Sacred Friendship

Sacred Friendship

Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

“I can tell you have a sacred friendship.” The woman’s words tumbled out before I prayed for her at a women’s conference. I turned my head slightly to look at Kendra and Kristin, busy praying with other women.

Sacred? I paused in my response as a decade-plus of memories flashed past my mind’s eye. Kendra, Kristin, and I were in our twenties when we met in a Bible study, and since then we’ve walked through all of the ups and downs of scary, exhilarating, exhausting, joyful life; all of it hashed over, prayed over, wept over, laughed over. Careers. Grief. Marriages. Death. Job loss. Anger. Adoption. Depression. New businesses. Master’s degrees. Foster parenting. Medical stuff with kiddos, with parents, with us. Church launches. Cancer. Teenagers. Babies. Books.

We’ve cajoled and shoved one another out of our individual safe circles into circumstances requiring faith, requiring that we trust Jesus to come through. And then we’ve celebrated with wild abandon when Jesus showed up, as our faith grew, as our journeys took us on crazy new adventures with new opportunities.

These women continually point me toward Christ, and isn’t that the very definition of sacred? As I prayed over the woman in front of me, asking God to bring her sacred friends too, the story of Ruth and Naomi came to mind. They walked through grief, anger, despair, doubt, trust, and ultimately redemption, and they continually pointed each other back to God. Their story is one of my very favorites in Scripture, and their friendship was sacred.

The beautiful thing is that sacred friendships aren’t an exclusive club. It’s not a closed circle. I am blessed with newer sacred friendships with women whose lives overlap with mine in other ways, in other spheres of my life. I would not be the woman I am today without my sacred friends; they have had a profound impact on my life, my faith, and my journey.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Consider who in your life needs a sacred friend—someone cheering them on, praying for them, and pointing them always back to Christ. Reach out to that person.