Two Are Better Than One

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” Proverbs 17:7

Anticipation and joy quickly turned to heartbreak. It was hard to breathe. The words “no heartbeat” had been the last thing I expected to hear. I had loved and carried a baby for 13 weeks to find out we would never bring her into our home. With my husband out of town and no family nearby, I drove home to an empty house. I composed myself long enough to send a text to a dear friend.

“Where are you?” was her immediate response.
Within an hour she was at my door. She sat with me, cried with me and carried my weight. The next day the ladies of our Life Group were at our door with meals. We were showered with love and hugs and tears and texts. This went on for months as we walked through the ugly steps of grief. In a time where I felt it hard to continue, my friends were my biggest blessing. I have learned that sometimes the most beauty comes from tragedy. Through adversity my friends became my sisters.

Who is your community? Who can you call on when your life is no longer sunshine and roses? I so hope that your answer to this question is immediate. If it is not—if you find yourself with nobody you can be real and honest and prayerful with—I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you to take a step out of yourself, out of your busy life, and seek real community.

How very thankful I am that God places people in our lives to minister to us. But friends take time.

In our busy schedules we could choose to continue on without making time to foster relationships. In our hard times we could choose to put on our happy Christian masks and act like we don’t hurt or make mistakes or feel insecure. Oh, sisters—this would only be an injustice to ourselves! The world says being Facebook friends is enough, but let our example of friendship set us apart. Let us live out the model set for us in Acts 4:32.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

I see an immediate need within the body of Christ for people to feel like they belong. Let’s choose to live in community as God has designed us to. Let’s chose to do life with one another. Please don’t miss out on the true beauty there is to be found in friendships with Christ as the center point. If there is one thing I have learned of late it is that God will carry us through the storm, but sometimes he uses the arms of friends.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other back up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to hold them up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

This post was written by Makenzi Wethington. To read more about her, click here.