We need each other.

Photo by Michael Fernandez

We need each other. 

It is SO true. 

All day long I have been seeing it. 

All week long really..

I found out some bad news this week. People I love are hurting. Dying even. 

Divorces are happening. 

Bulimia. 

Alcoholism. 

Broken hearts.

There is a lot of pain in this world... even though I wish it weren't true. 

But you know what I am learning in the midst of it all? 

I am learning that WE DESPERATELY NEED EACH OTHER. 

Actually that's not even my idea. That is God's idea. The Bible tells us over and over again that we, together, form one body, and we aren't designed to function outside of that. It teaches that we are to love each other like crazy.

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13

This morning I had a date with a precious friend. We were able to talk openly about some of the brutal challenges she is facing after being married over a decade. We shared, we encouraged each other, and we left feeling full of hope... despite the heaviness of everything we talked about.

At lunch today I ate with another precious one, this girl is a sister to me, and together we cried over the difficulties that this week has carried. I confessed some things I had been struggling with, specifically related to questioning my life & wondering if I had made the right decisions leading up until now... we prayed, and then we left feeling full of hope once again... that God is God, and He will be faithful to take care of every detail of our lives.

This afternoon I met with my final treasure... a younger girl, struggling to free her mind from things that she deeply did not want to be thinking about. And there I was again, being able to relate to her with my own struggles, opening up about how I go through that too. We specifically talked about the challenge of keeping your mind on the one man that you end up marrying, when it often wanders to thoughts of other guys, even when you really really don't want it to.  We talked, we prayed, and we left smiling... experiencing the goodness of not having to hide things.

((I realize that with all of this talk about struggles, you may think that all I do is struggle... its not true, don't worry, I laugh way more than I cry... but I think these things are not talked about enough.. so that's why I'm sharing so much.))

Anyway... just now, in the middle of typing this, my little sister Meredith came into the room crying because she was having a hard day. There it is again... a picture of how badly we need each other. 

When we love one another, and are open with each other. The Holy Spirit moves in power to free us from shame and fill us with hope. 

 "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." James 5:16

So my encouragement to you this Thursday is to be open. Be vulnerable. Share the good and the bad. Ask for help. Help someone. You were not designed to do this life alone. Not only do you have a God who wants to do life with you, you have people around you who need your company. I promise, you are not alone in what you are facing. Others are going through it too. So open up. You will be so thankful for the freedom that happens when you share. The Bible calls it "walking in the light".. it is the idea that nothing is hidden in darkness. 

Do it. It will be hard at first. But it will be worth it. 

"..Don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too...For God is working in you, giving you the desire & the power to do what pleases him. Do everything without complaining & arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse generation." Phil 2: 3-4;13-14