ABIDING in a Friend.....

I see a dear friend of mine who also writes a blog, in a struggle as I am.  Both of us are actively seeking answers.  We both have chosen our word for the year: hers: GRACE, mine: ABIDE. 

I see us both understanding our chosen WORD with our heads.  But I also see us struggling with, and wanting with all our hearts, to know what God's grace truly is, and how to fully abide in Him with complete and utter peace.

I watch and listen to my wonderful friend using every ounce of her being to put pen to paper, to understand, and define grace.  And I see myself as a mirror reflection of her.

All of these words that I have come to love so much:  grace, mercy, love, abide, all are really knitted together beautifully by our Savior!  And He weaves our lives together with each other as well, helping us remain side by side.

So while I try to abide in God, I see my friend abiding with me.  Our life paths have crossed, with God standing square in the intersection.  And we both kneel at His feet, asking for guidance to ABIDE, understanding to write, and GRACE for our journey.

I know with all my heart that God puts friends in our lives for a reason...and I know this cherished friend of mine is here, right now, to hold my hand and to help guide me through my understanding of abiding.  God's timing is perfect...I have always desired to write.  What a wonderful time this is for me to start.  Technology now makes this possible.  My friend encourages me...I feel God giving me the words.  And so I continue on...

I know my Lord wants me to deepen my relationship with Him...to understand abiding.  I see my friend asking me the tough questions that draw me to that deep place.  We have cried together with this search...this grace...this abiding.

Without His grace and His abiding in me in the first place, I don't think I would be here...now.  I'm a little older than my special friend, but we are both broken...we are both battered by this life.  When we both abide with Him and realize His love and grace for us, we are both, each in our own way, restored!  The more we try to abide with Him, the more we become like Him...we are a reflection to each other and a reflection of Him as well.  And this reflection becomes more clear, the more we look.  In this reflection we abide...we rest...we wait.  And in this reflection we are finally able to see...the face of God.

2 Corinthians: 3: 18  "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness, with ever increasing glory which come from the Lord who is the spirit."