Good verses Godly Friends

“One quality of a godly friend is helping others to reach their goals and to get to where they need to be. No we can’t walk on water, calm the storms in our friends lives, or land their boat where they want to go. But we can point them to the Friend who sticks closer than a Brother.” ~Lysa TerKeurst & Sharon Jaynes ~ A Woman’s Secret to a Balanced Life: Finding God’s Refreshing Priorities for You

It’s amazing to think the desire to have a good friend seems to be naturally built in to us. Early on in life we strive to find that “perfect” good friend. We go to school and return either with the attitude no one wants to be our friend or we have found someone immediately we think will be our best friend for life.

Nothing wrong with that but the sad part is how we have taken a good thing and twisted it all around to be something it was never intended to be. The world’s vision of a friend is one that will help them cheat on a test, buy alcohol or cigarrettes for them or cover for them while they wander away in mischief.

Boy do we have it all wrong. A true friend is one that will help each other to reach their goals not encourage them to never achieve any. A good companion will walk their friend to where they need to be not necessarily where they “think” they want to go. A good friend, no matter how good they appear to be, cannot walk on water. Oh, sorry to burst any bubbles. They may have the ability to calm a few waves but never the whole storm. As much as they would like to they can’t dock the boat their friend is riding on exactly in the right place at the right time. But……!

Oh this is a very big BUT so read on. But they do have the ability to point their friend to the Friend of all friends, Jesus Christ himself. It doesn’t get their alcohol purchased or their drugs bought but it does buy something of greater worth, eternal salvation and peace of mind and a pleasant end to a long journey. It is in Jesus that we will find the Friend that can calm storms, who has walked on water, and who will land our boat right where it needs to be.

We aren’t in a popularity contest like we were back in our school days where the person with the most friends won. In the real world the person with the right kind of friends is the winner. That right kind of friend is one that is like Jesus who is not there to tell us what we want to hear but to tell us what we need to know. There not to stop all storms but there to guide us through the ones we find ourselves in. One that isn’t around to show off walking on water but there to give us the Living Water we need to surround ourselves with.

A true gooooood friend is a godly friend stretched out in order to place their loving arms around us. What good is friend if we continue in our old ways, never improve ourselves and just continue to self-destruct because we didn’t have someone around that cared enough to keep us going straight?

Care about your friends. Point them in the direction of the true Friend in Jesus Christ. Indeed the one who will stick closer than any brother or sister ever would. Praise the Lord. As they say, “two are better than one.” When it’s us and Jesus in that equation it makes it even better in the quest for a good verses a godly friend.

Our host today is Patricia. “Hi Patricia!” Hurry on over to her blog, Typing One-Handed and get started reading and sharing.

© 2010 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Reservations for Two, Please

January 6, 2009 IOW


Real life in the real world is a tough, nitty-gritty journey that every pilgrim on planet earth must make. Moving to Disney world is not an option. There will be tribulations; Jesus said so. But be of good cheer: He’s still in the business of guiding and strengthening and healing and overcoming…” by Claire Cloninger and Karla Worley in “When the Glass Slipper Doesn’t Fit.”

How many times over the course of our lives have we been told to, “Get real?” Variety shows on television are now replaced with reality shows of all kinds to entertain people. However, some people don’t find “real” life that entertaining. It can be a tough, nitty-gritty journey that we all get to experience in some degree or another. Running off to Disney Land or Disney World or anywhere else may get us away from it temporarily but it doesn’t make it go away.

When I had epilepsy I use to like being in the hospital only for one reason, it was my Disney World, my get away from the real world. Phone calls were made to wish me well instead of trying to sell me things or collect other things. The mailman was much better too, delivering only cards of cheer instead of bills to pay. I felt at peace. However, I couldn’t stay there forever. Praise God I didn’t need to move in permanently because of my seizures. The real world awaited my discharge, there was no escape only a rest stop along life’s journey.

It is a good thing to get away once in awhile, I recommend Disney World instead of going into a hospital. Tee Hee. However life goes on and our journey awaits us through the trials and tribulations that come with it. Where we ever got the idea that our journeys would or should be uneventful, smooth sailing, straight and level I don’t know. If you take a look it sounds like we’ve been talking to Eve’s serpent friend again from back in the garden. “Did God REALllllly say that!!!!!!????”

