These girls are two of my hold-your-hand-in-the-dark friends. During one of the most painful seasons of my life, these girls were there for me. They loved me. They hurt with me. They are the kind of friends that don't judge when you cry so hard that your mascara runs, your nose runs, and nothing coming out of your mouth makes any sense at all. I am so grateful for them.
We may want to desperately erase our pasts, pretending that things never really happened. I know there are seasons of my own life that I would rather just forget. However, these dear friends of mine are a reminder to me that something beautiful can be had in the ugliness of our pasts. While I was in my darkest hour, these girls were my light and a reminder that God still cared for me. They sat with me, prayed for me, and in the words of my friend Heidi, "When you don't know what to say, you just hold her hand."
Do you have friends like this? The hold-your-hand-in-the-dark kind of friends? Perhaps the shoe is on the other foot, and you are that hold-your-hand-in-the-dark friend for someone. Whichever side of the dark you are on, trust that the blessing of this friendship will be with you forever. And the journey you are on, no matter how painful, will be worth all the blood, sweat, and tears in the end.
And one day, perhaps years down the road, these same friends will laugh with you, take you down the happy side of memory lane, and rejoice when they see how far you've come.
Hang in there, and keep holding hands.