but by 11 o'clock tonight it was so much more than an ordinary day. what a day full of joy, encouragement, laughter and skype.
i was able to share in the excitement as my dear friend becomes a 3rd grade teacher. decorating her room and coming up with ideas to make learning fun for her kids. she'll be a phenomenal teacher. she is a gentle, loving, encouraging, patient, honest woman of God. she's taught me so much in 13 years [and counting] i can't imagine what a blessing she will be to those children.
i also got to talk to a friend of mine from college who is now in Australia pursuing God with all his might. my friend, Josh, is going to the Hillsong college in Sydney for the next year [at least]. i'm so proud of him and who he is becoming. Josh and I have quite the history. we've been friends since our sr. year in high school, i think. our friendship would fall under the "how-to-be-a-bad-friend" category. [disclaimer: he knows i'm writing this]
i would attempt putting into words what the last 6 years involved for us, but i'm not sure anyone would get it. we were immature and hateful at times. there was a span of time...maybe 6 months, where i would have said i hated him. for faults i had myself, but wasn't going to admit to anyone. hating him was easier. and of course i was still a church going, tithe giving, God fearing, daughter of God...while i justified all of it until i was blue in the face. josh hated me too, at times. i'm sure of it. we weren't the most gracious to one another. our friends will attest to that.
i'm sure i was making my Father real proud.
I'm not sure when our hearts changed. [i actually typed "I'm not sure what changed our hearts" at first. but realized what a stupid sentence that was to write. i know exactly what changed our hearts.] but when? is the real question. somewhere in between deleting him from my facebook [classy move, you don't have to tell me] and crying from joy when he out of nowhere showed up at a camp i was staffing this summer, my heart changed.
God seriously restored our friendship in ways we can't explain. our friends are still genuinely shocked that we are friends again. i think we are, too.
though i question a lot of our past, i don't at all question what a blessing our friendship is to me now. God healed and restored us. praise Him for that. and maybe someone will see our Father's glory shine through the two of us now. with Josh being awesome in Australia and me being the nanny to 4 incredible kids...and encouraging each other in that, i pray you see God's glory.
Josh, i've told you so many times how proud I am of you and what you are doing for the Kingdom. but our Father is even more so. you are talented. He gave you those talents and you are using them for Him. of course, you're going to find yourself in some pretty incredible, unlikely and precious situations. praise Him through it all. and know you're in my heart, prayed for daily and laughed at often. and on the real, don't eat vegemite.
i hope someone read that and thought it wasn't a waste of time. but that's my selfish need for approval and attention. more than that though, i don't want to forget what that restoration felt like and how far God brought us.
thanks, Dad, for working on me when i wasn't even aware you were doing anything.
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