you know what? god amazes me so much. he puts people in my life that i never would've realized i would need. now that those people are in my life, i am so thankful, because i know how much less progress i would've made in my life if i had never known them. praise god that he's in control and he has a plan that is so much more intricate and beautiful than what we might imagine or fantasize about. we are so blessed!! and the thing is...this all goes back, yet again, to glorifying god. he blesses us with things like, say, certain people in our lives, so that we can praise him and glorify him in hindsight of what we would've been like had we not known that person. the point always was, and still is, his glory! wow it's really late i should go to bed!