My sweet friends from LakePointe Church Firewheel
These friends here, and many others not pictured, became so much dearer through the season of COVID separation.
These are the friends I dug into Scripture with before, during, and after COVID. The friends that met together on Wednesday evenings for women's Bible study, on Saturday evenings (or Sunday mornings) for church and Life Group, on Zoom for Bible study, or on my front porch to talk about Biblical friendship and to pray for, encourage and fellowship with each other.
I cherished those friendships and that time together talking about Scripture and our growth in our relationship with Christ before that spring and summer of forced separation and isolation, and we were determined to find ways to trudge through it and stick together. We continued to stay in the Word and find ways to encourage and pray for each other through those hard months. We still found safe ways to gather and grow together. But when the doors opened back up for us to congregate together again, those relationships felt even dearer, stronger, and more meaningful. We no longer took our coffee dates or Bible study groups for granted. They meant and mean so much more now.
They're friends for any season, really. Each one in this picture is special to me in a unique way. But all together they represent an essential part of life. They represent a priceless relationship and friendship that can only be found among sisters-in-Christ. A provision that design that God always meant for us to have and to lean on throughout our lives. A gift that is always available if we just take the time to look for it.
I miss this particular circle of friends in the picture, but I love that they represent my new growing circle of more sisters-in-Christ that I've now met and developed similar friendships with here in Columbus, Indiana. Whether near or far, each one of these friends fulfills a huge need and void in our lives for the season that they're there, just as God designed.
Friends from New Song Mission
Friends from Texas that loved on my son when he got hurt
A friend who goes deep
A friend from a marriage group
That friend who always finds you the right shirt
Friends from my new church Community Group
A friend from Colombia who knows my whole Colombian story and saw me through it
A new friend in Indiana
New Counseling Partners friendships
Church friends in Texas that go way back
New friends in Indiana at a women's weekend gathering
New fellow adoptive mom friend
A new friend with an instant connection
Friends from camp at New Song Mission
A Discipleship group friend
Best place in town to make new friends at a women's night out at Terrace Lake Church
Friends from New Song Mission
Friends from a church Community Group outting
The dearest of friends and fellow teachers
A friend that will always be family
Not pictured: All the friends that aren't quickly accessible in pics on my phone.
Moral of the story:
Friends (especially sister-in-Christ-friends) are essential through every season of life. Never take a true friend for granted or miss an opportunity to connect--especially over a hot drink, where the most meaningful conversations take place.
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