After a long weekend at the Motion Student Conference, Madison, Makayla, Mackenzie and I met Mandie in Atlanta for her to pick up Mackenzie. On our way there, about 40 minutes away from home, I passed a sign on I-85 that said , "Meriwether County". I have passed it many, MANY times in the last 20+ years. Each and every time I see it, my heart aches, but I push that feeling away. This time, however, I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
I looked to my right to see if Madison noticed but she had her headphones on and was scrolling on her phone. I looked in the rear-view mirror to see if Makayla or Mackenzie noticed and they were doing the same. (Teenagers! 😮💨😂) In that moment, my heart ached even more and immediately following, I heard the Lord say, "Something beautiful always comes out of the pain if you just trust me."
You see, when I was 16, I was living in Northeast Georgia. I was homeschooled and worked full time, where I met Scott. Scott (18) was my first boyfriend, and first kiss, who then became my first ex-boyfriend, turned best friend. He got back together with his ex of 4 years. Her and I hated one another but we both loved him, so we tolerated each other.
They decided to go see her family in West Central Georgia (Troup County). Scott, Mandie's cousin and her other cousin's husband went night fishing in a pond not far from their house, in Meriwether County. These three young men were on a raft, and it popped, or was losing air. Well, Scott didn't know how to swim. He panicked and drowned. Mandie's cousin's husband tried to save him but in his panic, Scott pulled him down and he drowned, too.
I can still hear my mom's cry, like as if he was her son. Scott had lived in our house for a short time and my parents showed him the kind of love that his parents should have been showing him. Scott rededicated his life to the Lord in our home. The pain I felt from losing him was a pain like no other I had ever experienced up to that point in my life. I genuinely thought that I'd never recover from that.
A couple months afterwards (August of 1997), Mandie brought me a birthday cake from DQ where she worked and asked if we could squash our hatred for each other. I was skeptical of her motives but what could I possibly lose? We both had already lost the only boy we had ever loved at that point.
That year, God took our first tragic loss that we both shared, and he planted a seed that has been growing strong for 28 years. Our friendship has stood the test of time! I'm talking... We've been hurt by others, we've hurt others, we've hurt each other...
We've experienced many losses since. Some have been separate from each other but most have been loved by both of us because we intertwined our lives and loved each other's families as if we were blood. We've been through the ringer, that is for sure! However, God always reminds us that something beautiful came from something so incredibly painful.
I pray to remember that every time we experience something else painful. His plans are not our plans and His ways are not our ways. We will have a reunion in Heaven one day and that will be an amazing day! 🙌🏼
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
#BeautyFromTheAshes #MeriwetherCountyGa #BestFriendsWhoLoveJesus #MichelleAndMandieBestFriendsForever #IAmHerPerson #SheIsMyPerson #WeAreOvercomersThroughJesus #GodIsAlwaysThere #EspeciallyThroughThePain
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