When God Sends You A Friend

When God Sends You a Friend

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.

Jenna and I met online. We were both attending the same women’s leadership conference, we needed a place to stay, and neither of us knew anyone else attending, so we decided to share an Airbnb. We thought we were merely saving money, but God had a better plan.

We were so excited to be in community with other women on fire for God and to make new connections that it never occurred to us that fellow attendees might not have a similar goal. It wasn’t until I was sitting around a table with my assigned discussion group, making the obligatory introduction of my name and my hope for the conference with the words “I’m here to make friends!” cheerfully spilling off my lips, that I realized the extent of my miscalculation. By the looks on my tablemates’ faces, they were not there to make friends, and if they were, I wasn’t the girl they wanted to be friends with.

Mostly undaunted by my table’s lack of enthusiasm, I forged ahead at the next break, striking up a conversation with a woman only to have her walk away from me mid-word when her colleague returned from the bathroom. Stunned by her behavior, I was momentarily reduced to the seventh-grade version of Julie, and all the insecurities of that younger version of me came crashing down in a tidal wave of rejection and hurt.

But, God. And Jenna. We sat together during the sessions and visited during the breaks. When we went out for dinner that night, we talked about the excellent information we were learning before the conversation turned quietly to our experiences with prickly women. It turns out that our fellow conference attenders weren’t interested in being Jenna’s friend either. And, somehow, that was comforting.

Realizing I wasn’t alone in my experiences, I quietly thanked God for his foresight, for sending me a friend before I even knew how badly I’d need her.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

The next time you are at a conference or other gathering of women, invite a woman who is there on her own to sit with you and join you for meals.