Friends Forever

“Do Unto Others as you Would Have Them Do Unto You” - The Golden Rule

I was lying in my hospital bed crying. As I waited for my friends to arrive to spend their Thursday night with me, I remembered we had been friends for twenty-five years. Our family had moved ten years prior, but our sisterhood stayed faithful.

A horrendous accident had turned my life upside down. My husband, Rusty, my adult daughter, Nikki, and I had been in a motor home accident. We were all badly injured and severely burned. Since that fateful night, my friends had been driving four hours round trip every Thursday after work to be with me. This incident was the worse any of us had shared together.

As I waited for them to arrive, my thoughts drifted back to our early twenties when we met in Woman’s Bible Study Fellowship. During those days we were all young, insecure wives and mothers. My son was an extremely hyperactive child with many challenges and my husband was a workaholic. My daughter was the shining star in my life. Most of my immediate family had died before I was 26. I yearned for fellowship and a personal relationship. Little did I know that when I entered the church I would find a personal relationship with my Lord and sisterhood with my friends. We were all young wives and mothers trying to grow in our faith, and through time our relationships grew too. We experienced many life difficulties together; such as children problems, separations from our husbands, drug addiction, failing parents, and many other issues.

Many times I would almost give up on the friendships. I was always the initiator. As time went by without contact from one of them, I would always give in and call. I remember at one time saying, “I will not call her again,” and I marked the date on the calendar to remind myself. I ended up calling because I missed her.

As I recall that memory, I think how the Lord must feel when he doesn’t hear from us. Isn’t it wonderful that he doesn’t give up on us either? Some way or the other, he’ll get our attention. I guess you can say he doesn’t wait to call.

My friends are like family to me. I will always cherish and treasure and nurture each and every one. One thing each of us has to realize is that it takes time and work to keep friendships. Lots of times during the seasons of our lives, I felt the friendships were one-sided, but through difficult time we were there for each other. Even though there had been separation by distance and time, we still planned special times together each year. We had made a pact with ourselves to never lose touch even if we only made a phone call. We watched each other grow in our faith and witnessed many answers to our prayers. We were there for each other’s children, for special occasions, and traveled many miles to see them get married and were there when they had babies. We felt more like their aunts than their friends. The history that we share could never be taken from us and never replaced. God is so good to give us what we need, and for me it was good faithful friends.

During this most challenging time in my life, I knew I could trust and depend on my sisters in the Lord. At the beginning of our incident there was nothing anyone could do but wait. Both my husband and I were on a live or die list. He stayed on the list for the first two months and I was taken off after a week. From that point on my friends took a silent oath that they would not stop coming to be with me until they knew I would be O.K. I knew it was hard on them and a sacrifice to travel so far. It was a very difficult time for everyone who entered my room. Some would get sick at their stomachs and others actually fainted, but not these friends.

When you entered my room, you had to wear gown, gloves, and a mask in case of infection. You could smell burned skin and the medications that were used. It was hot in the room and no fresh air to breath. I looked like a monster all wrapped with white gauze and weeping fluids coming through. I was unable to do a single task for myself. My back was broken and I had to lay totally flat and not move.

There were questions about how much movement I would have and if I would walk again. None of us had even known a burned person so there were many questions about how I would look in the end. My friends tried to find a book to help them understand and to know how they could help me. There were none available at that time.