facebook status today....as I am enjoying the visit of a special, lovely friend, with whom I connect deeply.

Recently life has handed me a particularly tough pill to swallow, an emotional trying bomb of sorts that just keeps exploding over and over again, a brand new level of awareness hitting me every so often. I am respecting the privacy of those involved, so I won't go into the details of the circumstances, suffice it to say, my family is in turmoil, life as I know it has forever changed, and this realization keeps hitting me over and over again on a daily basis now.

In the midst of this situation and this season in life, my great friend Ruth was coming to visit and it seemed like such bad timing as I prepared my home to welcome her, it seemed that I wouldn't possibly be able to enjoy her, her visit, or my time with her, because...well, it seems there wouldn't be much I could enjoy these days. And yet I felt a deeply reassuring arm of God around me as she held me, as she came into my home and listened, and we shared what our journeys have brought us to the past few years. Turns out, it was excellent timing, in more than one way.

So as I spend my day with her, and we share this very special bond and enjoy each other's company and our sisterhood in Christ, as she walks with me these couple of days, I am so deeply aware of the power of friendship and companionship.

Life is full of things we can't explain, things that take our breath away, things that bring us to our knees in desperation, things that shake us to our very core. God promises to walk with us, promises to go before us, but He has also given us treasures along the path to hold our hands, wipe away tears, bring us comfort in the midst of the storm.

I am struggling to sort things out, and to move forward from here, but...I am taking delight in the treasures He is giving me, I am hanging on to the strength around me and I am taking each breath with as much faith and hope as I can muster, for now. And because I have strength around me, I can take the next breath. And that's enough for now.



Thank God for friends, thank God for fellow travelers...