I Thank the Lord for the People I Have Found

Posted April 27, 2026 by Prairie Wife -

“And I thank the LordThere’s people out there like youI thank the Lord there’s people out there like you…

And I thank the Lord for the people I have foundI thank the Lord for the people I have found…”

I spent the first two hours of today sitting on my couch, looking like a scrub in saggy old sweats and a ratty favorite sweatshirt, talking nonstop with a dear friend. We covered too many topics to count and likely only fully finished 10/50 conversations. When she left, I felt energized and less alone in the world, and we shouted goodbye and made a promise to get another gab session on the calendar soon…and I know that we will.

Last week I hit the mountain with another friend, and as I gasped for air for the first mile (it was my first time hitting the bridle trail all year), she chatted away about kids, work, and her recent trip, and future plans…and when I could finally breathe again, it was my turn!

Two other friends of mine just went on a quick weekend trip to Texas with me last month to celebrate my 44th birthday. It was our first trip together in 6 years, and we spent most of it sitting and talking outside in the warm Texas weather.

Last week, I took about 20 minutes to catch up on watching all the reels that had been sent to me in the “bestie” group on Instagram. I was woefully behind on our communication because… well… life. But neither of those ladies took it personally that I had been out of communication.

And, as I type this, I just realized that there is another friend of mine that I texted a week ago to try and connect over dinner and lunch… and neither of us followed through on actually booking a date! Whoops…

“I thank the Lord for the people I have found.”

One of the women above was the first person who was “brave” enough to come and ask me to my face what the hell was going on when some of the truth about our daughter being stalked was oozing out into our community. She has been a staunch supporter of our family. She and her family showed up in court for us, and even though she lost friends because of her public friendship with us, she has remained steadfast.

My friends have seen me cry tears of frustration over mom life, they’ve wept with me at my mother’s funeral, they’ve called me on my shit over the years, and told me openly and honestly when I’ve been wrong, when I’ve hurt them, and when my actions are harming myself and those I love. They’ve cheered me on as I share my crazy big ideas with them, and have encouraged me to keep going further than I ever would have dared without their support.

They’ve trusted me with their own crap, their struggles. They have shared their heartbreak and pain with me, and I have tried to offer support to the best of my ability. From listening to them rehash the same conversation 456 times (because that’s how we work through stuff, okay) to calmly but firmly telling them it’s time to walk away from a situation that is no longer safe.

Each and every one of them has something about them that I admire, and they make me want to be a better woman, wife, or mother.

Over the last two years, I’ve thought a lot about friendship.

About the people I’ve surrounded myself with, and the mistakes that I’ve made.

After all, adult friendships are difficult.

It took them a year to find out who was stalking our daughter, and that time changed forever how I act towards others and how I handle relationships.

For the safety of our family, we isolated ourselves during that time. We had no idea where the danger was, so it was best to just stay home and cut off contact with anyone we didn’t completely trust.

Learning that the woman who was stalking my daughter was someone I would have called a friend, someone who texted me “so glad God placed you all in our lives, and we get to raise our babies together” on Mother’s Day 2024…well, something like that changes how you look at people.

After we went public with our story, the fallout didn’t stop with the situation itself. People I once considered friends, families we had known for over a decade and shared countless memories with, chose to stand with the woman who stalked our child. They accused me of lying, claimed I was doing it for attention, and went as far as to say that Marcie Smith was the real victim because she couldn’t attend her daughter’s graduation.

Bertrayl at the deepest level.

I’m still hurt.

I’m still angry.

When I see those people in public (because welcome to living in a small town), it takes all my self-control to ignore them. What I really want to do is go up to them and have them tell me to my face what they post on social media and text to their friends.

I want to ask them if they’re proud of the person they’ve become.

But I don’t.

Instead, I take a deep breath, and I focus my energy on the people who have shown up for me, even when I didn’t ask.

The kind fellow Cross Country mom who made me homemade tea and bath scrubs and gave them to me to help me through one of the hardest times of my life. This act of pure selfless kindness still brings a tear to my eye. She saw me, she saw what I was going through, and she didn’t turn away or gossip about me. Instead, she did what she could to offer a balm to my ragged soul.

