Egypt and Anne of Green Gables

I've been reading the Anne of Green Gables series again. I was in desperate need of a book that wasn't going to challenge me, change me, grow me, or make me into a better person. So, I looked at my personal library (which is lacking hugely in the fiction department) and decided on rediscovering Anne Shirley.

So, what does Green Gables have anything to do with Egypt? Well...

Meanwhile, struggling with some life situations, I was met with two people who lovingly stood in the gap for me and prayed. While they were praying, the Lord revealed to one of them about how I have been looking at our current life as the Israelites looked back longingly at Egypt. The Lord is so sweet, for as soon as I saw what He was saying, my eyes opened anew and I saw life a little fresher.

That's nice, but really, what do Anne of Green Gables and Egypt have in common?
Anne Shirely, always seeks to find a "kindred spirit" in her friends, wherever she goes in life. Kindred means "of a similar nature or character." In each book I have read, she finds at least one if not two or three friends who get her. They are the type of friends who can finish each others sentences. Who find joy in doing the simple things in life, together. They are comfortable with each other from the beginning.

I've been mourning that sort of friendship for a long time now. Longing to have a friend who is comfortable and easy and simple. I had 5 of them in PA. You know who you are. I had 5 friends who were the ones that I could do life with, easily and enjoyably.

Since our move, I have been searching out that "kindred friend," trying to find what I had back in PA. I've been frustrated and lonely, trying to understand why God hasn't brought that to me, yet. I've been looking back at Egypt (PA), wanting to have those kind of friends again. I've been frustrated with God, saying to Him, "You brought us here. You told us to come. Why aren't You providing me with at least one friend, who really cares?"

Well, I see how far the Israelites got with that approach. 40 years in the desert??? No way, man.

I know that God does want us to have those "kindred friendships." But they may not look the same as they did in the past.

In Anne's life, (so far), her "kindred friends" included a childhood friend like herself, a two college friends (one of whom was quite different and a bit airheaded). After she married Gilbert Blythe, her friends included a sailor, a single woman, and a unhappily married woman who was stuck in her home with her disabled husband. I haven't finished all the books yet!!!
But her friends were all different. They weren't the same kind of people each time. So, I am trying a new approach. I am not giving up on friendships. But I am going to keep my eyes open in a different way. I am not going to limit God to what He gave me before. I am going to open the doors to my expectations and trust that He will give me at least one "kindred friend," somewhere along this journey!

That, my friends, is what Anne of Green Gables and Egypt have in common right now!

6 comments:

  1. It is really tough to make good new friends in a new place.

     
  2. I can really relate to this conversation. I too have wondered at the lack of kindred spirits since my move. I've moved enough times to have learned that these friendships come in all different packages and shapes and sizes. But in the season of life that I face now, putting in the time and effort to nurture those friendships has been very hard - four kids, church ministry involvement, hubby's career changes and now homeschooling again, etc.

    As an encouragement to you: the Lord has given me several new venues in which to find friends and I'm finding deeper connections in the unlikeliest places!! Abandoning myself to these changes has been an interesting journey with some fun payoffs! And I'm being stretched to be the kind of friend that THEY need, not really focusing on what kind of friend I need!

     
  3. I get nervous about moving. We are about to put our house up for sale since my hubby got a job starting in January an hour from where we live.

    Although I'm a *social butterfly* I am very nervous. This will be my first time to start very much, from new. I mean not even knowing my way around where I live...I am scared honestly!

     
  4. What a beautiful post. Honestly, I enjoyed reading it.

    I think I have erased four or five different things I wanted to say to you, but when I read them, they sounded trite. So, I won't tell you things you already know. I'll just say that, Fire, you're not forgotten or alone. He has you right where you're supposed to be. Have joy today, my firend, knowing that you did not go to the right or to the left, but went right in those righteous steps we're rejoicing about. :)

     
  5. You know, I've moved upwards of 20 times in my life. And those moves have proved to be very growth-filled for me. Sometimes I think the reason we don't find a "bosom buddy" right away is that God may want to use that time for us to come to rely on Him more deeply.

    I know that doesn't ease the lonlieness of not having a woman to sit and gab with, but maybe it will help a little.

     
  6. I loved this post. I love Anne of GG, too, and her ability to find those kindred spirits. And I think you're right that they don't always come in the same size and shape. One of my closest friends when I was single after college was a girl I knew in college, who was a Christian, but in a sorority, a cheerleader in high school, and just seemed so completely unlike me that I basically wrote her off when we ended up living near each other in Connecticut. But because of her persistence (and God's love!) she became one of my closest friends. At some point I realized that people who don't look like good potentials for friends (or maybe in other circumstances wouldn't even be close friends) might end up as one of your closest friends. You can never tell. But I sympathize with you. I find it much harder to find those kindred spirits at this stage of life.