Ladies are gathered for the final meeting of our bible study. With my heart heavy from pondering my twenty year old son leaving for a university over two thousand miles away, it took all in me to dress and drag myself away from the comfort and solitude of my home. Seconds before the opening prayer, one of my young friends slid into a seat next to mine and we hugged. The prayer began. It felt comforting and warm and I left my arm around her shoulders and she laid her head on my mine. I cherished the closeness of my little girl during the fairly long prayer. When the ‘Amen’ was said, she looked up at me with tears slipping down her cheeks and said, “I felt like I had a mom!” Then my eyes welled up. My friend had missed the closeness of growing up with a loving mother her heart often ached. And my heart was hurting as I was anticipating the departure of a loving son, always willing to give his mom a hug and ‘I love you’. This is a new experience for me: for one of my ‘friends’ to view me as a ‘mother’ figure. I felt so touched and honored, for this was even greater than being called friend. If my friend had grown up with a loving Christian mother, many of her heartache and broken past could have been avoided. But God redeems the past and He has done amazing wonders in the life of my twenty seven year old friend, only a Christian for two years. Yesterday she wrote a post that I reposted called Dear Preteen Me. It gave a glimpse of her past with the light of Jesus shining into the present. I love my friend, Christina and, while I call her my friend, will gladly play a mother role and give her all the hugs she needs. She is worthy of love, respect, hugs and a ‘mother’. And, as you can see in the photo, she even puts feathers in my hair to make me young and cool!