Good morning ladies!
I normally try to kick off the week with a video post, but that is not going to happen. Let me give you five words….Kids are out of school. Ha! Everytime I tried to start the video there was a scream or a fight beginning between the kids and then I would hear a “MOMMMMMMM!!!!!!” So I gave in and decided to write a post instead. The screaming and “Moooommmmmms!” are still happening, but at least now you can’t hear them. Let’s just say all electronics have been taken away and they are in their rooms indefinitely!
I really do enjoy my kiddos being home. This morning was so amazing. We turned the fireplace on and the girls played nicely while I read and watched session five’s video. But then they turned into evil monsters and decided they were going to hate each other for a couple of hours.
But such is life with kids right?
Enough about that, let’s kick off session five!
I am so excited for this week. I always struggled in the friendship department. For years, I would beg God to give me a friend. A person who I could hang out with, be close with, do life with. I went through a very lonely season a couple of years ago. I didn’t really have any close friends and I remember dropping Mary off at Pre-K one morning and crying the whole way home. I specifically remember asking God to help me be ok with being alone in the girlfriend department. I remember repeating through my tears, all the way home, “You are enough, You are enough for me God.”
And that season lasted a couple of years, but God truly worked in my life, teaching me to enjoy my husband and my children.
But as women, we all need our girlfriends.
In the last couple of years, God has brought some pretty amazing women into my life. For years I tried to force friendships. I would put up a front and pretend like I loved everything you loved because then I felt like you would think I was the best person in the world ha! If you loved pink, I loved pink. If you loved to craft, I loved to craft. Newsflash…..Maggie IS NOT crafty!
During that lonely season, God taught me to be ok with me. He taught me to be happy with the life He blessed me with and be content with what I had. It took many years, many tough lessons, but I finally learned to be content. Now that doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with contentment, because one of my biggest struggles is comparison and jealousy.
I loved Melanie’s video and I took a lot from it. It is so important to have friends. People in our lives who we can relate to and feel normal around. People who know the real us and still love us.
God places people in our lives on purpose. Just like He brought David and Jonathan together, He does the same in our friendships. I loved how she made mention that Jonathan not only chose David over his father, He chose David over himself! Wow! In this season of life, God is really teaching me to be selfless in my relationships. As a wife, mom and friend.
Being loyal and trustworthy is so important when it comes to friendships. We’ve all been burned. Even Jesus was hurt by one of His disciples. He knew what it felt like to be betrayed. I’ve been there too. This is why I kept that wall up for years. When I would feel myself getting close with someone, I would sabotage the friendship because I had been hurt so many times. In the last couple of years, God has challenged me to work past this and has allowed me to have some pretty amazing frienships.
Our friendships should be a safe place. We should love our friends as we love ourself. This being said, Melanie talked about comparison and jealousy. We all are unique, we have our own gifts and we are walking our own journey. But with social media these days, it’s so hard to not compare our lives with others. Melanie says, “And I know for me I never get more distracted than when I start looking at somebody else’s life and what they’re doing.”
Isn’t that the truth? We can be going about our day so happy with life and what God has given us. But then with a tap of our finger and a scroll through Facebook we can go from content and happy to thinking we are the worst wife, mom, friend ever. Why? Because we compare ourselves with the best version of others. All while not knowing what they are battling because you better believe they have struggles. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side…this is something that has taken me years to learn. We are all human. Life isn’t perfect no matter how perfect it appears. We have struggles and hardships. Every single one of us.
Theodore Roosevelt said it well when he said, Comparison is the thief of joy.
Ladies, do you want to know when I am the happiest? When I am not worried about what everyone else is doing and I am focused on walking my road. When I set a limit on my social media time. When I invest in the people around me. When I try to bless others and make someone else’s day better. When I focus on my home and getting things done. This is when I’m the happiest.
We all want to know the secret of being happy. We are constantly reading books about being happy and not comparing ourselves with others but it is simple. Look to what God gives you. Walk your walk. Be happy for others. Realize that your friends’ successes take nothing away from yours. You are you. Focus on what God has given you and realize that the life you are living right now, is the life God intended you to live. He wants you to be happy with what you have. Look around, name your blessings, thank God for those blessings and be happy for others.
And lastly, our true friends should strengthen our grip on God. Melanie says that friends are small everyday miracles that God gives us. Every person in our life is in our life for a reason. We need friends who are also walking close with God. Friends who are like-minded and will encourage us and pray for us. Friends we can do life with. Girlfriends that will cry with us, laugh with us, rejoice with us. Friends who will be there for us no matter the time of day. Friends who show us the love of God through their actions.
You know…God has taught me so much in the last couple of weeks. But one thing He is teaching me currently is that He restores. We learned last week that nothing is too far gone for Him. He heals us and uses the broken pieces of our life and makes us whole again. He can do this for you and for that relationship you’ve given up on.
There is nothing more beautiful than letting God work in our lives and our relationships with others. Nothing, absolutely nothing is too far gone for God. Maybe you need Him to restore a relationship in your life. Ask Him to help you. You may find out that He wants you to work on you first. This is what happened to me. Maybe there’s something in your life that prevents you from being a good friend. Like me, you may struggle with comparison and jealousy. Ask God to heal your heart. Ask Him to help you be content with the life He has blessed you with.
What is God revealing to you about your friendships?
Dear God, I ask that you will be with us this week as we talk about friendships. You show us throughout the Bible how important it is to have people in our inner circle. People who will pray for us and encourage us, but that will also challenge us. Lord I ask that you will help us look at our frienships and reveal to us what you want us to see. Help us be better friends to those around us. Whatever our struggle may be that seems to sabotage our relationships, I pray that in Jesus name you take it out of our life. Help us focus on the race you have set before us. The journey you are having us walk. Help us stay focused on the blessings in our life so that we can be happy for others. Help us be genuine, intentional and happy for others’ successes. Thank you Jesus for being the perfect example of what it is to be a friend. There is no friend like you. Help us be more like you. In Jesus name…
-Maggie