The Power of Friendship

I left my small Midwestern hometown at sixteen and I’ve never gone back. When I got on Facebook thirty-six years later, I was only interested in one childhood friend, Louise. I didn’t find her. I put my maiden name on my wall and prayed.

It only took a few hours for Louise to find me.

“Hi Berta, Not sure if you will remember me. I’m glad you’re on Facebook!  I'd always wondered what had happened with you and was talking about you just three days ago. And here you are!”

I was surprised she remembered me. She told me how afraid she was for me when my father moved my family of eleven into a converted school bus and to bottomland along the Illinois River.

Louise and I had a sense of each other’s lives in 1974, though we had never spoken of them. Today we have the closest friendship I’ve ever experienced.

In God, we are always growing and changing. “A friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17 NIV). At sixteen, we were young and abused. As we grew older, we were taken advantage of for different reasons. We survived and became stronger for the trials.

I thank God every time I think of Louise. To know that for thirty-six years she remembered a tall, skinny girl with freckles and long, strawberry blonde hair is amazing. I thank Him for bringing her back into my life.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one (wo)man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17 NIV). Change per author.

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NIV).

In Christ,

Berta

Friends, Remember to share with your friends. People are being blessed around the world for God. I am so thankful to be a broken vessel in the hands of a loving God.