March 26, 2014

• I thank my God upon every remembrance of you

  Almost 25 years ago as I was beginning my senior year in college, I found myself in a friend's dorm room near the end of the day with several friends. I don't remember what we were talking about but as we realized that we needed to bring our day to the close and head off to our respective rooms, someone suggested that we pray. I don't remember if we prayed about anything in particular - possibly we prayed about what we had just been discussing - but when we were done praying, we decided to meet again the following week.

  The next week, we all met in my room and several had joined our group. We had a time of sharing and prayer and then we decided that we would limit the size of our group to the seven that were there that evening. For the rest of the year we met every week for prayer. We had a notebook and each week, we would record our requests for the week. We decided to call ourselves Philippians 1:3. "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." In addition to praying together, we made a list of all the other girls in the dorm and each of us took one day of the week to pray for two girls who weren't in our group. We would also write notes of encouragement and occasionally leave small gifts. We always signed our notes Philippians 1:3 and we never revealed who we were - until now.

  Even though most of us didn't have classes together and our paths didn't cross much during the week, we knew we could count on that time of prayer together each week. Three of us were seniors working on senior projects or student teaching. One was planning a wedding, two were dating, most of us were education majors. We were from six different states and one Caribbean island. We all had jobs- some on and some off campus. We grew to love and appreciate each other as we gathered for prayer at the end of the day once a week.

  

  A year after our last prayer time, I returned to Florida to watch three more members of the group receive their degrees. I didn't realize at that time, how long it would be before I would see these dear friends once again. We tried to stay in touch by keeping a round-robin letter going, but it died a slow painful death along its journey from one to the next. We would hear from each other at Christmas and once in a blue moon there would be a phone call or a few hours together. Some returned to work near or for the college while others made it a point to visit occasionally. More recently several of us connected again through Facebook and even though we weren't having much contact, we more or less were able to keep up with each other.

  Several weeks ago, one of those dear friends contacted me and said that she and her family were going to be vacationing nearby and wondered if it would work out to get together. Of course I wanted to see her, so we made arrangements for them to join us on Sunday for church and the afternoon.

  

  Twenty-three years and a husband and three boys apiece later, we were tickled to spend time catching up. We pulled out our folding tables and we enjoyed lunch and the afternoon together. After the boys ate, they headed outside for the rest of the afternoon, while the rest of us visited. We said our goodbyes with hopes that it won't be twenty years before we get together again. Many miles, years and experiences have separated us, but we still thank God when we remember each other.

  • 4:53 pm
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