The perfect Friend.

Let’s be women who no longer compare and compete, but celebrate and complete our friendships…with the unique offering we bring.
~~Renee Swope

I've been blessed in my life with many friends.

Some are constant, some are seasonal, and some are new.

I know the importance of friends.
How their love and closeness can wrap you up in a warm blanket when it seems the cold world is engulfing you.
How the giving and receiving of ones self within the friendship can nourish your soul.


Jesus Himself had friends around Him most of the time,
even though He was the perfect entity of a relationship within Himself.
He knew the importance of friendship...

John 15:12-15
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.



It was my Senior year of highschool, and a group of us stood in a corner of the hallway.
In just a few short days, we would all stand on stage and receive our diplomas.

My long curly haired friend stood holding six little bracelets made of beeds and stretchy rope in her hands.

She handed us each one, as we all looked on intently, tears swelling up within our eyes.

We all placed the bracelets over our hands and around our wrists.

We vowed within that small space in the corner of the hallway to forever be friends joined by one common bond, our love for Christ.

Our smiles lit up that quiet corner.
Time stood still as we clenched our hands together in agreement.

No questions were asked, no doubt spoken.

We knew...
that friends were friends forever if the Lords the Lord of them.


That moment was over two decades ago,
and I can count on one hand how many times I have seen those friends since graduation.

Our lives took roads that didn't necessarily intertwine with one another.

But...
I still have that little beaded bracelet on the stretchy rope.

When I come across it from time to time,
I am reminded of that day and those words and my sweet friends.

I am reminded that He is still Lord of all of us.

I am reminded that we are still friends.

It's not our common grounds that make us friends, or the careers that we have chosen, or the house that we live in, or the way we each parent our children, or the way we speak or live...

it's Him.

He is forever constant in all of us,
because He is that common ground we stand on.

He is that forever Friend.

The perfect Friend.

Our faith does not lie in who we each are, but in who He is.


Too many times,
we put our faith in people.


Then,
when something goes wrong, or we disagree, and hurtful words are spoken,
our worlds come crashing down around us.


We expect perfection from imperfect people.


Sometimes, more often than none...
we expect perfection from ourselves and we allow the disappointment in ourself to keep us from moving forward into a friendship.

This one thing, will stop us from opening up to others and growing in the relationships that God has ordained for us.


Only Jesus gives us never-disappointing, always-fulfilling friendship and support.

I've realized as a woman,
that our worst enemy in friendship is our comparison to one another.
There seems to always be a competition brewing.
Envy and jealousy steal joy from our hearts.
This causes us to give less of ourself than God would have us give.

If we are constantly trying to live up to one of our friends, or act like them, or be who they are,
then we are not being who we are supposed to be, or living out our God destined purpose.


God doesn't want you to be a reflection of your friend or someone else,
He wants you to be You, a reflection of Him.



How boring would it be if we were all the same?
If we spoke the same and reacted the same and had all of the same views and dreams.
It would be like living on a planet of robots...
not living breathing spiritual beings.


We were all created by a perfect Creator in our own perfect way,
bringing our something special and unique into a relationship that needs it.



I want to be comfortable and secure enough in who I am and who I am not,
that I don't hold back on the giving of myself in a friendship.


I want to be that friend who loves at all times,
 encouraging and supporting with my words and my time.


I want to be content in my imperfect relationships...
so that His perfection is all that we see.


I want to be the best friend that I can be,
and leave the rest up to Him.



I found this little list on a blog I read the other day about friendships.
I thought it was appropriate for today's post.

It's a challenge to be a great friend allowing Jesus to shine in and through us.
I am going to do my best to live up to each thing on this list.
I want to take care of those friendships that God has given me, and do it well.

Are you up for it?

A Manifesto for You, Friend

I will be a safe place. I won’t share your confidences.

I will talk about you behind your back, and I will use words that build you up and show you off.

I will defend your reputation rather than contribute to its demise.

I will show humility through encouragement, and do my best to let my actions reflect the way Jesus sees you.

I will allow a united spirit of completion rather than a divisive spirit of competition enter our friendship.

I will pray for you when you ask me to.

I will be accountable and trustworthy ~ my yes is a yes.

I will be for you and not against you, even when what I say may sting a bit.

I will be there to share in both hard and good, to divide the sorrow and double the joy.

I will give your kids extra grace when they are ornery in front of me. And when they are having a moment, the only thought I’ll entertain is it must be your turn for the hard day. Yesterday was mine. And probably tomorrow, too.

