For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Philemon 1:7
Heavenly Father, I can’t imagine navigating storms, bearing burdens, and handling heartaches without good friends. Thank you for the gift of friendship—for the perspective, refreshment, and hope encouragement you give us through our friends.
Sometimes we’re inclined to think, “No one can possibly understand what I’m going through. No one can to relate to my feelings and confusion. Nobody’s as big of a mess as me.” Those are the times when it’s easy to withdraw into isolation, fall into condemnation, and reach for some ill-chosen medication. That’s when the gift of grace-marked friends becomes especially precious.
These two well-timed words, “Me too,” have often been an elixir of grace, a kiss of mercy—better than an angelic visitation. Thank you for friends who know how to “refresh the hearts of the saints“—including this saint. Thank you for friends who remind me of the truth of the gospel, the love of Jesus, and the bigger story you’re always writing.
Thank you for friends who share their lives, and not just their gospel—those who offer tears and not just answers, their brokenness-birthed wisdom, not just mess-fixing formulas. Thank you for friends who can say hard things I need to hear, but in a way I can actually hear those things. Thank you for friends with whom it’s easy to pray and play, eat cheesy nachos and the Lord’s Supper, watch a sunset and seek the Son.
Father, these cherished friendships turn my heart heavenward. They simply remind me that the foundation and fountain of all good friendship is found in you. Thank you for befriending us in the gospel. It’s settling and centering to hear Jesus say to us, “I no longer call you servants; I call you friends” (John 15:15).
What wondrous love is this, indeed? “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Hallelujah, what a salvation! Hallelujah, what a Savior! So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ most glorious and gracious name.
