Oh my… life does scat right along, doesn't it?  Okay, did I just sound like an OLD WOMAN?  Yes, I did, just call me MeeMaw.

Anyway, on to the point if I can find one  …..  last summer I was in a Bible study with several of my local girls.  I loved it!  Something so laid back and casual about summer Bible study.  This summer our wonderful hostess and leader, Caprice, decided to do another Bible study.  (I think the nine long months of the school year made her long to have chatty, off-topic encouraging, bunch of women … oh wait, that's just me).

This year we are doing a study I did eight years ago with some dear girlfriends.    I love looking back at that old Bible study workbook and reading the words of a younger version of me.  Some things are exactly the same — apparently I've got some issues I'm still struggling with.  Other things have changed so much.

The first time I did this study my girls were 9 and 15 and now they are 17 and 23 — my word!

The first time I did this study I was struggling to figure out who I am in Christ, today I know who I am in Christ.  I may not always act like it, but I do know it.

Just the other night, I sat around a table with the same girls I did that Bible study with eight years ago.  We've all changed a little.  No longer do we talk about grade school teachers and summer day camps.  Most of our children are grown and we have a few grand-babies in the mix.  We don't have the innocence we once had, as we've walked some hard roads together.  We don't see each other as much as we once did, because we've scattered like a dandelion blown for good luck.

This is the first time that all six of us have been together in a long time.  We get together several times a year, but it's rare that we all make it.  All six of us together is such a treat and a joy.

Even with the hard roads, some sad deception that entered our midst, and rare get togethers,  when we're together we  always manage to laugh until our sides ache.

The younger me remembers the days when these friendships were nothing but goodness and fun.  Today these friendships are precious and true.  We've been through some stuff together — some good and some bad, but we're still standing.

In this whoosh of time from eight years ago until today, I realize that the bonds of these friendships were strained but they held.  Today I realize the enemy saw a group of Godly women who love Jesus and each other and he set his sights on us.  This older, smarter me knows that it is only in Christ that we are still able to sit around that table and laugh.    In Christ, we will continue to stand and our friendships will stand on the foundation of Christ.  — and the knowledge that no one else would get the onion rings joke!