After the Miracle

Today's Devotional Thought
November 18, 2011 by Wendy Foreman

Friendship

Today is Rachel's birthday and I wish that I could tell you everything about her that is so great. I do want to say that I have had many, many friends in my life, but Rachel is truly a gift from God. In ministry as a Pastor's wife, it is tough finding a friend who understands the demands that are placed on your life. There are many people who need us (my husband and I) in our church. Visitation, counseling, lunches, dinners, rehearsals, meetings and the list goes on. Rachel, in the midst of all of this, is encouraging, supportive, selfless and my prayer partner. She is a beautiful person who strives to please Jesus in every area of her life. I am blessed beyond measure that the Lord gave me this precious friend, but also a ministry partner, who has just as much passion for Jesus and others as I do. I have included an insert from a radio interview Rachel and I did last month. I am posting this today because I wrote this from my heart describing areas of friendship that I see as important but also areas that Rachel and I have strived in our friendship to give to each other.

There are several things that I see as being key in friendships. One is perspective taking. I believe it is very important for us in our friendships not to be selfish and consumed with our own emotions, but to stop and try to see things from our friend's perspective. Perspective taking is vital because in doing so we show others that we love them enough to care about their feelings before our own. In our human nature that is very hard, but as Rachel and I have learned in our own friendship it is God that helps us to be able to do it. I believe another element is honesty. So many people are afraid to be honest for fear that they will lose their friend. If you truly love someone why would you want them to stay the way they are if by confronting them in honesty it could help them to grow and mature in the Lord? The third one is trust. You must trust your friend and she must trust you. Trust is something that does develop over time and is essential in any friendship. When you grow in your trust for one another then perspective taking and honesty will come more naturally. When you truly trust one another there will be a greater understanding when confrontation arises that it is coming from the deep recesses of your friend's heart and from a place of great love for you.

Rachel and I, in our friendship, have grown in all these areas. When you find a friend ladies that is a shining example of Jesus and His love, thank God for her and pray for her. Cherish that friendship. Today, I know that it is Rachel's birthday, but I am the one who got the greatest gift when God brought her into my life.

"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."
~John 15:12-15