Friends make our joys sweeter and our trials easier to bear.
There’s nothing like friendships with like-minded sisters in Christ to comfort and support you in the difficult times and rejoice with you in good seasons.
Back-to-back girls’ nights out this week — first with my cross country moms group and next with my church gals — injected an oasis of calm, a healthy dose of laughter, and some solid adult conversation into an otherwise busy week. It’s not always easy to carve out time to just be one of the girls, stepping away from the responsibilities of wife and mother for a night (or a weekend), but it’s worth it for our sanity and peace of mind.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed, whether from big things — a troubled teen, job loss, car troubles, deadlines — or little things that pile up around you until it’s hard to see your way out.
But when my best friends get together for some girl time, it’s fascinating to realize we’re fighting the same battles, each on our own turf.
Some of us have children the same ages, and many of our experiences with them ring familiar. Knowing that everyone else’s 10-year-old daughter is sassy and exasperating (can we see a show of hands?) doesn’t make the problem go away, but it just feels better to commiserate with each other and even brainstorm parenting tactics.
When three of us realized our youngest children are the same age, we took a moment to imagine what life might look like when they graduate and leave home. Then we rejoiced that when that day comes we’ll explore a new stage in life together, with friends who are learning the same lessons in the same season.
1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us,
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Maybe the friends He gives us are part of that escape.
You are not alone. Whatever you’re facing, others have “been there, done that” or they may be in the same place right now. Encourage one another and nurture your friendships in all seasons.
When was your last girls’ night out? Could you schedule one this week? Where do you turn for encouragement?
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