She sat at the end of the table in our Advanced Nutrition Counseling class and asked good questions. Most of the girls (and the one guy) in the class were familiar faces. She wasn’t.
When I went down to my adviser’s lab for lunch, she was there. Dr. J is her adviser too–and she was TA-ing for one of Dr. J’s classes.
We grew acquainted over meals and meetings and sharing teaching horror stories.
Towards the end of the semester, she started asking questions and our friendship grew a bit deeper. She prefaced her questions “I know this is a kinda personal question, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but…” I couldn’t help answering.
When I walked into Statistics this Monday and saw her sitting in the back row, I could have cried with relief. I needed something, someone, anything, anyone to keep my mind busy, to keep me occupied. Chante provided the perfect relief.
I knew she knew there was something going on, but she didn’t press. We talked school work and TA-ing and thesis. We looked forward to seeing each other again on Wednesday.
I didn’t want to do anything today–and thankfully, I didn’t have to do much. Just Statistics. I stopped and waited while she finished at the water fountain and then walked with her into class.
After class, we got to talking about this and that. Life, and all that entails. I knew the question would rise sometime–the conversation we’d started before break. I was ready to share when the question came.
Chante listened to me, encouraged me, patted me on the back. “That’s amazing, Rebekah” she told me. “That’s good. You’re growing, you’re learning, this has been a good experience for you.” She reminded me to not lose heart in prayer, to keep pouring my heart out before God. She laughed with me at my jumbled emotions, and told me I needn’t be afraid to cry.
And so I did. She told me she admires me, admires what God’s doing in my life. And she told me I’m in her prayers–and have been since we first started discussing the topic.
We said goodbye and I walked back to my car, tears rolling down my face.
Thank you, Thank you, Lord, for the unexpected blessing of a surprise friendship. Who’d have thought that I’d find such a precious sister, so dear to my heart, in the musty halls of Ruth Leverton? And who’d have dreamed we’d find ourselves in the same class this semester–just when I needed a friend?
God thought it. God dreamed it. He arranged the class time, arranged the news, arranged the mood, arranged it all–and blessed me with a sister at school.