Deep-Spirited Friends

I love my friends. I don’t think they know how much I love them. But they really are like family to me.

Today, after ANOTHER SLEEPLESS NIGHT, I spent some sleepy prayer time thanking God for what He has given me right now. (NOT sleep. God? Help me OUT!!!!)

I started to think about my friends – the last few days they have gone to bat spiritually for me in so many ways. Here are a few of them.

AMANDA

Here is an excerpt from our conversation today:

Jess: (finishing up long, sad tale of bad week): So, anyway, I just feel like crap and I AM crap and I don’t know what to do right now. I am upset with myself. I am tired. Geez.

Amanda: You are believing a whole bunch of garbage right now, girl. You better go home and PRAY. You need to ask the Lord to show you the TRUTH in your situation instead of the lies you are currently believing.

Jess: Oh.

Amanda (sound of her getting off some fancy exercise machine): Hold on. Let me get somewhere private where I can pray for you.

When Amanda prays, she PRAYS. Not a small “Bless her, Lord” prayer – but powerful, come-Holy-Spirit, life-giving, scripture-filled prayers. MAN. She prays for me every morning, she prays for me in the middle of Target, and she prays for me at the bathroom at the Y. I love that girl.

ERIN

She received my sad “sorry, but I need prayer” email and responded with the following:

“Sorry, I have reached my prayer quota for the month and I am no longer praying for the needs of others. No praises, no petitions, no thanksgiving. I can possibly fit you in next month.

Whatever, Jess, that enemy must be saying some sick things if you think for a second we can tire of going to God on your behalf. It is an honor to do so. Praying for you…”

I need these kinds of friends. The kind of women who are not satisfied to see me living my spiritual life with mediocrity but who consistently challenge me to seek the face of Jesus, no matter what is going on.

They encourage me when things are going well; they pray when things are not going well. They do not sit on the sidelines while I have a bad week – they GET IN MY FACE.

I need friends like Kelly, who call and leave super-wonderful long messages encouraging me, reminding me of the truth about my situation and the truth about the Lord and what He is telling me to do.

I need friends like Lisa, one of the mightiest prayer warriors I have ever known, to look me in the eyes and say, “Well, what is God saying to you about this?”

This week has been ROUGH. It still is. And it was a week where I needed godly friends to remind me about pressing into the Lord.

Phil 2:1-2 says “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care — then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends.” (The Message)

My deep-spirited friends – every one.

If I were less sleepy, I’d be more eloquent. But I just feel really, really happy and grateful for the gift that they are in my life.

Lord, thank you for sisters who walk shoulder to shoulder with me. Show me how to be a godly friend in return. I love you, Jesus. Amen.