I have started to really miss my friends.
I have a lot of family and a lot of people who I can consider as friends in the sense of "people that I hang out with and like to spend time with." But I have very few close friends that I share my failings, my regrets, my dreams, and my ambitions with. Actually, if I think about it I have three. Three amazing friends that I truly praise God for.
The hard thing is that the four of us have very busy lives and while we strive to stay in contact and in communication with each other....it's hard. Definitely hard. And the worst part is that I've realized that this next year is going to bring us all to even further distances.
Life has brought us to this point where we are making major life decisions that will affect many things, most apparently our proximity. It actually started maybe a few years ago and I just never really realized it until now.
It makes me a little sad that everything will eventually change, but that is life. Change is constant and is always necessary.
The root of the matter is that I love my friends and I am so proud of the women they are and the women I see them becoming. So, this post is me wanting to put that down. I don't think I've really every truly expressed how my friends have blessed me and how God has used them to refine me. They openly rebuke me, they call me out on my crap, they point me back to Christ, they ground me and remind me to stay grounded in the Word.
I am luckier than most and as we reach our final stretch in what is going to be our last few months together...I find that I would like to just say a few things about each and every one of them. Just to lay it all out there.
So, here it goes.
This is Sandy, one of my oldest friends who I have, practically spent all of my life with. We have seen each other from diapers to heels, have been sisters in Christ, sisters in church, and become sisters in life.
We have seen each other through the best and the worst decisions. Talked out nearly every situation we have ever gotten ourselves into and have only grown closer as the years have gone by.
She is by far one of the funniest people I have ever met. Her sarcasm is unparalleled and that is saying something as I am surrounded by incredibly sarcastic people.
But if one thing stands out in my mind with Sandy, it is her faithfulness.
She has always been a faithful friend to me and I could not ask for anything better.
She teaches me what it is to be professional, to hold yourself in a way that is graceful and proper and right. She is the person that I emulate for those qualities because while I am older (by only a few months) sometimes her maturity puts me to shame. She is honest and straight forward, she is not afraid to tell you what she thinks and not afraid to hurt your feelings, though it is never her intention.
She has a temper, but she also tempers it with control and a self-awareness of how her actions might affect others. She is so loving and gracious and genuine and God has used her to be my reality check time and time again.
Sandy and I have very different approaches to life. While we both share a lot of the same qualities such as a soft spot for young adult dramas like One Tree Hill and Disney heart throbs like Zac Efron, we are also very different.
Sandy has always been more focused, in my opinion. She has always been more practical and steady while I have swayed from time to time. And I praise God for that because it is her steadiness that anchors me. Her example reminds me of the gospel, of God's steadiness and God's promise. She has taught me through example what it is to trust God and His sovereignty and more than that she reminds me of His faithfulness through her own faithfulness to me and to the Lord.
Hebrews 6:16-19
16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
Sandy, in my opinion, has always been more mature than me. More definitive in her actions, stronger in her opinions, and yet at the same time she has always been calm and collected and poised. I praise God for having her in my life and I am so excited for the next chapter of her life which includes Graduate school.
I have seen her grow, seen how God has shaped her into this incredible force to be reckoned with. I don't even think she sees just how powerful she really is. But I know that even if she can never truly acknowledge it in herself, I do. And God is definitely going to use that to reach more and more people. She's on the brink of an entirely new chapter of her life, looking to set out on her own, stepping closer and closer to her dream of becoming a pillar in the Medical community. There are now words to describe how proud of her I am. How excited I am for her, and how much I will be praying for the fruition of her work. Sandy is going to do great things and I pray that I'll be around to witness it.
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Cleofaye, the CrusaderThis is my friend, Peniel. Cleofaye Peniel to be exact and her name, I have always thought, fits her so well. It is unique and deep in its meaning. Peniel, according to the Bible, means one who has seen God and been preserved.
I find that to be very telling of who Peniel is. She, out of all of my friends, is the artist, the one who sees God in all of life and creates from that. Now, I have many artistic friends, many who draw inspiration from the gospel and see God working everywhere, but Peniel has always been, in my opinion, the most conscious of it.
