The Bill Gaither Trio is so cute!

Something special happened this weekend.

Someone special came to visit. The phone rang on Tuesday and a voice said, “Make my bed; I’m coming on Friday.” I couldn’t have been happier for this sudden and abrupt change in my weekend plans.

Because it wasn’t sudden and abrupt at all, you see. This was a reunion five years in the waiting… waiting and more waiting for our paths to cross again.

Something special happened this weekend. The faithfulness of God has shown so bright that I am still recovering from the afterglow. Five years ago I left Calcutta and the communication between me and the children I worked with was painfully severed. But on Tuesday, the wall of separation became to crumble. One of the children, Sabita is all grown up now. A 22 year old lady-in-waiting and school teacher.

Some may remember her story. Sabita’s mother loathed her daughter. “I should have been a boy.” Her father was the only person she ever felt love from and his sudden death changed the course of her life. That very night her mother left for the market saying “I’ll be home soon.”

Sabita was five years old at the time. Her mother never returned.

After a week alone and desperate for safety and food, Sabita allowed a little boy to carry her to an orphanage. With tears running down her face, she said, “Libby, I used to wonder about him. But now I realize he was an angel.”

So my angel came home to me this weekend. What are you supposed to do with a child-grown-adult that you haven’t seen in five years?

I spoiled her. I admit it. For breakfast she chose an omelet and toast, and I brewed a pot of freshly-ground chocolate hazelnut coffee. And then we talked. For 48 hours. She told me the plot of her recent read, and that the Bill Gaither Trio is “sooo cute”, and how many children are in her classroom, and that she’d said “no” to three marriage proposals.

She opened her first pop can (of Diet Coke), and we laughed at the funny Hindi movie she picked out. We window shopped, drank cold coffee, tried on expensive clothes, and skimmed through favorite books.

And before bedtime, she grasped my hands and we prayed and thanked the Lord for the restoration of our friendship.

Thank you Lord for the restoration of this friendship. "Dear Child, this is only the beginning."