God, Friends, & Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Every now and then the Lord blesses me in such an incredibly specific way that it just blows my mind. And let me just say, this weekend has been Blessed To The Max. THE MAX

Before I delve into the gloriousness, I wanted to preface this post by saying that at the start of Sunday morning I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. A bit blue. Lately I have been noticing that sometimes, friends grow up, get out, and move on. Other times, this may only be my perception of things. But regardless, I was feeling a bit hurt, a bit lonely. And I was lifting that up to the Lord like a pitiful, mopey child: 

"Do I even have friends anymore?"

Cue God being God. {He's pretty good at that.}

My sister (on the right) got a text from my cousin (in the middle) inviting us to tag along with her on a mini road-trip reunion of sorts, to visit our old Bible college. Which I was a bit apprehensive about, because not only have I not been back to my Bible college in a year, but I also left it feeling quite negative about the whole experience. And so I was a little nervous about going back, especially because I felt like maybe no one there liked or remembered or cared about me.

This was my prayer:

"Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.'"

~ Deuteronomy 1:29-31

And well, God totally answered it.

When we arrived, our friends flocked to us, laughing and hugging us all, some almost tearful. {The visit was a surprise.} It was so refreshing to talk to my old pals and hear how much they had missed me, what God was doing in their lives, and to remember good times.

It's cheesy to say, but through that one visit, I could feel all the lies and bitterness and negative thoughts I'd had about Bible college and my friends for a solid year just fall away.

To think that God would answer my prayer of hurt feelings with a visit of such tenderness and joy, only several hours later, well....that is something to me.

After the visit, my cousin and sister and I crashed at my parent's tiny cottage an hour or so away, and slept hard. {Introverts + a full day of socializing = major recharge time.} Then this morning on our way home, we decided we'd better stop for breakfast. We "randomly" stumbled upon this bistro we'd probably passed a hundred times, but never ever eaten at before. Lo and behold, the place was not only adorable, but our waitress was also a Christian and knew people from our hometown! From my cousin's very church, in fact!

You may also note that my cousin and I are holding fabulous plates of CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES WITH WHIPPED CREAM ON TOP. Silly to say, but this was a moment of mini-liberation for me, as I usually never allow myself to enjoy such treats like this. But today was something different...a step in the right direction, yes?

When I got home, the mailman delivered me the Mumford and Sons vinyl I ordered a week or so ago. {Also set to arrive soon? Gerard Way's Hesitant Alien and The Killers' Hot Fuss records.}

WELL HOT DANG!

I remember once that my pastor said if you ask God to take you on adventures, He will. And I don't know, these past two days have felt very much like adventure to me. And none of it can I take credit for! Jesus is just that good. He rights the wrongs, shouts the truth, and heals my hurt heart.

God is good. 

+ I have so much more I could say about all of this, but this post is already a veritable novel as it is, so I shall refrain. But please let me know how you all are doing, because I have been pretty MIA in the blogging world as of late...egad!