Everyone just needs a little soul...

My good friend Kathy and I have been reading a book called "Spiritual Friendship" by Mindy Caliguire, and we're hoping to read it with some of the girls in our House Church later. It basically operates on the premise that God wants us to have what the author calls "soul friends," or friends with whom we feel 100% safe, supported, accountable, and honest. She argues that these types of friendships are vital to our lives, because when we are completely open and honest with someone, and when we work to establish friendships with people who only want the best for us, we are brought closer not only to each other, but to God as well. When we have friendships like these, they can open our eyes to new perspectives, hold us accountable when we need it, celebrate with us, cry with us, and pray for us. These "soul friends" know when we are strong and when we're weak, what we are good at and what we struggle with, and above all, they are "for" us no matter what. I love the idea of being "for" each other, regardless of what we are going through, and that by being close to these types of people, our relationship with God is given a whole new dimension as well. I absolutely believe that God works through those around us, and while our relationships with people are obviously not top priority, they can definitely hinder or enhance our spiritual lives.

Soul friends are precious and rare. I think that I have been blessed with a few of these "soul friends" throughout my life (one of whom I ended up marrying, haha), and I think/hope that a few new friendships are being formed right now. In college, it happened pretty naturally - by spending inordinate amounts of time with the same people, it was so much easier to feel completely at home with our friends. In real life, I've found that it takes a lot more effort to get to this level with someone...but that's okay.

This week, the definition of being "for" someone really hit me. Someone who I am extremely close to let me in on something fairly heavy that s/he has been struggling with over the past few years, but because of embarrassment, fear of judgment, and fear of sharing this flaw with someone, s/he hadn't ever told anyone. At first, I was pretty shocked and a little bit hurt that they felt that they couldn't share this with me before, but as this person talked and shared how this struggle had affected them and made them feel alienated from God and from friends, I realized that the only thing I really wanted was for them to know that I wasn't going to bail. I also began to understand that this is what it's like when God is truly present in a friendship, because that conversation probably wouldn't have gone the way it did if He wasn't.

We all need people in our lives to prop us up when we're down and laugh with when life is good, and I'm praying that more of these people walk into my life. So, thank you to my soul friends who are reading this...thank you for being "for" me. I hope that we all can be so lucky to have friends like you.