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(presented by Lisa Bishop)
Having trustworthy companions is essential, and especially important when you find yourself charting change and new territory in your career, a relationship, with family, and in life.
It can be so easy to pull the plug on community and to hide when life gets hard and feels uncertain. But it is ever so important to phone a friend, someone who you can confide in, count on to listen, trust to keep confidentiality, and encourage you with truth.
Our minds can tend to ruminate on negative thoughts when uncertainty looms. To counter the tendency to fall down a rabbit’s hole and take a mental tailspin, it is important to stay grounded in God’s Word, be ever present in prayer and rely on your friends to help pull you up when all you can think about is worst case scenarios.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 gives us a great reminder about the importance of community:
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
These verses highlight the importance of Christian friendships. Companions that put God at the center of their lives will help you navigate life and change in a godly way, keeping you focused on truth, and that is the best and most fruitful way. When life is hard it can be so easy to forget God’s faithfulness. We need our friends as faithful guides.
Who is a friend you can rely on when you feel the road ahead is a blur? Reach out to them, ask them if they will listen. Tell them you need their help to encourage you in truth and pray for you as you navigate change. And if you know someone who is currently in a tough season, who can you be a friend and encouragement to?
You will have to stay flexible, faithful, and hopeful. It can be easy to get discouraged and fearful. This is the time to, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:12, be faithful…be persistent in prayer.
Rather than staring at your circumstances, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.