encouraged...

This weekend was really refreshing for our family. Jeremy, Zoe, and I were privileged to have a dear friend of mine from highschool and her family stay with us. Gracy, David and their 18 month old son are getting ready to go to Asia to live the Gospel among those who have yet to hear or see the good news of Jesus Christ. Jer and I were so excited, so expectant as we prepared for their visit, but I don't think we were quite expecting the breath of fresh air we would receive through them.
Gracy and I were friends in high school. One of those friendships that only God could put together. We didn't go to school together, we didn't live in the same neighborhood, we didn't even really have the same circle of friends; we were just two young girls desperately seeking the same God. That was our common ground. All these years later, so many circumstances later, that's who we still are maybe just a little more aware, no, a lot more aware of our brokenness, His grace, and the connection of the two.
This weekend was filled with conversations, conversations alive with the spirit of God. It was also filled with so much love you could just almost touch it. Gracy and David, Me and Jeremy, Gracy and me, David and Jeremy...just so much genuine, authentic fellowship going on. So much vulnerablilty, not forced, but real sharing received with true interest and care.
Gracy and David are already spreading the gospel right here in their current circumstances. They are spreading it by the way they love. They were so interested in us. So easy to be with. So pleasant and giving. They were affirming and kind, to one another and to us. We laughed, we cried, we listened, we awakened old visions and shared our dreams. We were in the light and we were having fellowship as it speaks of in I John. It was so cool as we sat around our table and ate and truly sought to see eachother's hearts truly seeking to understand the experience of the other. We were equally interested in eachother and building the other up.
WE WERE ENCOURAGED! Encouraged to be better to each other, encouraged to not give up on God given visions and dreams, encouraged to live more holy, encouraged to minister right where we are. I am so grateful for these kind of friends. I was so grateful to see our husbands (the ones so obviously picked for us by God) connecting and encouraging eachother as husbands and men. It was cool to watch our children together. And even as I write this I am thanking God for friends He continues to give me in spite of me! Thank you Lord for giving us friends, may we be authentic friends to others, friends that bring acceptance, love, and joy into others lives.
"Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing."
~ I Thessalonians 5:11