People in my Life- Friends

Friendship is like a dew from heaven. It is refreshing for the soul and making everything seems "alive". As I ponder at my life thus far, my heart sings out in thanksgiving to God for the wonderful gift of friendship at each stages of my life.

University days hold the dearest memories in my heart. The first day upon arriving at University Putra Malaysia, God showed me a glimpse of what beautiful, lifelong friendship is all about. I have the loveliest roomates (Kim and CT) and thinking back, I can only smile and thank God. Kim, CT and I supported each other during those horrible orientation days. Kim was the only one with a boyfriend then and it was a "culture" to get invitations from the boys to bring us out for "dates" to pasar malam, college nights or just dinner every week. I remember CT always dragging me to join her Chinese society's activities just so we get to meet up with more boys. It might sound silly now but boy did we have fun! Soon the first year in hostel ended and we have to move out. We kinda parted ways but remained in contact till now.

During my second year, I had Yee Ling as my roomate. We were both in IKUPM exco committee and worked together alot. Ah Ling has got the bubbliest personality and is a human magnet with her infectious laughter. She helped me to break free from my shyness and taught me to open my heart to accept friends without walls. She used to chauffer me around since I do not have the luxury of a car. We spent many many happy days together- we attended our first Michael and Victor's concert, we went holiday to Sarawak, we had many late night suppers, we shared alot of spiritual highs and lows. We became the best of buddies. But our relationship turned sour towards the end of our final year in university. Pressures to complete our thesis, misunderstanding over minor things and us being involved in a BG relationships put a rift in our friendship. We tried to patch up and worked towards restoring our friendship but all the tears, hugs and apologies didn't work. We left university being just normal friends. God was good and at work! When I got married and started working in KL, Ah Ling made alot of attempts to come down from Ipoh and stayed over at my place just to catch up. We began to share things together and friendship was restored. Now she is the kaima to my baby girl and my bosom buddy. Ah Ling is one friend that I would love to keep for life, God willing.

(Joanna came into the picture during my first working year in Environ Malaysia. But hers is another long story. She is my bosom buddy and Ashley's godma too!)

When life seems to go on smoothly for me, we were transferred to a stanger's land called Australia. I was miserable to have to be plucked out of my comfort zone. But here, God once again showed me how He provided for my social and emotional needs. I had Mary and Jack for my first 6 months in Australia. Then Tamara came along and blessed me in so many ways. Towards the end of last year, God again blessed me with Rebecca and Sylvia. Rebecca and Sylvia have since become my closest friends in Australia. They are both so encouraging and practical in times of need. I was (and am still) feeling nauseous with my second pregnancy and I always neglected Ashley's nutrition and emotional needs. Sylvia knew how much I love Indian food and would always invite me over for lunch at her place (at least once a week). Everytime I leave her place after lunch, there would always be a stack of containers with food for me to take home. "Let Tex try it", she'll say. But each time, the food she packed for us would last us 3 full meals! Rebecca is great blessing for us, especially to Ashley. She is always opening up her house for playdates and blessing Ashley with Joanna's old toys and clothes.

So thinking back, God has been wonderfully planning out the people in my life. There are risks of getting hurt definitely, but without being open and vulnerable, a acquaintance-ship cant progress into what I would love to call kindred spirits.

Thank You Lord for the gift of friendship. Teach me Lord to be a good friend to others too. In Jesus name, Amen.