Childhood friends...are some of the best friends one can have. As a young child, I had 2 best friends...my cousin, Matt, and a girl who lived close to me. I ended up moving from the northern US to the southern US. My cousin, Matt, still remained in my life but I lost contact with the other friend. I remembered her name started with an "R" but that was all. Looking through pictures that came down with us, I found a picture of this girl, my sister and me. On the back of the picture, I wrote our names but wrote my friend as Rhonda.
My "new" parents couldn't help me remember her name. They had not known her. Whenever we would travel back up north and visit the cemetery, I used to dream that this friend would be driving by the cemetery, see the out of state car, realize it was me, stop & we could re-connect. Of course that never happened.
The year I turned 30, my uncle passed away. My sister, her husband, my husband & myself all flew north to the funeral. Reconnecting with the people who had been in our lives before moving was an emotional experience. We couldn't remember them but they remembered us. We met a lady with whom our father taught school. We also met another lady & her husband. She told me her daughter had been my friend when I was little. Her daughter was the friend whom I had missed. She gave me her daughter's name and address. The daughter and I wrote letters for a little while. But as many of you know, I am not a good letter writer. There were things going on in each of our lives and we lost contact.
This past fall, I decided to look for my friend on facebook and found her. We spent the first night sending private messages back and forth for about two hours. I apologized to my husband for not doing anything but sitting in front of the computer for that long. "That is alright," he told me. "You have 36 years of catching up to do."
How thankful I am for a Lord who loves me enough to provide for me. He has provided wonderful loving parents (two sets), a husband, a cousin Matt and my newly-found long-lost friend, Rushteen.
"This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope, the LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:21-23 NASB)
