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The Invaluable Gift of Perspective-Giving Friendship

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Philemon 1:7

Heavenly Father, I can’t imagine navigating storms, bearing burdens, and handling heartaches without good friends. A recent trip to San Antonio underscored this truth again. Thank you for the gift of friendship—for the perspective, refreshment, hope, and encouragement you give us through our friends.

Sometimes we’re inclined to think, “No one can possibly understand what I’m going through. No one can relate to my feelings and confusion. Nobody’s as big of a mess as me.” Those are the times when it’s easy to withdraw into isolation, fall into condemnation, and reach for some ill-chosen medication. That’s when the gift of grace-soaked friends becomes especially precious.

These three well-timed words, “I get it,” have often been an elixir of grace and a kiss of mercy, and better than an angelic visitation. Thank you for friends who know how to “refresh the hearts of the saints,” including this saint. Thank you for friends who remind us of the truth of the gospel, the love of Jesus, and the bigger story you’re always writing.

Thank you for friends who share their lives, and not just their gospel—those who offer tears and not just answers, their brokenness-birthed wisdom, not just mess-fixing formulas. Thank you for friends who can say hard things we need to hear, but in a way that makes them hearable. Thank you for friends with whom it’s just as easy to pray as play, eat peach cobbler or feast on the Lord’s Supper, watch a sunset in shorts or seek the Son in desperation.

Father, cherished friendships turn our hearts heavenward. They simply remind us that the foundation and fountain of all good friendship is found in you. Thank you for befriending us in the gospel. It’s settling and centering to hear Jesus say to us, “I no longer call you servants; I call you friends” (John 15:15). So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ most glorious and gracious name.

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