Do you have a friend?
There are certain people who will be brought into your life, and years later you will look back and say, “ Never saw us being friends” then you will laugh. That is what my best friend and I said recently after a visit. To be perfectly honest we could not stand each other. And we had both admittedly to our spouses, stated “I can’t stand her, she is so ughhh”, I hope she never comes back. You see our husbands introduced us in my front yard before my wedding. We were complete opposites of each other. Despite my best attempts to ignore my new neighbor, every time I turned around, we were bumping into each other. We each were cringing when we saw one another, and out of a moment of madness I invited her and her husband to my wedding. Down the aisle, I walked. Little did I know, she would be my beam of support, in years to come? Over the next few years, we tolerated one another, got along sometimes and cookout once in a while. Then in 2003, I found a lump in my breast, she prayed for me, and it turned out to be a cyst that had to be removed, she told me I was healed by God, it was she who made sure I had what I needed after my surgery, as my husband was to busy to look after me. Then I had a colon scare, she prayed and it was a small polyp and was removed, again she took care of me. My daughter was 14 and rebellious, she made me learn how to laugh at it, and turn that situation around. During this time my husband was drinking hard, disappearing for days, I prayed he would not kill anyone or himself, as it was his habit to drive drunk. My husband abandoned me for his friends, his drinking, and eventually, for getting high, I saw my husband and two brothers, all in the course of a year go from great men too, men I no longer recognized or knew. My best friend’s husband was caught in this spiral as well.
We stood together as friends, supporting one another. It was my friend, who after my husband left, showed up with food to feed my child, as she had been by earlier in the day, and it was a bad habit of hers to go through my cupboards, which turned into a good thing, as I had to much pride to tell her we were on the verge of going hungry. We had no money. That same day she showed up with six bags of groceries and we were feed. In 2003, I was in a wreck and totaled my vehicle. My friend was there for me. In my pit of despair, in situations beyond my control, I was so battle fatigued, my friend told me about a church of truth and if I wanted God I could find him there. She practically leads me there as she herself fought her own demons and battles. In her darkest hours, she was telling me of God and a church where you could feel the spirit of God move, where people jumped and praised, and worshipped in spirit, and spoke in tongues. I was scared, I was afraid, my fear was intense, and my need for God was deeper.
In November 2003, my friend and her husband took me to my first service in a Pentecostal church. Within a few weeks I was filled with the Holy Spirit, and in December of 2003, I was baptized in Jesus name.
My life swiftly began to change and God showed me the areas to clean up and I obeyed. I am by no means perfect and I am still a work in progress, for I know the potter is molding the clay to make me who I was destined to be, a child of God.
As two woman bound by circumstances beyond our control, we watched our lives pivot out of control; we were both by now abandoned by our husbands, left to our own recourse and both our homes were foreclosed and one of us ended up in a homeless shelter for women.
During this time as I had lost my job, I had a lot of time on my hands and I would go to church daily and pray, at first I did not know how, then I began to listen and my ears were opened, and I learned from my brother and sisters in Christ, and my pastor.
I missed my friend, I was having a serious surgery and did not know how to reach her, one-day my phone rang and it was she, she had found my number. I was so happy to hear her voice, she was safe and happy and living out of town with her brother. I told her of my upcoming surgery, and she immediately made arrangements to come stay with me for one month, while I recovered and to take care of me. She was a saint and waited on me hand and foot.
I do not see her flaws as others do, I see her from the inside out, for her heart, for the love she shows the misfortune, and finally, very soon, I will be able to help her. She is going on her first missions trip to Belize Mexico in February, and I have been entrusted with her sweet lab, Charmin, her child, and will take care of her baby, so she can do God’s work in a foreign country. When I look at my friend I see this woman who has a pure heart and a love for others and one of the most giving natures I know and have been blessed to witness. She has very little in worldly processions, yet always manages to give me something most times I see her. She is a true proverbial woman, looking after the interests of others before her own.
Pro 27:9
The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.
I have told these things to you to remind you that sometimes what we see in a person outside is not what God has put on the inside. Make sure you always take an opportunity, to get to know a new person, and look at the inside, at the heart, give them a chance, as people are not brought into our lives by chance but maybe just by a higher purpose.
NIV-Philippians 2:1-4 Imitating Christ’s Humility
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than you. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others
Thank you Lord for my Best friend!