She is always aware of the weight of God's greatness. She feels it and sees it and more importantly has always been motivated to share it. She is bold and creative and a little bit of a rebel with a passion that is so powerful that it speaks volumes to those around her.
But what I love most about Peniel is her willingness to try anything and do anything and be anything. I have always envied her courage, her gumption, more people need to be like that.
Just like Sandy, Penny is driven and focused. But where they differ really just lies in direction. Peniel's focus has always been on carrying out the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And Penny lives by that. Her heart is so big and her eyes are so wide for the world that she could conquer it one day if she really wanted to. Her desire has always been to see what God has created in this world and make her mark on it. But more than that, Penny just wants the world to know about Jesus, to know how his life and death has saved her and that he lived and died to save all of us. That God loved all of us so much that He sent His son to die and if we go through his life never acknowledging that, never coming to know who Jesus is then...we are lost. We will be lost and there will be no coming back.
God has used her to push me and convict me in my actions. He has used Peniel's example of service to remind me that it is not just about serving my local church, but about serving the universal one. He used Penny to show me that the world is a big place full of lost souls and if it wasn't for Peniel being in my life...I would have missed out on that lesson all together.
God truly was working when he gave Penny to me as a friend and I really can attribute the changes that have happened to me in the last two years to her example. God used her and continues to use her as a means of encouragement, of rebuke, and of motivation. So, every time she talks of Missions, of Thailand, or even just of evangelizing to those around her, I struggle not to get choked up about it because I see the fingerprints of God on her life. Penny really is the one who I can see taking over the world one day and I just might follow to help her do it.
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Last of all, is RJ. My biffs. My biffers...lol
Richelle Jean Navales is my accountability partner and the person I learned what that type of relationship should actually look like with. Our desire for the past six, nearly seven, years of our friendship was to achieve transparency with each other and that has proven to strengthen both of our faiths.
Because there are no secrets there is no distrust, dishonesty, or disloyalty and because of that we are the stronger for it.
I praise God for RJ's presence in my life because she is constantly reminding me to find the joy that God is freely giving in all things. Her happiness in our salvation is infectious and is what often pulls me out of the depths of my selfish discouragement. She pushes me to remember that I am made beautiful in God's eyes because He made me for His purpose. Also, if we seek to glorify Him in everything we do, then nothing Satan can do or say can stop us from doing amazing things for God's glory.
Psalms 30:11-12
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
RJ inspires me. Just like Penny, just like Sandy, she has iron clad convictions and passions that motivate her to act for the furtherance of God's kingdom, which is why this July she will be leaving the comforts of the US to explore the world. A new country every month for the next year with World Race. I won't lie, I'm a little jealous. But that small feeling of jealousy is overwhelmed by the joy that I have for the work she will be doing. I know what it is to leave home, to have to face spending an entire year away from the people you love the most and have to build something new. I also know that it is in those type of experiences that God reveals just how faithful, powerful, and all-knowing He is. The truth is that this world is full of people who need the type of joy that God has given RJ. The type of joy that is all encompassing and reminds people that God's grace is enough to sustain it, so the fact that she will be going out to do work, to spread the Gospel, reinvigorates my hope for this world.
RJ may be one person, but God has shown me how He can move mountains with people who are willing to go. RJ is one of those people. I can't wait to see what this year will have to offer her.
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Truthfully, I am excited to see what this next year will bring for all of my friends. Each and every one of them are facing major life decisions; decisions that could shake anyone's confidence regarding: career, money, passion and ambition. But all three of these girls, that I love so much, have one thing in common: a love for God the Father and the faith that Christ is coming back for us. With that, they know the importance of reaching out, of building relationships, of serving; doing the work, and I praise God for equipping them to do so.
know that I do miss you. I want to spend as much time with you as possible before life happens and we lose track of each other. But even if we don't get that time together...I want you to know how proud I am of you. How I am one your biggest fans. How I know that God has begun a good work in you and that He is going to do amazing things with your life.
Keep seeking Him. Keep loving Him. And know that I will keep praying for each of you.
I love you guys. I cannot get over the blessing of your presence in my life and I just want you to know that because God is owed the glory for our paths crossing. He knew just what I needed, who I needed and that...that moves me.
In closing...this song is dedicated to all of you:
