Friendship Redefined

You deserve to be fully known and fully loved// I think this is a scary concept for a lot of us. I have often thought if people knew everything about me and my past, would they still love me. We all desire to be loved but sometimes it’s hard to let people in and let them see it all. There’s such freedom when we are able to be completely us and still completely loved, and that freedom is available to you. It starts with knowing that you are already fully known and fully loved ...by the creator of the universe. God knows every detail about you, he knows your innermost thoughts, he knows it all and he couldn’t love you any more! In Psalms 139:1-3, & 17, it says Lord you know everything there is to know about me. You perceive every moment of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. You are so intimately aware of me Lord, you read my heart like an open book and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence.... Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought Freedom and peace is ours when we know that God cherishes and loves us while knowing all about who we are. When you have the right people in your life, they will give you the grace to be fully you. Friend, you are fully known and fully loved.

You deserve to belong to a community// Genesis 2:18 Then the lord said, It is not good that man should be alone: I will make him a helper fit for him You were not created to be alone. And I’m not talking about being married or dating. I’m talking about community. You were created to belong to a community. You were not created to walk this journey called life alone. I remember there was a time I loved walking alone. I thought it was easier and safer to walk alone. I was ab...le to go at my own pace with no drama and no hurts. I didn’t have to look out for anyone but myself but that also meant that I had no one looking out for me. Life could be scary sometimes and we have an enemy that would love to ruin our lives and take us off our tracks. Philippians 2:4 says Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others We all need each other! We need people who will defend us. We need people who will protect us. We need people who would pray for us and with us. We need people who will go to the trenches with us. We need people who will remind us about God’s truths. We need people who will remind us that we have victory over every hard situation or storm that we face. This is the community you and I deserve. See more

You deserve to celebrate and be celebrated// I’m pretty sure we all know someone who LOVES celebrations. Whether it’s birthdays, anniversaries, graduation or etc.. I don’t think I’m that person. I love celebrating others but not myself. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I don’t want to go for my graduation. If I go, It’s definitely for my parents. A very good friend of mine has been persuading me to go. I think she’s more excited to celebrate my accomplishment than I am. Sh...e keeps telling me Ore, for 4 years you’ve worked so hard, You deserve this, you should go, you should take pictures... True, I should but I don’t want to. To be honest, I didn’t think I deserved to celebrate or to be celebrated. I’m probably going to be graduating with a lower G.P.A than I wanted to so why should I celebrate? I’m going to graduate, then what’s next ? I have no idea. So why celebrate? I can give so many reasons for not wanting to celebrate this HUGE milestone in my life but then I look to my bible and I see that it is full of celebrations. The Bible celebrates milestones, births, weddings etc. There’s even the celebration of the prodigal son returning home. People celebrating others. You love to see it. God loves celebrations! God loves when we celebrate each other! God loves when we celebrate our accomplishments/milestones. Celebration is a recognition of the goodness of God. Celebration is a recognition of the provision of God. Celebration is a recognition of the faithfulness of God. Celebrating alongside others brings us closer and it pleases God. He loves when we put him at the center of our experiences. This is what you and I were made for! To celebrate and to be celebrated. See more

You deserve the intentionality// you are worth the effort and time. This is something I’ve felt is often a struggle for me. So many times in relationships I have felt as though I’m the only one putting in effort and time into it and it’s frustrating. I ask myself questions like am I not worth the same, am I not enough for people to put in the effort and intentionality? I don’t know if you have ever felt the same way but it can be discouraging. If no one has reciprocated your ...love the way you desire, let me tell you someone will come along and do just that. So don’t stop being the one to show intentionality, don’t stop loving the way you do. It is encouraging to know that Jesus has put in all the effort and intentionality with you and for you. You are worth everything to him, you’re so precious and valuable to him! Jesus must have felt that people didn’t appreciate the effort he made either. In Luke 17, it tells us a story of how Jesus healed 10 Lepers but only 1 came back to thank him. Sometimes friendships can feel just like that. We can do nice things for people and maybe only one comes back to thank you. But Jesus is all about the one. So I want to encourage you to never stop being you and loving people fiercely and to also know that friend, you are worth every ounce of intentionality!! See more