A Page for Paige

Let's get that daily dose of down deep.  Beautiful earth is thawing.  Heart is thawing. 

Years ago I went through a divorce from a friend.  Has that ever happened to you?  Have you ever fully recovered?  Healed?  Do you find yourself going to the Lord time and again asking "Why?"  "What happened?"  Pain.  Soul hurt.  No answers, just two lives teased apart.  You draw a clean breath and know that it has been awhile.  You reach for what is healthy.  Try to think it through.  Try to heal that wound on your own.  Pretend that everything is alright, but bargain with God that you will never be friends with a girl again.  Bargaining with God!  Close the wound with band-aid and keep marching.  Head down.

The problem with walking with your head down is that you are apt to run into something.  In this case, I ran into someone.  The great Someone brought this woman, this one woman who kept pursuing friendship and terrifying me.  I tried again and again to thwart her efforts...got to keep that crusty mantle around the tender heart, right? Stay safe.  

Can you imagine being rejected by someone and hanging in there anyway? Imagine wanting to love someone who doesn't want to be loved?  Doesn't that look a lot like the risen CHRIST? Ever tasted a Georgia Peach?  I can see her blue eyes right now, drawing me into a real friendship with her...with Jesus.  Building.  Encouraging.  Trusting.  What is THIS?  Is THIS what friendship looks like?  Is this how we break free of western culture that teaches us to pull ourselves up by our boot straps?  Alone?  Of course, alone.  Can we actually do life together?  

I know that God used that Georgia Peach to open me.  Like a book.  So HE could write the names of others in my story.  Sandy, Sheri, Stacie, Amy, Pamie, Kris, Wendy.  That's a lot of girl names.  See how smart I was to bargain with I AM?  The love of ONE woman, used by God, CHANGED MY LIFE!  And now here I am freely enjoying the fruits of her efforts to reach me with the love of Jesus.  Placing my heart (still tender, no apologies) in the hands of my friends.  Leaning to trust again.  Might we all be that ONE woman?

In John 17:22 and 23, Jesus says, "I have given them the glory You gave me, so they may be one as We are one.  I am in them and You are in Me.  May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent me and that You love them as much as You love Me."


Bernadette