Friday Favorites...

Yes, I know. It's Saturday. I was out of the house the whole day yesterday, and last night my family was able to pull off a surprise birthday party for my sister, Leah! She turned 16 on Wednesday, and we had a lot of fun planning this secret event. So, even though it's not Friday anymore, we'll just have to pretend that it is. :-) I considered blogging around midnight as the last of our guests left, but then realized that this post would still show up on Saturday (early morning as it was). My desire for sleep won, and though I had not posted yet, I went to bed. :-) My apologies if you were waiting all day for me to post! (Though I doubt that happened....lol)

Okay, my favorite for this week is actually.......all of you! I was thinking this week of how blessed I am to have you to encourage me and spur me on to reach my goals, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. As women, we need our girlfriends! We need people to come along side us and be vessels through which the Lord can pour out His love. People who will speak the truth in love to us, when it's something that we'll find pleasant to hear and even when it's not. The Lord created us to need relationships with others! And most importantly, He created us with the need (and amazing privilege) to have a strong relationship with Him.

Having a strong relationship with the Lord and also have strong relationships with Godly friends are two of the most important keys to my success, in every area of life. As I seek to learn the lessons of living by the Holy Spirit's power and walking in His Spirit, I will begin to experience the freedom for which Christ shed his precious blood. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (freedom)." And I'm thankful for friends who encourage me in my walk with Christ and are seeking to walk in the Spirit, as well!

Godly friendship is a treasure. I have heard so many other young ladies tell me, "Oh, how I wish that I had more like-minded girls in my area! It seems that I'm the only girl who is seeking to please the Lord in every area of my life." And it's true - there is a battle raging for the hearts and minds of young ladies! The devil would like nothing more than to get our focus off of Christ, and he'll use whatever tactics he can to cause us to stumble and fall. For me, he might seek to make me so focused on changing my outward appearance, that I neglect to remember my inward beauty is what the Lord desires the most. I don't want to invest more in my outward appearance than my inward!

And that's where you come in. We all need encouragement. We need people to hold us accountable. We need prayer. We need to have long talks. In a word, we need our girlfriends! And I thank you for being that for me. I love my girlfriends! Your support and prayer means more than you could ever know. Yes, Godly friends are definitely one of my favorite things.....

"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend..." Proverbs 27:6a

"and the Scripture was fullfilled that said, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to Him as righteousness"-and he was called a friend of God". James 2:23