A Story of God's Faithfulness: Friendship and Technology in 2011

Sometimes, most of the time really, I forget how capable God is. I limit God to human abilities. For the majority of my life, I have been guilty of looking at my life and thinking, “It’s hopeless; I might as well give up now.” In 2011, God changed my perspective in a number of ways. He repeatedly blew me away as He revealed to me how truly capable He was. He did this in a number of ways, most which I have shared about on this blog or in person. However, there is one story that has not been told and that is the story I want to tell today.

There is a lot of talk today, particularly in the Christian world, about how social media is destroying relationships. Facebook in particular is often accused of ruining our ability to actually connect with people. The accusation is that instead of friendships, Facebook leaves us with a false sense of knowing someone when really we only know about them. There is good and evil in everything – technology is no different. I have seen bad and painful results from technology, however God has used it for good in my life.

In 2011, God brought four very distinct friendships into my life that were the direct results from technology. They are friendships that are so unique, so richly blessed, so out of the ordinary that only God could have coordinated them. Two of them have crossed state lines, one of them crossed international borders, but all of them have deeply penetrated the walls that I had built around my heart and I know that I will never be the same because of these friendships. I know that these are God’s gifts to me because they are friendships that I never could have forged on my own; they would have been impossible if not for God.

I met these four friends throughout the year, the first one being in April and the last being in December. God knew the order in which these people needed to enter my life. God had a purpose to accomplish in my life through each of these friends and these accomplishments built on each other. I never would have been able to form the last friendship had God not accomplished His will in my life through the first three.

The first friendship is a story all of its own. I have tried to write that story multiple times. Never have I been able to get to write it in less than 4000 words and even then, I have not been able to communicate the way God transformed my heart through that friendship. So that one will continue to wait but today I want to share the stories of the last three.


Kristin Kishaba:
Kristin and I first met in July. We had geared up, along with five other women, to give our good friend, Kara, the best possible last week as a single lady. I felt an instant friendship form with Kristin. I initially felt that this was most likely due to our mutual Midwestern roots or maybe it was the fact that we had both obtained Bachelor’s degrees in Education at colleges in Minnesota. (There is something about the Praxis II that bonds people even without acknowledging that experience.) The entire bridal party was absolutely wonderful and I was thankful that Kristin did not seem intimidated by my overzealous and slightly overbearing personality the week of Kara’s wedding. However, the night before the wedding as the bridesmaids and personal attendant sat around talking, through our conversations, Kristin and I realized we had more in common than we thought. Through the weekend, Kristin continued to take a personal interest in my life and some of the things that were going. The week of the wedding had been filled with text messages, however in the weeks that followed the wedding Kristin returned to her teaching position in Costa Rica where she no longer had cell service. In the months that followed, Kristin and I kept up through Facebook. We sent long messages back and forth keeping the other updated on life and what God was teaching us. When Kristin returned for a brief visit in October, our friendship was just as strong as if we had been living in the same city. Kristin and I knew that we could relate to each other’s past, but we had no idea how God was preparing and blessing us for our futures. It has been six months since Kristin and I met, however, God knew that we would be walking the same path today, a path that is teaching us to completely and exhaustively trust in God. This path would be harsh, lonely, and terrifying if I didn’t have someone to walk it with, someone to help me stand after I have stumbled, someone to encourage me when I am tired, and someone to reassure me that God still has a plan when I forget. It has been an honor to walk this journey of life with someone whose heart is as beautiful as Kristin's. And I am reminded that God will always provide what we need and sometimes those provisions come through something that seems childish like Facebook.

Nicole Youel:
I first met Nicole at a baby shower for my sister about four years ago. The baby shower was being hosted by the young marrieds’ class at my sister’s church which Nicole and her husband had recently started attending. I remember a brief conversation with her, she was sweet and down to earth, easy to talk to but after the shower was over I did not speak to her again until early in 2011. Nicole often subbed for a monthly girls’ Bunco night that I was a part of. We played once or twice together and soon became Facebook friends however I still would have considered her an acquaintance as best. In the middle of July, I received a message from Nicole saying that, although she couldn’t explain it, I had been on her mind frequently and she wanted to let me know she was praying for me. Her note meant a lot to me and in a somewhat unexpected response from myself, I spilled my heart and soul out in my reply. I shared everything that God had been doing in my life, my dreams and fears, my frustrations, and where I felt stuck. I shared with her things I hadn’t even shared with my closest friends. I received a response from Nicole a few days later. While certain things didn’t make sense in our individual stories, it became quite evident that God was completing a good work in our lives when our stories came together. Nicole shared what God had taught her through my response. At the time, Nicole and her husband were waiting to adopt a baby. They had completed the entire process and now were just waiting for a birth mom to pick them to raise her baby. I was humbled and amazed by Nicole’s response, “Please know that I am praying for you each time my heart is heavy and aching for a child.” I cannot explain to you the amount of love I felt through those words, that this woman that I barely knew was dedicated to praying as much for me as she was for the desires of her own heart. Our friendship has continued to grow. We have gone from Facebook messages to coffee dates, phone calls, and long long chats. She pushes me to seek God in my own life through her words and through her example. Her encouragement is often a tonic for my soul and I am blessed to have someone who confirms God’s calling in my life. Nicole and I had known each other for years and even interacted socially however God used Facebook to connect us and teach us both about His goodness and faithfulness in our lives.

Danya Prado:
I am not even sure where to start. Danya and I have never met yet she is one of the biggest encouragements in my life. She knows my heart, my struggles, and my dreams. We live in different time zones, we have never spoken, and we have never even sent a text message to each other. Our entire friendship has been through email and Facebook. Danya and I share one mutual friend. That’s our entire, earthly connection, but God is bigger than that. Danya was having a rough day in the beginning of December. Without my knowledge, our mutual friend forwarded her an email that I had written about a week before hoping it would be an encouragement to her. Danya, in her response to our mutual friend, suggested that I write a book, which is something I had been urged to consider the previous week. So her email was forward to me in attempts to convince me that there were others who thought the same thing. I was blessed by Danya’s email and wanted to encourage her, so that afternoon I took some time to sit down and write to her, sharing with her some of the things I had learned in my own life. And from there our friendship not only took root but bloomed and has not stopped growing. I love Danya’s honesty and willingness to share what God is teaching her, but I also love her ability and willingness to invest in my life. There is a connection between Danya and I that I can only explain as a result of sharing the same creator and savior. I feel privileged to stand next to her when the battle lines of life are drawn and support her in whatever way I can help. And I cannot tell you how comforting it is to know that she is doing the same for me. Her words bring comfort and encouragement into my life in a way that is unique to our friendship and I am blessed to call her my friend. And while email is a prevalent theme in this story, it appears that Facebook really played no part. However, it is important to note that the friendship I share with our one mutual friend was formed solely by God’s faithfulness and Facebook. If it had not been for Facebook, the first friendship never would have existed, and if the first friendship had not existed, I never would have been introduced to Danya.


Only God is great enough to orchestra and coordinate something as elaborate as these friendships, but I love that He is personal enough to know how much I needed them. I am convinced that God will always provide. It is true that my life is hopeless and left on my own I might as well just give up, but I have been redeemed by a God who is so very capable that He can create beauty from ashes and even form friendship from technology.