“I thank the Lord there’s people out there like you…”

The Elton John song I quoted above was playing in my rental car this Summer as I drove alone to the hospital to begin saying goodbye to my mother. The rain was pouring down (as it often does in Milwaukee), and as I drove down the freeway, Lake Michigan was gray and boiling with wind-blown wild waves.

And all I could think of as the song played and tears rolled down my face was all the people who had been so damn kind to me over the last two years, and how grateful and blessed I was to have them in my life.

The memory of dozens of friends who fearlessly surrounded us in court while we spoke out loud publicly for the first time and shared what had been done to our family soothed my broken heart.

I knew that the next few months were going to be awful.

But I had no doubt that I’d be okay because I had a circle of people around me telling me that they were there for me.

Helping in big and little ways.

Surrounding my family and me with love and compassion.

“I thank the Lord for the people I have found.”

And it’s not an accident that these people are there.

I have worked hard to form this community, and I don’t think it’s bragging to say that.

These people are here for us because we have been here for them.

Not only when it’s convenient for us, but when they need us.

We are in each other’s lives because we ALL make an effort to be there and be present.

We offer each other grace, and we show up to celebrate each other AND to be there in the hard moments!

I’m still very much a work in progress…

There are friends who have known me for decades who can see that I’m still holding back a piece of myself from them. That I talk about the hard stuff less than I did before, it’s harder for them to get a read on how I’m REALLY doing.

But they know I’m working on it.

They’ve seen what I’ve been through, and while they won’t let me use it as an excuse, they do give me grace (thank God).

These are friends who have recently, in the nicest, kindest way, told me that I need to get back into therapy (which I knew and yes, I am going), but they also don’t mind being a distraction and going on a 3-mile walk with me rather than sitting me down and making me sit and cry and spill my guts.

“I thank the Lord there’s people out there like you…”

I know many of these friends will read this post and realize I’m talking about them.

And if you think you’re one of these dear friends, you are.

The people I love know that I love them.

They know how important they are to me.

Without a doubt you know how thankful I am for you, because I am positive that I have told you.

And I’m proud of that.

It’s something I do with intent.

I am all too aware that we have no idea when our time here will finish.

“I thank the Lord for the people I have found.”

As I’ve spent the last few months thinking about how I wanted to write this post (something I do often as a blogger when I’m preparing to write about something hard for me to share), I’ve also been working on adjusting how I talk with others about people and how I think about relationships.

I have learned (as I have taken a deep dive into friendship, trust, and relationships) that too often we call people friends when they deserve a different label.

For example, are they a friend or are they a:

coworker
fellow wrestling mom
someone you went to college with
a neighbor
a well-known community member
fellow parishioner

I have learned that, over the years, I have referred to many people as friends who are not.

And that puts an unhealthy pressure and expectation on them and me to maintain a relationship that really isn’t there.

Some of the people that I was so upset about “losing” who have chosen to support the woman who stalked our daughter…well, honestly, they were only people I saw at events around town, and they followed me on Facebook. I never once made an effort to spend any time with them. They had never been invited to my home for any reason, and frankly, I didn’t know anything about them beyond gossip from others and who their kids were.

So why was I so upset?

They don’t know me, and I didn’t care to know them.

That perspective shift has been incredibly helpful for me, and I’ve been continuing to use this trick of putting people where they belong (not in a mean way) as I’ve moved forward.

I want to add, as I wrap this article up, that just because someone isn’t a “friend” doesn’t mean they can’t have a profound impact on your life.

I will always be grateful to Rita, our checkout clerk at our local grocery store, who was so kind to me when I came in weekly when the Cowkids were young. I was deep in the exhaustion and stress of SAHM mom life, and sometimes she was the only adult I had talked to for days. Her sweet demeanor was always exactly what I needed, and I still look forward to seeing her now 18 years later when I go to the store.

“And I thank the LordThere’s people out there like youI thank the Lord there’s people out there like you…”

Take time today to really think about who is in your life.

How do your “friends” make you feel when you leave them?

Are they helping you to be better, or are they keeping you where you’ve always been?

How much effort are YOU putting in to these friendships?

Are you taking responsibility for your relationships, or do you just expect others to text and call you because “you know how I am”?

You can’t expect to receive love and friendship if you never give it.

“And I thank the Lord for the people I have foundI thank the Lord for the people I have found…”

I Thank the Lord for the People I Have Found

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