Feb 15, 2013

My Dear Friend...


In just a few days my friend and companion for 11 years, will be moving thousands of miles away.  She has graced my life, holding close not only physically through the good and bad times that these years brought with them, but spiritually too.  We have prayed through the years, seeing both victory and loss in both our lives.  Oh to have a sister in the Lord, to have and to hold!

I am very sad.  

I can't imagine what my life will look like.  I also am sad for my children who will be losing their Aunt Beth and Uncle Nate.  They have poured so generously into all of our lives. How difficult to imagine the coming years without them.  Honestly, I don't want to, but this change isn't in my hands (once again).  

Today we will gather in my living room once again.  We will sip coffee and chat.  We will exchange hearts and not because of  Valentine's Day, but because we are bonded in love.  I will bless her with love, reminding her of her worth and value to my life.  We will separate by many miles, but our hearts will remain tied.

She said we ultimately will land in the same place-
true
but somehow right now I am not finding comfort in looking to our arrival in heaven. 
 You see I am selfish, I want her to stay.  I want her to grow old side by side.  I don't like this new direction God is taking us in.  
drats!

But wishes don't make things happen. Sometimes a season comes to an end and not the way you want.  Sometimes you go through seasons where God removes a LOT.  And He waits to see what you will do.  Will you quietly sneak away?  Will you turn your eyes from Him or will you cling all the more to Him?

Looking back, I can see how times like these have brought me closer to Him.  I lost my father while I was pregnant, I lost children to adoptions where God closed the door, I have lost friends who painfully rejected me, I have had recently to release my oldest to a far away corner of the U.S... 

Finding my heart aching for a new season, one that brings a flood of joy and takes away the heaviness that keeps trying to to crush my spirit.  
 Spring is coming, a new season...
hoping with it comes a lightness, that will delight my heart!
Oh Lord, give me strength and courage...to face whatever the next season brings.

I have no talent for making new friends, but oh, such a genius for fidelity to old ones.
                                                               George Du Maurier

The friendship that lasts are those wherein each friend respects the other's dignity
 to the point of not really wanting anything from him.
                                 Cyril Connoly
The proper business of friendship is to inspire life and courage.
                                                       Eustace Budgell

3 comments:

Rhonda Gunn said...

Oh, I am so sorry. I know the pain of this, too, when your dearest friend can no longer share the day to day w/ visits, coffee, and closeness. The change it brings seems harsh. It's been 7 years since my friend moved.

My mom left our house early this morning for her new home in IL. She'd moved here when my dad passed away and we had 4 years to enjoy her close by. So, I'll think of you today and your loss as I try and soak in how mine will change things around here.

Change just comes, doesn't it? There is no holding it back or the way it rearranges our life. I will surely never get used to it, but I trust that it eventually, over time and circumstance, will always usher in the spring again. Your spring is coming ♥

Anonymous said...

Dear Kimmie, I am so sorry to hear this. Good friends are SO rare and so precious. My good friend and her husband moved to WA around the same time as we did 8 years ago. It was great adjusting together. Then they moved after a few years, and I haven't had a coffee/pray together kinda' relationship since then. I found myself kinda' wishing she was moving to my neighborhood. :) If you loved her so much, she must be special.

May the Lord provide you both with new relationships that provide the friendship and fellowship you need.

Covnitkepr1 said...

My folks took in foster children, so growing up I had so many "brothers and sisters" that I still have fond memories of 60 years later.
This post brings back memories of how hard it was to say "good-bye" to them as they would eventially find permanate homes.

I was just checking back for any new items you may have posted.
I left a note of invitation in the comment section on one of your past posts’ and invited you to follow my blog. Just in case it was accidently overlooked, just want you to know the invitation is still very much valid…and of course, I am already following your blog.

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