My whole life I have always attempted to be friends with everyone. I want to be friends with you all as well so I am going to get vulnerable and share my secrets with y'all. (That's what friends do, right??) I am going to share my experiences with friends throughout my life so far. I have never been apart of a clique or have one main friend group. I have always been involved with so many different activities where I was able to bond with people of all types. I have had friends come and go as well as friendships that I just know will be around for the rest of my life. I also, more often than not, have experienced those friendships with friends who want to be your "friend" whenever it benefits them. Following rules has always been something I am pretty good at. One of my favorite rules to follow is the "Golden Rule": Treat others as you would like to be treated. Because of this (and my naive tendencies), I tend to let others take advantage of my friendship. I am also a pro at not letting others know if they hurt my feelings so I have continued life without ever letting many people know how the way they treated me truly made me feel.

I have struggled with this my entire life. While I have always been surrounded by friends and people who loved me, I often felt lonely. This loneliness really hit me after I graduated high school. I was dealing with severe family problems and going through a break up from a four year relationship as I was preparing to move to college two hours away from home. My prayers were filled with hopes of true and intentional friendship as I journeyed to a school where I would only know less than five people before going a sorority and beginning classes. Less than a month before I would make my "big move", I returned to my childhood church camp for the first time as a camp counselor. Our theme song for the week was "He Knows My Name" by Francesca Battistelli. During a time in my life where I was seriously struggling to find myself, praying for friendship, and hoping to find somewhere that I would "fit in", I was reminded about the most important fact in my life: God, the Creator of every thing, knows MY name. He knew my name before my parents even knew I was going to be born. He knows my name even when I feel like no one knows I am around.

As I was driving back to school this morning to begin the toughest nine days of school this semester could bring, I was feeling a little lonely again. Low and behold, a sweet voice came over the radio. Francesca Battistelli said, "Growing up, for some reason, I always cared what others thought of me. I always wanted others to know of me. I know now that He knows my name." Then the sweet song from my first year of being a counselor played through the speakers of my car. I was reminded that He knows my name--no matter the struggles I am facing, loneliness I may feel, or not-so-friendly friendships I come in contact with. I will always have a friend in Him. He will always choose me no matter if others don't (or if I don't even want to choose myself). I was also reminded of how He has answered my prayers for true and intentional friendships as I have been in college.

My name is *Hunterpaige and He knows my name.

(*insert your name there*)

"He calls me chosen, free forgiven, wanted, child of the King
His forever, held in treasure
I am loved"