happy birthday to my friend:

she got baptized in my church and her brief testimony caught my attention. i often saw her and her kids around church...always full of energy and excitement for whatever it was she was doing. i ran into her in the lobby once and told her I wanted to hear the rest of her story.

we kept passing each other in the hallway for months doing that “hey, gotta get together sometime” thing until one afternoon at a retreat. We had roomed together, and decided to lock ourselves in our room for the afternoon and tell each other our stories.

so we laughed and we cried and we drank bottled frappaccinos and we told each other about what the Lord had done to bring us to where we were then.

we told each other a lot. but kept a lot back, too. i’m still learning stuff about her, and she about me.

we often laugh about how strange it is that we are friends. We’re such polar opposites.

She thrives on being surrounded by people, i can do large groups in small doses.

She solves everything by talking it over with someone...sometimes several someones, while i tend to just mull things over in my mind until i reach some sort of conclusion.

She is continually on the go, i like to have lots of time alone to rest.

i love it that my friend is a good mom to her kids...and even to her friends on occasion.

i love it that she is so thirsty to make sense of who God is and how He works.

i love it that she challenges me to dig deeper into spiritual things.

i love it that i can run away to Canada with her if needed.

i love her spinach artichoke dip.

i love her availability and heart so open to ministering to people.

i love it that she knows someone everywhere we go, and can talk to anyone, including, but not limited to, strangers.

i love it that i can tell her exactly what I think, and she’s still my friend.

I love it that her trust in God is strong.

I hope she has a great day today.

happy birthday, my friend Christina.