Amy was invited to take part in the #OYPHopehasaName challenge for the week on Joy and share her reflection on her experience below!
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by Amy Chowdhurie, illustration by Gabriella Spykerman
Plucking the Courage to Reach Out
Joy is not a word I would associate myself with but somehow, God always invites me to spread His Joy to others. I have been wanting to meet up with one of my secondary school friends for the longest time, but somehow we didn’t manage to follow through with the initial “let’s meet up”. After a lot of overthinking, I gathered all my courage to text this friend of mine.
Finding Joy in Reconnecting After 3 Years!
To my surprise, my friend was so glad that I randomly texted her because she also has been wanting to reconnect with me. We decided to meet for dinner since we were both busy with school. When we met, it felt like we didn’t lose contact at all. Even though we haven’t talked in almost 3 years, there wasn’t a tinge of discomfort or awkwardness. She was able to be totally vulnerable with me and I could also share about my struggles and even my faith journey with her despite her not being a Catholic. Although I couldn’t completely understand what she was going through, I was able to just be present and lend her a listening ear. It was just such a blessed time to talk and catch up about everything that has been happening in our lives since secondary school.
Finding Joy in Our Common Interests & Reminiscing the Good Old Days
After dinner, as we were walking around the shopping mall, we realised that we actually had a lot of things in common. Our excitement from finding out that we both liked crocheting led us to start planning for our next outing. It was just such a joy-filled moment to know I had someone who loves and appreciates the things that I liked. We really enjoyed reliving our secondary school days when we went window shopping because we used to go to the same mall after school to hang out. My friend chose a couple of outfits for us to try on and we also did a wardrobe reveal after every change.
There’s a lot of Joy to be Found in Friendship
I really had so much fun with my friend but it was time to say goodbye. We went to the MRT and we sat down to talk for a while more before we went home. The both of us were really grateful and happy that we managed to meet up again after 3 years. I’m glad that I managed to reconnect with my friend because she really reminded me of the importance of friendship and how friendships should be for life. I’m grateful for the Holy Spirit’s prompting to reach out to this friend of mine. I hope that through our catch-up, she too felt the Joy of the Spirit in her heart!
