Happy 30th Birthday Stacy!

Stacy has the distinction of being the first friend that I ever made online. We met ten years ago on Candace Cameron's website in the prayer rooms. I really thought going online and talking to people was really weird but praying for people online became a passion. I remember talking to Stacy on the phone for the first time about a year later, she was just twenty years old and fresh out of college. I would NEVER tell anyone that I had a online friend, that was just weird.

That year we began online bible studies together. Writing them across the miles and ministering to many across the world on Candace's site. I started telling people I knew what I was doing and suddenly it wasn't so weird to me anymore. My time online had found a purpose and Stacy has long been a partner in that ministry. Together we have been virtual pioneers in ministry, it has been such a amazing journey.

Stacy came to CA to visit my family several years ago, we had a great time traveling all over the State of CA by car together. My family and I loved taking her to all of our favorite places in California and showing her the sights.

I lost all my picture from that trip in a computer crash but this one remains.

Stacy and I have been on a journey together the last ten years that neither of us has fathomed possible. Our lives have taken paths we never could have dreamed. We have had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows together. We have prayed together, shared many praises together and shared some dark times.  She knows me really well, the good, the bad and the ugly. That is what true friendship is though isn't it? A real friend knows you well.

We have lived in a reality that many don't understand. I am thankful to have her to call when the need be and chat it out. This past year, God really showed me that we are in a circle of amazing women whose lives are intertwined. It is almost random really but I know it isn't random because God is a great weaver of the tapestry of life. She long ago embrace the craziness of it all, it has taken me longer to get there.

I am thankful to once again be working with Stacy by contributing to her site Finding Purpose in the Pain monthly and sharing some of the hard parts of my life with other amazing women. It is truly a honor and I am so grateful she asked me to join in.

She is a amazing women of faith,she has lived with chronic pain at a young age and shared the hard truths of that candidly with many. I have learned so many lessons from her down to this very day actually, this past week God used her to show me a truth. It has been such a joy to watch so many prayers be answered for her and with her.

Stacy, I no longer think of you as the younger girl fresh out of college. You are very much a inspiration to me and I am so thankful that God brought you into my life. These past ten years have been a crazy journey, I cannot imagine what the next ten hold. I look forward to being friends for years to come. I'm always praying for you. My prayer is that God bless you abundantly, bring you good health and much joy in the years to come.

Happy 30th birthday, the newest member of the CCB.net club 30!

Be sure to send your wishes to her @dayspring82 on Twitter.

PS maybe we can see each other again soon.  We need a new picture!