My friend....

My friend, J, is getting married......
When I met her I was a young minister's wife with 3 kids, she was still a college student...very serious...about her future, her relationship with the Lord, her life...
Together we grew.....she graduated, got her masters...I raised my children and kept my household afloat while my minister husband attempted things in church life that had not been done before ....she became integrally involved in our church family...I became integrally involved in our church family...she embraced the newness and became not only one of my hubby's greatest supporters, but one of our dearest friends...she bought a house...we bought a house...she went through trials...we went through trials.....
she was smart and independent...financially wise...always preparing for her future...always working hard to live her life to the fullest...and always an incredible support to our family...
over the years we have eaten together, cried together, camped together, traveled together....she has taken my children on outings, attended their baseball games and ballet recitals, cheered their victories, ...celebrated their high school graduations and college successes...visited with my son when he was far from home away at school, encouraging them all in every aspect of their lives as if she were an aunt or immediate family, even to opening her home to accommodate my mom as a house mate for 3 yrs...she has traveled to foreign countries, accompanying my hubby and others from the church on many mission trips and even going in his stead on occasion... always supporting us and the work with her time, effort and money...always giving her whole life to her Lord and His house.
Her creativity and energy has abounded over the years, enabling her to share the Lord with so many, saints and unbelievers alike, in amazing ways...
Once upon a time we(my family) found it necessary to move from our home church to a far and distant land with no church fellowship at all. I credit this friend...this dear sister...with my very salvation...her creativity and compassion kept me alive and connected during those lean and barren years...and though she may not know that I know...I do know that she was behind the many kindnesses of those years that kept me afloat spiritually.
It has been 20 years...20 yrs of ups and downs...despair and joy...heartbreak and gladness..and plain old fun that we have shared....more recently our paths have diverged...we see or hear little from each other these days...and that mostly from mutual friends...
but time and space cannot erase the relationship we have forged nor the love we share....
J has always lived her life pure and upright before God and man...struggling as we all do but always turning again and again to Him who is the giver of all good things....
so it was with great joy we rejoiced to hear the news...

I weep that I cannot share it with you... but know always that I love you....We love you...
Go with God into this new adventure called marriage!

My friend, my sister J,.... is getting married!!!