Back to the Future
I spent last weekend getting together with 24 college girlfriends at my undergraduate school, Texas Lutheran College, many of whom I may not have hung out with while at TLC. However, coming together over thirty years later with this group of women was different. There was reminiscing and light fun, but there was also a spiritual element to the retreat. There were talks on Menopause, Stress and Prayer, with God woven throughout. The retreat, called, “The Way We Were; the Way We Can Be: Soul Spa,” was just that, a bathing of the soul in the spirit of God. We were all the same people, but not exactly the same because since college, we had all been through life’s struggles, realizing that only faith in God can help us overcome. Any divisions because of the various cliques at college dissolved, and we got to know each other in a deeper, more meaningful way!
Yesterday, I had lunch with a woman who I knew from elementary school in San Antonio. We reconnected on Facebook, and both of us now live in the DFW area. Interestingly enough, after talking, we realized we were never in the same home room in elementary but that we each had vivid memories of each other. She is extremely petite and I am above average in height, so when we stand side by side, I look like a giant! As we talked, the discussion moved to our current faith beliefs. As it turns out, we worship within the same denomination and she is considering going on a spiritual retreat called, “The Walk to Emmaus.” Both my husband and I went on this retreat over ten years ago, and we know how life changing it can be. I told my elementary school friend that our lunch may simply have been about my encouraging her to attend this retreat. I knew this was a “God appointment!” God’s plan for us is amazing. My life verse is Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” My elementary, high school, and college years were a part of God’s plan, but so were these meetings so many years later.
God willing, I will go back for our third annual TLC get together next summer and I suspect I will have lunch with my elementary school friend again, but now, our past is intermingled with our future as we all strive to be the women God desires for us to be.