No one will truly know a true friend unless they have experienced that person from the inside out, especially in their raw and rarest form.
These past two weeks the Lord has been so good to me when it comes to the friendships that He allows me to enjoy, embrace, soak up, and build incredible strength from!!!
During the latter part of last year, the Lord started showing me how it was time for my life to change again and to transition into new areas of adulthood. I realized from post-college, I had to make some tough decisions regarding my involvement in ministry and serving on the University of Memphis campus. After those decisions were made, I started to notice a void that I haven't really ever experienced before and that was the void of friendships. I had to take a hard look at my life to actually see that I really had no solid people around me to build from. While serving in ministry for 5yrs on campus, I was pouring myself out so much, that I didn't realize how much more that I needed someone to pour into me in the same way that I was radically sharing the glory and testimony of Jesus Christ. The power of prayer started to grow heavy, and I pleaded with the Lord to help me to 1.Find an older woman of God to disciple me and 2. to develop more Godly women friendships. And then the writing and planning started to form. I began to write down every woman of God that I knew in my life that were solid women and then the Lord gave me the solution to my problem: PURSUE.
The Lord whispered into my life that in order for me to enjoy and embrace, an attribute of Himself, which is that He is an relational God, I must PURSUE His people. So, looking at my list, I realized that there was one woman of God that I truly admired and that I desired to gleam from her life as she followed Christ: Heather Trotter. I am a big fan of twitter so on Dec 19th I tweeted: 'I am desperately seeking a Godly women to be an older Titus 2 woman for me' and lo and behold Heather tweeted back: 'To whom much is given...much is required. It's my pleasure!' All I have to say friends is Wow!!! Just like that the Lord answered my prayers of an older woman to pour into me. One down and one more request to go.
Heather and I organized our first hangout. On Friday, I went to her house and the wisdom of a Godly older woman such as herself just flowed naturally. I learned so much in just our first meeting and the freshness of it all was just right. It seemed like Heather had been in my life all along and I just didn't notice it. My favorite part about our interaction is that she didn't hold back, she just oozed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she is by no means finished with her sanctification process. What a joy to experience the God in her! I didn't really realize how much more that I needed Godly friendships until I was challenged by Heather. One of the most important nuggets that she left me with is that I must strive for: 'Sacred' friendships. I wondered internally what is that? And she described that these are women who are extremely close to me in that I can share my deepest insecurities, to be vulnerable with, to build strength from, and women who will always hold me up to be accountable to the will of God as a Christian woman no matter what. She also described how no one must get in the way of that bond or try to destroy it in any way and that I must protect the sanctity of our friendship.
Her advice left me with such an ease to start to pursing friendships that are not only solid, but sacred and what a joy my journey has been to develop these relationships even more over the course of three months!!!
*Here are a few snippets of a closer look into the women of God who shape my life daily:
- Precious Elliot (Pic 1): This fiery woman of God came into my life in June 2007, she was one of the very first women who witnessed my life before Christ and after Christ. She was also the very first woman to call me out on my sin of trying to fake like I was a Christian. She is annointed and spirit-filled and has graced my life for years, as a witness for Jesus Christ. She is my absolute other half and I have never met any one as in sync with my life as Precious! She is a newlywed wife to Kevin Smith from Jan 2012 and now she is known as Precious Smith baby baby!!! I love you Presh=)
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Patrice Jefferson (Pic 2): This little woman with such a big heart for the Lord Jesus Christ came into my life in June 2007 as well when I met Precious. I can literally talk to Patrice about anything and she absolutely cracks me up. We also came up with our own saying everytime we see each other from a lousy dinner that we had when we attended a Christian program together lol. She has the voice of an angel of God and will not resist the will of God over her life. She is my favorite sister in Christ. She is also a newlywed wife who will be celebrating a whole year married to Roy Jefferson April 2012 baby baby! I love you Patrice=)
