Valued Friendships

Anita Delene Manthe
Oct 8, 2017
2 min read

We know who our friends are when difficulties come, accusations are made causing much damage, and they remain faithful. They stay constant, caring and comforting despite the continual saga that surrounds us. When others walk away, they stay. They refuse to believe the negative account of gossip, slander and accusations. They stay, and they remain faithful.

We love and value them for their faithfulness. We know their friendship is a gift and blessing from the Lord. He has provided their friendship for us when others have walked away.

Although breaks in relationships can be painful resulting in many years of struggling and trials, we can become stronger because of them. What was intended to break us, can build a stronger deeper, and sweeter relationship with the Lord. We get to know Him.

What others meant for evil, has worked out for our good.

We learn of the Lord’s sustaining grace, and we learn to hear, obey, and respond to His quiet encouraging voice. We value what He is teaching us in the middle of strife. He is preserving our faith, positioning our focus, and refining our perseverance. When we have learned this we begin to find value in the valleys, in the difficult seasons of life. We learn to value Him, and His presence more and more, and more. It is then that we know and treasure the most valued friend – the Lord, Jesus Christ. When we know Him, we will find satisfaction in the sweetest and most blessed friendship.

His grace is sufficient. And, we know it is!

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you (John 15:13-14).
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you (Psalm 84:11-12).
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity (Proverbs 17:17).
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).
Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel (Proverbs 27:9).
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this (Esther 4:14).
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today (Genesis 50:20).
It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces (Psalm 119:71-72).