Friends at the Right Time

This weekend I had the privilege of hosting a women's retreat at the camp I used to work at. The weekend was great. A little tiring, and yet really good.

I got the opportunity to reconnect with a friend from years ago, and it seems that God brings us back into each other's lives for a short period of time when He is wanting to do something big in our lives.

Here is a bit of the back ground on how I meet this friend. When I was 4, my mother, sister and I ended up living with her family for a month, during a very difficult time for us. Back then we did not exactly get along. She actually threatened to give me a black eye. Thinking back on it now, I cannot imagine what it must have been like for her and her brother to have three complete strangers move in with their family. As much as it was hard on us withe family stuff going on, it must have been very hard for them.

Fast forward to summer of 2000. I am the LIT Director at Gardom Lake Bible Camp, my boss informs me that the first aid person for the week would be sharing a room with me. When I found out who it was I so was willing to do anything to have her stay with someone else. Fortunately God and Will said "NOPE SHE IS ROOMING WITH YOU LEANNE!" I remembered living with them. However she did not remember that time, which I think is God, and over that week we bonded and had a great time and a time of healing for me. At that time Jesus was really working on the begins of healing some of the pain of the past and then smack! Part of the past is rooming with me. God did stuff in both of our hearts that week.

So fast forward once more to this weekend. I am hosting the ladies retreat and guess who is there. Yep this friend! God was doing some stuff in her life over the weekend, and in the days prior to the retreat God had brought up some very painful memories from the past and I was not willing to go there with Him. I fought and fought, and then Juanita walks into the room, and all I could do was say God I get it, and fight is going to be pretty useless huh!

Seeing Juanita was a reminder that God is in this all and that there is no where I can go that I can escape from Him, and yet He is so gentle. Juanita and her family 28 years ago provided a place of safety for my mother, sister, and I when we needed it. Juanita I firmly believe was God's gentle reminder that I have some pretty big pain from that time that God really wants to heal if I will stop fighting Him. God could have sent a storm or a bomb to blow it all up so I would have no choice but to face it, and that would be His right, after all he is God. Yet He chooses instead to send gentle reminders, some reminders are a little more in my face than others, and yet Jesus is so patient, and gentle.

Funny if all that crap years ago would have never happened I would not have the blessing of Juanita as a friend now, nor the connection the we enjoy when we see each other every now and then. God truly does have us connected through a twisting network of friends and family, and it would appear that God brings the right friend at the right time.