For many years I walked this road alone. I struggled for years in abuse, fighting to survive life and not knowing how to get out. Unable to because of the bondage I was in, the stronghold Satan had me in. Sometimes things happen in our childhood that we block out because the pain is so great that our minds shut down.
When Jesus drew me to Him, I thought I had found my answer. I did, but it wasn’t like I wanted it to be or thought it would be. I treated Jesus as a fairy godmother. I wanted him to change those who abused me and to stop the abuse. I didn’t really want Him. I thought I did. I sat in churches for years, waiting for this great miracle to take place.
Instead, Jesus started working on me. He started digging around in the hurt and the pain sometimes was so unbearable that I could barely stand. I didn’t know the truth about Him for many years. I’ve written about some of this in other articles but this time I want to talk about the difference it has made in my life after God put a friend in my life. This friend has a lot of the same struggles as I’ve had and still have. It’s not that Jesus can’t do the job. He spent years healing me emotionally.
And this isn’t about all the things I still have to deal with. It has to do with the difference between walking alone and having a true friend by your side. Not just anybody, but somebody that God ordained to be in your life. Sometimes He puts people in our lives that are like ships passing in the night. He uses them for a season in our lives. But then He puts that person in your life that is just there. It can be a spouse, or it can be a best friend, someone you can trust.
Yes, we still mess up and hurt the ones we are closest too. But if it is a true friendship, it makes it easy to forgive and not think another thing about it. Jesus sent the disciples out 2 by 2. He didn’t send them out alone. Mark 6: 7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, 9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
It is Biblical that having a true friend makes all the difference. Most of my life I’ve spent alone and isolated because of the abuse. Having that true friend that God has put into my life is like a breath of fresh air. When one feels down, the other is immediately there to encourage the other and to hold out a hand to lift you up. It’s not about filling your life with people just so you won’t be alone. Sometimes God needs you to be alone so He can work in you and have that time for your relationship with Him to grow.
I know we are all human and we mess up, but I thank God for putting someone in my life that I don’t have to worry about them stabbing me in the back or gossiping about me and sharing my dirty laundry with the world. I thank God for this relationship as He uses us to strengthen the other. We need to guard relationships like this. They are rare and precious so make sure the enemy cannot put a wedge in it. Ask God to send His guardian, warrior angels to surround you, but also do your part to strengthen and not tear it down.
Ask God to put that special friend in your life too. It can lift you up when you need it most.
The Difference A True Friend Makes in Our Life
