Perhaps the scariest thing I've ever read was the text message I received from a dear friend tonight.
"I'm in the hospital right now. I've had a seizure. I just wanted to let you know."
It is truly amazing how life continues moving after a wrenching of sorts. Having very recently ended a relationship once very important to me, I figured I would spend a few months soaking up the solitude and preparing to emerge from my cocoon as a spunky new butterfly. I planned to have lazy days rolling around in bed or padding around the kitchen barefoot feasting on Cheetohs. I was going to allow myself as much time to wallow in my feelings as I wanted.
But less than a week later, I receive that text.
I immediately called my friend. She's fine, although her words are extremely slurred due to the grade-A painkillers she's on; but she's going to be just fine. We couldn't spend hours on the phone like we normally do - she needed rest - but we did rouse old feelings and pull on each other's heartstrings. We miss each other. It's a simple, elegant admission between two daughters of God. And life gets in the way. Life, people, circumstances - they all get in the way. But they shouldn't. Because you never know when people who love you the most will need to be front and center in your life, after they've been riding silently in the backseat for years. But you've got to be absolutely ready, in every way possible, when they begin to make some noise.
I believe God took someone OUT of my life to make more room for those who need the God IN my life. I don't want to be so focused on my own feelings that I forget those who suffer emotionally, physically, spiritually, or mentally. People are just arriving to destinations that I left long ago, and they may need a little help maneuvering around the new territory. I've been feeling so exposed lately. And now, I'm starting to think God is doing something with this transparency. I'm open, I'm unbound, I'm hanging onto God, a faceless wind. What more can I do but spread my arms and catch His drift?
I am excited to say that I will take a journey to visit my friend. And other friends. And myself.
When life is all about my relationship with God, I can only dream of the places He will send me.
xo,
Syd
