THE JOY OF HAVING AN ENCOURAGING FRIEND

God has blessed me with an encourager. There is nothing like having someone who's willing to listen with her whole being. Her heart and mind. My friend lives a distance from me but has the ability to make me feel she's just across the room when we're chatting. She has challenged and prompted me to face myself through the eyes of God's love. That is a brand new concept for me. I've never pondered an issue of hurt or discouragement while telling myself how much God loves me and cares about what's happening to me.

I'm wondering if YOU have an encouraging friend. If so, have you told her/him how much you appreciate her/him?

Let's take this one step further:

Are you an encourager? Do you listen with all of your being? I know in this age of technology it's easier to multi-task while someone is spilling their . . . um . . . you know, their okay, their heart out. I wanted to use a crude phrase my adult son would use but I really don't want to bring this post down to that level. ;) Any-who, where was I? Right. When someone has been telling you how much they're hurting are you really sitting at the key board or with the phone and your fingers poised prayerfully asking for guidance to reply or are you also checking other emails or text messages or writing a grocery list? I never gave such a thing a thought until I was watching a TV show with my dear hubby the other night and one of the characters was pretending to listen to his wife on the speaker phone while going back and forth from text messaging on his cell phone and checking and responding to emails on his laptop. I was appalled by the blatant selfishness and supposedly his character personality was to be tenderhearted. HUH?

I'm not sure what your goals are as a friend or if you've given them any thought but this gal is going to concentrate on being the encouraging friend, the listener, the one who is willing to put my life on hold to be there with a listening ear and prayerful answers to questions as well as being supportive in struggles.

"To be a friend, one must show themselves friendly"

I want to be the same kind of encourager to those who consider me a friend, as my wonderful, inspiring, encouraging, inspiring friend over there in London, England is to me.

My prayer is to be a woman of God, exhibiting the attributes of Christ through the leading and prompting of His Holy Spirit filled with the fruit of the Spirit. I can't help but wonder if my good marriage will prosper any more by being this kind of friend to my dear hubby . . . hmmm.

'THANK YOU, DEAR LORD, FOR ALLOWING ME TO KNOW AND EXPERIENCE JUST SUCH A FRIEND!'

Thank you, DEAR FRIEND, for being the example of an encourager God knows I've needed.