There are no "ifs" in God's kingdom... His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don't let me go mad by poking about outside it.
-- Corrie tenBoom, The Hiding Place
Corrie tenBoom is definitely one of my Christian heroes! This quote especially touched me because, between remembering old friends and desperately searching for new ones, my musings are a maze of 'what ifs'.
This past year, God gave me someone who is most certainly a miracle friend. Our meeting was totally an answered prayer. She just happened to visit my church one week and just happened to be going to the same homeschool class location as me, even though two other locations were closer to her. She's lots of fun and a reliable friend; there's an open nature to her and I got to know her quicker than I've gotten to know anyone before. However, next year she will be moving to yet another class location and it won't be easy to see her as we live across town from each other.
So, I've been asking -- am I really going to lose her? It reminds me of the story of Job in the Bible when he loses all his children. Yes, God returns him to prosperity and blesses him with more children, but Job never saw again his original children during his lifetime. Am I willing to sacrifice a friendship for a lesson in trust? (Oh, well, looks like I may be about to do that anyway!)
Then up crops the verse that seems to come up everywhere I go: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord..." If this girl is a friend worth keeping, I will see her again; however long the time may be. I might even have to wait till heaven, where eternity awaits, but, rest assured, I will see her again if it is God's will.
Sometimes we wonder if a God who's just "out there" really cares about what we want and will give it to us. If He will really give us something "good". Is His will something we really want interfering with our lives? I'll tell you about the time last summer when I prayed for a Christian friend for two weeks. I was like, "Yeah, I know You're supposed to be enough for me, Jesus, and You are, and You've blessed me with the best friends back in Georgia, but, God, this hurts! Can you please give me another Christian friend, one who can nourish me instead of me just nourishing her?" At the time, I was writing a story (I don't think I'll finish it, so don't ask, LOL) that was technically an allegory of my life with all the names changed (hehe, it wasn't as boring as all that; I was adding some fantasy element or something). I considered adding in a character who became the protagonist's friend in her new surroundings, but then I was like, "Nah" because the character didn't have a real-life counterpart. Before that point, I described the character as petite with sort of dark brown hair and named her Beth. Look, I'm not saying all magical friends have dark hair or something, but that was what happened. Weeks later, after dejecting the proposed character and all that praying, the girl mentioned above shows up at my church. She is definately petite, has brown hair, and her name is -- get this:
Then up crops the verse that seems to come up everywhere I go: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord..." If this girl is a friend worth keeping, I will see her again; however long the time may be. I might even have to wait till heaven, where eternity awaits, but, rest assured, I will see her again if it is God's will.
Sometimes we wonder if a God who's just "out there" really cares about what we want and will give it to us. If He will really give us something "good". Is His will something we really want interfering with our lives? I'll tell you about the time last summer when I prayed for a Christian friend for two weeks. I was like, "Yeah, I know You're supposed to be enough for me, Jesus, and You are, and You've blessed me with the best friends back in Georgia, but, God, this hurts! Can you please give me another Christian friend, one who can nourish me instead of me just nourishing her?" At the time, I was writing a story (I don't think I'll finish it, so don't ask, LOL) that was technically an allegory of my life with all the names changed (hehe, it wasn't as boring as all that; I was adding some fantasy element or something). I considered adding in a character who became the protagonist's friend in her new surroundings, but then I was like, "Nah" because the character didn't have a real-life counterpart. Before that point, I described the character as petite with sort of dark brown hair and named her Beth. Look, I'm not saying all magical friends have dark hair or something, but that was what happened. Weeks later, after dejecting the proposed character and all that praying, the girl mentioned above shows up at my church. She is definately petite, has brown hair, and her name is -- get this:
Elizabeth
You see why I'm convinced. You can also see why I don't want to "lose" her only two semesters later. But God has already shown me that I can trust Him to make me truly happy, and it's about time I learned that lesson again. If Elizabeth is the friend I think she is, she's worth waiting a while for, even until heaven.
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