My Best Friend Jesus

1 Samuel 20:42 "Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.' " Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town."

As a young women growing up I thought I knew what friendship was. It was someone to swing on the swings with, as I got older it was the girls I spent hours on the phone with, sleepovers, hanging out in the hallways with. However, it was not until recently that I looked around and really realized how precious and how dear my friends are. Some are there to make me laugh, some are there to keep me on the straight and narrow and some are there as grace growers. I love all of them as my friends and I count myself blessed to have them.

When we first moved here five years ago, we didn't know anyone. I very guarded in who I wanted to let into my life. Like a lot of women, I didn't trust women and preferred to watch a football game with the guys. I thought that all women we catty and just out for whatever they could get. I didn't trust them with my husband, I didn't want them in my house and I surely wasn't going to let them get to know me on an intimate level. I realize that I am not the perfect woman, that there are times that I make it very difficult for people to be my friends. I hold them to a very high level of expectations that I myself couldn't maintain.

As mentioned before my husband is a reservist and in the last few years we have been put on alert a few times. Praise God that we haven't been separated but I was very concerned because at the time I had very little family here and I wanted a circle of support. That meant going out and finding people to have in my circle. People that I could, dare I say trust, and that would support me and love me if my husband was called to war. I started praying for friends. That God would bring other like minded women into my life. As with anything else God is so extravagant in his love for me and when I look around now I am almost overwhelmed with the level of intimacy that I share with so many of my girlfriends. None more precious than the next but they all play a very important role in my life.

I am a cape wearer most days. I push myself to the limit to accomplish all the things that I deem necessary. I have friends that will call and tell me, Sister Chick, you need to come sit with us. You need to take a break, just come hang out for a few hours. I have friends that will call and check on me, because very rarely do I take the time to call them. I have a certain group of friends that at one time we all attended the same church, we had girls night out and we bonded very intimately over that time. When I was having problems they prayed with me. They loved me through it. Their families invested and continue to invest in my family. They put their hand to the plow and really made an effort to walk me through that valley in my life. I will be forever grateful to them. Two of them have moved on in ministry and have followed different paths. But the awesomeness of it is that when any of the four of us have a crisis we all come back together, we all pray together, and when we can get together we all play together. What an honor to know that God has planted me in such a beautiful place to see the beauty of friendship.

I was never given a sister. I have friends that are my sisters. One friend and I have 20 years under our belt. What started out as a middle school friendship has grown over the years into something beyond my wildest imagination. We know each other inside and out. We ping on each others radars when something is going on. Married with kids we still take them time to talk every so often and with an investment of 20 years we can pick up right where we left off. She is my sister, she knows my parents, she knows my life, she knows me. We have seen some rough patches together. Oh the stories we could tell, but we don't. We love each other unconditionally through it all and give God the glory for saving wenches like us.

There are some others that are sister like to me. That God purposed in my life. They are my friends that keep me sharp. That can look at me and point out my blind spots. I trust them and I keep them around because they have the ability to give me correction without me freaking out on them. I can run a situation by them and they help me to hear the voice of God. The remind me of what the Word says, they help me in my everyday needs. They help me with my children, they love them like their own. I love them and theirs just the same.

All of them have a very special place in my heart. They all have a very real role in my life. I had to learn to trust. I had to let people in, allow them to let me down, and yet not walk away in rejection and offense. They have good days and bad days just like I do. It's buckling down even on those days. Walking beside them even when they are kicking that makes them so dear to my heart. They have done it for me. I will do it for them.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 "If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is John 15:15, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

The best friend that I have is Jesus. He is always there to answer my call. He always has time for me, and I can call on Him anytime to step in for me. Through His Word he teaches me about Himself, and His Father. He never fails my expectations, He never leaves me alone and I am honored that He would call me His friend. He fights my battles for me, He goes before me and prepares my ways. He is always righteous, always just, and never moody. I feel honored by my girlfriends, by the friendship of my husband but this is a Godly friend that has no rival.



Lord, thank you for my friends. Lord, it is my prayer that you would wrap them all in your loving arms today. Lord encourage them, and continue to work your love into their lives. You are my best friend, you are always there for me, even when I don't want to answer. You Lord are amazing, that you would make the sacrifice that you have and then call someone, like me, to be your friend. How humbling, how awe inspiring. All my love and devotion comes from you. I realize that now and I thank you for your hand on my life. That you have allowed me to be yoked up with you. All I deserve is punishment, all I deserve is death. Yet, Lord, you love me, you encourage me, you believe in me when I don't have enough faith in you. Always willing, always listening, always loving. Thank you Dear Jesus, for dancing over me all the days of my life. I give you all Honor, all Glory, all devotion. I am hopelessly in love with you. In the Name of Christ Jesus I pray. Amen.