Every one of us needs friends in our lives. They can be friends for a short time, maybe while you’re in a certain geographical location. They can be friends for life. You know, some of us have friends that we’ve known since we were in school. Some of them are friends for just a season of your life while you’re going through something tough or something great. But the fact remains that every one of us needs friends.
I learned a great lesson when my daughter was a teenager. I remember her having a friend, and I don’t really like this friend. And if you’re a parent or somebody that looks after somebody else, you know that there can be these, “God, I don’t really like this friend. What must I do about it?” But the one day my daughter went to college, she got back in the car and she hops in the car and she says, “Mommy, this friend and I were behind the bicycle shed today where everyone was smoking cigarettes and pot.” So everything inside of me starts screaming as a mom, I’m like, get the friend away from her and I’m gonna take her outta school. All of the protective instincts come up, right? But the Holy Spirit just whispered in my ear and He said, “Be quiet and don’t say a word.” So I calmed down. And like I said, “Oh, okay.” Then I just kept quiet. And as she saw me keep quiet and little bit in it, you know, 30 seconds later she said, “And do you know what I learned?” And I said, “Huh, tell me what you learned.” She said, “I learned that I don’t like the smell of smoking, so I’m just not gonna smoke.” Well, everything inside of me was throwing a party then, right? The opposite reaction.
And I was so grateful to the Holy Spirit for saying to me, “Hey Lisa, just be calm for a moment. Let her tell you what her experience was.” And to this day, that is over a decade ago, she still does not smoke. She made the decision for herself, which of course is far more powerful than if her mother had told her not to. Right? But the beautiful thing God showed me was that even though I thought the friend wasn’t a good friend, God chose that friend for her, and a beautiful result happened.
So I want to invite you to partner with God and say to Him, “Lord, will you show me who my friends are? Who are my mentors? Who are my mentees? Who are my peers and my colleagues in this season? Who do I get to do life with?” And let Him bring those connections, and you will feel your heart and your spirit connect to people when you know that they are yours to do life with at this time. Have fun finding great friends.