Faithful Friends
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17
I have been thinking about my friends a lot lately. I have been gifted with a loyal and helpful bunch of women (and their men) who have come alongside of me to help me put together a one-day women’s retreat that, as I write this, will happen tomorrow (Lord willing).
The fact that I have time to sit at my computer and write is because these women have committed to helping me and have done it down to the smallest detail! Though I have been extremely busy in getting it planned and provided for they have been behind me the whole way.
I am really not good at music or finances. I have not had to be; they took those things off my plate from the beginning (a friend knows your shortcomings and will work around them). All of the designing, the making things pretty, has been done by one of them and four of us collaborated on the content of the brochure and my own daughter also helped me get the word out. My computer geek friend has taken over the registrations and kept them in order in a way I don’t know much about. When she emailed me an Excel document I had to call my husband to ask him how to open it. She’s still chuckling about that! (A friend can stand the laughter of another friend when she has helped so much.)
Tomorrow, each one has a part to play, the three of them plus several more who have stepped up either offering to help or being willing when they were asked. I consider them all God’s provision and am confident each one will do what she has promised.
Early in the process I was wondering if this was my own idea (actually my son’s but I went with it) or is this a call of the Lord’s? Am I stepping out in faith or in pride? Well, I believe God has answered that question for me, too. In the last three days this event (and I) have gotten so much prayer I can’t believe it. I have a little prayer team that prays for me whenever I speak, but this time there are many more, many of them I had not asked. I have gotten word from Texas, from Delaware, and from Palmyra that they are praying for me. Two ladies told me their ladies’ Bible Studies prayed for me this week, these are churches I am not related to except that they have a woman or a few coming to the retreat, and my own Pastor has prayed for me and the event.
God prompts prayer so I am confident He is at work already preparing the women He will bring! It really isn’t about me or the women who have graciously and faithfully helped me. It is about what God is doing in His people.
That is the message I hope the ladies coming to the retreat will hear tomorrow. We will talk about mentoring and Christian friendships but the point is that it is all about God. He is so gracious in our friendship with Jesus Christ, in our friendships that he has given us here, and in the hope we have as we look forward to perfect fellowship in heaven.
My friends have demonstrated the love of Christ for me over the last few weeks. They are indeed, faithful friends. Some of them have been friends for years, some are much more recent. I thank God for all of them every time I think of them!
The question this has brought to me is, “Would I have been this faithful and helpful if the tables were turned?” How about you? Are you a faithful and loyal friend to your brothers and sisters in the Lord?