a worthy pursuit

Mercy, our youngest, started school today-her third year of college, seven hours away from home. I'm missing her. . .

So, I'm cleaning out closets and files and I came across an entire folder of The Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter. I've been reading through them, one or two every night; here's a portion from the May/June 2001, a selection she titles, A Strange Peace:

"Shortly before my daughter Valerie, my only child, went off to college as a freshman, a sudden tide came over me one morning . . .She has grownup, I told myself. My job is finished, the job I loved more than anything else I have ever done. The nest is about to empty. Overcome with sadness, I sat down at the wicker table, picked up the phone, and dialed Van, who is the type of friend you don't have to explain things to. Tears came as soon as I tried to talk.
'It's O.K. Bet,' she said quietly. 'It'll be O.K.'
She did not need to explain to me what she meant. She knew I understood, we believe the same things. . .but I needed to hear her say it. I needed to have the Word made flesh for me in her voice. Van's simple word, It'll be O.K., encouraged me to trust and obey. I learned that in this renunciation I had what the seed has that falls into the ground--a new potential for life-giving. I would be lonely, but I now had something precious to offer in love to my Lord, which in turn would make something quite different out of my loneliness. In some mysterious way which I could not predict, that offering would bring forth fruit. It would make a difference to the wholeness of the Body of which I was but a single member. . ."

So much good here- I think about Mercy, and me. . .and others in my life who are learning to trust and obey God with his good providence, with loneliness, lack, weakness. . .
And in her weakness, Elisabeth called a friend, one whom she was confident would speak truth to her. hmmm. . .wise women, both of them, and what a great model for biblical friendship-I want to be that kind of a friend, don't you-vulnerable, truthful, refreshing. . .a worthy pursuit.