31 Days–Week 3

Pulling out a box of cards I think back over my life and thank God for friendships that have stood the test of time.   These are people who I shared life closely with at one point on the journey.  Even though time and distance have separated, I still keep in touch with most of them.  Slowly I write each note, praying, expressing gratitude for these relationships…

Day 14  - The friend I have known since 8th grade.  We shared the ups and downs of high school.  She was the maid-of-honor at our wedding.  Her life has blossomed into a pastor’s wife with three lovely daughters.   Hard to believe we have known each other for over 30 years – it just seems like yesterday we were teenagers.

Day 15  - The friend from our days at college.  We shared being pregnant together, twice.  Even to the point of living together for five or six months of our first pregnancies.  We have shared parenting tools, lending listening ears, and many prayers together.   I am glad we have shared the last 24 years of life together – sometimes in the same state, sometimes separated by many miles.

Day 16 – The friend who reached out a hand of friendship after a particularly difficult move from one state to another.  Her faith and perseverance through her own difficult physical trials and other personal trials has inspired me so many times.   Our days of lunch breaks under the trees, ice cream runs, and quiet dinners only lasted a little over a year, but our friendship has continued for 23 years despite living three states apart.

Day 17 – The single guy who became a friend to Precious husband at an exciting part of our journey.  His love for the Lord and tender heart for others always evident.  Watching his life expand to a wife and two beautiful girls was a blessing. 

Day 18 – The young married couple who moved in next door to Precious Husband and I while our husband’s were in college.  Their challenging my faith and driving me to search the Scriptures to prove what I believed.   I still believe those things, but their challenge gave me the ability to share my beliefs. 

Day 19  - The friend who welcomed us to a new fellowship when we were battle weary from a previous place of worship.  She reached out and has loved our children well.  Our children have found solid friendships in her children.  When my father was ill and at the point of death she took the children into her home and loved them as her own freeing Precious husband and I to be at the hospital full time with my father and mother.

Day 20 – The married couple who was in our lives for a time and encouraged my growth in the Lord.  Their belief and encouragement that I could hear from the Lord and had a gift to offer Christ’s body.

I close each card, push it into the envelope, and lick the nasty seal.  As I write the address on the front I think of how each of these individuals has imparted a part of themselves into my heart.  They have all magnified Jesus by their life and I have been changed because of them.