Filed under: family & superfriends, musings & meanderings | Tags: epistle to a friend, friendship
Dearest Pat,
Allow me to start this letter by saying how much i appreciate you for writing and keeping in touch all these years. I count it a great joy and blessing to have gained your friendship. Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” That means a brother, or sister for this matter, was born to help us in our time of need.
I believe it is by God’s design that our friends become an extension of our family. A true friend becomes a part of our family because we impart to them a piece of our lives. We leave a mark on their lives by how we treat them, how we place value and worth on them, how we generously give of ourselves. We tell them of our hopes and dreams, our goals, worst fears, frustrations, and disappointments. We open our hearts to them by giving love, and yes, accepting love in return. Sometimes even allowing hurt or disappointment to enter our lives. When we subject ourselves to this kind of openness, only then we can say we truly live.
When we open our arms and give them room to grow, we give them the opportunity to draw nearer. By wrapping our arms around them tightly, they begin to feel suffocated and yearns to break free. It is when we put a hand over their shoulder that we give them the option to place a hand over ours, thereby allowing each other to walk freely, side by side.
It is wonderful to know that you and i share that arm-over-your-shoulder type of friendship. It says a lot of how we trust each other, the confidence we have on our friendship, and how far we’ve both grown as friends and as individuals. We’ve given enough space for each other, allowing the friendship to take root. We are not scared of the distance that separates us or the time that threatens to overtake us. We know in our hearts that the day we said we are friends, we made the choice to be just that. No, not the fickle kind of friend that the world has long seen and feared. We share a friendship that says, “i remain. i care. you can count on me.”
Each day, I thank the Lord for your life and I pray that He continues to look after you and your family. May His wonderful hand guide you in everything you do. May His blessings overtake you, running over, spilling that you can’t hold or contain it. I pray for your Lola, Mama, and sister Ana. May you have good health and happiness throughout the year.
Your friend,
Joy
* Patricia or Pat as i fondly call her, is a friend of mine since elementary days. She moved to Iloilo during high school and we’ve been corresponding for more than fifteen years now. She taught me the beauty of writing letters, the kind that you actually write using a trusty pen and a good set of stationaries. Then you place a stamp on the envelope and head out to the post office to mail it. Yes, you still know where the post office is, right? To this day, i still can’t get off the habit of licking stamps and envelopes. I know, it’s quite icky and old fashioned but a lot goes with each letter that arrives or gets sent. Believe me, it’s worth all the effort. Why not send one to your friend today? Who knows, it might actually make their day!
[images courtesy of stock exchange]
Filed under: book nook, girlalooh & fashion, musings & meanderings | Tags: virtuous woman, woman's worth
Recently, i came across a blog post made by a former officemate. There she asked this question, “Gurl, what’s your worth?” I’ve always wanted to answer that age old question, and frankly, i believe this is something every woman should know how to answer.
I wish the following words were written by me, but they’re not. These were taken from a favorite book of mine, “”What to do until Love finds You.” Michelle McKinney Hammond eloquently described a woman’s worth in the book and her words echoes what i’ve learned and adhered for years. Read on:
God says, “You are not a store sample. The man I have chosen for you will be willing to pay the price to take you home. There is no need for a ‘taste test’ beforehand. You are not a K-Mart blue-light special; you are a well kept woman.”
A well kept woman is always mindful of her worth; she never stoops to being common and cheap. This woman will not be handled, examined and thrown back into anyone’s bin.
God says, “You are a Tiffany diamond, and when i’m finished with you, you will be of the highest grade. No flaws. No inclusions. It takes a discriminating eye to tell the difference between a cubic zirconia and a real diamond.”
Not too many people have the nerve to go into Tiffany’s “just looking.” They respect the name, they are aware of the quality and price, so if they’re not serious, they seldom move past the window. God says we should be regarded in the same light.
“Who can find a virtuous woman, her price is far above rubies.” Proverbs 31:10
In human communication, each person usually has a personal agenda he or she wishes the other person to line up with. It becomes the focal point of the conversation, often without any thought being given to the other person’s feelings or wishes.
Anger stems from what we view as our violated rights. Impasses in relationships come from failing to recognize the rights of others and failing to respect the other person’s feelings. Right or wrong, another person’s feelings are very real. The more we ignore that reality, the less progress we make with our own requests.
The most common complaint between men and women who are struggling to communicate with one another is “He/She doesn’t understand me!” It may sound trite, but if we are to communicate our needs and our desires effectively, we must understand the meaning and goal of “communication.”
Webster’s dictionary has an interesting definition:
To administer or receive Communion, to talk over, to impart, participate, an act of instance of sharing, to convey knowledge of or information about, make known, to reveal by clear signs, to cause to pass from one to another, to open into each other: to convey or transmit something intangible, a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior, intimate fellowship or personal rapport.
[an excerpt from "What to do until Love finds You" Michelle McKinney Hammond]
[image courtesy of Joel del Castillo, my cool cousin from Australia]
Filed under: soul fuel
“Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14)
This is God’s loving challenge to you and me each day. He wants us to think of the deepest, highest, and worthiest desires and longings of our hearts. He wants us to think of those things that perhaps were desires for ourselves or someone dear to us, yet have gone unfulfilled for so long that we now see them as simply lost desires. And God urges us to think of even the one thing that we once saw as possible but have given up all hope of seeing fulfilled in this life.
That very thing, as long as it aligns with what we know to be His expressed will – as a son was to Abraham and Sarah – God intends to do for us. Yes, if we will let Him, God will do that very thing, even if we know it is such an utter impossibility that we would simply laugh at the absurdity of anyone ever suggesting it could come to pass.
“Is anything too hard for the Lord?” No, nothing is to difficult when we believe in Him enough to go forward, doing His will and letting Him do the impossible for us. Even Abraham and Sarah could have blocked God’s plan if they had continued to disbelieve.
The only thing “too hard for the Lord” is our deliberate and continual disbelief in His love and power, and our ultimate rejection of his plans for us. Nothing is impossible for Jehovah to do for those who trust Him.
[from Messages for the Morning Watch.]
