Lesson learned: be careful what you promise!

Soooooo. I told Kathryn she could post in my blog and then she was like, “But you need to promise me I can post whatever I want” and BECAUSE I TRUSTED HER she wrote this. Enjoy.

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Dear readers of Danielle the Great and Powerful,

I am not Danielle. My name is Kathryn. Need some background? You can learn about me here, here, or find a picture of my dog here.

It’s unclear how long I’ve known Danielle. Neither of us can quite remember when we first met. Still, that story is now how we introduce one another to other people. “This is Kathryn. She’s cool, plays music, reads books, and we can’t remember how we first met.”

The first documented proof that we knew one another is from a local festival called Arts, Beats, and Eats a few years ago where I grabbed this video of the elusive Danielle dancing to some music coming from a nearby tent.

A few weeks ago I was complaining to Danielle that I was bored at work and her response was, “My outlet: blog posts. ;)” So, naturally I asked if I could contribute to her blog, and she agreed. After some strong-arming I even got her to consent to posting whatever I wrote without censorship. And the reason that I asked for this slightly unreasonable request is that I wanted to write about Danielle.

You see, Danielle writes all of these beautiful and heartfelt posts about the people that she meets and how they influence her life. Some of my favorites are ones about her grandma, priests she knows, Stan the parking lot man, John from church, and most recently, a beautiful post about her sister, Christine. And I couldn’t help but think that she writes these beautiful posts about the people that love her, but we don’t get to write back about all the wonderful ways that she has changed our lives. So I decided it was time.

A long time ago, I wrote a tweet to Danielle that she posted in her blog. It looked like this:

And while she opined about what that meant, I’m going to tell you: Good friends bring us closer to Christ.

If I ever forget for a moment that sanctity is a real thing, that real people become Saints when they unite their wills with God’s and respond to His grace, then all I have to do to remind myself is look at my friends. Their ability to grow in holiness and to love Christ never ceases to amaze me. And by golly, if they’re getting to heaven, then maybe with their help and the love of God (because I could never merit it), maybe I can get to heaven, too.

Danielle sometimes talks about the time, before we really knew one another well, when she convinced me to go out to dinner with her… and then talked me into helping her put on a play. All of that is true. But that’s not what I remember from that evening.

I remember a conversation about trust.

After dinner, full of good food and good friendship, we ambled back to where we had parked and along the way Danielle and I talked about what a crazy idea this was. We didn’t know how to put together a play! But Danielle told me, that no matter what, God had always taken care of her. We need to place our trust in Him.

Trust has always been something with which I’ve struggled, but Danielle’s ever present trust in the Lord and in doing His will has been a constant example for me to let go and fall into His arms.

And from that day forward, my life has been an adventure of watching God’s will unfold in Danielle’s life and in my own.

The first time that I went to Danielle’s house, I jumped onto a rusty nail and her parents had to take me to Urgent Care to get a tetanus shot. It was such a blessing in disguise because it gave me the chance to see Christ work through Danielle and her family while I bled all over their picnic table.

Danielle was the first person to bring me to the Shakespeare festival in Stratford, ON. The first time that we went, she waved at the actor playing the lead in Henry V AND HE WAVED BACK. The second time, she stopped my favorite actor on the street so that I could meet him!

She called me in the middle of the night (which is, like, 9:30 p.m. for us #oldladies) to tell me that we should start praying a 54 day novena.

She encouraged me to write and sing about Christ for her plays and musicals.

She brought me on retreat to encourage me to rest in the Lord.

Since that first encounter with Danielle, there have been countless other ways that she has brought me closer to Christ. And though they might be countless, I feel compelled to count some of them:

1. Helping me to step out of my comfort zone and try something I had never dreamed that I could do (like planning a retreat).
2. Encouraging me to test my own boundaries in acting and in life.
3. Teaching me that sometimes something as simple as a haircut can change your whole worldview.
4. Showing me how to channel Ron Swanson in my daily life (see the link above).
5. Waking up in the middle of the night on retreat so that I can have a shoulder to cry on.
6. Demonstrating vulnerability in strength.
7. Helping me to “be not afraid”.

Good friends bring us closer to Christ. And Danielle has been only a good friend, but so much more, on my journey in Christ.