Gifts

I attended a Christmas party today with four of my best friends.  You're probably thinking, "ok, so that matters because..." Well, it is because those friends are a direct answer from God to my prayers.  It amazes me how He works in the most mysterious ways sometimes without us even knowing it.  Two years ago, I either barely knew these girls or didn't know them at all.  Now I can't imagine my life without them. 

I haven't always had friends like that.  In fact, it's been a long time since I really had any real friends at all.  Being a pastor's child, my family moved around a lot.  I would make friends, move away, and lose contact with them.  I felt alone a lot as a child.  To shield myself from the hurt, I would not let myself get close to many people if any at all.  Looking back on it I regret that, but there's no use living in the past.  I finished highschool with a load of acquantences, but only a small handful of "friends."  No best friends.  No one I would have trusted with anything.  I consider that one of my biggest mistakes.  Regardless, God had a way of turning things around for me.

It was the summer after my freshmen year in college.  I had just gotten over my stronghold of depression and I was ready to restart a lot of things in my life.  I was tired of being lonely and I desperately wanted friends.  Not just any friends, but true friends.  Real friends.  So I started making that a daily prayer request.  I prayed that God would send me friends who would be a good influence on me, Christian friends who would lift me up and be true to me.  People I could depend on, who wouldn't just "walk out" like so many people in my life have.  I wanted people to be honest with me and to help me whenever I was struggling.  To be an encouragement and a shoulder to lean on.  I started praying that in June and by September, God had brought these girls into my life. 

Two of them I had known for a year but had never taken the time to get to know.  One of them was an incoming freshmen I had never met and the other was a highschool "friend" who became a best friend.  God brought the 5 of us together through a bible study.  I had also been praying that summer about having the opportunity to lead one, and one girl had the idea to start one.  Out of the blue, she asked me to help her lead a girls bible study and taking it as an opportunity from God, I agreed to help her.  Everything else just fell into place.  The other 3 girls joined our bible study and the bond was then formed.  I couldn't have asked God for more!  They were everything I had been praying for and more!  It truly is beautiful watching how God works.  He brings you the people you need exactly when you need them.  Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

God doesn't want us to be alone.  That's why He created friendship, and I truly believe that there are few bonds stronger than that of human friendships.  Love is the center of a friendship and God Himself is love.  When it's a bond that He forms, like the bond formed between the 5 of us, I know it will always last.  He brought them to me as an answer to my prayers, and I can't stop thanking Him for that.  So what have I learned from all this?  Don't let your heart be hard to people.  Don't be afraid to open up.  Who knows what you will miss.  Only God knows what I missed in highschool because I was afraid let myself get close to anyone.  But by His grace, I had a second chance in college, and He blessed me because this time, I wasn't afraid.  I'm not lonely anymore.  God gave me the people He wanted me to have.  Thank you, Lord.  They're far better than anything I could have picked out myself.  To You be all the praise.