Amber Walker (Pic 3): This social bug woman came into my life right along with Precious and Patrice in June 2007. Amber always listened to my crazy stories of my big family and she also laughed right along at my way of life which is being hood lol. She is so intelligent in that she pursued her Masters and she encourages everyone that comes in contact with her. She is a humble woman of God, my maid of honor for my upcoming wedding and I just love her so much=)
- Jessica Swinger: (Pic 4): Wow what can I say about Jessica!!! God literally lead me to Jessica by His Holy Spirit in August 2008. After I became a Christian in 2007, I prayed to the Lord to use me for His Kingdom and to allow me to share His goodness to someone else through discipleship. After having so many random encounters of meeting Jessica on campus, the Lord pushed me to pursue her and I took a risk for the first time in my life, wrote it on an index card, and placed it under her dorm door and ever since then the Lord has taken our relationship on a journey that we both would have never been prepared for. Jessica became my very first disciple, and I literally could not say for anyone else how the Lord has truly used me to make His life a reality in the life of another sinner saved by grace. Through our discipleship relationship, Jessica surrendered her life to Christ in October 2008. Jessica has seen all of my wickedness, my passion, my sin, my servanthood, my vulnerability, my shepherding, and my unwavering zeal to pursue Christ to other women. She is now a Junior at the University of Memphis pursing a bachelors in Exercise Sports Science. She is discipling herself another amazing woman in Christ. And she is growing more intimately with Jesus Christ outside of herself daily. I love you especially Jessica=)
- Clara Bright (Pic 5): Oh my sweet Clara, I met her during the Women's Bible study, in 2010, that I lead for five years on the University of Memphis campus. She started attending my Bible study through another mutual friend of ours Ashley Watkins. We realized that we are around the same age and how it was just so refreshing to meet someone like that because, at the time when we meet, everyone was younger than us lol. Anyway, Clara and I have been challenging one another to pursue our friendship more this year through a friendship devotional every Tuesday morning. I admire Clara's wisdom and her unwavering faith to stand up for her godly convictions. I love you Clara=)
Myisha Drayton (Pic 6): My beautiful bestie Myisha. Now this woman of God smelled like the aroma of Jesus Christ long before I would hear the unconditional love of a Savior who truly saved me in 2007. During my very 1st year of college in 2005, I met Myisha, along with another one of my good friends Kesia Merriweather, at orientation. We instantly clicked and became each other's roaddogs quickly. Myisha embodied an old spirit but an annointed spirit of God more than anything. She became everyone's favorite granny to be a college student lol. Myisha truly showed the love of Christ through her life for me even though she knew that I was not a Christian. Myisha never rejected me, but loved me warmly, she did my hair, we watched my fave movie together: 'The Notebook', and she never hesitated to share the goodness of Jesus Christ. She was also the very first person that I called when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ! Now she is back at home in Chicago, an alumni from college, and a newlywed wife to Lawerence Drayton. Oh I love me some Myisha with the ugly cry lol=)
- Zipporah Mondy (Pic 7): And I mean last but not least who doesn't love my gurl Zipporah!!! I met Zipporah just last year as a fellow Bible student for the discipleship equipping training program called DownLine Ministries. Zipporah and I were placed as roommates with four other amazing women of God. From the moment I met Zipporah, she has served my socks off! For example, I had already moved in one of the rooms in our new home together & I reluntantly did not want to switch rooms with a new roommate that was coming in. So, Zipporah gave up her room to move into the room with me. What Humility!!! Zipporah has made me fall on the floor laughing with her stories of her big family just like me. We have stayed up praying together on my bed. And she has truly allowed me to build strength from her just by watching her intimate relationship with Jesus especially when she is uncertain about situations that occur in her life. Now Zipporah has returned to her home in West Helena, Arkansas where she gives her life away to a camp she estabished for the youth to know about Jesus Christ. She is also serving her family. She is attending college for the very first time. And she will be a bridesmaid in my upcoming wedding. I adore her so much for always believing in me especially towards the gift of marriage. I love you beautiful Zipporah=)
So there you have it friends, the special portraits of my very own 'Sacred Friendships'. If you do not have friendships like these in your very own lives, I suggest that you seek the Lord to help you pursue and invest in special people who will love every part of your being because they have added to it themselves. As C.S. Lewis says, 'Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival'.
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