I will forgive you when you make a mistake. While I can’t control how you behave towards me, I can control how I behave towards you. And I’ll do my level best to err on the side of grace and love. Because heaven knows I need to receive it as much as I need to give it.

I will bring you chocolate cake, or anything in the chocolate family,  when you are sad or hormonal.

(Okay, that one I added myself.)



If there is something that you would like to add to the list,
please leave it in the comment section below.




God, I thank you for all of the friendships you have allowed me to enjoy, whether they be past, present or future.
Let me see that special gift that each person has and is bringing into my life.
Help me to not hold them responsible for my feelings or worth, for that is a burden not meant for them to bare.
I want to see You and represent Your love in all of my friendships.
May I always be reminded that You alone are the perfect Friend.



Call a friend today and remind them why they are special to you.

Have a blessed day!
.


Love in a cardboard box.

John 13:34-35

A new command I give you, Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

A couple of weeks ago, our homeschool group had the opportunity to lend a hand at the local Food Net Food Bank in our community.

The kids were very excited to be a part of something that would mean a great deal to so many people.

We helped sort food into boxes that were to be picked up, and brought to nearby distributing locations.

I was very impressed with the hard work that came out of these little ones.

Whatever they were asked to do, they did with a smile on their face and without complaint.

It may look like it wasn't that big of a deal, placing cans and boxes of food inside carboard boxes, but there is so much more that goes within those cardboard boxes that can't be seen with the naked eye.

When I was a teenager, my mother, sister and myself lived in the housing projects.

My mother was a single mom, who was very sickly, so we lived on government assistance.

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday for four years, my uncle would show up at our door with a box of food for us.

It had come from our local community food drive.

My sister and I were always excited to see what was in the box.

We would recieve everything we needed for our holiday dinner and sometimes a little extra to help fill in the gaps within some hard times.

We never doubted that our box had God's hand placed on it, especially when we would find the chocolate cake mix and chocolate icing inside.

That definitely was a gift from God straight from Heaven!!

We knew that someone had taken time out of their busy schedule, to prepare that box just for us.

We also knew, that someone who may or may not have been in need themselves, had given a simple can of green beans, a box of instant potatoes, or a cake mix to their local charity organization, to help give a family like ours a hot meal to eat and to make memories around, for the holiday.

That cardboard box was filled with more than food to fill our bellies.

That cardboard box was filled with someone's love and time!!

If it weren't for those boxes delivered to us for each holiday, we may not have been able to have the traditional dinners that come with those special holidays.

Isaiah 58:10

If you give some of your own food to feed those who are hungry and to satisfy the needs of those who are humble, then your light will rise in the dark and the darkness will become as bright as the noonday sun.

When we were told that this field trip had been planned for our homeschool group, I immediately signed us up for it.

I was excited and honored, to be able to be on the other end of that box, and I felt it important to show my children how to be a blessing to others.

It felt wonderful to be the one putting the food in the box for that family in need.

You never know who that family could be.

It could be the family whose father recently lost his job and hadn't had the opportunity to find a new one.

It could be the elderly widowed woman who lives by herself.

It could be the family who simply can't afford an extravagent meal for the holidays, because all of their hard earned money has gone to putting a roof over their heads.

It could be that single mom who is struggling to put food on the table all by herself.

It could be that military wife who is at home alone with her three small children, whose husband is fighting for our country on a foreign soil.

It could be any of us.

At one time or another, we have all had our hard times and have been in some sort of need.

What a blessing it was to be a part of putting love in a cardboard box!

 It's wonderful to know that there are organizations like the Food Net Food Bank, where you can be a blessing and receive a blessing all in one place!!

Christmas is fastly approaching, and the need is great!

If you would like to help out in anyway, please contact your local food bank or click the link below for more information:

http://www.foodnetacadiana.org/

Donations are accepted year round!

On behalf of our homeschool group, I'd like to thank the people at Food Net for their hard work, and for allowing our group to partake in such a great blessing.  I'd also like to thank Carlie Faulk for arranging the fieldtrip and providing a great opportunity for our kids to get involved with helping our local community.

Have a blessed holiday season!

Fabulous FUNNY Blog Friday!! Sensitive bladders...you may want to pass this one up!

I am super excited to introduce this week's Fabulous Blog choice!!

This week belongs to the one and only Mrs. Jodie Dardeau at Velour blog.

I met Jodie a year or so ago, after I stalked her.

It wasn't at all the way it sounds...

ugghhh, okay...wait, no... yes it was.

