God Cares About Our Posse

I was once told that you have different friends for the different seasons of your life, as well as for the different aspects of your personality. I think that's so true. I connect with each of my friends on a different level, specific to what we have in common...work, motherhood, spirituality, personality, interests, etc. And last weekend, I got to spend some precious time with my dear friend Gretchen, with whom I have a lot in common.



Gretchen and I were college roommates at ORU for both our freshman and sophomore years, and she was also a bridesmaid in our wedding. We had only seen each other two other times since graduation, so it was so nice to reconnect and talk and take walks around our neighborhood at 1:30 in the morning! But then again, Gretchen and I are not strangers to pulling all-nighters together. :-)

The more we talked and laughed and cried and reminisced, the more we realized that those years we lived together in a 15' by 10' space were incredibly "shaping" for us as people. Both of us have to press "snooze" on our alarms for about an hour before getting up (it all started then!). We can both sleep through just about anything (though I still prefer to have "white noise" since the big, clunky circa-1960s dormitory AC unit helped drown out the noise of the hallway). She remembered how I used to find a song I liked on a CD and play it on a loop through the night (I'm sorry, Gretchen!). We remembered that first miserable Thanksgiving away from home -- a weekend we now look on with fond, crazy memories! We used to dry our hair within inches of the other's sleeping face (the mirror was located between our beds). We posted our A+ assignments on a "good work board" we created outside our door. We were tired and silly and emotional and deep, and we still are. Gretchen was there the night Ryan and I had "the talk" and became more than friends. She was the first person I told when he kissed me. She was there when I came back to the dorms with a diamond on my finger. Gretchen and I go way back. :-) I am so grateful for her friendship all these years later.

The cool thing is that just as I prayed for my "future husband" throughout my childhood, I also began in high school to pray for my future college roommate. I used to pray that God would pair me with somebody of a similar background and with similar beliefs, with whom I could connect and have a peaceful living situation. I truly believe that in the same way God saved Ryan for me and took care of him and gave me everything I wanted in a husband, God also brought Gretchen into my life for that priceless period of personal growth, with the bonus of a lifelong friendship!

God is good like that. He answers prayer.