I have been blessed to know deep loneliness in my life, to know breezy, comfortable friendship, to know hard, painful relationships, to know friendships that are as close as sisters. The loneliness taught me to really know myself and to be truly grateful for the friendships I formed later. Comfortable, breezy friendships taught me how to have fun and enjoy the moment. Those hard, painful relationships taught me how to be steadfast and hold on even in the hardest times. They also taught me how to let go when letting go is the only thing you can do. The rare relationships with the bonds of sisterhood have taught me so many, many things the foremost being family runs far deeper than blood.
Many times in this blog I have mentioned the importance of having a good support system of true friends. Today I wanted to take a minute to thank those of you who are that for me. Some of you are my prayer partners, people I can trust to pray for the hard things and keep them confidential. Some of you are my sisters, we laugh, we cry, we learn together, we teach each other. Some of you are my warrior friends. You stand with me in battle and uphold my arms when I no longer have the strength. Many of you are old friends; sisters of the heart who have stood by me through the years even though I haven’t always been easy to love. Others of you are new friends. I love getting to know you and the new ideas you bring to my life. I am so thankful for each and every one of you. God has blessed me more than mere words can express by pacing you in my life.
I must be honest and say that the past few weeks have been very difficult on a personal level for me. There are times when God begins a work that goes deep, uprooting things that we have buried long ago, purposely left behind and forgotten. It has been one of those seasons for me. I have had to face the ghost of my past; unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, fear, detachment just to name a few. Anytime you dig up the long buried it is not a pretty sight. Time does not beautify the dead. Decay is not pleasant on any of the senses. Throughout this journey I have had a friend who has stood by me, never judging me, courageous enough to be honest even when the truth hurt, believing me when others would not, praying and standing strong when I am not. This is what women of God need to be for each other. Moments like these show the true bonds of sisterhood. This is the reason that the enemy attacks friendships between women so ferociously.
The past year I have seen many friendships destroyed, many women hurt deeply by gossip and slander. It has broken my heart to see women I care about deeply turning on each other, purposely hurting ones that they loved only weeks before. The very thing that God has created to strengthen us and draw us closer to him has been used by the enemy to tear down and destroy. Ladies I have experienced the beauty of true, Godly friendship. It is strengthening and beautiful. When these bonds are forged it creates a wall of unity that cannot be easily breeched by the enemy. The strong lend strength to the weak (and we are ALL weak at some point).
Today I am grateful and I am sad. I am grateful for all of you my friends; each of you is a strength and delight to me in your individual way. I am sad because so many have not yet discovered the strength of truly Godly friendships. It is my deepest prayer that each of you has at least one true friend in your life. I pray healing for those of you who have been wounded by imperfect friendships. I ask forgiveness of any of you I have unintentionally wounded and I forgive those who have wounded me. We are all imperfect and in the process of becoming. I send each of you my gratitude for all you are to me. I pray that I will lend you strength in your weak moments just as you have been strength to me. All my love-Kristine
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