Brady ...

Brady .. this is a name I have called this friend for more than 20 years.  That's not her actual name LOL but that's what I have called her for so long that I can't even introduce her to people without saying, "This is my friend, Brady, from Texas," and she doesn't even still live in Texas, ya'll.  Anyway, for years I ministered to this girl.  For years I prayed for this girl.  She was hard to love at first.  She was hard headed and strong willed...very opinionated and a bit eccentric.  She was, however, one of those students that God just placed in the middle of my life and she just got into my heart.  She babysat my oldest son, she slept on my couch when she needed somewhere to go before camp, she helped me pack up my house when we moved to Arkansas, and she gave me the honor of being the matron of honor in her wedding and she came to PC to watch my oldest son graduate from high school.  I remember very clearly when we had to evacuate for Hurricane Rita in 2005 she was one of the first people I made contact with through the social media site Xanga (ya'll remember that site?).  We talked on that site for hours and, in my mind, that solidified my relationship with her during that time.  What a silly thing to bring us together, but it totally did.  Fast forward to her meeting her husband and she was attending my second son's first birthday.  She asked if she could bring him to meet us and, of course, we loved him instantly.  Watching this girl grow in her relationship with the Lord has been one of my favorite things in this life.  I literally have been able to watch her move from the young sarcastic girl to a growing beauty of a creature in Christ.  It's been a fantastic thing to watch!

This past weekend Brady came to visit me.  She's been to visit me in Panama City right after I moved here. We would also take the time to get together here and there if I went to TX to visit my parents. She has since made some pretty significant moves to and from South Carolina in the past few years.  <<just so you know,  moving away from your family and the "familiar" is never an easy transition>>.  But she made time to come visit me.  She got in her car, drove 7.5 hours, and came to my house where she stayed in my home and we ate and laughed and played games and talked  ..  and it was just like she never left my side for a moment.  I love having friends like that in my life.  Those that it seems that distance cannot even make a dent in your relationship.  You just always pick right back up where you left off.  Those are my favorite kinds of people.  

She has a family of her own now.  A loving husband who chooses her every single day.  I couldn't have prayed for a better man to love my friend.  A son who is every bit the spitting image of his father (Brady's husband) and a daughter who is quite literally a carbon copy of her mother (attitude and ALL).  They live in a beautiful home in South Carolina and they have a church family where they invest and teach and train and pour themselves back into each person that comes across their path.  It's truly amazing to watch.  

Anyone who ever thinks that mentoring is not worth it or that it's "old fashioned" you are sadly mistaken (just my opinion).  It's a rewarding and fulfilling partnership that I can't even imagine living without in my own life.  Always be actively pouring out into people but don't forget to have someone pouring into you as well.  You can't pour from an empty cup but you also have to be poured out so you don't grow stagnant.  Find your person.  I know Brady has told me many times how much our friendship has blessed her...because I waded into her darkness and confusion and pointed her to Jesus.  Don't sit on the sidelines, friend, get in the mud and muck with people.  Be a Mentor!!!