I just finished a conversation with a very dear, very long time friend named Joan Fitzgerald.  We have drifted a little apart in the last few years due to life circumstances and time stresses, but are still and always joined at the heart.  Conversing with her this morning made me think of a few things that I want to share with each of you.

There’s something really deeply vital in sharing the deepest needs, concerns of your heart and joys with a dear friend.  God didn’t mean for us to live our lives and struggles alone.  He designed us to carry one another’s burdens and to laugh together.  We’re stronger when we’re bound together in love, than any of us can be on our own. 

There’s also another wonderful side benefit of having shared many years with a longtime friend… when you forget something she remembers!  Joan shared some stories with my husband and daughters today that I hat TOTALLY forgotten about.  Two memories are much better than one 🙂 especially as we age!  Joan and I have had some amazing adventures over the years.  She’s known me since BEFORE I became an artist.  She’s seen my really, really, really BBBBAAADDDDD first attempts at creating stained glass windows and watched me grow experience by experience. 

She was a recipient of one of my very first attempts at calligraphy in 1983 and still has it today.  The Lord taught me to practice my calligraphy by picking a scripture and hand lettering it and then carrying it with me during my day and finding someone to give it away to.  Many of those scriptures ended up being virtually prophetic in how they touched people’s lives and of course I was the most blessed of all in giving them away.  If you are an artist or a crafter, consider doing something similar with your talents.  You can never lose when you give of your heart — especially if you give away a gift that God gave you in a way that honors Him.  He loves to bless us back.  The entire career I have today began with giving those little scriptures away, one-by-one.

If you have a lifelong friend, call her (or him) today and remind them just how much you love them and tell them how glad you are that they share your life.  If you don’t have a deep friend to turn to, I’m praying that God will send one your way and begin to build those powerful and lasting bonds of friendship that give so much more meaning to our days.

One of the ways I’ve developed two of the deepest friendships in my life was by becoming "prayer partners" with them first.  That’s how Joan and I became friends and my other dear friend Sally.  Because we had a purpose for our friendship and we were sharing deep needs and concerns, we quickly got past the surface and built our relationship on who we really were.  There’s something deeply connecting about praying together regularly with someone  Sally and I had our children together and would pray on my living room floor with our babies crawling all over us and with one eye closed and the other watching out for who was heading for the electrical outlet.  We prayed for our children, their lives and struggles, our husbands, for our own struggles of identity "Who am I and why am I here on this earth?"  God met us in that living room and changed our lives and the lives of others through our friendship.

Both of these dear women (and many others) walked me through the darkest days of my life when my first husband was diagnosed and ultimately passed away from Melanoma, skin cancer.  They held my hand, dried my tears and pointed me in the direction where my only hope was to be found — in God alone.  Because both Sally and Joan are older than I, they have also generously shared their wisdom and counsel and the occasional swift kick in the rear that I as a youngster often required!

A word of wisdom here.  While the internet is wonderful for developing acquaintances that you might never have made in real life, it cannot and should not replace face-to-face encounters and human hugs.  If you are lacking in the later, it takes some effort and at times requires getting out of your comfort zone to go meet people.  I know it’s scary.  It causes us to run the risk of rejection if our overtures of friendship are not responded to, but don’t let a few moments of fear and discomfort rob you of a potential of a lifetime of joy!

Prov 27:9  Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel.  NIV