I recently returned from a 24 hour visit with my college roomie - Debbie Williams. We hadn't seen each other in 5 ½ years.  We talked nonstop for almost 10 hours. While flying home, I jotted down a few thoughts about what enables a friendship to stand the test of time.  (For us, it's been almost 30 years!)   It's always good to refresh what makes friendship bloom and prosper.

Transparency - it's the ice breaker

Nothing makes you closer to someone than being real, face-to-face with the raw truth.  It breaks lose all pretension.  In Exodus 33, Moses sought the Lord where God descended in a pillar of clouds - Vs. 11 - "And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face just as a man speaks to his friend."  Perhaps that's God's model for us - intimate honesty.  After all, isn't it heart-warming when you share your deepest struggles and your friend responds without judgment - "What? You, too?"   

Allegiance - it's the glue

Loyalty.  It's vital, indeed the precursor to all other virtues. Does your friend protect your reputation, have your "back," and keep you out of danger when she could have slammed you? Does she look for the good, dismiss the bad, and forgive the rest?  What acts of kindness come to mind where she sacrificially stood with you during a struggle?   There's a verse written about her in Proverbs 17. "A friend is always loyal and ready to come to your rescue."

The Anvil - it's the purpose

Proverbs 17 teaches, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens the countenance of another."  Does your friend unconsciously model what Paul expressed to the Corinthians?   "Imitate me as I am striving to model Christ."  Such a mindset causes you to think, "I wonder what (friend's name) would do in this situation?"  Thoughts of her stimulate your appetite to know Jesus deeper, wider, richer.  How wonderful when someone brings out the best in you where your life is fortified by their example.

Friendship.  What a blessing from the Lord!  What friend comes to your mind as you read this?  Forward this to her as a Valentine's Day "I Love You" card. She'll get the point.

And P.S - See Pam's blog about 10 Ways You Can Bless Her Right Back    

Looking for something good to read? Pam's book, Will the Real Me Please Stand Up, will be a great addition to your book list this year. 

You Have Blessings - 100 of them!

Friends, I'm amazed beyond words at the core of who we are as sons and daughters of Christ the King.  We've been fashioned as replicas of our Heavenly Father's nature.  Genesis 1:27 confers:  "And God created man in His image."   Do you have your Father's eyes?  Do you see yourself the way He does?

In Will the Real Me Please Stand Up, you'll explore the daunting question of true identity.  Who are you?  You're not who you think.  You're much much more.  In the book, you'll explore 100 entitlements granted at salvation known as the "I am Blessings," all benefits from God granting all you need to live the expansive life.

1 Corinthians 5:17 states, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."  It's time to celebrate your new creaturehood! 

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