Many Friendships Would Not Have Survived

Author:  Susan L. Prince

I returned home tonight after spending a wonderful weekend with my friend Katie.  Katie is one of the most special people in my life and as we talked over these last two days, at one point I said "God is so good.  He has done an amazing work in our lives, because many friendships would not have survived all that we have gone through over the past few years."

I am not going to go into details about all that Katie and I have been through.  Some of it played out on this blog, but mostly over the past two years, posting was scarce because the both of us were going through a lot of difficulty, and some of that was in our relationship as friends.  Neither of us felt comfortable sharing the details of our struggles.  The details aren't important.  What is important is what God has done.

I've just really been pondering it this weekend since she and I talked about it and I am absolutely dumbfounded at the faithfulness of God.  Most people would not have endured the experiences and woundedness of our friendship, yet because we each sought Him, separately, He was faithful to each of us.  "He who began a good work in each of us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  (Phillipians 1: 6)

God did bring us together as friends all those years ago and used our friendship for His purposes.  Somewhere along the line we started to put more focus on our friendship, than on our individual relationships with Him.  God is a jealous God.  He did not like not being the center of attention!  He saw to it that we were fitted with new spiritual lenses.  He used other people to help us see, He used circumstances to help us see, and He used our prayer time to reveal truths. It was grueling at times, but worth it.

It has been a wild-roller coaster ride of emotion, but in the end, God revealed Himself as faithful.  Our friendship became strong again the day that I decided to put God on the throne, and not me.  Our friendship started to grow again when Katie decided to put God on the throne again.  

We now live in different states physically, but I am so grateful to God that He loves me so much that He helped guide me through to this point, that allows me to still enjoy such a special friendship with Katie.  I know this all sounds so cryptic to those readers who are not close to the situation, but suffice it to say that God's amazing grace has healed a fragile and broken relationship and is now restoring it.

I feel absolutely blessed that God has grown me through all of this and still chooses to trust me with the responsibility of relationship.  I have learned that I need to handle relationships with care and that whatever friendships God allows me throughout my lifetime, they should always point to Him. Yes, in some particular way, that relationship should help me to grow in Christ, "as iron sharpens iron".  I need to appreciate the friendships that I have, because obviously friendships are a sweet bonus in life, but they in no way compare to the love and importance I have in my relationship with Him.

God's faithfulness and love bloggles the mind!