Christmas Time

Monday, February 5, 2007

my mat carriers...

do you ever just long for that peaceful moment when you and your dear friend can share a cup of coffee together and talk about every little detail of your lives, good and bad? i sure do. there are only a handful of women in my life that i can do that with and it is so precious that a couple of those friendships began over 5 years ago and some only in the last 2.

today i was blessed by three of those relationships in three different ways.

one of these precious women served me by taking daphne for the morning so i could go up to the church and get some work done. anytime someone offers to care for my children, that act in my mind, is equated to washing my feet. truly, i believe caring for my children is a beautiful picture of serving. (my kids are awesome but they have their moments- some longer than others.) i treasure her.

another dear friend who lives WAY too far away chit chatted on the phone with me for quite some time about her joys and struggles as wife, mom and minister's wife. her words i treasure because she has always spoken Truth into my life. she has loved me and my family even knowing some of our yuckiest yuck. she encourages me, she challenges me, she prays for me. i treasure her.

lastly another sweet friend shared her feelings about our friendship with me. i know we are great friends but it was such a blessing to me to know that i meant as much to her as she does to me. i treasure her.

too often i let "busyness" take over and i forget to stop and use my words to tell my friends how God uses them to encourage me. my friends, both new and old, are amazing women who i laugh with, cry with, work with, pray with.

in matthew there is the story of a man who cannot walk and he has four friends. these guys hear that Jesus is in town and so they want to take their lame buddy to see Him. well since this guy can't walk they pick up the mat he is sitting on and they carry their friend. when they get to the house where Jesus was the place is packed. they were a determined group so they climbed up on the roof, cut a hole in it and then lowered their buddy down to Jesus. Jesus healed the man and told him to take his mat and walk.

there have been days when my mat had to be carried and these women have done that for me. there have been times when i have been able to help carry theirs. that is part of friendship... the good, the bad and the ugly.

thank you for your friendship- i treasure each of you. may our friendship be the blessing to you that it is to me!

2 comments:

Emily Ryan said...

I'm teaching on encouragement next week at church, and as I sat down to start preparing my lesson, this is the post I read! How awesome! Thanks for sharing! True friends really are priceless!

melissa said...

hey mandy... somehow i hadn't seen your blog even though i had seen ross's... soooo funny. how fun! i love seeing a little glimpse of your life & heart! so fun! kisses to the sweet wee ones!