I have been and am still in a conversation about a few people that I have known for many years. Let me introduce them to you.
This is my friend Myra. We became friends when Gene and I moved to Virginia almost 25 years ago. Our son was 18 months old and I was pregnant. Myra was single parenting her four children at the time. We had no family in the area and she had only one family member that was close. Myra is a strong godly woman who is an awesome mother. When Myra speaks children everywhere come to attention. She also can whistle louder that any person I have ever heard. When Myra whistles everyone, even me and Gene turn from whatever we are doing and give her our undivided attention. Myra is a friend, a sister, a second mom to our two older children and (don't even try to figure this one out) a grandmother to our youngest daughter. We are family.
Myra's life has not been easy. There have been and continue to be very difficult times for her. Early in our friendship Myra went through heartbreaking relationship pain. I think that God used those times to turn our friendship into family. We helped raise her children, she has helped raise ours. I am sure that I have laughed more when our families are together than any other times in my life. Myra loves children and they love her in return. It is an amazing love that is combined with fear and respect. Not many people have that gift anymore. Myra also has enormous physical pain that she lives with every day. When I think of all that she has been through and continues to work through, I am in awe. God is glorified in Myra's life.
This is my friend MaryAnn. MaryAnn and I became friends not long after we moved to Virginia. We had not known each other very long at all when we started doing weekly one-on-one Bible studies. During those early years of our relationship, MaryAnn helped me grow spiritually in ways that I am sure that she doesn't realize. MaryAnn is a gentle woman with incredible inner strength. She has lived through hard times as well. I often think of some of the spiritual battles that she fought in those early years. Some of the battles she fought for me. They were difficult and not without casualties. MaryAnn also lives with physical pain. She taught me long ago the value of an ice pack. MaryAnn quietly goes about life. She serves God by blessing other people with the gifts that God has given her. I admire her so much. The Holy Spirit of God encourages so many though MaryAnn's life.
This is my friend Terry. Terry and I became friends early in our time in Virginia. Her oldest son and my son became friends. Terry's youngest son and our middle daughter became friends in self-defense because we spent so much time together. Our children took swim lessons at the Y when they were very young. Terry and I became close friends over the smell of chlorine and with goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, and skittles embedded in the carpet of our cars. Terry is a gentle woman as well. Way back then, Terry was timid and fearful. Terry taught me how to love and challenge people who don't have the personality of a bull-dozer like I sometimes do. Terry has challenged me to be a gentler person. I have challenged Terry to love people but not let those people determine how she feels about herself. Terry is also a person of prayer. I know that when Terry says that she will pray for me, she doesn't mean a 10 second drive-by with God. She will be agonizing in prayer for me. I was there for Terry in one of her finer moments. I pushed her to climb a tree for the first time in her life. Although somewhat terrified, she found freedom that day. Terry also lives with physical pain. There is not a day that goes by that she is not reminded of her mortality, yet she perseveres.
I grow in respect for Terry with every passing year. Terry's life is a proclamation of the transforming power of Jesus Christ
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This is my friend Laurie. Laurie and I have been friends for 16+ years. Laurie has seven children and I was there rubbing her back and taking pictures for the births of 3 of the children. I am "Momma Kat" to her children. That brings so much joy to my heart. Laurie is a genuinely sweet person. She gives and loves and gives some more. Laurie's love for Jesus is magnified in the way that she listens, the encouragement she gives, the love she pours out continuously to everyone she meets. Laurie leads a quiet life. ( Figuratively speaking, with 7 children it is never literally quiet.) She doesn't venture too far, but stays on the lane she calls home most of the time. Laurie has the gift of encouragement. I have seen her be loving and encouraging to people that I have wanted to throw off of her porch. I have witnessed her stand with people, be there for them, pick them up, pray for them, pick them up again over and over. Laurie has taught me how to be a friend that keeps encouraging. Laurie has taught me how to really listen. Laurie has taught me to take delight in 5 minutes of time together, thankful for the time and not lamenting that it wasn't long enough. Laurie deals with great physical pain every day, but not her own. Her husband has debilitating pain every day. Sometimes I think that living with and deeply loving someone that is in constant pain might be the harder job. Laurie handles all of life with incredible grace. When you look at Laurie, you see the reflection of Jesus.
Now that I have introduced you to these ladies, I will tell you that my conversations about them is ongoing. I talk about the good, the not so good, the bad, the painful, the heart breaking things that I have seen throughout the years in relationship with them. I listen as I am encouraged to learn from them, to honor them, to challenge them, to keep them in my life.
The conversation is with the Maker of us all. I keep coming back to my Father in gratitude for having these ladies in my life. I love them deeply and I'm fairly sure that they love me too.
This week in my Sunday School class we are looking at Philippians 1. Though we won't get to verse 19, as I read over it, I was brought back into my conversation with God. I know that through these ladies' prayers and influence on my life..."and through the help given me by the Spirit of JesusChrist, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance."
I am blessed by God to have these ladies, but also that He is continually putting more God-honoring women in my life. I am thankful and I continue to rejoice because I have so much to learn.
