Friends Along The Way

Every week, I walk about a mile from my school to a counseling office and get counseling. On the way, I saw a woman in a blue embroidered shirt with a welcoming smile, weathered eyes, hair blowing in the breeze, her dog's leash in hand. We talked a bit, not expecting to share the stories of our lives. But as life is, it follows the winds of change that God blows through. Her name? I'll call her Solange, which means "the Sun." She had such a warm personality. I found out that she generally lived a fairly happy life, until a year ago. I asked her what she did for a living. She told me that she does soap operas. Not seriously, of course. She told me that last year, her husband's business began to go under, so he left. She has a cell phone number. That's it. He doesn't want her to chase him down. Who knows what he's doing? But as far as this story goes, she's trying to live by God's grace. I shared a bit of my testimony with her. I was surprised by how graceful she was. "Many men struggle with that! Not just you!" I was so blessed by this woman. I told her that I would pray for her. And I will. But that's not the only thing that happened today. On Facebook, I found one of my friends from my previous school - the one I was kicked out of. He graduated and moved on, working a great job and has wonderful plans in the future. Oddly, we talked about a number of things, and then, it seemed to me that we hit a conversational wall. To get things rolling again, I asked him more about his personal life. As this conversation ran rapidly like a river, I caught myself in suspension of my own words: "Can I share with you my testimony?" I was absolutely shocked to find myself at the end of my story, laying all the cards on the table. And then he says, "me too." All of a sudden, I didn't feel so alone. We talked some more, and I felt this comfort of knowing that God was in it all. I've prayed for years that He would send friends that would be able to relate to me, not because I wanted to vent my opinions, but because I'd be encouraged in having a friend that shared in my pain and my joy, in my struggle and in Christ! I'm so thankful for his honesty :) Maybe one day I'll share my full testimony on this little site. We'll see. I think I'd prefer to have 1 million followers before I do. :P Blessings, jus