bethany, sounds like stephanie.

a little over a month ago i made a new friend. her name is bethany, if you haven't guessed. some weird similarities that bethany and i share:

• for the majority of our lives, we both have been called each other's names when we talk to someone new on the phone. for instance, whenever i call my insurance company, and they ask for my name, they nearly ALWAYS think i am saying "bethany." and whenever SHE talks to someone new on the phone, they think she is saying "stephanie." i've always thought it weird.
• bethany went to christian life school. i went to christian life college.
• bethany now goes to CLC (college of lake county) or, at least, she did at the time we met. i went to CLC (christian life college).
• we both play guitar.
• we both sing.
• we wear the same size everything -- shoes, pants, shirts, bras...
• we both order grande soy chais at starbucks.
• we both have read all but the last 50 pages of toni morrison's book, Beloved.
• we both identify strongly with john the baptist.
• one of her best friends' names is Stephanie AND is called stephie poo.
• she started her xanga on my birthday.
• we both met jesus at the same age and on the same day of the month.
• the bibles we have both marked up ferociously were given to us by, well... former boyfriends.
• our former-boyfriend stories are ridiculously similar. this category of likenesses is by far the strangest to me, and probably the most convincing to me that the Lord has sovereignly ordained our friendship. unfortunately, i think it would be unwise to share this part of it, given the sensitivity of the topic. maybe someday.

there's more, i know there is. every time we talk or hang out, i can't help but laugh. it's kind of like stephen and i, although different. stephen and i are like twins in how we think and personalities and such. bethany and i are not so much alike in personality, but we have some of the strangest little things in common. it's weird, but becoming more common.

bethany is a live one. she is a lovesick one. it's beautiful. not sure what the Lord's doing here, but i know it's Him.