Mom Heart Moments #317

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.

DEEP, DARK LONELINESS WAS a constant companion for many years. I ached inside for a friend, someone who cared for me. As a relationship-oriented person, I had known deep friendship before I had children, but it seemed that once I became a mother, no one had time.

Besides the verse above, there were the Titus 2 verses about older women teaching the younger about motherhood, marriage, and all the rest. However, I did not know any older women who wanted to spend time with me, and let’s be honest —there were very few women whom, when I observed their lives, I wanted to influence me.

I knew I desperately needed a friend with whom I could share my burdens, doubts, insecurities, fears, and struggles, and I realized that if I wanted godly friends in my life, I needed to look for them, cultivate them, love them, and encourage them as I would want to be encouraged. So, I began inviting people to my home, singly and in groups. Often, it was in reaching out to others and building small groups that I found my best friends. We sewed the threads of our lives together by serving side by side in ministries we loved. Then, our children would also become friends, serving alongside us.

Friendship and mentoring relationships are an investment and require intentional giving and planning. Even as building a house requires a plan and effort, so friendships only grow out of intentional giving and cultivating.

And so it is true in life, “Two are better than one. . . . A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12). Working diligently to pursue godly friendships yields a treasure.

Do you need a true heart-friend? Take some time to pray today about this and ask God to bring to mind a person to whom you can reach out.