Are you listening?

God has spoken to me. I have no doubt. And it's happened more than once.

The first time that I remember God speaking to me I was in my bedroom one night standing beside my bed in our house in Dunncroft. It was in 2000 and I believe it was in August of that year. I still remember the warmth of His touch and the comfort of His guidance. His command was clear "ask her to forgive you." I was not afraid. I was excited! I was relieved.

A very dear friend of mine was going through a traumatic event and I wasn't there for her. I could list the many reasons I wasn't able to be there physically, but they were all excuses. Because of my absence when she needed me most, our lives were drifting apart and that didn't feel right. If it were only because our families were growing, interests were changing, and time was limited, I could accept the change. But I knew in my heart that I was letting this happen and it wasn't right.

That night, God put His hand on my right shoulder and told me: "ask her to forgive you." I went to sleep knowing what had to happen first thing the next morning.

Fortunately, circumstances happened that I was able to go to her house the very next day. And just as God had told me, I simply asked for her forgiveness. No excuses for my choices. No explanations. Just an apology for not being there for her and a request that she find it in her heart to forgive me. She did.

It's funny. Our families have since grown and our time is more limited than ever. But I always felt like our lives would intertwine again. We've stayed in touch as best as possible and sure enough, our interests are becoming similar once again, and soon enough our kids will even been in the same school. God works in mysterious ways. Thank God!

Some things never change...

Do you have any unusual household habits that seem so natural you don't think twice about them?

This is going back a few years, but I remember my good friend Sharon suggesting to my friend that they get us a set of dinner dishes as an engagement gift because we were using recycled containers (I think they were butter containers and the like.)

We didn't really mind using the recycled containers. Nowadays you could say were were being "green." But at the time, it was nice to receive our first official domestic gift.

But guess what!?!?! Come to find out, we STILL use butter containers on a regular basis! We use Country Crock and get it in the small tubs. We have a stack of those empty tubs in our cupboard and frequently use them for dry snacks - a handful of pretzels or dry cereal. I don't even think about it, but imagine I've gotten some weird looks from visitors and in-home employees the first time they saw me prancing around with a butter tub ;-).

And to those of you who bought me that first set of Corelle dishes, thank you for helping me into domestic adulthood. Now I use the butter containers because they're convenient, not because we can't afford real dishes ;-).

Do you ever wonder why some friendships end?

Have you read that "article" about friends coming into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime? I can't find the source, but found plenty of reprints online.

I fully agree and understand that some friendships are not forever (or that some remain forever in our heart even if we're not still in touch.) Ironically, Facebook has changed that philosophy a bit as some long lost friends have been brought back into our lives, so I guess we weren't fully done being friends yet. But it's obvious that some people will no longer be part of our lives once we've moved on from our commonality - be it school, job, neighborhood, church, etc.

Yet I have also experienced the end of some friendships that puzzle me to this day. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding that we could never quite straighten out, or lost contact information (because hard as I try, there are some people I simply can't find on the Internet!). Maybe it was social or parental influences or simply losing track of time and then losing track of each other. No matter the reason, I feel a void for those lost friendships and they're on my mind today.