What makes our journeys different is who we choose to make them with. We can travel alone or book reservations for two for Jesus and us. I heard an atheist the other day make the remark that it was time that Christians gave up their imaginary friend.

Our Friend is far from imaginary. He’s as real as the clouds in the sky, the butterfly in flight, the air that we breathe, and the sun that shines. He’s not a figment of our imagination. We are the product of His creation. He’s the Shepherd on duty, the Guide in the lead. The strength it takes to endure. The companion needed to overcome the loneliness we often feel as we think the flight in life booked for us was a solo one.

We are not alone when we have Jesus. It is because of Him that we can overcome the nitty-gritty. We can live in the “real” world, we don’t need to escape. Our trip to Jesus will do far more for us than the trip to Disney World or other favorite get-away spots ever could. What He has to offer doesn’t wear off. It will last for all eternity if we would only take the time to make those reservations for two.

Christ is our resting spot, our place to find peace, to get directions, to re-fuel, to seek forgiveness and repent. The companion needed in all our journeys, not to be treated as some lucky charm to ensure smooth sailing but as the One in charge, the One in control.

It’s up to us to act as our own travel agents and see to it that the reservations for two have been made. He will be there, will we when the journey is done? The choice is ours.

Reservations for Two, Please! Reservations for Two!

Copyright 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

God's Cheerleaders

July 8, 2008 IOW

“The Christian life is a pilgrimage. At times the road is difficult and we get lonely. Sometimes we may get discouraged and consider abandoning the journey. It is at such times that God will place a friend alongside us. One of God’s most precious gifts to us is friends who encourage us and lovingly challenge us to ‘keep going.’ “ By Henry T. Blackaby & Richard Blackaby from their devotional book, Experiencing God

When I read this quote from the Blackaby’s I think of Jesus suddenly appearing on the road to Emmaus. Out of nowhere Jesus appears beside the two who were walking along chatting about recent events. They didn’t recognize Him at first but after the fact realized who He was.

The road we travel, as Christians can be a difficult and lonely road as well as discouraging to the point we feel like giving up. Struggling daily to stay on track can be far from easy, especially in a world that tells us its okay to be off track with God’s Word simply because we’ve hit another century. Feeling out numbered in a large world, the sentiment of being all alone slips in and brings on a discouragement that can be hard to fight. Feeling as if we can’t make the journey, that we have failed along the way, that the fight isn’t worth it so why not quit.

Why not? Because truly we are not alone and there is no failure too big for God’s grace to not cover. To show that, God works hard at keeping us moving forward instead of backwards as He places alongside us people who sometimes appear out of nowhere when we need them the most. We may recognize the fact while at other times we don’t even realize it until afterwards a friend in disguised used to encourage us to keep on going.

In my journey as an adult God has posted many cheerleader friends along my path to keep me moving forward. Discouraging situation after disappointing situations seemed to like the path I was walking on to the point I was ready to step aside and give them the right away. Allowing them to have the road instead of trying to fight my way to the end. My reasoning was it wasn’t God that I was giving up on but myself, figuring I wasn’t able to do what it took to go on.

However, it was God I was giving up on. It showed in my thinking that “I” didn’t have what it took to go on. Well “Duh, Karen. “I” didn’t but God did.” Daily He shows that to all of us as He posts cheerleader after cheerleader friends along our paths whether we are paying attention or not to encourage us to keep our eyes on God not on the things that serve as great discouragements. The choice becomes ours to listen or ignore. Turn our backs on what God is trying to do for us or take notice and use it to go on. Paying close attention to those check points along life where those friends are waiting.

CLOSING THOUGHT: There are times when that friend seems to be hidden. They aren’t there where we think they need to be. We blame them for not being around to give us the encouragement we needed to do what was required of us to move on. We fail to see that sometimes the friend is inside of us in the form of the Holy Spirit giving us the strength and encouragement needed to go on. Something also found embedded in the pages of God’s word as scripture verses pop out of nowhere to refuel a tired and empty heart. The job of friend and encourager is never reserved for outside sources but can be found in ourselves as we do what it takes to be our own friend instead of our worse enemy. A worthwhile process that carries on to the point God is able to use us to stand at the checkpoints in other people’s lives to give them what is needed to go on. Be a cheerleader. Listen to God’s cheerleaders. They’re there for a reason.

