Send Me A Friend

I had just been through great amounts of loss in my life. I lost an old friend, my sister, my father, and my health. I was now housebound due to my illness, I sat alone wondering, what's next?

Not long after this, my friend Sue told me that her husband was offered a new job in another state and they would be moving... soon.

Sue and I had been friends through thick and thin since the fifth grade, and I would be missing our regular visits together greatly.

I had other friends, but I seldom talked with them anymore. As they lived very hectic lives, I really desired a close friend.

So a little over a year ago, I set my face like flint to pray and ask God to, "Send me a friend." I thought this was an impossible request, since I couldn't get out to meet anyone, but regardless of these circumstances, I continued to pray. I recorded these prayers in my prayer journal.

One evening my stepdaughter and her soon-to-be fiancé stopped by. As we sat and talked, oddly, Michael mentioned the name of my old departed friend, Patrea. He said, "She was good friends with my mother, Bonnie." Instantly, I remembered meeting his mother at a prayer meeting I had attended at Patrea's house several years ago. When my stepdaughter got knowledge of this, she started working behind the scenes to reunite us. (She had no idea of my prayer request).

In the meantime, Bonnie was praying for a new friend. She had also suffered some losses of friendship. She was lonely too, and in desperate need of a friend. She was praying, "Send me a friend."

When Bonnie heard that we had been mutual friends with Patrea, it instantly piqued her interest. She did not recall our chance encounter twelve years before, but felt a knowing inside of her, that this could be a relationship that might work. As she went to prayer, God started telling her that she and I would be good friends. Whenever I would go to God in prayer, He told me that Bonnie and I would be good friends.

I decided to take the first step. I got Bonnie's phone number and gave her a call. We had a great conversation and set up a visit. It has been a match made in heaven.

The day finally arrived when Bonnie came to my door. She visits me regularly now and we pray, Bible study, and watch girl movies together. It is as if we were kindred spirits all along.

Since that day we are not only good friends, but are now relatives through marriage. What a plan God had all along some twelve years ago, to reunite two people at a time when they needed it most.

Shortly thereafter, I received a second response to this much sought after request, when I was given the name of a friend's friend, to add to my writing ministry list. As I would send her writings, she sent back responses, telling me how they moved her. Before you knew it we became pen pals. What an exciting time it was, making new friends!

As my writing gift started to grow, I felt the need for the friendship of another writer. I needed someone that understood writing. Another that I could bounce issues or ideas off of. My other friends were very supportive, but I needed someone to share with who had a personal understanding. After all, when I was a nurse I had several nursing friends.

So I continued on in my prayer... this time for a specific kind of friend.

A short while ago the answer came to this request, as I came across the book of another devotional writer. I was reading some stories off of a favorite web-site and was fascinated by the information about this author. I was intrigued by the name of her book, "Celebrate Life" and the fact that she too, was a devotional writer. Something inside of me felt the need to order her book. I placed the order within the next few days. As I was putting the order information in the envelope, there came a thought, "Why not send her a few writings of your own?" So I did.

About two weeks later her book arrived with a note thanking me for my writings, and an invitation to e-mail her. I excitingly accepted the invitation and after two or more e-mails I knew our friendship had begun. I felt this confirmed when just after reading her e-mail response to me, I looked at my calendar and saw a Big Daisy (which was part of her online name).

God had a plan ready to answer my prayer for new friendships, even though my circumstance made it seem utterly IMPOSSIBLE!

I continue to marvel how, He answered my prayer not once, but three times, as I recorded it in my journal... "Lord, send me a friend."

"What I have planned that I will do."   Isaiah 46:11

Friendship is very often in life, not only a joy and a blessing, but a life-saving gift. I think God sends us friends He knows we need, when we need them. Annettee took matters into her own hands and her prayers were rewarded more than she ever dreamed!

[ by Annettee Budzban, Copyright © 2002 (ahrtwrites2u@aol.com) -- from '2TheHeart' ]