"Live In Me"

Jennifer - if you haven't checked Facebook yet, don't read this. Go there, read my comment, do what it says, talk to me, then read this. :D




I have this friend that I've known for four years now. We spent so many summers listening to Boys Like Girls, Cartel, Relient K, and Hawk Nelson together. We fought like cats and made more brownies than should be legally allowed in the state of Georgia. She was one of the first people who understood my upbringing and could out-wit me when it came to knowing hymns. She understood what it meant to grow up in a strict Christian household under almost ridiculous standards at times, not to sound disrespectful.
We were introduced by a mutual Literature teacher of ours and were inseparable for two years of high school. We stayed up until all hours of the night coloring with our crayons and writing. She played piano and we had long conversations that we probably had no business having with people on Myspace about theological and psychological things we didn't understand.
During these few short years, she became part of my family. My grandparents knew her by name and face. My parents called her their own, and she was overly familiar with everything good and bad that accompanies the Barrons.
When I left for college we had a pretty fight that left us without talking for many months, during which we both grew tremendously in the Lord.
While I don't think Anne and Diana ever truly stopped talking in L. M. Montgomery's books, they did have a few hiccups here and there. :)

Needless to say, we've both watched and helped each other grow over these four short, yet incredibly long years. And I am so proud of her. She has an incredible heart for the Lord, though she is not perfect.
I can still listen to her sing day and night and be perfectly content. We definitely aren't as close as we once were, but she is still a special part of my life. She always will be.

Now, for what brought this on.
Her dad had a heart attack last week that gave her quite a scare. I'm not going to lie, I was scared myself. [He's fine, by the mercy of the Lord! :)] And I got to spend basically two days with her just hanging out late last week. We talked and caught up and remembered crazy things.
She let me listen to a hard-copy of the song she'd written a while back [I'd heard it before, but it had been...at least six months but most likely more than that since I'd first heard her play it]. She recorded it with the help of some of her friends in Macon. I immediately started singing along because I knew the words. They'd stuck with me. The song held such significance...when I close my eyes and listen to it, even now, I see the past four years and how we have changed - how God is living in her more and more, and consequently how He has changed my life in an extraordinary way.
I am just so thankful for God's hand in both of our lives and how we've grown so much and changed..but still remained friends.
I cannot count her as a friend who, with distance, I have lost. No, we are still very much friends. :)
You can listen to her song here:
Studio Seven Myspace


All of this brings me to an even deeper point - I have been blessed to overflowing by God. He has given me the best friends anyone could possibly wish for in their wildest dreams.
I could go on for days because words will never express how much I love my friends...but I won't.
I will just say that if I needed them, they would each be here in a short amount of time...even if they had prior commitments.
Dear Jennifer - thanks for showing me that friends are supposed to accept you for who you are, but sisters are meant to tease you about it. :) heart