I  found her blog, stalked her blog, then stalked her, God allowed this stalker to meet her stalkee...in a totally public and safe environment, we found eachother to be incredibly hilarious, lovers of words and then wammo! pahdoww!

We became great friends!!

See there...a wonderful happy ending.

There really is an innocence in blog-stalking with us bloggers, it's perfectly normal.
(Just thought I'd clear that up.)

Here is a picture of us when we met.

Yes...I took pictures.

That's not wierd at all.

We are the two on the right of the picture.

(The other two on the left are my dear friends. They Rock!)

Okay...I just realized that this has kinda become about Moi...I'm sorry,
ehemm...moving on.

Jodie is amazingly talented with words.

There aren't even words to describe her wordiness genius-ness...

there really isn't.

She is a wife, a mom, a writer, a great listener,a lover of all things old, a Goodwill hunter, a crafter and very wise beyond her years.
Her heart is unbelievably big!
She brings to my life such sweet delight!

Velour

Smooth like velvet, only stretchier.

Jodie

Please enjoy her very funny post:

my unbucket list



Come back here next week to read my unbucket list.


I'm writing today at Joli Blog for our Redeeming Love book discussion.
Go on over if you have a chance and join the discussion.


Have a blessed weekend!

Friends for life.

I'd like to dedicate this post to all of my dearest friends...I love you.

When I was a little girl, my best friend was Camille Morgan.

I loved her.

She loved me.

She made me laugh until my belly ached.

We shared secrets, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and her large feather pillow on many sleepovers.

We spent weekends being silly and soaking in eachother's innocence.

Our imaginations had no limit.

We pierced our tiny index fingers with a safety pin we had snuck from her mother's sewing kit,

and underneath the big oak tree,

next to her father's rusty, vintage chevy convertible,

we pledged to be sisters and friends for life.

It was legit.

And we knew it.

We felt it's warm oozing strength, as our blood trickled and mashed against eachother's fingers,

locking us together for life.

We giggled with excitement, as we hugged to close the deal.

Not many weeks go by, that I do not think of her.

Time has placed us on two different paths,

and it's been many, many years since my eyes have locked with hers.

Yet, that promise made so many years ago still makes my heart smile.

Friends for life...

even if our lives do not intersect.

I believe that our friendship set me on a course seeking for solid, rooted friendships.

Ones that stick,

for life.

I've been overly blessed with the friends He has given me in my lifetime.

I've got old ones, new ones, and those I simply can't live without.

Different seasons blow in new friends, and with it's changing winds,

it brings in the new harvest.

With it comes a welcomed sweetness,

and I hold my basket close to my side,

as I gather them up and gently place them in my heart.

I breathe them in and smile my biggest smile.

Life is sweeter with friends.

I love who my friends are, and I love what they make me become.

They cause me to be real on most days,

removing the mask that I sometimes try to wear for the world.

Some I see often, others once or twice a year.

Some I speak to every day,

some I only text.

Some I've never met in person,

but our lives intertwine each time I turn on my laptop.

They bless me.

They teach me.

They've mothered me at times,

when my heart craved nurturing, love, comfort and discipline.

He always gives where we lack.

They've brought me to tears with laughter.

They've lent a shoulder for me to cry on when I felt wronged,

and when I am wrong, they've held me accountable.

They've wiped my tears with their sleeves.

They've calmed my shaking hands in theirs.

They've offered Grace in abundance.

They've unlocked their hearts in my presence, 

revealing their most deepest treasures and secrets.

They've held my secrets close to their hearts,

loving me in spite of them.

They've rubbed my growing belly,

and held my crying babies.

They've encouraged me,

and held me up when I could not stand in the midst of my brokenness.

They've helped me breathe easier,

and they've helped me catch my breath.

They've listened,

and they've mentored.

They've made me better, when I've been at my worst.

They love me,

and allow me to love them.

They are my sisters,

my friends...

for life.

I celebrate YOU today my dear friends!!

I love YOU and appreciate what YOU bring to my life!

I hold YOU close to my heart...for life.

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each friend represents a world in us,

a world possibly not born, until they arrive.

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We will be friends until forever, just you wait and see.

~~Winnie the Pooh

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John 15:13

 Greater Love has no one than this,

that he lay down his life for his friends.

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Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

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Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times.

                                                                                                                                              

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A good friend is like a nice warm cup of coffee...
 and if you're lucky, some days you get them together.
~~Tammy Stelly

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A good friend is cheaper than therapy. ~Author Unknown

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If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. i'll always be with you.

~~Winnie the Pooh

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Thanks for stopping by!