Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Vintage Gwen Chapel-What's Your Friend Pattern?


I mentioned last Chapel that the Saturday morning of our ladies retreat a pillar in our church did the ministering.  To me, that was a great time to take notes.  And I"m so glad I did! She said something that shed new light on a fact that I already knew.  Jesus had a friend pattern.  I knew he had friends, but never thought of them in a pattern. 
Jesus always had a ton of people around him, following him, I'm sure he would call them friends. 
But then he had people like Lazarus and his sisters. He called them friends. Going a step further He had the 12 disciples. And don't we consider them an inner circle? But He did one more step and had a smaller circle of 3; Peter, John and James.  Even Jesus needed close friends.  
Then I thought about myself and my friend pattern and sure enough, basic concept! 
Is a friend pattern the way God intended? I'm sure it could be debated but it's comforting to know that I've mirrored mine after my Savior. 
I recently spoke to someone about their daughter who is in college.  She told me that her daughter didn't have any close friends, that herself was basically it. And it made me sad, everyone needs a close friend who is not their mom! If Jesus had 3 then I need 3! We need 3! 
Do you have at least 3?
What's your friend pattern?

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 {NASB}
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?  And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.


Have a Blessed Weekend!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Vintage Gwen Chapel-One More Reason God Is Good To Me!


Photo courtesy of Heart-Fairytale
Something wonderful happened in my life this past week and God deserves some glory!
One of my best friends from junior college found me on Facebook!  We had done minimal keeping in touch after junior college and she had been searching for me since 2007! 
I was thrilled to get her friend request and later in the week we spoke on the phone and it was so good to hear not only her voice but her signature laugh as well!
I will not ever forget our conversation.  I was paid the highest compliment a Christian could ever receive. 
See during college my friend was a little more wild then I was....meaning she drank and I didn't.  But she was one of the few friends I had made....so she did her thing and I, well I just hung out!
About 6 years ago she and her husband rededicated their lives to Christ and she said she immediately thought of me and how proud I would be of her.
I so am.
She had remembered me encouraging her.  Really? I did?
She thanked me for loving her even while she was sinning.

 Romans 5:8 Amplified Bible
"But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us."

To be told that I loved like God, like Christ has commanded us was extremely moving.
But you know what? The day before I had not acted that way. At.All.
And so God was lovingly reminding me that I can do it....love when the person doesn't deserve it. 
 For that's what God extends to us. 
So thanks dear friend for your compliments...they were really tools God used to set me straight!
And that's one more reason God is so good to me.

Have a great weekend!