Saturday 8th September

This entry in my blog's going to be a smiggen smaller than yesterday's. I've had a bit of a busier day. But I just wanted to enter something that's made me so happy I could burst (NO Jenny's NOT had her baby!).
I had a very close friend, I won't name names; we became friends when she was pregnant with her last child. She'd had a really bad time with the previous child and she was so anxious about this eventual birth. I was a midwife and we had girls at the same school, so we'd meet up when we collected the children. Anyway, she asked me to care for her & deliver her baby, which I did. As a [closet] Christian (ie I stopped going to church after I married as my DH didn't believe), I could feel something in that room.
Anyway, we became firm and close friends. She was present at the birth of DD11 and she & her DH are Godparents to her.
Some bad things happened in the Church and, although I had absolutely no part in what was being said, our friendship stopped suddenly & I found other friends ignoring me too. I was bereft as I'd lost a good friend for no fault of my own. I'll not go into detail but, basically, the horrid rumours had come through the youth group & a [mouthy] adult.
I apologised to her & this other person, not for starting the rumours but for not stopping them when I could have done.
It's so easy for a flippant remark to escalate out of control & become a major issue. We ended up leaving that church & went to another in the parish, where we are still. If it wasn't for my DH (who had become a Christian with this person's influence) I would have stopped going to church altogether. I just went to look after the girls; I sat behind a pillar at the back of the church so no-one could see me. It was a bad time of my life.

Anyway, recently I have been seeing her more, she had my girls for an afternoon at New Wine [they were so excited by this].
She & her DH came to dinner last night. We had a wonderful time. The atmosphere was brilliant and the girls loved it when she played a game with them.
Then, today, we met up at a mutual friend's party. We sat together & I was discussing about my illness with her - she's a nurse too - and I found myself telling her how our split affected me & how I needed her when I was poorly. I found myself teary.
She has promised to see me & to keep in touch, with me and the girls. I hope she does as I need her. She gave me such a lovely hug when we went. I hope we can rekindle this friendship. I leave this in the hands of God - if we're meant to be friends again he'll be there for us.
I don't know if she reads my blog, but she'll know who she is. God bless hunny.