Minute Musings...Friendship

Do you want to know what I've discovered?  If we were meant to walk this pilgrim pathway
alone, God would not have given us the yearning for friendship.  I was reminded again today
of just how important friends can be.  I received a call from a friend in North Carolina, we
have been friends for 46 years!  A call like that from out of the blue really does lift one's
spirits.  Tonight I called the friend I told you about yesterday.  She lives in the southern U.S.
This was the first time we have actually talked.  What a wonderful 20 minutes.  Not only did
my call cheer her up, but it blessed me in return.  It is amazing, that although we have never
met, that bond of being "sisters in the Lord" was so strong...it felt like we've known each other
for years!  Friendship is one of God's most precious gifts to us.

Life is hard.  The Lord Jesus walked this earthly path for 33 years, but He did not walk alone.
He had 12 disciples that He fellowshipped with, taught and guided...and loved.  The Bible tells
us in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another
even as also ye do."  And also in Hebrews 10:23 - 25, "Let us hold fast the profession of
our faith without wavering:  (for He is faithful that promised;)  And let us consider one
another to provoke unto love and to good works:  Not forsaking the assembling of our
selves together, as the manner of some is:  but exhorting one another:  and so much the
more, as ye see the day approaching." 

We need each other.  We need the encouragement from others to keep going when we face
trials;  we need the comfort from others when we have sorrowful hearts;  we need the fellowship
with others as we face hardships and the last days.  We are told in Romans 12:15 to "Rejoice
with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."  To do this you must have a
personal relationship with each other...you need that bond of fellowship and friendship!

As you go about your daily chores today, remember your friends, thank God for them, stop
and pray for them!  And, thank God for our greatest friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom has
promised to be with us even unto the end of the world!