Our host this week is Bonnie over at Ink It Blog. Wonder on over there and join the fun of sharing or reading about today’s quote.

Eyes Open and Hearts Full

July 1, 2008 IOW

“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out -plans to take care of you . . .” Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)

I love how this verse starts out, “I know what I’m doing.” I’ve used that line myself many times with my grandkids, co-workers, and even my husband trying to convince them that I do know what I’m doing. “Have a little faith in me,” is the message behind the statement.

How often have we been guilty of hanging around God with a plan B in our hands just in case God’s plan doesn’t work out? We seem to think that since “He knows” it should be to the courtesy of us that He should share what His plans are. If that were the case where would faith come in? What role would trust, believing, and patience in God play if we were told the details long before anything happened?

Our reasoning goes on to tell us that if God would let us know what His plans were then we could help. We’d be able to step aside and not mess up His plans by the choices we often make. We fail to hear the message behind God’s statement of “I know what I’m doing,” as the same one behind mine when I say it, “Have a little faith in me. I don’t need your help, I need your faith!”

Looking over the events in my life I’m not so sure I would have wanted to know what the plan for my life was. The head injury I was going to receive, the brain surgery to fix it, epilepsy, another brain surgery, and more that followed. I think if God would have handed over the blueprints of my life ahead of time I only would have been struck with fear of what was to come instead of fear of God and trusting Him with the details. I really doubt, knowing ahead of time, if I would have positioned myself better on the school bus so when I was to hit my head I’d have the perfect blow to the back of my head. No! I would have whined and whimpered and called in sick that day so I wouldn’t have been on the bus.

Like it or not, we have to admit there are some things that are best left a mystery until they happen. It makes me think of my first and only trip to Disneyland that took place this year. Not being a person who does carnival rides well my friend with me decided it was best not to tell me about the Indiana Jones adventure. Trustingly I boarded the ride without a clue of what was coming up. All was going well. The adventure in the dark was fun when I suddenly noticed the young kids in front of me raise their arms. What did they know that I didn’t know, was a question I was going to soon find an answer to as the ride took a dip downward from one level to another.

Praise the Lord for eyelids that I could close my eyes on the ride as if that helped, yeah right. Six trips later on the ride I managed to make the journey without closing my eyes. Turning to my friend at the end of the 6th journey I told her, “mommy I kept my eyes open that time.” Laughing at the thought of it I’d have to say I’d probably behave the same way with God if He had told me His plans for my life ahead of time. Perhaps after the 6th or 7th or 100th trip around life I would at last be able to turn to God in a trusting manner and tell Him, “Father God I managed to keep my eyes open that time.”

CLOSING THOUGHT: The reason we need to keep our eyes open is not for the arrival of the blueprints of our life but for the purpose of focusing on the One who indeed cares for us. The One who has plans to help us and care for us, not to harm us or scare us as if we were His little pawns in the game of life. When we say that we know what we are doing, we can only hope that is true. With God there is no doubt about it He does know and it’s up to us to put our trust in that knowledge and never doubt it. Showing that little bit of faith the size of a mustard seed that is required for the job.

In the journey of life why not go with someone who knows and cares about us. I had my doubts that day at Disneyland if my friend was really my friend, the little sneak! However, there’s no doubt about it we have a friend in Jesus as our traveling companion. He doesn’t need our help just our cooperation, trust, and the kind of faith it takes to let Him work out His plans in our lives. It doesn’t guarantee us a smooth journey, one free of ups and downs, no sudden surprises or sharp turns. What it does guarantee us is a final destination that beats anything we could ever dream of. Safety till the end, strength till the end, guidance until the end. The end of life on earth as we know it and the beginning of the new life in Heaven with Him that will last for all eternity. Arriving with our eyes open and our hearts full of the blessings received from allowing God to work out His plans in us. Something that definitely beats wearing ourselves out attempting to make our own plans work. His plans or ours, one will get us where we need to be the other won’t. The choice again falls on us.

Our host today is Susan over at “Forever His“ wander on over there on your journey and read and share with others about today's verse.