“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”—1 Thessalonians 5:11 

Throughout my life God has intentionally put unlikely friendships in my pathway. Many times they aren’t ones that I would have found on my own, but God divinely orchestrated them. Some have only been for a season and others much longer.

 Last week I shared how God placed me in a small group with a woman who had been widowed a few years ago. After our meeting last week, I felt like God tell me, “she needs a friend.” She reminds me of myself when I was beginning my faith journey. I was hungry for God’s Word, but reading the Bible was intimidating for me. 

In fact, after my first husband’s death, my mom took me to a Christian bookstore because I wanted to get a Bible. When the clerk asked me what version I wanted, I had no idea what she was asking me. I said, version? What do you mean? She told me all the different ones they had, which sounded like Greek to me. I still didn’t understand what she was telling me. My mom finally said, she just wants a version that she can read and understand.

I am not sure what version I got, because since then I have found the one that works best for me. Actually it is a combination of 3. I use the NIV, NLT and just recently added the ESV Study Bible. Anyway, I thought to myself, maybe she feels the same way. I am going to get her the same study Bible that I have.

I was on the fence about buying the Bible and dragging my feet on reaching out to her. I started to question, Was that God telling me she needs a friend? Will she be offended if I give her a Bible? God spoke to me that morning through a devotion that ended with, Help me to see beyond myself and discern what is good for others in Your Kingdom…..activate in me a spirit of humility and sensitivity to hear Your Voice. I knew God was speaking to me to go buy that Bible and see if she wanted to meet for lunch.

As I have learned, everything happens in God’s perfect timing. I finally sent her a text on Thursday to see if she wanted to meet on Friday. She responded that she would like to get together. We exchanged a few small talk texts and then she thanked me for reaching out to her, asked for prayers and let me know she could really use a friend right now. I texted her that God had laid her on my heart to reach out to her and that I was glad that I had listened. After she read my response she said, God is so good. I am crying as I read this. Could she have been praying for God to send her a friend?

This is what happens when we listen to that nudge or feeling that God has impressed on our hearts. He blesses us. He let me know I wasn’t crazy. He confirmed that I did hear Him right. She did need a friend. I don’t know how our friendship will transpire but I do know that for this season in both of our lives, He has placed us together. I have no idea if she needed another Bible and it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that I listened to God and did what I felt He was leading me to do 

For those of us who don’t have children at home, we have an opportunity to mentor the generation below us. We are living in a time where this is needed now more than ever. Can you think of someone that you can pour into this week? How can you encourage and build them up in their faith walk? If God has laid someone on your heart as you read this, listen to that nudge, say a prayer for them and let them know they were on your mind.

Dear Lord, 

Forgive me when I don’t listen to Your nudges. I praise You for connecting me with the right people throughout my life. For those that have underestimated the comforting power of friendship, I ask that You put people in their lives that they can lean on for love, support and prayers. Guide me, lead me and use me to pour Your love into the lives of others around me. It is in the name of Jesus that I pray these things. Amen.

October Memory Verse

Will you join me this month to memorize Proverbs 27:17? It goes along with this week’s post. It is important to be part of a community where others support your faith journey as well as hold you accountable. I know know what I would have done the past 25 years without these friendships.

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”—Proverbs 27:17 (NLT)

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