GoOD Friends

Here we go, my first ever blog post. It was not hard to decide what to write about first! I have just spent a week away with a great friend, ministering and serving God together, and then relaxing together doing things we both love: walking, eating , talking and watching movies!! We have only known each other for a few years, but instantly ‘clicked’ when we first met. We see each other a couple of times a year because we are in different countries, but with technology now days this doesn’t matter and when we actually get together, we just take off!

We are both blessed to have wonderful families and fantastic, godly husbands but God has doubly blessed us both with other people in our lives too. It is because of her that I am writing this blog and we will see where it goes. She is the one who inspired and encouraged me in this. I am always so blessed by what she writes in her books and blogs, I only hope I can be half as inspiring to others as she is to me.

I guess most people would say they have a few great friends in their life at any one time, people they laugh with, ‘play’ with and socialize with; but what about GOoD friends? As a Christian, I think it’s great and right to have a wide variety of friends, but I think we all need a few people in our life who are GOoD friends.

GOoD friends walk the faith journey together. We challenge, encourage and inspire one another and serve God together. My friend and I are on our own unique but at the same time very similar journeys through life with God. We are so comfortable around each other because we just “get” each other and are serious about this faith journey. She had been reading a book that was really encouraging her, and as we talked this week she could see that we were in a similar place – she just got it! So far I have only read the one passage that she highlighted for me, and it has totally undone me! Every line in the paragraph was so pertinent to me on so many levels, I almost couldn’t breathe! Sitting there at her kitchen bench as she prepared dinner, in that intimate space that GOoD friends can share – I was barely able to hold it together. O, the love of God, which reached into my heart and touched areas I didn’t even realize were hurting and the love of a GOoD friend who listens to the Holy Spirit and gives words of encouragement at the right time.

Ecc 4: 9-12

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labour:

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

These verses are often quoted in the context of marriage and rightly so. But I think they are equally important for ALL relationships. A friendship that has God in the centre is so precious, and also so powerful! What amazing things we can do together for God. My friend and I have our own areas God has called us to serve him in, in our own countries etc, but what a joy it has been this week to “labour” together, definitely a “good return” and SO much fun!!

My prayer is that I can be as much of an inspiration and encouragement to her as she is to me. I don’t feel that I am at the moment, but I guess that is how friendships and relationships are. We are there for each other unconditionally. “Aroha” is a Maori word translated love. But it is not the, “I love chocolate” kind of love. It is more like the Greek word “Agape”. The kind of love God has for us, the kind of love GOoD friends have. Friends that will cheer you on, celebrate with you, cry with you, understand you and bless you; a friend who fills you up, doesn’t drain you. After being with GOoD friends you come home feeling closer to God and encouraged to take the next steps on your faith journey.

As a parent, I pray that my children will find their own GOoD friends too. Friends who will walk with each other on this spiritual journey through life; who will encourage each other and unconditionally love each other. At the kids camp I have just been at, God really stirred me to pray this for the children there too. Many children are so alone, they want to walk with God but the pressures of this world are getting stronger and stronger. It is not only as we get older that we need GOoD friends, we all need them! Our children need GOoD friends to walk along side them, to encourage and to pick each other up if they fall and to spur them on. And as a mentor and a leader this is also my prayer. We were not meant to walk alone. Jesus walked closely with his friends, he did life with them. We need to do life with others too, not alone!

I thank God that I have some amazing, GOoD friends in my life. They bless me in so many ways that I am not eloquent enough to express in words. Who are your GOoD friends? If you don’t have one, ask God for one. Ask God on behave of your children too. God wants to give us GOOD things and a friend who is passionate about serving God and walking this journey of faith with you, who is beside you cheering you on with encouragement and unconditional love is very, very GOoD!!