As a child, I made friends easily thanks to my love of talking. I could talk to just about anyone, but I don’t remember having a lot of good friends. It may be because we moved a lot. I didn’t grow up in the age of technology to keep up with friends easily and thus I didn’t nurture friendships from my youth with all our moves.
One friend I met as a grade schooler was Laurie. We went to school together (in Canada) for about 3 years and although I played with her at recess and probably after school, we eventually grew apart when I moved out of that town. Years later I remember being a newlywed and arriving in her hometown to visit Pierre’s aunt.
I was visiting Laurie’s pastor’s wife (a mutual friend) and she told me Laurie had gotten married and the reception was still going on. I have vague memories of going by the reception and seeing her in her wedding dress and saying hello and having a brief catching up. It was so nice. After this, Laurie and I stayed in touch with infrequent phone calls (again before the age of cell phones). I remember going on a trip with the kids at one point and stopping in her town to have lunch with her.
Over the years we have continued to stay in touch, watch our kids grow to adulthood and encouraged each other in the Word. Laurie is a fun, full of life, quirky (like me) type of gal and I wish I could have spent more time with her growing up. She has been such a faithful friend and I was so excited in June of 2023 to be able to have lunch with her while passing close to her town on my way up to Toronto.
Life hasn’t brought me many close friends, but I count Laurie as one of them. She is the definition of a faithful friend. Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” Laurie, thanks for sharpening my iron over the years. I’ve needed it.
A true friend is someone who isn’t afraid to help you be stretched in your faith and help you grow closer to God. It sometimes involves being bold and even blunt with you. A true friend will not beat around the bush and just tell you what you want to hear. A true friend will give you God’s Word as advice and pray for you and with you.
Have you found a true friend like this? Thank you Laurie for sharpening my iron over the years and not being afraid to give me the hard advice that we so often do not want to hear. Thank you for loving me and sticking around for all my ups and downs of life. True friendship at its best.
Sadly, we never remember to take pictures of ourselves when we are together, but I think this is a cute representation of us.
Do you have that friend you can go to coffee with and be encouraged by?
