Kindred Spirits...

I have this very precious friend. We have actually spent very little physical time together but God has knit our hearts together. She is the reflection of so many things I want to be. What I have dreamed of she has already done. Her life is so simple and full of joy. Her blog identifies her and her family as a "homesteading" family... this is so cool to me. I would love to know how to can foods, presuure cook and can, make my cheese, have a wood burning stove, etc. She even grinds her own flour and makes bread. She homeschools.

And on top of all this she is the mother of five beautiful children. My friend says she was jealous of me when she first met me. She had three children at the time and I had four. Now I am jealous of her... her last two children joined their family this past summer. This incredible mama went all the way to Liberia for over two weeks by herself to get these children. I was so proud of her. Of course had I not had a nursing baby I would have been right there beside her on that plane... ( don't tell my husband....I would have probably brought home an african baby for me too!!!!) Her love and devotion to her children inspires me and convicts me. I just love being around her and learning from her.

This friend is one of the reasons that I have sadness about moving... I want more time with her. I have many regrets lately in the relationship area. For whatever reason I have wasted too much time not building relationships. I can't cram everything into the next six weeks. Thankfully there is this wonderful things called email, blogging, and the phone. Which allows so friendships to continue to grow.

My friend has been very heavy on my heart lately. I have been praying for her often... mainly about church. They were going to come with us to our new church (which I absolutely love!!!) this Sunday. Everytime they plan to come something happens. I think the enemy doesn't want them there... It would be such a great place for them to grow, connect, and thrive spiritually. So on Wednesday she was very heavily on my heart... I didn't know why until around 2:30 Thursday morning. I checked my email and there was an email from her husband.

My friend had just gone through a potentially life threatening emergency. God in his great sovereignty had her at the doctors office when an unknown ectopic pregnacy ruptured. She was in a desperate state- her blood pressure dropped extremely low. She was loosing a lot of blood. They took her by ambulance to the hospital where they did emergency surgery to stop the bleeding. She required 6 units of blood. If this had happened at home my friend would have died.

Of course the questions of why go through your head. But for this moment I am glad to know that God is truly greater than the enemy. Nothing brought against us will stand... God knew it was not time for this friend to go be with him. He knew how desperately her children needed their mama. He knew how husband needed her. He knew that I needed her. And so he fought for her and he saved her.

I am going to go down this morning and donate blood so it will help offset her expense of the blood transfusions and then I am going to go the hospital and spend some time with her. Will you pray for my friend this morning? Pray for a quick recovery. Pray for encouragement. Pray for comfort. Pray that God will take care of all the details. Thank you!!!!