A commitment
MY BEST FRIEND IS ENGAGED!
Yes, you heard it right, Janelle is now engaged. And yes, that's her in the picture... my best friend :)
She tells it to me like it is, doesn't allow me to indulge in self-pity, whacks me on the head (metaphorically!) when I need a wake-up call, and saves me from myself. You know, when I was struggling with the decision to throw my porn stuff out, I didn't have the strength to do it... then along came Janelle. When I told her, she was like, "Where is it? I'm bringing it with me when I leave your house!" That's what I mean when I say she saves me from myself.
Janelle is, of course, also a caring friend who patiently listens to me ramble on and lets me say dumb things like, "I'm worried that I'm not worried!" without blinking an eyelid. (That particular phrase was uttered close to final exams, during our university days.) But in the end, I love Janelle so much because she gives me the space to be who I am and at the same time, encourages me to be all I can be -- adding a little push when needed ;)
You know, I prayed many, many years for a best friend, starting in my teens. I remember praying for a friend who would be to me like Jonathan was to David. "Just one friend," I remember telling God. "Is that too much to ask?"
But for a very long time there was nobody, not in "real life", anyway. And I felt like I was walking alone...
I could never have envisioned the wonderful blessing God had in store for me when I went to that Scripture Union camp 10 years ago... never imagined that I would meet the girl who would one day be my best friend and prayer partner. Even when I discovered we shared the same birthday, I was merely thrilled at the coincidence; it never occurred to me that we would form any sort of special bond eyond that.
And now our friendship's entering a new phase... she's engaged to a wonderful guy, she's going to marry him, and she's moving into a part of her life where I can't fully follow... her first loyalty will be to him, and certain things between them will of course remain private & precious. It's as it should be, and I rejoice, but at the same time can't help looking back wistfully at the way things were. Nothing will ever be the same again.
I pray blessing on her relationship with Suren and am so thrilled to have been there to watch things develop between them and to have seen them come this far together. It is a beautiful thing to witness, the blossoming & blooming of love ;)