God Has This

God Has This

When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

“God has this,” I whispered over the phone to my dear friend. She and her husband had uprooted themselves from central Minnesota and moved to Washington, DC, so she could take an unpaid legal fellowship with International Justice Mission in a crazy adventure completely at odds with their usually steady personalities.

Saying yes to God in obedience often involves unexpected detours and trusting him even when the situation feels like it has spiraled out of control and cannot possibly be what he intended. In this case, my friends fully believed that God had opened the doors and was providing a way for Ceena to combine her legal degree with her passion for advocating for human rights—but the road was rocky as they traded stability and a law firm job for no jobs and a nightmare apartment. There were days when her texts were a lament about how hard everything felt. She wondered why following God would have so many roadblocks.

As Ceena’s friend, I was privileged to have a front-row seat to their journey. There were many conversations in that waiting place when things were hard and doubts assailed my friend. There were times when she was so buried in the thick of it that she couldn’t see, and I, as the friend, had the perspective and distance to see how God was working. When she couldn’t see clearly, I pointed her back to God, praying boldly over her and Jordan and encouraging her to continue trusting before yet seeing.

The end of the story is the stuff of wildest dreams, with Ceena receiving a full-time, paid job at International Justice Mission. But the importance of godly friendship during this journey was not lost on either of us—our faith grew during this journey; hers because God made the impossible possible, and mine because I got to journey alongside her through all of it and not just hear the glossed-over, happy ending.

Having a praying friend who points us continually back to God when we are in the middle of the story is so important. When we live lives intertwined with one another, letting each other see the whole story, we are both encouraged to grow deeper in our faith in ways we would not grow alone.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Think of a friend who is in the waiting place, obediently trusting God. Find a way to encourage her.