A Moment Cherished: .Everyone Needs Some Iron.

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. Proverbs 27:17

Have you ever had a friend that brings such richness and color to your life? I think, no matter our personalities, God created us - especially women - to crave deep, meaningful relationships with other women. The older I get the more I am understanding how God created people for people. He did not create us to be an island - especially as the body of Christ - but rather to be and live in community. This is not always easy for me. I like my privacy, but am discovering that the Bible really has nothing to say on what I thought was my entitlement - privacy. That is partly why I began to blog more transparently.

God has blessed me with many different friendships. I am learning how friendships are always evolving and going through seasons, and I am becoming content with that knowledge. Women friendships are beautiful, but they can be wounding as well. One thing is true, every women's soul desires an enduring friend, and one whom is not afraid to sharpen her friend. One who lasts through any circumstance. We all need this kind of friend - for a knife can never sharpen itself.

It has been my joy to cultivate a new (but seems as worn as my favorite blanket) friendship that has blessed my life in immeasurable ways. I wrote of my friend JO for the first time here. Every women needs a "JO" in her life. I am thankful for mine. I have never had a friendship that ran so deep so quickly. I have been friends with other women, whom I dearly love, for years, but have not ever completely taken down the mask. You know the one that we all wear - the one we think protects our heart? But the mask was ripped off the first time we stood face to face in her driveway hugging each other tight. The tears ran down my cheeks as I told her thank you for sharing your story (her story led us to Jamesy), and there was no shame. It was in that moment that I knew that I had found a good thing.

Having a friend whom I can be completely vulnerable with is new. I have cried more with her than anyone else I can think of. Having a friend that pushes me and leaves me hungry for the Word of God is new and delightful and priceless. Every time that we talk on the phone (which is becoming often and is very out of character for me) I hang up longing for a more intimate relationship with my Savior. That is what I mean when I say every women needs a "JO". She has earned the place in my life where I know that I can count on her to sharpen me, because she loves me.

Tell me how you study the Bible again, JO. I breathed into the phone this week. Then I sat with tears silently flowing and listened and listened as wisdom so naturally flowed from her lips, through the phone, and into my ear.

I am realizing that without a godly woman who can sharpen me, I could quickly grow dull.

Do you have a woman in your life who sharpens you?

Is God calling you to sharpen someone?

The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Proverbs 27:9

[God orchestrated the details of our second trip to Ethiopia to coordinate with JO and her husband's first trip to Ethiopia to meet their daughter. We used different agencies and were in totally different stages of the process, but God saw fit to allow us to experience the birth country of our children together. It is a memory that I will carry to the grave. I still am in awe at the goodness of God, and how He cares about details.]