As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of a friend. -Proverbs 27:17
Our Father is so good and kind to us. He bestows such sweet gifts to us. One of my personal favorites that He has placed in my life is sweet friendships that are built around a mutual faith and joy to serve the Lord and encourage one another. These friendships have so many lovely aspects that bless my life every single day.
These friends love so well. They love fully and without any hindrance or expectations. They do this because they don't love through the world's standards of friendship, but instead they love through the Father. They love despite any wrongdoings or mistakes, and they forgive easily as they know that the Father has forgiven us. A friend loves at all times.
These friends serve so genuinely. They serve in all different ways. They serve you, and they serve with you. Instead of looking at a relationship for personal gain, they look to see what they can offer the other person. They are there to serve through their presence or their words. They celebrate your victories and mourn your losses with you.
These friends encourage so truthfully. They encourage through His truth. They remind you of His promises, His goodness, and His forgiveness. They speak truth in love to you. When you are struggling to feel His presence, they remind you that He is there. When you are elated and ecstatic about your walk with Him, they get excited with you.
These friends pray so fervently. They pray to our Savior and Friend. They trust in His faithfulness and seek Him out to know this faithfulness better. They pray for you. They pray with you. They know His answers are good and perfect, and they trust His ways are righteous.
These friends are broken just like I am. It is important to not idolize these friendships because as awesome as they are, we are all broken. There will be times when these friendships will not love as well as we are called to, not serve with a genuine heart, not encourage you in His truth, or not pray fervently. We must extend grace and forgiveness for the times in which we fail.
These friends do their very best to embody that character of Christ. They love, comfort, care, serve, encourage, forgive, and pray for you. They weep for you and with you. They rejoice for you and with you. They are thoughtful and wonderful. It overwhelms me to think of how imperfect and broken I am, and, yet, God still goes out of His way to hand me such sweet blessings like friendships. How kind and praiseworthy! I pray for friendships like these, and I pray to be a friend like this.